MHANEWS
Master of Health Administration WINTER 2016
Meet the Class of 2017 Twenty-one new students joined the residential M.H.A. program this fall. Eight of these students are part of the integrated five-year B.S./M.H.A. program. Four are graduates of other programs at Penn State, including Kinesiology, Biology, Pre-medicine, and Biobehavioral Health. Other students come from the following colleges and universities in the United States: Earlham College, The University of New Mexico, Grinnell College, Brigham Young University-Idaho, University of Illinois-Chicago, and Elizabethtown College. We are also pleased to welcome two international students from Zeijiang University in China and Dr. NTR University of Health Sciences in India. We are confident that the diversity of our students will continue to be a great asset to our program.
Placement Success for the Class of 2015 One-hundred percent of the graduates of the Class of 2015 were placed before their graduation in May. Eleven graduates are pursuing administrative fellowships at these organizations: • • • • • • • • • •
University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics St. Clair Hospital Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals JPS Health Network Massachusetts General Physician Organization SSM Health, Guthrie Clinic Sharp HealthCare Mercy Health Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
Three graduates have secured full-time employment at UnitedHealth Group, Business Analyst, Technology Development Program; UPMC Presbyterian, Practice Manager, Thomas E. Starzl Transplant Institute; and Mount Nittany Health, Decision Support Analyst.
Master of Health Administration | hhd.psu.edu/hpa/mha
ANNUAL STANLEY P. MAYERS ENDOWED LECTURE
MHA ALUMNI PRESENTED 2015 STANLEY P. MAYERS ENDOWED LECTURE Eugene “Gene” Antonio Woods ’87 HPA, ’91g MBA, ’93g MHA, FACHE presented this year’s Mayers Lecture. His topic was “Population Health and Transformation of Care Delivery Models.” Gene is the president and chief operating officer of CHRISTUS Health based in Irving, Texas. He is responsible for overseeing acute, post-acute, and international operations for all of CHRISTUS Health’s regions in the United States, Mexico, and Chile. Additionally, he is responsible for health plan operations and population health. CHRISTUS is a $5 billion health system with more than forty hospitals and long-term care facilities, 175 clinics and outpatient centers, and 30,000 associates. The lecture can be viewed using the following link: bit.ly/1MC5xlc
Sorrell King named 2016 Stanley P. Mayers Endowed Lecturer Sorrel King, whose 18-month-old daughter died from medical errors, will discuss her efforts to create a culture of patient safety as part of her April 13, 2016, lecture. For more information visit: hhd.psu.edu/hpa/Mayers-Lecture
Our Story/Derek Hartman Derek Hartman never would have envisioned leaving Idaho with his pregnant wife to earn a master’s degree in health administration at Penn State while assisting a rural Pennsylvania hospital with operations.
management classes. It was interesting. It was fun,” Hartman said.
Hartman wanted to be an architect. That was the goal for most of his life. When he enrolled at Brigham Young University-Idaho, selecting construction management as his undergraduate major was a no-brainer. There was just one problem.
Hartman selected Penn State without ever stepping foot onto University Park campus. That’s because a visit to BYU-Idaho by Jonathan Clark, executive director of Penn State’s Master of Health Administration program, turned out to be all of the convincing he needed.
ourstory/ “It turns out I didn’t like it at all,” Hartman said. Seeing Hartman struggle with his career choice, a friend studying health care policy at BYU-Idaho, along with a family friend already working in health care administration, shared with Hartman the exciting aspects of the field. Soon he was enrolled in an introductory course. “It was just a stark difference between how I felt in construction
Department of Health Policy and Administration
As graduation neared at BYU-Idaho, Hartman began looking at graduate school opportunities, including Penn State, Washington State, the University of Colorado and the University of Minnesota.
“The visit was personal, passionate and engaging. He described the Penn State program and culture in a way that made me excited,” Hartman said. In August 2014, Hartman drove a U-Haul to Central Pennsylvania as his wife, Taylor, who was seven months pregnant, and his mother-in-law followed behind. Just a few weeks into his first semester, on Nov. 4, their son Hyde was born. Hartman now balances being a husband, father and student all at once, while also completing a graduate assistantship at Tyrone Hospital through the Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health. Hartman will graduate in May 2016 and has accepted an administrative fellowship with Dignity Health in California.
PENN STATE TO OFFER JOINT DEGREE IN LAW AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION Penn State will offer a new joint degree program that will provide students the opportunity to pursue degrees in law and health administration, preparing them for compliance, legal, policy, and regulatory careers in the health care field.
Students prepared in this dual career program will have a distinct advantage for understanding this new landscape and helping to shape it as it evolves,” said Christopher Calkins, executive director of the in-residence and online M.H.A. programs.
Administered jointly between the College of Health and Human Development and Penn State Law, the new program allows students to earn a juris doctor (J.D.) and a master of health administration (M.H.A.) degree in just four years.
Capitalizing on the University’s strengths in law and health care administration, the joint degree program was born out of the desire of a current Penn State Law student to pursue both degrees.
“The increasing complexity of health care policy is creating a rapidly growing demand for legal professionals who have a firm understanding of the unique challenges presented by health care regulations, payment structures, and liabilities,” said James W. Houck, interim dean of Penn State Law. “The joint J.D./M.H.A. program will allow Penn State Law students to take advantage of Penn State’s strength in health administration by conveniently pursuing a master’s degree just steps from the law school in University Park.”
Second-year law student Theresa DeAngelis earned her bachelor’s degree in health policy and administration from Penn State in May 2014, and had her sights set on law school since her first year as an undergraduate. After completing an administrative internship at Mount Nittany Health, DeAngelis knew she wanted to work in the health care field and began exploring the M.H.A. program.
Students interested in enrolling in the joint J.D./M.H.A. program must first be admitted to Penn State Law and spend year one completing the required first-year curriculum in the J.D. program before starting the M.H.A. component. In their second, third, and fourth years, students will complete a mix of degree requirements in both programs.
“My undergraduate career in the Health Policy and Administration program coincided with the passage and implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and my internship provided me with the opportunity to witness firsthand many aspects of health care affected by law and regulation,” DeAngelis said. “From new delivery models, to payment reform based on quality of care, health care reform catalyzed tremendous changes in care delivery affecting providers, payers, and patients. I suddenly saw a huge opportunity in this area.”
“Health care is highly regulated and as provider organizations merge and new systems and organizational forms are created, the law, policy, and regulatory agencies struggle to keep pace.
More information on the joint J.D./M.H.A. program can be found on the Penn State Law website: pennstatelaw.psu.edu/ jdmaster-health-administration-mha
Master of Health Administration | hhd.psu.edu/hpa/mha
CLASS OF 2010 REFLECTS ON CAREER GOALS “Where do you see yourself in five years?” Employers frequently raise this question during interviews with job applicants. An answer with forethought, planning, and calculation increases the likelihood career ambitions turn into reality. Recently, we posed this question to the MHA Class of 2010 to see where they are five years after graduation, and how it compares to the outlook they had five years ago. We’re happy to report that many graduates have met or exceeded the career goals they envisioned.
Lindsay Beatty Manager, Medicare Stars Program Highmark Inc. After graduation, Beatty completed a one-year administrative fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. From there, she worked at two consulting firms for the span of three years before joining Highmark where she manages the provider network for Medicare Stars, which measures the quality of care the insurers and their provider networks deliver.
“I wanted to affect change on a broad scale, given the many challenges we see in our healthcare delivery in the United States,” Beatty said. “Within the Stars Program at Highmark, I manage the provider network, which consists of approximately 3,800 providers and groups… It allows for widespread, transformational change across Central and Western Pennsylvania, as well as the entire state of West Virginia.”
Shane Flickinger Manager, Sterile Processing and Case Cart Department Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals Since 2010, Flickinger has changed job titles six times and organizations once. Three years ago, Flickinger earned his Lean Six Sigma certification after a mentor from his Administrative Fellowship encouraged him to obtain the certification due to increased industry demand to improve efficiency and quality, as well as reduce cost.
“I did not expect at this point in my career that I would have direct strategic and operational responsibility for a department of such magnitude this early in my career,” Flickinger said. “I currently oversee a budget of approximately $10 million with seventy-five employees at two different hospitals. My focus and additional training in Lean Six Sigma provided me with tremendous growth opportunity.”
Department of Health Policy and Administration
View all of the responses from the Class of 2010 here:
www.hhd.psu.edu/hpa/mha/mha-class-2010-reflections
Jessica Havern Senior Planning Manager, Health Care Transformation and Strategic Planning Johns Hopkins Medicine After graduation, Havern became an Administrative Fellow with Geisinger Health System where she was invited into projects with the Department of Strategy and Business Development. During her second year of the fellowship, she accepted a planning analyst position with the department. After her first year in the post, she was promoted to senior analyst and stayed in the role for another year before leaving for a senior planning manager role at Johns Hopkins.
“While I was exploring my interests, I thought I would end up in operations. Strategy work has been a great opportunity to continue to evaluate the health care system and organizations at a 30,000-foot view and understand the inter-connectivity and ripple effect of initiatives across the industry.”
Jeff Knorr Executive Administrator, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Women’s Health and Co-Chair, Women’s Health Service Line Upon completing the fellowship program, he became director of operations in the Department of Women’s Health, then assistant administrator, before being promoted to executive administrator, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Women’s Health and co-chair, Women’s Health Service Line.
“In 2010, I was very anxious to start my fellowship at UPMC. My expectation was to gain valuable experience through the fellowship and move into a management role upon completion of the program,” Knorr said. “Therefore, I would say that my expectations were quite close to reality!”
Master of Health Administration | hhd.psu.edu/hpa/mha
2015 MHA LEADERSHIP RETREAT
Above: James Packer, second year MHA student, discusses putting leadership values into action with first year students Geryn Ligator and Roie Rennert during the 2015 Leadership Retreat held at the C. Barton McCann School of Art during Orientation Week. Left: MHA students lead team building activities during the retreat.
Bottom: First and second year students share goals for the 2015-2016 year during the Leadership Retreat.
Department of Health Policy and Administration
12TH ANNUAL MHA SUMMER RESIDENCY PRESENTATION COMPETITION
Above: Award winners from left to right: • Amulya Khajuri, 4th place • Melissa Coate, 3rd place • James Packer, 2nd place • Cayla Meinert, 1st Place • Vikki Ulmer, 5th place Left: Blaise DeLuca presents on his residency at John Hopkins Children’s Center.
Derek Hartman presents on his summer residency at University Orthopedics.
STUDENT RECOGNITION Class of 2015 Student Awards Kevin Hawkins received the 2015 Leadership Award in recognition of his commitment to the MHA program’s values of integrity, empathy, leadership and innovation. The award was presented at a Pre-Commencement Celebration luncheon for the MHA Class of 2015 on May 10. In presenting the award, Jonathan Clark, then executive director of the MHA program, said, “Kevin embodies the values of the Penn State MHA program. He is characterized by empathy and kindness to others and a desire to use his talents to lift those around him to a higher place. We have seen that from him many times, both in his formal role as president of his class and in informal interactions with classmates and faculty. We are honored to have had him in our program and proud to name him as this year’s recipient of the MHA program leadership award.” Kevin is an administrative fellow at JPS Health Network in Fort Worth, Texas. Meredith Borst and Greg Angus were the joint recipients of the Foster G. McGaw Scholarship, which is awarded through the Association of University Programs in Health Administration to recognize the most outstanding students in graduate health administration programs throughout the country. Borst is an administrative fellow at St. Clair Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Angus is an administrative fellow at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics in Madison, Wisconsin.
Master of Health Administration | hhd.psu.edu/hpa/mha
Department of Health Policy and Administration The Pennsylvania State University 118 Keller Building University Park, PA 16802
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MESSAGE FROM CHRIS CALKINS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR It is my honor to begin serving as executive director of the residential MHA program at Penn State University. I will also continue as executive director of the online Master of Health Administration program, a collaboration between Penn State World Campus and the Department of Health Policy and Administration. Both programs are in excellent shape. The residential MHA program has seen a 30 percent growth in admissions over the last two cohorts. We welcomed twenty-one new students this fall. The online MHA program graduated our first cohort in December 2014 and welcomed thirty-three new students this fall. The caliber of our students is outstanding. Feedback from mentors, fellowship preceptors, employers, and others who engage with our students confirms our evaluation of the high-quality work they produce and the interpersonal skill and technical competency with which they produce that work. We are preparing students to enter the field during a period of great uncertainty and turbulence. In times of rapid change, foundational principles are essential. Our program values—integrity, empathy, leadership and innovation—are instilled across the curriculum, providing Penn State MHA graduates with the skills and the ethos to lead health care organizations that focus on serving the needs of their patients, caregivers, and communities.
MHA Alumni Mentoring Program Save the Date Friday, September 23, 2016 Mentoring Dinner The Nittany Lion Inn