School’s HPM team places third in national health administration case competition
| February 28, 2011 | |
(L-R) Emily Stallings, Andy Wilkinson, UAB presenter and Nathan Barbo pose during the case competition award ceremony.
Nathan Barbo, Emily Stallings and Andy Wilkinson, graduate students in health policy and management at UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, won third prize at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s annual health care case competition on Feb. 17. A total of 29 teams participated in the event. University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System sponsored the competition, which awarded cash prizes to the top three teams selected by a panel of 13 nationally recognized health-administration professional judges.
First held in 2007, the case competition provides students with the opportunity to present recommendations about a health management issue to a national panel of judges. It is designed to be a capstone experience that tests students’ analytic, teamwork, communication and presentation skills and offers the opportunity to apply skills to a real-life case.
This year’s case study was based on the move toward an accountable care organization (ACO) at Memorial Hermann Healthcare System in Houston, Texas.
Teams had three weeks to prepare a comprehensive analysis and develop a set of practical recommendations in the areas of leadership, staffing issues, operational efficiency, design challenges, finance and marketing.
“A major advantage for our team was that each member brought various areas of expertise, contributing to a well-rounded approach. This was crucial to our success because it allowed us to speak confidently during our respective portions of the presentation,” Barbo said.
Wilkinson agreed. “We drew on nearly every core class to develop our recommendations,” she said. “We wouldn’t have been as successful without the knowledge and skills developed throughout the MHA program.”
“I came out of the competition with new skills and knowledge that I know I will use in the future,” Stallings said. “I know ACO is a buzzword in the field right now, and I feel confident I could hold my own with any expert or professional.”
“The UAB competition is a wonderful opportunity to apply what our students are learning in the classroom at UNC and apply their knowledge to a real-life health care case study,” said Peggy Leatt, PhD, professor and chair in the Department of Health Policy and Management and associate dean for academic affairs at the School. “We are very proud of our team,” she added.
First-time entrants from Baruch College in New York, N.Y., took first place in the event, and The University of Central Florida placed second. Remaining finalists included Johns Hopkins University, George Washington University and Pennsylvania University.
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, director of communications, (919) 966-7467 or ramona_dubose@unc.edu. |
