HPA Student Internships: Summer 2014
Jessica Ahuja interned at Artemis Hospital in India. As a case manager for
international patients, Ms. Ahuja managed and coordinated the flow of patients from
Oman and Uzbekistan. She handled medical inquiries and acted as a mediator for her
patients. Additionally, Ms. Ahuja used her Six Sigma tools to successfully reduce the
patient discharge processing time.
Cyndy Cole interned with the Washington State Department of Health’s Office of the
Secretary this summer, in a department overseeing performance management, quality
improvement and strategic planning. Some of public health’s core roles are
undergoing significant change after the Affordable Care Act. Cyndy assisted in
redesigning dashboards showing performance matrices as well as processimprovement projects.
Katherine Hirchak interned at White Buffalo Recovery Center on the Wind River
Indian Reservation in Wyoming. Her projects included writing program Policy and
Procedure and integrating Arapaho culture and world-view into operations. Ms.
Hirchak also worked to improve the revenue cycle and billing process.
Sahana Ingale interned at Seattle Children's Bellevue Clinic and Surgery Center. Her
internship focused strongly on lean management and operations of the ambulatory
surgery center. She directed an improvement process for the dermatology clinic using
lean six sigma tools which resulted in a 50% reduction of clinic delays. Ms. Ingale also
developed operational dashboards and a surgeon scorecard for mapping the
performance metrics of the center.
Tejal Kulkarni interned at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, Washington,
working with the Process and Quality Improvement team. She facilitated and
presented Project Team and Steering Committee meetings, conducted data analysis,
took the lead with process improvement recommendations & implementation, and
developed a communication plan to facilitate the project team through change
management.
Gary Swan interned at Lincoln Hospital in Davenport, Washington. He developed a
business proposal for a home health service for the vulnerable adult population of
Lincoln County. The underlying notion was to wrap this population with remote
monitoring services to keep them in their home. This would facilitate PCP care
through the various care transitions and offset cost by spending long-term monies
upfront. This concept is under consideration for several million dollars in grants by the
Critical Access Health Network.
HPA Student Internships: Summer 2014
Valerie Kurbis interned at Shriners Hospital for Children in Spokane, working in
the Performance Improvement Department. Ms. Kurbis worked on a business
feasibility plan that included finance and volume metrics. Her other project was to
create and implement department scorecards that align with the hospital’s strategic
plan.
Rosalind Loren interned in Employee Health and Wellness at Kootenai Health in
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. She assisted with the strategy and design for the hospital
structure, the strategy implementation process, and the evaluation metrics of a new
employee benefit.
Nicholas Malos interned at Legacy Health System in Oregon. He developed
policies and procedures for various Revenue Cycle departments as well as a
process flow map for the entire Revenue Cycle process for Medicare and
commercial payers. Additionally, Mr. Malos developed a process flow map to
spotlight the gaps in the State of Oregon Long Term Care patients that have a short
timely filing window.
Jamason Schmidt interned at Benefits Health System in the Heart and Vascular
Institute. He was involved in the day-to-day operations, assisting in analyzing the
biweekly financials for centralized scheduling. Mr. Schmidt also assisted in a
business write-up plan, including a Green Belt project to add more room to the
ICU and working with the ER to identify ways to decrease door to balloon time,
and thus improve quality.
Valerie Simonova interned at Spokane Eye Clinic. She implemented process
improvement initiatives for scheduling triage appointments. The Spokane Eye
Clinic is currently working on measuring the effectiveness of these initiatives.
Brycen Taylor interned at Lincoln Hospital in Davenport, WA. He implemented a
point-of-service program with the hospital to lower bad debt and increase cash
flow. This included staff training on how to collect upfront cash, patient letters,
and new policies and procedures. Additionally, Mr. Taylor updated all job
descriptions throughout the hospital to be current with the healthcare industry.
HPA Student Internships: Summer 2014
Jason Tordale interned at Spokane VA Hospital doing a project with the pharmacy on the
Opioid Initiative. Mr. Tordale also interned at St. Luke's Rehabilitation Hospital working
with Quality Control.
Israel Vidales interned at Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic at their two Spokane clinics,
Spokane Falls Family Clinic and Riverstone Family Clinic. He worked with the Dental
Leadership team on improving patient wait time for the Dental office. He also worked with
the Medical Leadership team as they developed their new OB Clinic at West Central
Community Center.
Sheetal Wadhwa interned at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle. She worked with the
system director on deployment of Smart IV Infusion Pumps as well as developing a Pathway
to Excellence application for the Ballard Hospital. Additionally, she contributed to the
supply chain implementation process.
Daniel Walker interned at Franciscan Health, Tacoma. He was assigned to a hospital
president to assist in developing several business plans for the neuroscience service line, as
well as the nephrology and sleep programs. Additionally, Mr. Walker achieved exposure to
various projects such as ambulatory care, a Critical Access Hospital, and service line and
system initiatives.
Jared Williams interned at Dignity Health Facility in Phoenix, AZ. His primary project was
to develop a complete business plan for an advanced cardiovascular service. He performed
market assessments, financial analyses, and led discussions on key items with senior
executives and physicians. The proposal was approved and the hospital is moving forward
with the project.