University of Iowa Health Management & Policy

By: Zach Ahrens (MHA '19) Greetings from Iowa City! This summer I had the opportunity to intern at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC). This 5.5+ million square foot facility is home to 811 hospital beds, and annually admits more than 36,000 patients and receives more than 60,000 emergency room visits. UIHC employs roughly 1,648 physicians, dentists, residents, and fellows, in addition to over 9,900 non-physician staff members, 2,300 nurses and 1,400 volunteers. All working together to provide world class health care to the residents of Iowa. During my internship, I had the distinct pleasure of having Dr. Theresa Brennan, the Chief Medical Office (CMO) of UIHC, as my preceptor. I have been able to work closely with Dr. Brennan on data-driven projects that focus on a wide variety of populations such as palliative care patients and the physicians that work for UIHC. Additionally, since Dr. Brennan is a board-certified Interventional Cardiologist, I have shad...

By: Mackenzie Schutz (MHA '19) Hello from Minnesota! This summer has offered me a unique and truly valuable opportunity to return to my home town community to experience the challenges and opportunities of rural healthcare delivery.   New Ulm Medical Center (NUMC), a part of Allina Health, is a non-profit hospital and clinic striving to be a national model for rural healthcare. Being part of a larger system allows the medical center the opportunity to realize additional opportunities for cost savings, expertise, and standardization when appropriate.  This summer I am under the direction of NUMC President, Toby Freier; however, I am fortunate to have access to the expertise, talent, and leadership skills of all members of the administrative staff. The immense amount of hard work and resilience throughout the organization has established for me many admirable leadership skills and qualities I desire to emulate as a young careerist and beyond.  Although small...

By: Brayden Longnecker (MHA '19) Interstate-380 and I have become very good friends this summer as I’ve traveled many miles back and forth from Iowa City to UnityPoint Health – St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids. UnityPoint Health (UPH), St. Luke’s is part of a system that employs more than 34,000 and operates 37 hospitals of varying sizes. About a dozen Iowa MHA graduates work for UPH in Cedar Rapids and I’ve had the opportunity to meet with many of them. Joe Kim (MHA ’17) has an office just two doors down from mine and he’s been a great resource. The team here at St. Luke’s has been incredibly welcoming and supportive of having an intern around for which I am very grateful.  My time at work has been a combination of observation and project work. My preceptor, Joe Linn, VP of Operations, expressed to me the value of watching leaders in action as well as working on projects. He oversees seven functional areas including Behavioral Health and Human Resources which are b...

By: Marisa Polonsky (MHA '19) Greetings from Boston! I have been incredibly lucky to spend my summer as an administrative intern at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), which is currently ranked #4 in the US News and World Report Best Hospitals Honor Roll. It is nationally ranked in 16 adult and 3 pediatric specialties. Established in 1811, the MGH is the third oldest general hospital in the country and the site of many historic achievements. These include the first public demonstration of anesthesia (in 1846) and first medical social service (established in 1905). Along with Brigham and Women’s Hospital and several other institutions, the MGH is part of the Partners HealthCare system.  This summer my project work has been focused in the Pathology Department under the guidance of my preceptor Jeannette Le, Director of Laboratory Medicine Operations. I have also received guidance from Bill Hynes, Executive Director, MGH Pathology Service. My projects have focused on bil...

By: Ashley Holstun (MHA '19)  Greetings from America’s Dairyland! I am spending my summer at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin (CHW) in Milwaukee. I am very fortunate to be under the direction of my preceptor, Scott Turner, COO (MA ’97). CHW is a private, independent, non-profit health care system dedicated solely to caring for pediatric patients and their families. At our Milwaukee hospital we have 298 beds and are considered a Level 1 Trauma Center. Our hospital located in Fox Valley currently has 42 beds, 22 of which are for NICU babies. Although we are an independent system, we are a major teaching affiliate of the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW). We also have several “care closer to home” sites including 25 primary care clinics, 16 behavioral health care locations, and an outpatient surgery center. CHW is heavily involved in the community with 25 community services locations helping to advance our mission of making Wisconsin kids the healthiest in the nation....

By: Loralyn Werkmeister (MHA/MBA, 2019) This summer I’ve had the pleasure of interning with MediRevv, here in Coralville, Iowa. MediRevv is a revenue cycle management company that helps healthcare organizations across the United States improve cash flow and grow revenue. Through its wide array of service lines such as full business office outsourcing, insurance and patient pay A/R follow up, and medical coding services, MediRevv serves as a valued partner to academic medical centers, physician groups, and local community hospitals alike. MediRevv is in its 11 th  year of operation and was recently named the Corridor Business Journal’s 11 th  Fastest Growing Company!  There are many sayings at MediRevv, including that of Work Hard, Play Hard. And you know they mean it when it’s printed on the lanyards staff wear with their badges every day! My time with MediRevv has been just that- I’ve worked hard, and I’ve played hard. I’ve been fortunate to shadow and work with m...

By: Ellie Keuter (MHA '19) Hello from Iowa City! I am spending my summer with University of Iowa Community Clinics, which is part of University of Iowa Physicians.  University of Iowa Community Clinics manages five UI QuickCare clinics and four family medicine clinics located in Iowa City and the surrounding area. UICC also oversees pediatric clinics in Cedar Rapids and North Liberty, dermatology offices in Cedar Rapids and Davenport, and obstetrics and gynecology services in Davenport. UICC also coordinates outreach clinics across the state of Iowa and beyond for several specialties, including pediatrics, internal medicine, ophthalmology, and behavioral health.  I have had the unique opportunity to assist the offsite clinics with a transition from the separate entity UI Community Medical Services to UI Health Care. Over 180 employees made the transition on June 29 th , and I got to learn a lot about the planning and coordination it took for team members to le...

B y: Ryan Tinnes (MHA '19) Greetings from Grinnell! UnityPoint Health ® -Grinnell Regional Medical Center (GRMC) has quite a long name and an even longer history of providing excellent care to east central Iowans. What started off as an eight-bed private hospital in 1901 has evolved to become the 49-bed Center of Excellence we see today. The medical center offers a wide range of services encompassing everything from walk-in care to surgery. Staff are especially proud of their MBSAQIP Accredited Comprehensive and Adolescent Center, the first and only bariatric center of its kind in the state. The hospital’s da Vinci Surgical System allows it to serve as a leader in robotic surgery.  While the hospital has been hosting University of Iowa MHA student interns for 20 years, I am certain the ongoing integration with UnityPoint Health ® -Des Moines has made my experience unlike any of those in the past. I am fortunate to be under the guidance of Kyle Wilcox (MHA ‘11). I admi...

By: Ryan O'Malley (MHA '19) Kaiser Permanente is an organization that consists of three branches. The Kaiser Health Plans (Which I am employed), Kaiser Family Hospitals and Permanente Medical Groups. Kaiser works very differently than other health care organizations because the payer and provider are all under the same umbrella. Kaiser Permanente spans 10 states mostly in the west, but also Georgia, Maryland, DC and Virginia. I work in a Kaiser Health Plan office in IT Process Consulting.  My work consists of analyzing data from a recently gone live IT ticketing system called ServiceNow and helping with developing IT processes for service continuity. I also worked on a project to match warning incident signs with possible user restoration server failures. The internship program also consists of weekly meetings with other interns and a tour of the Kaiser innovation center this week.  Working for the Kaiser Health Plan is interesting because it is the branch that bind...

By Jonathan Ortega (MHA '19)  Greetings from The Windy City! I have spent the past six weeks living minutes away from the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field in the beautiful neighborhood of Lakeview, and I have not been disappointed. This summer I have been able to intern at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, located on the North Side of Chicago. Illinois Masonic Medical Center is a 397 bed facility and is one of only four Level I Trauma Centers in the city of Chicago. They hold a spot on Watson Health’s 2018 100 Top Hospitals list, awarded Magnet Recognition since 2008, and recognized as leaders in LGBTQ Health Equality by the Human Rights Campaign since 2011. As a system, Advocate Health Care is a faith based, not-for-profit health system that is the largest in Illinois. Advocate recently merged with Wisconsin based Aurora Health Care to become the 10 th  largest not-for-profit health system in the country.  I am fortunate to be interning under the super...