Summer Internships: Avera McKennan Hospital and University Health Center

By Katie Westfall

I am spending my summer as a graduate intern at Avera McKennan Hospital and University Health Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Avera McKennan is a mission driven, 545-bed tertiary care hospital under the Avera Health umbrella. McKennan has 13 rural affiliates and numerous clinics, primarily in eastern South Dakota, southwest Minnesota, and northwest Iowa. I spend most of my time working with Network Operations interacting with many of the rural hospitals and clinics!  I have also had exposure to long-term care, hospice, and home medical equipment, learning about many of the problems that face those segments of healthcare in this ever changing environment.

This season is that of growth for Avera, and capital projects are taking up much of my time.  One of many projects I am working on is the collecting and assembling the many CMS requirements for relocation of a critical access hospital.  My main project is analyzing the change in productivity for physicians after EMR implementation and hopefully the return in value to the system.  I am pulling many community resources to create a central source of information on choosing the best fitting nursing home specifically for those patients who are entering from an acute event.  I am also spending some of my time in the hospice house which, in combination with the home health program, will be moving out as a separate 501(3)(C) under the Avera Health umbrella. Additionally, I will be writing a business plan for a new addiction treatment center in the former nursing home building.

Amidst my projects I have had an opportunity to interact with senior leadership at McKennan and throughout the network. I have attended numerous board meetings and medical staff meetings in the rural communities and have sat in on McKennan’s Administrative Council meetings. I have also participated in strategic planning sessions for the new nursing home and hospitals.

 
McKennan is a mission driven organization and it has been wonderful to see how that is reflected in many of the decisions that are made every day. Everyone has been extremely welcoming; I am enjoying my internship experience-and look forward to seeing what else this summer will bring!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Devante Davis (MHA '24): UCHealth - Southern Region

Image
Hello my name is Devante Davis I am going into my 2 nd year as an MHA student at the University of Iowa!    I am currently interning at UCHEALTH southern region in Colorado Springs, and UCHEALTH mission statement is to Improve lives through providing quality care. My preceptor is Andrew Ritchie the Chief Operation Officer of the UCHEALTH southern region. He great a developing talent while unlocking hiding potential within his interns, and fellow! My favorite project was evaluating what the rest of the world is doing to recover from this global nursing shortage. Summarizing the data and be a part of creating a valuable plan to implement into the UCHEALTH southern region. A few other fun events I attended were the pikes peak annual racing event, viper’s baseball game, the incline!  
Read more

Alexa Colella (MHA '24): revology

Image
Hello! My name is Alexa Colella and I am an incoming 2nd year Master of Health Administration student at the University of Iowa. My professional interests include entrepreneurship, workplace culture and health, holistic health, health innovation, and health technology. My personal interests include weightlifting, hiking, traveling, thrill-seeking, theatre, reading, animal documentaries, and photography. This summer, I am completing an administrative internship with revology , in the heart of downtown Iowa City. r evology is a technology-enabled revenue cycle management startup firm that helps providers get more from their revenue cycle . Our good humans and smart technology enable health systems across the U.S. to transform their revenue cycle management process , adding more to their bottom line. My preceptor this summer is Chris Klitgaard , the CEO of revology . Chris is an alumnus of our MHA program and has been working in revenue cycle for most of his career. He has started
Read more

Adriana Kotchkoski (MHA '24): Nihon Keiei Consulting Group

Image
Konnichiwa from Japan!   As I sit down to write this blog post, I am filled with a sense of gratitude and accomplishment as I reflect on my time as an intern at Nihon Keiei Consulting Group in Osaka, Japan. This summer has been nothing short of remarkable, offering me a unique blend of professional development and cultural immersion that I will cherish forever.   During my time at Nihon Keiei, I had the opportunity to engage in in-depth research and analysis, creating comprehensive market profiles for the healthcare sectors in the Philippines and India. These profiles laid the foundation for strategic expansion plans, and it was an honor to present my findings and recommendations to a senior consultant during insightful one-on-one meetings. These interactions were not only professionally enriching but also allowed me to witness firsthand how strategic decisions shape the course of an organization's growth.   One of the most rewarding experiences during my internship was the develop
Read more