University of Iowa Health Management & Policy

By: Amber Badolato I feel very fortunate to be an Administrative Intern at Mercy Health Network.    Mercy Health Network (MHN) was founded in 1998 under a joint operating agreement between two of the largest Catholic, not-for-profit health organizations in the United States: Catholic Health Initiatives, based in Englewood Colorado, and Trinity Health, based in Livonia, Michigan. The network includes: Major Medical Centers: Mercy Medical Center—Clinton Mercy Medical Center—Des Moines Mercy Medical Center—Dubuque Mercy Medical Center—North Iowa (Mason City) Mercy Medical Center—Sioux City Network Affiliates:   31 Mike Trachta, VP – Network CAH Operations at Mercy Health Network, is an alumnus of the University of Iowa MBA/MHA program, and my preceptor. Mike has done a remarkable job of helping me feel welcome as a new intern. Over the past 10 weeks, Mike has provided me with many opportunities to meet with senior leaders across the network. A large amount

By: Mitch Cote Hello from Motor City! I’m spending the summer in Royal Oak, a Detroit suburb, interning at Beaumont Health. A Michigan native, I feel blessed to be back in my home state for the summer. I have enjoyed exploring Detroit and spending time “up north” with family and friends; Northern Michigan is truly beautiful in the summer. In September of 2014, Beaumont Health System, Botsford Health Care, and Oakwood Healthcare reached an affiliation agreement to form a new health system called Beaumont Health. In March, President and CEO, John Fox, began his tenure at Beaumont Health. It has been incredible witnessing first-hand as this new entity evolves. My preceptor is fellow Central Michigan University alumna Laura Glenn, Senior Vice President of Beaumont Health Physician Partners. Since the affiliation, Laura has been leading the integration of the three medical groups from each legacy system - no small task. Being exposed to these integration efforts is a truly invaluable

By: Taylin Stoner Greetings from the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. My time as an intern has flown by thus far and it is unimaginable to think that I have only a few short weeks left. With the support of my preceptor, Scott Turner, Co-COO and Executive Director of UI Children's Hospital, I have had opportunities to attend a wide array of meetings, observe various units and departments, and work with highly motivated executives and staff members. One central project that myself as well as three of the other interns are working on is the annual space survey of the roughly 12,800 designated spaces of the hospital.  Being a part of the UIHC team for the summer has also lent me the chance to understand all of the effort and dedication necessary in constructing a new children’s hospital. I am involved in the Transition and Activation Planning (TAP) meetings and have a role in assisting with the beginning stages of care coordination process development. Visio is becoming m

By: Patrick Rafferty Hello everyone!   I am writing to you from Nashville, Tennessee where I am the administrative intern at TriStar Skyline Medical Center.   Skyline Medical Center is an acute-care facility licensed for 223 beds and part of TriStar Health, which consists of 18 hospitals in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Georgia.   Skyline also has a sister hospital called TriStar Skyline Madison Campus that is a 121-bed inpatient and outpatient behavioral health facility.   Although most of my time has been spent at Skyline Medical Center, I have been lucky enough to have experiences at both facilities. I have, also, been very fortunate in being able to attend meetings at the division level with the President of TriStar Health, Steve Corbeil, an alumnus of the program. Working with the administrative team at Skyline has been an invaluable experience thus far. Skyline Medical Center is a booming facility going through many exciting changes. Most notable is the continued growth of th

By: David Nelson Ostukare sama desu and greetings from Japan! This summer I have had the privilege of interning at one of the best private hospitals in Japan, Kameda Medical Center. Kameda Medical Center is located in Chiba Prefecture, on the southeastern coast of Japan. Since the early 1990’s, my preceptor, John Wocher, Vice President and Director of International Patient Relations, has hosted students from the University of Iowa and has given students the opportunity to experience and learn about an entirely different healthcare system. As a bit of background on Kameda Medical Center, one of the more astonishing parts of the organization is the long-standing leadership of the Kameda family. For more than 350 years, dating all the way back to the Edo period of Japan, the Kameda family has been practicing and innovating in medicine. The current Chairman, Dr. Takaaki Kameda, represents the 11th generation of the Kameda lineage to practice medicine – truly amazing. In mor

By: Teresa Salaway For the last six weeks, I have been interning at Mercy Hospital Ada in Ada, Oklahoma. Mercy Hospital Ada is part of the West region of Mercy health system. Based out of St. Louis, Mercy is the fifth largest Catholic health system in the US, consisting of 46 hospitals, over 700 clinics, and 40,000 co-workers across Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. The system also has outreach ministries in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Mercy was founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1986, and today, Mercy is the only health system that is solely sponsored by the Religious Sisters of Mercy. For system-level exposure, I travel to Oklahoma City every other week with my preceptor, Lori Wightman, President of Mercy Hospital Ada. There, we meet with other senior leaders of the West region to discuss broad system-level challenges and opportunities, and from these meetings, I have gained great insight into the inner-workings of a large health system.   At Mercy Hospi

By: Bryson Kruthoff Greetings and Salutations from the ‘Burgh, At the time of this blog entry, I have just started the third week of my summer internship at UPMC in the Heart and Vascular Institute (HVI). Though I have only been here a short amount of time, I have had a great opportunity to contextualize much of what we learned in class, and my projects will certainly lead to a better understanding of new and difficult concepts. Although my internship is through the Physician Services Division (PSD), UPMC is making strides toward a collaborative care model through service line integration, and at this point in time, HVI is one of the more developed service lines in the organization. This model has allowed me to learn more about not only practice management, but also how a large health care organization can foster successful care coordination through multi-specialty collaboration.  A couple of my projects are specifically related to this this idea of collaboration. First, I a

By: Matt Belanger I feel very fortunate to be an Administrative Intern at NorthShore University HealthSystem. NorthShore is a four hospital health system that lies just north of Chicago, IL. With nearly 1,000 physicians in the NorthShore Medical Group and a strong Research Institute to complement the hospitals, there is no shortage of opportunities. I have a wide range of projects that allow me to travel throughout the system and truly learn about the market firsthand. It is a great time to be here, as NorthShore and Advocate Health Care are currently waiting for the Federal Trade Commission to rule on their merger proposal. Learning about the consolidation process has been invaluable, especially as it becomes more prevalent across the entire healthcare industry. Sean O’Grady, President at Glenbrook Hospital, is an alumnus of the University of Iowa MHA program. He has done a phenomenal job helping me feel welcome as a new intern. Through nearly four weeks, I have met with lead