Summer Internship: Emory Healthcare

By: Lance Clark

Hello from Atlanta! Emory Healthcare is the largest, most comprehensive health system in Georgia and includes six hospitals, The Emory Clinic and an outreach physician practice organization called Emory Specialty Associates. As a whole, Emory Healthcare has approximately 16,000 employees and around 1,800 beds. Last year, The Emory Clinic had over 3.5 million patient visits.

My area of focus this summer has been with Capacity Management in the Patient Access Division of The Emory Clinic. In short, we build, maintain and analyze provider schedules to ensure The Emory Clinic meets its patient access organizational goals. For some perspective, an increase in appointment utilization by just one percent across The Emory Clinic represents a $4 million revenue increase. There is a big spotlight on patient access at Emory right now, so I feel really fortunate to be working on this team. One of my tasks this summer is to reach out to sections at Emory Healthcare we can partner with to increase our utilization across the system.

Emory Healthcare is undergoing a transition to an updated billing and scheduling system right now. The go live date is June 30th. Our team plays a critical role in preparing for a smooth transition. It has been a massive undertaking which has been fascinating to see and be a part of. The last two weeks have been pretty intense!

Another key area of work for me this summer is a process improvement project utilizing the Six Sigma DMAIC method. I am working specifically with the Endocrinology department right now. This has been a fantastic project which has given me an opportunity to work on charters, surveys, data measurement and analysis, process mapping and much more. I’ll be leading a full-fledged time study as part of this project in two weeks.

In tandem with the DMAIC project, I have been asked to develop a Wiki page for the Endocrinology department. This secure page will be used as a valuable scheduling and clinical resource for clinical staff and call center agents to build and maintain efficient communication as they deliver care.

I’ve been really impressed with Emory’s commitment to developing leaders. They have a robust internship program, administrative fellowships for the hospital side and a management development program for those seeking leadership roles in ambulatory care. I’ve met administrative and clinical staff at every level, which has been very rewarding.

Every request for exposure I’ve made has been received very well. Next month I’ll be doing a project for the Hospitalist Medicine division at one of their hospitals. Soon I’ll be shadowing in the Emergency Department and with Patient Financial Services as well.

Living in Atlanta has been great! There is no shortage of things to do, see and eat. All the interns down here are fantastic. We regularly go out to games, volleyball, happy hours, etc. It’s been really neat to hear about other MHA programs and make great connections. Although I wish my family was with me, I have absolutely loved my experience so far at Emory Healthcare!