Summer Internship: HealthPartners, Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital

By: Kelsie Ferstl (MHA '20)

Hello from Minneapolis!
Today marks the start of my eighth week at HealthPartners, Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital. I am over halfway through my internship experience and cannot believe how fast the time has gone!
HealthPartners is a large, integrated health system that serves over 1.2 million patients through 90+ clinics and hospitals in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Additionally, HealthPartners offers insurance in six states to 1.8 million members. Methodist Hospital is located on the southwest side of Minneapolis and is recognized as an area leader in cancer, cardiovascular and maternity care, and neurorehabilitation medicine.  Additionally, Methodist Hospital was recognized as a Watson Health Top 100 Hospital in 2019.
I have had the privilege of serving as the Operations Intern under the direction of the President of Methodist Hospital and Vice President of Home Care, Hospice, and Community Senior Care, Jennifer Myster. I am working on two main projects this summer, the first one being the development of a standardized clinician onboarding and orientation process between Regions Hospital and Methodist Hospital. This project has been an incredible opportunity to dive into Lean Methodology of process improvement, and develop crucial project management skills. Additionally, it allows me to work with leaders of our medical staff, clinician education team, and senior leaders at both hospitals.
The second large project is exploring the expansion of our inpatient integrative service line. Integrative therapies are widely requested among patients because they provide great comfort during their inpatient stay and have potential benefits for the hospital including shorter length of stay and increased patient experience scores. Through my work on this project I have had the opportunity to present to various groups of senior leaders, do some cost modeling, and develop a strategic plan for implementation.
I have been continuously impressed with the teams I get to work with and their commitment to being highly reliable. The promise of continued improvement to make healthcare more simple and affordable in engrained in the culture here and it has been an honor to be a team member at this organization. 
Outside of work I have been enjoying all that a Minnesota summer has to offer including camping in Grand Marais, running a half marathon in Duluth, spending time on the boat in Crosslake, and hiking with my chocolate lab, Copper. For the rest of the summer I plan to continue reading good books (I have a goal of 24 books in 2019) and spending weekends at the lake with family and friends.
I look forward to everything my remaining six weeks has to offer, and am excited to return to Iowa City with all of my classmates for our second year as MHA students!

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