Developed and Distributed by the OU Student Chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives
University of Oklahoma College of Public Health
APRIL 5TH , 2007
HAP Newsletter
VOLUME 2, ISSUE 1
Message from Mr. Steven Mattachione ,
Steven Mattachione, JD,
CPA, Assistant Professor,
Health Administration and
Policy
My first year as a full time member of the faculty has been enjoyable and
interesting. I have enjoyed the opportunity to teach full time and be on campus to meet
with
students on a daily basis. My time has been devoted to preparing for class, coordinating
the internship program, writing manuscripts for publication, developing presentations
for speaking engagements and completing other tasks as assigned.
This has been an opportunity for me to discuss with students various career
decisions and questions. I am always happy to share my experience and background, and
provide suggestions and recommendations as appropriate.
I have also had an opportunity to work with two HAP student teams in collegiate
case competitions. These team competitions have been a great way to work with students
on written and oral presentation skills. I believe that those skills are very important now
and throughout one's career.
I am looking forward to continuing to work with all the students. Please contact
me at any time if you have questions or would like to discuss internships, Practicum,
ATTENTION ALUMNI: WE
WOULD LIKE TO HEAR FROM
YOU! IF YOU HAVE UPDATED
CONTACT INFORMATION ,
PLEASE SEND VIA E-MAIL TO:
MHA Students Compete at National Case Competition
Parul Ajmani, Lindsey Harris, and Lindsey Mongold
recently competed in a competition in Birmingham, Alabama
sponsored by the University of Alabama Health System. The case
competition provided graduate students from fifteen different MHA
programs an opportunity to put what they have learned into practice
with a real-life, real-time case. The teams prepared executive
summaries with recommendations related to the construction of a
replacement pediatric hospital for a major health system in a
southwestern city. Participants developed their recommendations
based on the areas of strategic planning, operations, finance and
marketing.
“The competition was a great experience that gave me the
first opportunity to interact with my peers from across the nation as
well as senior members of the profession on a very personal level
while working on a very life-like scenario. The hosts were
wonderful and the event a great learning experience”, says Parul
Ajmani, a second year MHA student
The case was designed to be a capstone experience and
each team presented their recommendations before a national team
of judges. First place in the competition was awarded to Virginia
Commonwealth University while Northwestern University took
second place. Third place went to the University of Alabama at
Birmingham. The University of Oklahoma received high distinction
L to R: Lindsey Mongold, Mr. Mattachione, Lindsey Harris and Parul Ajmani
sommer-bartholomew@ouhsc.edu
OR
parul-ajmani@ouhsc.edu
UPCOMING ACHE EVENTS
•
September :Talk by Gary Mitchell,
CEO, Newman Memorial Hospital.
•
September: CEO roundtable
discussion
•
Social event—3rd week of every
month, starting fall 2007
Developed and Distributed by the OU Student Chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives
Students Attend ACHE Congress
March 19-22, 2007, New Orleans
This year the Annual A CHE
Congress was moved from its hometown, Chicago to the city of New Orleans, a move welcomed by everyone involved with A CHE. The
weat her was a perfect 72, but the
sessions were hot!
This was the 50th anniversary of the Congress and more than
3000 members and affiliates attended the opening session, including 600 students from all over the
United States. ACHE gave students
a huge discount on the registration
fees and provided access to the
Opening General Sessions, Hot Topics, luncheon sessions, Wednesday
and Thursday concurrent seminars ,and the Wednesday Congress
Reception. Furt her, six of the nine
sessions in the student curriculum
provided the same topics and speakers as those in the regular Congress
program.
“ Congress provided me with not just
an opportunity to network with my
peers, but also with senior members
in the field”, says Jessica Hill, second year MHA student. Ms. Hill is
one of the three students who attended the congress along with
Lindsey Harris, Parul Ajmani, and Mr
Mattachione, the only staff member
present. The department and COPH
were gracious in sponsoring the trip
this year.
The students attended the
opening session, student track programs, Hot Topic ,and the Wednes day reception for affiliates. There
were sessions by notable public
speakers such as Captain Terry
“Moose” Millard and Martha Fields
who made lasting impressions on the
people attending.
Another thing that was new
at Congress this year was the fact
that the annual Alumni Reception
hosted by our department was cohosted by the local ACHE chapter for
Oklahoma, the Sooner HealthCare
Executives. We welcomed not just
the OU Alumni, but also a few distinguished members of the chapter
from different parts of Oklahoma.
Notably present were, on of the
ACHE Regents, Mr. Gary Mitchell,
CEO, Newman Memorial Hospital,
whom we are looking forward to having on our campus soon to talk to the
students of the HAP department. We
also had alumni from our school as
far back as 1992 attend the reception.
The city seems to have recovered from the disaster that struck
two years ago and the people were
warm and welcoming. Although the
hosts will be missed, we are looking
forward to the next year’s event already!
In photo left to right: Parul Ajmani, Ms. Alyson Pitm an Giles, ACHE Chairman, Lindsey
Harris, MHA student, and Jessica Hill at the Wednesday night ACHE reception, New
Orleans
MHA Student Chad Abshere’s Road to a
Fellowship Following Graduation
With plans to graduate in May 2007, I
began pursuing fellowship opportunities early in the fall 2006 semester. My
first stop was ACHE website’s listing
of administrative fellowships. After
applying to some of the ones that were
more appealing to me, I began to pursue other opportunities on my own.
Growing up in Lawton, Oklahoma, I
knew that someday I wanted to return
there, assuming there would be progressive career opportunities. In late September, I arranged for a meeting with
the CEO at Co manche County Memorial Hospital in Lawton to let him know
of my current educational status and my
career goals. While I enjoyed this time,
I did not expect any fellowship or job
opportunities to come out of it. Around
December, h is CFO contacted me and
let me know that they were putting together an offer for me. In late Feb ruary, I received the actual written offer
for a permanent position with CCMH.
Although it is permanent, my first 8
months is similar to a fellowship and
will be spent working with various departments helping them to implement
the new electronic med ical record system. While my IT backg round is very
limited, they suggested that they plan
on making good use of my M BA and
MHA in help ing them to get the sufficient tools and resources in place so
that once I move on to another position,
operations will function as smoothly as
possible.
I have learned two main lessons from this. Staying persistent is
vital. For over 4 months, I called,
emailed, and stuck my head in the door
of the administration office to say hello
to the administrative assistant. My goal
was to let them see that I was serious
about working there and to be sure that
they didn’t forget my name and face.
Second, I learned patience because the
corporate world does not move as
quickly as I would have liked. In the
end, for the healthcare organization, it’s
about demand and the CFO stated to
me that they had a need for
“homegrown” individuals who had the
education and experience to help run
the hospital because the current leadership team isn’t getting any younger.