Johanna Knutson (MHA '23): Winneshiek Medical Center

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 variety of projects to work on to give me as big of a picture as possible into what my future life could be! I have had the opportunity to be a member of all of the largest committees of the hospital, be a part of a $50 million expansion project, round with the CNO, watch numerous surgeries, attend golf tournaments with regional CEO’s on behalf of the hospital, help interview and select a new Director of Radiology, coordinate our parade entry in the local parade, and actively participate in community engagement through volunteering. 

As for my project work you might ask? Well, I have been very busy this summer with my 10 projects. My biggest project this summer, is one that I cannot tell you exactly what it is for, but I can tell you what I did. I was tasked with doing a proforma (financial analysis) and business plan for a new service line, this is the first initial analysis that has been done for it. This project has been a huge undertaking for me because Steve has me going into grave detail for each of the components. For the analysis, I have been in meetings by myself with architects to talk about building designs and costs, talked with insurance agencies, learned a lot about revenue cycle and financial analysis, and talked with other CEO’s around the region to gather baseline information from other organizations doing something similar. This project will be wrapping up in my last week and I will be presenting it to our leadership in my final days. As for my other projects, I have done an analysis of purchasing and using solar power, exam room utilization analysis, prepared a business plan for starting a valet service, creating and implementing a survey to give to patients who present to WMC by ambulance since Press Ganey does not survey this service line, and worked with Environmental Services staff within the hospital to create process improvements. 

A day in the life of my internship varied vastly by the days, but I wanted to highlight typically what a day looks like! I usually started my mornings anywhere from 7am to 8am with meetings. The morning meetings usually wrap up around 8:30 am and then huddles start at 9 and there are 3 huddles every morning. First huddle is the Operations Administrator’s which is all of his directors, some of which are Director of Maintenance, Director of Practice Operations, Director of IT, Director of Nutrition Services, etc.. The second huddle is the CNO’s huddle, which consists of all her direct reports, including Director of OB, Director of Surgery, Director of MedSurg, etc.. The last huddle is the administrative huddle, consisting of CAO, CNO, Operations Administrator, CFO, etc.. After huddles, my days can usually consist of usually 3-4 meetings scattered throughout the day and then the time in between is spent in my office working on project work. My days usually wrapped up around 5-5:30, sometimes after 6pm depending on my workload and the number of meetings I had that day. 

Outside of my time at the hospital, I have spent much of my time exploring Decorah or back home in Amery, WI with my family. Decorah is known for its biking/walking trails, hiking trails, camping, fishing and scenic beauty! You could usually find me walking the streets downtown, hiking the trails, spending time with my friend Jane or catching up on much needed me time on the weekends. Nordic Fest is always a big crowd draw for Decorah and this year I got to experience my first one. I got to try a variety of Norwegian foods and even ate a giant pork chop on a stick (hands down the best thing I have eaten in a long time). I have also been fortunate enough to be a part of a few golf tournaments this summer on behalf of WMC around the Decorah area and for the Iowa Hospital Association! 

I am sad about having to leave my life here in Decorah, but I will be back because Decorah will always have a spot in my heart. I am excited to be going back to Iowa City again in a few days to begin the last year of school and reconnect with everyone again!

*A Note From The Editor*

If you would like to keep up with Johanna, you can find her here on LinkedIn!