Justin Chien, OhioHealth (MHA '25)

Hello from Columbus, Ohio! 

This summer I had the opportunity to be an administrative resident at OhioHealth within the OhioHealth Physician Group (OPG) Operations Acute Care. I am in the Blom Administrative Campus (BAC) which is our corporate offices, but my department oversees 11 care sites around central and north Ohio with about 300 employed physicians and over 1,000 external physicians and Advanced Practicing Providers (APPs). OhioHealth is in the process of building 2 new inpatient towers, building a new care site, and acquiring a community hospital. 

My amazing preceptor recently transitioned roles from the Director of Hospital Medicine Services to Senior Director of the Acute Care service line. She has been with OhioHealth for the past 2 years. Before joining OhioHealth, she was an administrator at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Cleveland Clinic where she had completed her administrative fellowship. She has allowed me to be exposed to multiple areas within OPG and the organization. I have been included in multiple executive meetings at different care sites as well as on our administrative campus. 

Right now, I am working on a variety of projects which are vital to our organization. One of my projects is creating a foundation for a Hospital-at-Home venture. There is a patient population group that can have higher patient satisfaction and better quality of care from their home. This also allows there to be more beds available at our care sites, so I am analyzing multiple potential partners and creating benchmark data. First, I am creating a definition of the scope of the project and what would be the most beneficial to our community and organization. This data will be used to create initial evaluations and conversations about potential partnerships in the future. Additional projects I am working on are new APP compensation models, analysis of a Pulmonary Function Testing (PFT) lab, a float pool for both physicians and APPs, expanding shell space at a care site, and more. These projects have been pushing my knowledge and have allowed me to learn valuable skills that are needed to be an efficient administrator and leader.

Other than the projects I have been working on, I have had the ability to observe senior leadership meetings at our various care sites, attend the Ohio Hospital Association’s annual conference and other leadership development opportunities, shadowing in the ED and protective services, and engaging in meet and greets across different departments. This has created a well-rounded experience of both clinical and non-clinical learning opportunities. There have also been various events that I have been able to attend like the EMS appreciation weeks’ BBQ and various graduations from leadership trainings which has been a great networking opportunity.

Outside of work, I have been able to explore the city of Columbus with the other OhioHealth residents and The Ohio State University MHA’s that have internships outside of OhioHealth. I attended an art festival, and a private fundraiser at the Columbus Zoo, playing a lot of golf, and exploring the vast variety of restaurants offered in Columbus. I am at the halfway point of my internship which has been filled with exciting activities and amazing people. I am thankful for the experience I have had so far, and I am ready to continue learning the rest of the summer and bring it with me throughout my career.