University of Iowa Health Management & Policy

Greetings from Cedar Rapids! As I write this post, I am glancing back upon my incredible summer internship at UnityPoint Health - St. Luke's Hospital. A little fun fact about St. Luke's Hospital is that nearly ten alumni from the Iowa MHA program work in this region. I wanted to be able to draw from their career experiences and be able to put them towards mine. My direct preceptor, Joe Linn (MHA' 85), the Vice President of Human Resources & Operations, offers insights into the complexity of the healthcare industry.  UnityPoint Health as a system (UPH Hospitals, UPH Clinics, and UPH @ Home) provides care to metropolitan and rural areas across Iowa, western Illinois, and southern Wisconsin. St. Luke's Hospital prides itself on caring for the community for more than 139 years with the latest technology and innovation and best of the best providers for the patients served. Their guiding mission in everyday function is to give " the   healthcare we'd like our lo...

Hello from Portland, Oregon! This summer, I had the opportunity to be an administrative intern at Oregon Health Science University (OHSU). OHSU is Oregon’s only academic medical center, consisting of 576 licensed beds across their main hospital as well the Doernbecher Children’s hospital. A fun fact: OHSU is Portland’s largest employer and statewide economic powerhouse involving their operations through their multiple campuses and clinics across Oregon including their state-of-the-art research facilities such as the Knight Cancer Research Building. I had the honor to be working within the Pre-Operative Medicine Clinic, specifically the Endoscopy Department under the mentorship of Kristen Lund (OR and Procedural Scheduling Manager), Meagan Schuette (Director of Multispecialty Procedure Unit) and Emily Huber (Senior Performance Improvement Consultant).  When I had first arrived at OHSU, I was familiarized with the outline of the ENDO 2.0 Project which entails the different projects t...

Sounding off from Iowa City! This summer I was given the opportunity to work with Heather Kingston in the office of Health Systems Implementation. I joined the “Awesome Team” that was indeed just that. All seven of them (hopefully more by now) were incredibly kind and willing to take time to answer any and all questions I had. The work environment was relaxed and Heather was a great preceptor who has a wealth of project management knowledge. She is coming back to healthcare after working with Microsoft for nearly four years, and is able to provide a unique perspective that is very insightful. If you are torn between traditional career paths and opportunities outside of them, she can speak to them quite well. My time at UIHC and in the HSIO office specifically, introduced me to a number of new concepts and gave me the chance to learn about a piece of healthcare management that is very specific and not included in our program’s curriculum. Their objective is to turn the vision of UI heal...

Hello from Decorah, Iowa! This summer I have had the amazing opportunity to serve as the graduate administrative intern for Winneshiek Medical Center (WMC). WMC is Iowa’s second largest critical access hospital, and larger than a lot of non-critical access hospitals, with a bed capacity of 25 in patients. Located in the northeastern region of Iowa, about an hour south of Rochester, MN, this area is truly a slice of heaven. In 2005, WMC signed a management and professional services agreement with Mayo Clinic, making WMC a Mayo affiliate hospital within their Health System. With an active medical staff of over 40 Mayo employees and 500 WMC employees, WMC is the largest and most specialized hospital in the region.   From day one, the entire organization has kindly welcomed and incorporated me in many of their discussions around key service line expansion, regional growth, and many other topics. My preceptor Steve Slessor, Chief Administrative Officer, was amazing at finding me a...

Hello from Salt Lake City! This summer, I had the pleasure of completing my administrative internship at the University of Utah Health. Located in the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains, the University of Utah Health Care (UUHC) is a fully comprehensive Academic Medical Center with 638 beds and is designated as a Level 1 Trauma Center. The University of Utah Health is the only university health care system in the state of Utah and provides patient care for the people of Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and much of Nevada. This summer, I spent my time working with Donna Roach, the Chief Information Officer (CIO), and her Information Technology Systems (ITS) team. Donna has a diverse background of being the CIO at other large health organizations and came to UUHC in 2020. With this background, she has brought many new innovative ideas which have made great changes and also been very interesting to see carried out.  Upon arriving to Utah, Donna tasked me to get familiar with UUHC’s long...

Hello from Chicago! This summer, I completed a 10-week internship with Deloitte Consulting as a Summer Associate. I was aligned to the Chicago office and moved to the city for the summer. Fortunately, I was able to find an apartment less than 20 minutes from the office which was amazing. I also was able to bring my dog (Cam) with me this summer, so he was able to experience big city living too! Not only was I able to grow in my professional growth this summer by networking and through client work but I was also able to make new friends and explore a new city.  The project I was staffed on this summer was a Medicare Advantage Assessment for a large health plan organization. For the past 3 to 5 years, the health plan has stagnated in their member acquisition and retention, ultimately slowing their overall growth and profit. The client came to Deloitte to do a deep dive into their processes, data and overall organization to help them understand where their offerings are coming up shor...

Hello from Eau Claire, Wisconsin! This summer I have the privilege of being in the Mayo Clinic Administrative Internship Program and am based out of the Mayo Clinic Health System (MCHS) in Eau Claire, WI. This site is a 300-bed hospital located in Northwest Wisconsin (NWWI) that oversees four critical access hospitals in surrounding towns, has strategic priorities that align with the enterprise’s Bold. Forward. Initiative, and oversees numerous primary care and clinic spaces throughout NWWI. I am entering my final week of the internship and could not have asked for a better or more enriching experience.  The Mayo Clinic Administrative Internship Program is a cohort-based model that allows interns across all sites to engage in virtual site visits of all Mayo Clinic locations, Meet & Greets with local and national Mayo Clinic leaders, Lunch & Learns with executive officers, and the program also pairs interns with mentors across the nation. Interns who are in the Midwest also ...

Hello from a stone’s throw! This summer, I have had the opportunity to intern at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, with my preceptor being Pam Johnson-Carlson, Chief Administrative Officer. Pam oversees all initiatives and implementations regarding the Children’s Hospital, Women’s Services and the Center for Disabilities and Development. Pam gave me the ability to explore my interests by connecting me with leaders around the organization such as Tami Pollari, Director of Patient and Family Centered Services. They allowed me to assist on multiple projects during the 10-week span which included a facility dog program, sibling visitation guidelines, a workplace violence playbook, and auditing and updating family spaces. Of the many meetings I was fortunate enough to attend this summer, I found three to be of exceptional value to my learning experience. The Stead Family Children’s Daily Safety Brief occurs each morning reporting incidents that occurred in the 24 hour...

Hi from Kansas City! I’ve been lucky enough to intern at Overland Park Regional Medical Center, an HCA Midwest hospital about 30 minutes west of downtown KC. Overland Park Regional is licensed for 351 beds and is the only Level I Trauma Center in Jackson County. We are known for exceptional cardiovascular care and women’s & children’s services. From my first day on the job, I have been greeted with open-armed individuals eager to get to know me, teach me, and welcome me into their community. During my internship, I’ve learned something new (or 10) every single day. My preceptors, Nisha Mills, the VP of Operations and Cory Mead, the COO, have done the most amazing job of throwing me in the fire and trusting me to take on projects. I have had the opportunity to serve on numerous committees that reach all corners of the hospital, put on a hospital-wide educational event, be a part of $30 million dollars’ worth of construction meetings, buy a new security car, put on a leadership event...

Hello from Iowa City! This summer I have had the great pleasure to work as the administrative intern for UI Healthcare with the Financial & Accounting Services. Beth Jaggers who is the Senior Director of Decision Support and Population, has been an amazing preceptor and mentor. During this time, I have also had the amazing opportunity to learn from 5 other senior directors who I also report to. This internship has given me lots of experience in decision support, budgeting, revenue integrity, accounting, and population health. Beth created a list of projects to allow my classmate Eric and myself to hit the ground running day one by giving us the autonomy to select projects that best fit our interests. I have had the privilege of working on many projects throughout the summer which some will continue through the school year. A few of those projects have been to research best practices and help implement HCC coding, understand and implement a more efficient procurement process for...

Hello from Iowa City! I’ve been spending my summer interning with the Office of Statewide Clinical Education Programs (OSCEP). OSCEP is within the Carver College of Medicine and serves to develop and coordinate collegiate outreach programs for medical education and community service. My internship takes place in the Community Service Division of OSCEP. I have really enjoyed working with my preceptor Lynette Lancial and my co-intern, Jenah McCarty. Lynette is an alum of the Iowa MHA program and Jenah is an incoming first year MHA student and second year MPH. We have been hard at work on the Iowa Directory of Practice Opportunities, which will be made available for physicians and advanced practice providers looking to practice in Iowa. Currently, we have been communicating with CEOs, administrators, and recruiters across the state to determine current physician workforce needs. Apart from the opportunities directories project, I have been able to sit in on physician contract reviews. I...