Summer Internship: Sanford Health - Health Network

By: Tyler Ust (MHA '20)

I just finished week five of my administrative internship in Fargo, North Dakota for Sanford Health. Sanford Health is the largest rural healthcare provider in the United States and is classified as an integrated healthcare delivery system. Headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the organization has 44 hospitals, 482 clinics, 1,400 physicians, 50,000 employees and more than 200 Good Samaritan Society senior care locations in 26 states and nine countries. Sanford Health is focused on strategic growth and these numbers are growing everyday.

Just when I thought I had a comfortable grasp and good foundational knowledge built from working in healthcare and my first year in the MHA program, I came to the realization that the learning never stops. The benefit of being within a large healthcare system is that I’ve had resources at my disposal for the wide array of tasks and projects I have been exposed to. My work has been variable, fast-paced, but extremely rewarding for myself and the organization. Within Sanford Health, I am apart of the administrative team that operates the Health Network, which is all of the owned, managed, or affiliate hospitals and clinics that are in the upper Midwest.

This position has given me the best of both worlds, where I have been able to participate in the daily operations carried out in hospitals and clinics, as well as learn from the long-term strategic initiatives pursued by executives. If I am not bouncing from meetings, sitting-in on phone calls, networking with leaders, or shadowing different service lines, I am working on fulfilling projects. One of my projects has been to create a new mental health service line for substance use disorder. Another project I have been tasked with is finalizing a master facility plan for my hometown hospital to complete a multi-million-dollar renovation. These projects have heightened my community involvement, organization and communication skills, and financial and resource management.

Being back in my home state, I have capitalized on time away from work. I have been maximizing time with family, friends, and social events. I have had fun keeping busy with playing/watching sports, farming, movies, and concerts. My internship experience has already exceeded my expectations and I look forward to continuing to grow. I’m excited to start my last year of graduate school, catch up with my classmates, and meet the incoming first-year students.

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