Starting in September, a master's of science degree in healthcare quality and safety management will be offered through a program operated jointly by the American College of Physician Executives and the Thomas Jefferson University School of Population Health in Philadelphia.

Interested students will be expected to have first completed 125 hours of ACPE courses, and then complete nine Jefferson online courses before finishing the program with a project at the ACPE Fall Institute. It is estimated the classes will take eight to 12 hours a week.

The school dean at Jefferson, Dr. David Nash, has been teaching ACPE courses for almost 20 years, according to a news release. He noted that the time was right for such a program because of the current political push for better healthcare quality and because new tools that have made quality easier to measure.

"Reform is making the notion of measurement and accountability front and center," Nash said in the release. "There's no denying those concepts are going to be more important than ever."