Welcome to the August Implementing Health Care Reform in Maryland: First Steps Much of the historic Director s message

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1 Management Rounds Johns Hopkins Master of Health Administration Program Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Department of Health Policy and Management August 2013 Director s message Welcome to the August 2013 edition of Management Rounds. Our big news is that on June 1 Bill Ward stepped down after 17 years as program director. I will be stepping in as the interim program director until we complete the search for Bill s replacement. In addition, Doug Hough, PhD, from the JH Carey Business School, has joined our program as associate director. Our program continues its commitment to stay abreast of the dynamic health care environment through changes to our curriculum and activities. To help us along, this issue s cover story from Brad Herring, HPM s associate chair for Academic Programs, is about Maryland s state-funded high-risk pool for medically uninsurable residents and the challenges it faces. Our Management Rounds interview features David Chin, MD, MBA, former senior partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers, who is leading an executive education institute for transforming health systems to the accountable care model. Dr. Chin discusses how U.S. health care is changing and why he is optimistic about the future. We also have a number of other news items to report on, including program updates. As we prepare to welcome 25 members of the Class of 2015, we also wish you the best for this coming year. Ann-Michele Gundlach Implementing Health Care Reform in Maryland: First Steps Much of the historic 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA) centers on reforming the ways in which individuals and small businesses obtain private health insurance coverage. Moreover, much of the implementation of the various private insurance reforms relies heavily on the states. Several of Health Policy and Management s faculty affiliated with the MHA program have been working with the state of Maryland on these implementation efforts. Dr. Bradley Herring is Bradley Herring an associate professor of Health Economics in HPM who currently serves as chair of the board of directors for the Maryland Health Insurance Plan and recently was a co-chair of the state s Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Exchange Advisory Committee. One thing that s nice about this type of role for us professors is that it s a cool way for us to apply our research expertise to an issue that serves the public, says Herring. But the experience is also quite useful for us to apply in our classroom instruction, he says. The Maryland Health Insurance Plan, or MHIP, is the state-funded high-risk pool for medically uninsurable residents administered by a small staff and overseen by a nine-member board of directors. The ACA included funding to both bolster enrollment in the roughly two-thirds of states that already had these high-risk pools and create programs in the roughly one-third of states that lacked them prior to the ACA. MHIP was created in 2002 with funding from an assessment on hospital fees under the state s all-payer rate-setting mechanism. MHIP contracts with local insurance plan CareFirst to help administer the program. Interestingly, my fellow MHIP board members and I initially figured our service would come to a close in December 2013, says Herring. Banning the use of pre-existing health conditions by private insurers in January 2014 means that there technically won t be anyone who s medically uninsurable. But as we considered the matter more carefully, we realized that it might make sense to allow our current enrollees to stay in MHIP for a while if they choose. One of those considerations was the difficulty the federal government encountered with the creation of the Medicare Part D drug benefit in Switching low-income seniors supplemental coverage for drugs from state Medicaid programs to a new federal Medicare benefit led to some general confusion and specific problems with continuity of care. Another consideration was the impact on premiums brought about by transitioning continued on page 9

2 Faculty Q & A David Chin, MD, MBA Distinguished Scholar David Chin, a former senior national partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers, joined the Department of Health Policy and Management last year as a Bloomberg School Distinguished Scholar. In this role, Chin is leading an executive education program for transforming health systems to the accountable care model. The first cohort of doctors, nurses, managers and pharmacists is from Johns Hopkins Health System and is learning from a similarly diverse group of educators from the schools of Public Health, Medicine, Nursing and Business. Their goal: to lead ACO transformation. According to Chin, seismic changes in health care will soon be apparent to all. When the dust settles, he sees the feefor-service model becoming a much smaller part of the landscape. Soaring health care costs and estimates that percent of these expenditures are wasted have made change essential. ACOs will challenge the fee-for-service model as they are basically networks of hospitals and doctors that are rewarded for keeping patients healthy. Management Rounds wasn t the only Bloomberg School publication interested in hearing from Chin about his take on how U.S. health care is changing. Johns Hopkins Public Health, the School s magazine, interviewed Chin in its Spring 2013 issue to learn why he is optimistic about the future. Following is an excerpt from that interview. 2 MR: Should we, as some argue, let the U.S. health care system collapse and rebuild it from scratch? DC: That s the Alcoholics Anonymous model, right? You ve got to crash and burn first. And then you ll be willing to change. I think the system is too big to ever want that to happen. Too many people would get hurt. Until this point, the pain hasn t been great enough in terms of cost to really drive change. But I think we re getting there, at 18 percent of GDP. Since the states cannot run deficits and they are on the hook for ever-increasing retiree health and benefits costs, they must come up with creative solutions. Otherwise, they go bankrupt. They have the most motivation to find a solution. That s why I think the states will lead with innovation. I can imagine that different states will come up with some model that will work, and then we ll say, OK, if it works there, then we re willing to adopt it nationally. MR: Is fee-for-service really going away? DC: It s funny. I think fee-for-service will be always with us, but maybe moderated some. You could make the argument that you might pay primary care physicians fee-forservice so you incentivize them to bring in patients at the primary-care level, but then you might put specialists on some kind of global payment so there is an incentive for them to be more cost-effective. MR: How are ACOs incentivized to keep their population healthy? DC: [As a physician] in the current feefor-service system, I only get paid if the patient comes in to see me. I do not get paid to keep a patient healthy or to keep a patient out of the system. The more I do, the more I make. Under an ACO model, I m given almost a lump sum, a set amount of budget to take care of a population. And I know that a certain proportion of patients who are very, very sick and could use a lot of expensive therapy and inpatient days the next year aren t necessarily the patients coming in to see me. It incentivizes me to go looking for patients [with] whom I can intervene earlier and reduce their costs. It also incentivizes me to use services more cost-effectively for those patients who do come and see me. MR: How does this affect physicians? DC: Not only is it a different reimbursement model, it s a different mindset. Physicians aren t classically equipped to deal with thinking about population health, number one. But also, number two, [there is] the notion of practicing in teams, like a patientcentered medical home. Many medical schools don t have a curriculum around what s the role of a physician inside a system of care. Classically, that s a public health kind of discipline. I think that s another potential source of discomfort for the docs. Not only is the money, the reimbursement thing, different, but now you re moving into an area where you re no longer the expert. MR: Are ACOs something that physicians welcome or dread? DC: I suspect you probably know the answer to that question. Most doctors grew up under fee-for-service, and that s worked very well. Whenever you start changing the rules, particularly about money, people get kind of upset. But people do know that the current trajectory is not sustainable. Physicians are rapidly offering themselves up for employment with hospitals and health systems trying to get shelter. They can see the handwriting on the wall that the feefor-service model is broken and that the inexorable rise in fees is no longer inexorable. continued on page 3 Mangement Rounds is published by the Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Editors: Teresa Schwartz, Jamila Savage Designer: Doug Behr

3 Faculty Q & A continued from page 2 MR: What s the most important thing you teach in the executive program? DC: We actually spend a big chunk of the curriculum focusing on change management, how you work on teams, how you negotiate. Because we recognize that if you re going to transform your system for accountable care you can have a great idea, but if you can t get the people, the docs, the managers and the nurses to buy it, it s not going to happen. MR: Are you optimistic about U.S. health care? DC: Yeah. I tend to be inherently optimistic. I do think, given our pluralistic model and our penchant for experimentation, that we ve got some potential to fundamentally change the system. But I don t think it s going to happen right away. I think a 10- year horizon is probably the right horizon. MR: Training health care executives sounds like business school. Why is this public health? DC: Accountable care really means a structure and a set of incentives to care for a population of people. To do that, there needs to be a set of measurements, incentives, structures and processes. That s the public health focus. Accountable care starts by saying, I ve got a whole population of people I am responsible for. Not only the people I see face to face in the office, but also the people who are out there as part of my population, that I m going to be responsible for next year, and if I don t get a handle on them, I m going to be in trouble. That s the public health twist to this thing. Spotlight on Full-Time Faculty The Department of Health Policy and Management is delighted to welcome Doug Hough to our full-time faculty. Doug comes to JHSPH from the Carey Business School, where for the past 13 years he led the Business of Health program. He expanded Carey s Business of Medicine program (an MBA designed for clinicians and administrators in health care delivery) and helped create the MPH/MBA program with the Doug Hough Bloomberg School of Public Health and the MBA/MS in Biotechnology program with the School of Arts and Sciences. Many know Doug from the MHA Strategic Planning course, which he has taught for the past three years. The highlight of that course the trip to Gettysburg to explore strategy and leadership lessons from that battle is surely a memorable part of his students programs. I love teaching the MHA and MPH/MBA students, says Doug. They are smarter than all get-out, and they are eager to learn what they need to know for their future in health care. They are the reason I switched from the Business School to Public Health. Another reason is that Doug has been shifting his professional focus from standard, neoclassical economics to the new field of behavioral economics. Standard economics assumes that consumers are always rational, whereas behavioral economics recognizes that often they are not. In fact, people can be predictably irrational. And no more so than in health care, where, Doug says, you have imperfect people making imperfect decisions. The orientation of the Bloomberg School of Public Health fits nicely with this approach. His growing interest in behavioral economics led him to write a book titled Irrationality in Health Care: What Behavioral Economics Reveals About What We Do and Why (Stanford University Press, 2013). In addition to his teaching and research duties, Doug is associate director of the MHA program, and he looks forward to working with Ann-Michele and Teresa to continue to improve the program (and achieve CAHME reaccreditation). Doug earned his BS in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his MS and PhD in economics from the University of Wisconsin. He has more than 30 years experience in industry and academia. He has been a research economist at the American Medical Association, a manager in the health care consulting division of Coopers & Lybrand, and a partner in two health care strategy consulting firms. When Doug is not teaching or writing a book, he has other, less academic, interests. He is taking fencing lessons, inspired several years ago by his then 8-yearold granddaughter. He rates himself as enthusiastic but still not very experienced. He is a huge baseball fan, rooting first for both versions of the Washington Senators and now for the Washington Nationals. He says he is having difficulty adjusting to cheering for a good team for once. Finally, he loves to drive his 2006 Porsche Cayman S on race tracks. ( It s not racing, it s driver s education, he insists.) His biggest pleasure is driving at Watkins Glen International, one of the premier tracks in the country, where NASCAR and Indy events are held. He says that it is a total hoot screaming down the front straight by the main grandstand and then diving into the climbing esses. 3

4 Karen Davis Returns to Hopkins as the Second Lipitz Professor at the Bloomberg School of Public Health After leading The Commonwealth Fund for almost two decades, Karen Davis, PhD, was officially installed as the second Eugene and Mildred Lipitz Professor in Health Policy and Management at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. Michael J. Klag, MD, MPH, dean of the Bloomberg School, and Ellen J. MacKenzie, PhD, Fred and Julie Soper Professor and chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management, presented the professorship at a ceremony attended by Roger C. Lipitz, his wife, Flo, members of the Lipitz family, faculty, students and guests. Prior to becoming president of The Flo Lipitz, Roger Lipitz, and Karen Davis Commonwealth Fund, Karen Davis was chair of the Department of Health Policy of the boomer generation, the need for and Management at the Bloomberg School, new models of patient-centered care that and deputy assistant secretary for health improve quality of care while advancing policy in the U.S. Department of Health efficiency is paramount. and Human Services. The center strives to discover and Karen will be a stalwart custodian of disseminate practical, cost-effective the Lipitz family s lifelong commitment approaches to providing comprehensive, to serving the elderly, the chronically ill coordinated and compassionate health care and underserved to chronically ill populations, people and their said MacKenzie. Karen will be a stalwart families. Her vision and Following the custodian of the Lipitz leadership will official installation, form the new family s lifelong commitment Karen moderated a bedrock of the to serving the elderly, panel on Innovation Roger C. Lipitz in Integrated Care. the chronically ill and Center and define Panelists included the center s course underserved populations. Gerard Anderson, for generations to PhD, professor in ELLEN J. MACKENZIE come. Health Policy and I am excited Management; Mary about the opportunity to head the Lipitz Jane Koren, MD, MPH, vice president for Center and continue its important work the Picker/Commonwealth Fund Longon developing new, innovative health care Term Quality Improvement Program and payment and delivery models in order the Dual Eligibles Initiative; and Jennifer to improve care for our nation s most Wolff, PhD, MHS, associate professor in vulnerable and the disabled, said Davis. HPM at the Bloomberg School. With the imminent retirement of much Davis is a national leader in health policy and is frequently called on to provide guidance to individual members of Congress and the administration on issues related to health care spending, delivery systems for the uninsured and the chronically ill, the Medicare program and the impact of a high-performing health care system. The Roger C. Lipitz Center for Integrated Health Care and the Eugene and Mildred Lipitz Professorship were created in 1998 through a generous gift from Roger Lipitz through the Lipitz Family Foundation to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Roger C. Lipitz is the managing member of Ocean Assets LLC and a former chairman of the board of the Baltimore Development Corporation and of the University of Maryland Medical System. He also chaired the board of Meridian Healthcare, the largest provider of longterm care services in Maryland. Mr. Lipitz is a trustee emeritus of the Johns Hopkins University and former chair of the Health Advisory Board at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. 4

5 JHSPH Welcomes AcademyHealth s Annual Research Meeting to Baltimore Karen Davis presents the Distinguished Investigator Award to Donald Steinwachs. Under the helm of Darrell Gaskin, PhD, this year s ARM Planning Committee chair, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health was featured prominently at the 30th anniversary ARM meeting held in June at the Baltimore Convention Center. The meeting was the largest ever in AcademyHealth s history, with more than 2,600 attendees. Sessions featured our faculty as panel chairs and presenters, and our students. Highlights included an HPM-sponsored Meet-the-Experts breakfast; a video documenting the growth and impact of health services research, co-produced by AcademyHealth and the Department of Health Policy and Management; a 5.5-foot timeline display depicting milestones of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Services and Outcomes Research from 1969 to the present; a lively and well-attended HPM alumni reception held at the waterfront Renaissance Hotel; and the Recognition Plenary, where Donald Steinwachs, PhD, a professor in HPM, received AcademyHealth s Distinguished Investigator Award. The Distinguished Investigator Award recognizes individuals who have made a significant and long-lasting contribution to the field of health services research. Distinguished Investigators are leaders and role models for the field of health services research. During his many years at JHSPH, Don has been a teacher, guide and mentor for students and young faculty alike, while pursuing a well-regarded research career. He was instrumental in the creation of AcademyHealth and its success as an influential voice for health services research and health policy. The award was presented by Karen Davis, PhD, Eugene and Mildred Lipitz Professor and director of the Roger C. Lipitz Center for Integrated Health Care, and a former recipient of the award. HPM Updates Eric Bass, MD, MPH, professor of Medicine with a joint appointment in Health Policy and Management, and Albert Wu, MD, MPH, professor, have been named co-directors of the Johns Hopkins Community Health Partnership program (J-CHiP). Colleen Barry, PhD, MPP, associate professor, was elected to a four-year term at the Policy Council of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management. Karen Davis, PhD, the Eugene and Mildred Lipitz Professor, received the 2013 TRUST Award from the Health Research & Educational Trust of the American Hospital Association. Hadi Kharrazi, MD, PhD, assistant professor and assistant director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Population Health IT, was a recipient of this year s Faculty Innovation Fund award for Utilizing Maryland s HIE to develop and evaluate an inter-provider hospital readmission risk detection and notification system. William J. Ward Jr., MBA, associate professor and former director of the Master of Health Administration program, has been elected to serve on the board of directors of Upper Chesapeake Health, Harford Memorial Hospital and the Upper Chesapeake Medical Center. In addition to these local appointments, Bill is on the board of Al Noor Hospital Group PLC in Abu Dhabi and chairman of its quality committee. Cheri Wilson, MHS, MA, research associate, was appointed co-chair of the Public Policy and Advocacy Committee of the National Association of Health Services Executives and elected an atlarge member of the Steering Committee of the American Medical Association Commission to End Health Care Disparities. Sara Bleich, PhD; Shannon Frattaroli, PhD 99, MPH 94; and Keshia Pollack, PhD 06, MPH, were promoted to associate professor. And the Student Awards went to.. Tom Burke, professor, and Brad Herring and Jon Vernick, associate professors, won AMTRAs (Advising, Mentoring and Teaching Recognition Awards). 5

6 Remembering MHA Weekend Clockwise from top left: Dinner at Pullen Plaza; Class of 2014, Day of the Case Competition; Matt Drohan 13 presenting at Capstone Symposium; Bill Ward thanks Mark Higdon; Mary Kim 98 honors Higdon; Michael Finegan 12 and Linda Sobh 13. CASE COMPETITION. The first weekend of May continues to be the highlight of the year for the MHA program, its students, alumni and preceptors. The weekend started at 8 a.m. on May 3 with the program s fifth Annual Case Competition. First prize went to Signature Consulting Group, composed of Avantika Handa, Christine Laccay and Emily Lenneville; kpamg Consulting, with Danielle DaSilva, Spencer Wildonger and Shivani Patel, came in second. n UPD INDUCTION. Later that afternoon, and immediately before the MHA dinner, the Hopkins chapter of Upsilon Phi Delta held its annual induction ceremony and business meeting at the Mount Washington Conference Center. Faculty advisor Ann-Michele Gundlach and Fadi Rammo 12 welcomed members and inductees. As this year s induction gift, Ann-Michele and Fadi chose Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error by Kathryn Schulz. Michael Finegan 12 assisted in the distribution of gifts and certificates. Inducted this year in UPD were Prashant Dilwali 13, Ahmed Elsayed-Ahmed 10, Theresa Falcon 13, Sneha Jain 12, Susanne Katz 14, Sierra Long 13, Dennis Martin 12, Evan Mead-Brewer 13, Asmita Salil 13, Julie Silver 13, and Linda Sobh 13. n ALUMNI/PRECEPTOR 6

7 DINNER. Although the MHA dinner needed to relocate off campus this year, the Mount Washington Conference Center proved to be an ideal location. May 3 was a beautiful spring day, and the grounds of the center were a pleasant alternative to the School s urban setting. A record number of attendees made it to Baltimore this year, coming from as far away as San Francisco and Ottawa. n MHA CAPSTONE SYMPOSIUM. After an evening of honoring their preceptors at the dinner, the Class of 2013 returned to campus bright and early on May 4 to present their capstone papers to program directors and classmates. A question-andanswer session followed each of the presentations. Lauren McQuillin 13 thought the half day was not enough time. I would have stayed there all day! I just loved hearing about everyone s work and their accomplishments over the past 10 months. Papers included such topics as hospital readmissions, ACOs and physician/hospital alignment. Matt Drohan s capstone, The Emory Clinic s Corporate Health Strategy: A Case Study on Developing and Financing Onsite Corporate Health Models, was recently nominated by the MHA program office for the AAMA Student Research Paper of the Year Award. 7

8 MHA Program Honors Mark Higdon It doesn t take long for Hopkins MHA region. With more than 30 years experience students to recognize the name Mark in health care advising, Mark has been a Higdon. Mark is KPMG s health care valuable resource not only to his clients but industry sector leader in the Mid-Atlantic to all Hopkins MHA students and alumni over region and a partner the past 15 years. in the Mid-Atlantic Mark is a member of Healthcare Advisory the MHA program s Practice based Advisory Group and in Baltimore. His has contributed as areas of expertise a seminar speaker, include financial mentor, preceptor planning, strategic and employer to planning, mergers numerous Hopkins and acquisitions, students and hospital rate setting, third party reimbursement graduates. Fadi Rammo 12 and Mark Higdon With Mark s imminent retirement, the Hopkins chapter and risk management. Mark has provided of Upsilon Phi Delta recognized his many financial management and health planning contributions to the profession by awarding services to the major health systems in the him one of this year s UPD Honor Awards. Fadi Rammo, Class of 2012, presented Mark with his award during this year s alumni/ preceptor dinner. Brett McCone, Class of 1998, and a director in KPMG s Baltimore practice, served as this year s dinner speaker. His talk, The Importance of Mentoring, was a tribute to Mark. Joining Brett at the podium on May 3 to honor Mark were the following program alumni, all of whom worked for Mark as a resident or graduate, or both: Sarani Banerji 02, Zach Bechtle 12, James Case 07, Ahmed El-Sayed Ahmed 10, Mary Kim 98, Nicole Orange 07 and Marco Priolo 10. It is the MHA program s hope that Mark will consider the Department of Health Policy and Management one of his homes, as we would certainly like to see him often in the coming years. Diving Deep into Hospital Operations A focused approach for MHA students In Academic Year , the MHA hospital operations course was completely retooled. Bob Marshall, administrator for Emergency Medicine at Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, co-taught the course with Bill Ward. In addition to traditional classroom lectures, discussions and site visits, students took part in a self-learning Deep Dive experience. They were assigned to one of five groups, each of which focused on a single area of hospital operations. At the conclusion of the course, each group taught the rest of the cohort, answered questions and led a discussion of their specific area. Teams of students also tackled workplace challenges identified by the Bayview management team. These included such areas as improving the preoperative medication order process and evaluating 8 competing technologies for cleaning patient rooms. For the coming academic year, Bob and Bill will split out a consulting practicum from the course. Student consulting practices will work with preceptor-identified projects to learn about consulting work and use the skills learned in the didactic portion of the course.

9 Inaugural Cohort, April 2013 The Johns Hopkins Inter-professional Executive Education Program Set to Launch in January 2014 N ow that the twenty-seven members of the inaugural cohort of the Johns Hopkins Inter-professional Executive Education Program for Health System Leaders have graduated, the crossschool program will officially launch with a new class in January Dr. David Chin (see MR s Faculty Q&A) is leading the program. The inaugural cohort, comprised of rising-hopkins stars, included 7 MDs, 7 RNs, 12 administrators and 1 pharmacist. The curriculum included 144 contact hours over 5 months. The objective of the program is to improve the capabilities of health care professionals and managers to build, lead, operate and manage the risks of healthcare organizations that provide integrated services to improve the health of defined populations. This program marks the first time ever four schools are entwined and deans united to establish a bold footprint in our brand s expansion in the Executive Education arena, said David Chin. This program mines the intellectual assets across Hopkins to create a unique learning opportunity for health care providers who are embracing Accountable Care transformation and adjusting their business model. The program is anchored in the Bloomberg School s Department of Health Policy and Management. The MHA program is proud of its connection with the Executive Education program: several members of the initial cohort have interacted with MHA students as mentors and guest lecturers; and Ann-Michele Gundlach and Doug Hough were an integral part of the core faculty. Health Insurance continued from page 1 more than 20,000 people with chronic health conditions into the new state health insurance exchange for individuals. Private health insurers are keenly aware of the need to account for so-called averse selection when transitioning from experience rating to community rating rules for selling coverage, Herring explains. By allowing so many high-cost people to remain in MHIP next year rather than enroll into a private plan in the exchange, the MHIP and exchange boards jointly figured that they could improve the prospects for a successful launch of the new exchange with more affordable premiums. But at the same time, we know some low-income MHIP enrollees will benefit from tax credit subsidies in the exchange, so we ll be embarking on a large outreach effort shortly to help those folks actually make the transition right away. So does this mean that Herring and his fellow MHIP board members have just another year or so before concluding their state service with a phased-in transition of MHIP members to the exchange? The state Legislature has recently charged the MHIP and exchange boards to study the desirability of having MHIP begin to administer a new reinsurance program for the private plans in the state exchange in 2016 using the current hospital assessment. If asked to continue, we ll happily do that, he says. 9

10 Alum/Student Connect to Develop Cultural Competency Workshop When Monica Shah arrived at the care disparities. Previously, she served as course work, Monica assisted Cheri with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of an acting assistant director of the Quality work involving the COA360, with the goal of Public Health, she knew she wanted Improvement Department at Johns Hopkins improving health care quality through cultural to use her health administration degree toward the promotion of cultural competency in health care. A native of Mystic, Connecticut, she graduated from the University of Connecticut in 2010 with a double Bachelor of Science degree in molecular and cell biology and in cultural diversity and international health studies. After college, she worked for two years in various roles at three different nonprofits in New York City, Hospital. Cheri is also a certified professional in health care quality and the past president of the Maryland Association for Healthcare Quality (2009). She is involved in cultural competency and health disparities initiatives at the national and state levels. Monica and Cheri had an instant connection: Not only did they both grow up in Connecticut and attend UConn, but they were both passionate about competency. Cultural competency is becoming a hot topic within the health care setting, especially in light of the DHHS Office of Minority Health s National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health and Health Care and the Joint Commission s Standards on Effective Communication, Cultural Competence, and Patient- and Family-Centered Care required of hospitals. In this exciting time for the field, Cheri and Monica hosted a Cultural Competency Seminar for the MHA class of 2014 in late March. The workshop will now become a valuable part of the MHA seminar series, allowing Cheri to continue to provide future MHA cohorts with a comprehensive vision of what being culturally competent means for serving communities as diverse as South Monica Shah and Cheri Wilson the managerial role needed at the health care leaders. In the year to come, while completing Asian immigrant youth and the disadvantaged HIV/AIDS population. While working as a case manager at the AIDS Service Center of NYC, Monica decided to pursue health administration as a career. Seeing New Yorkers intersection of cultural competency and health disparities with patient safety and health care quality. Not long after they met, Monica started working for Cheri as a research assistant. In addition to her MHA her field placement with Johns Hopkins International at the medical center in Singapore, Monica will continue her education on diverse and cultural workforces in health care. from various backgrounds struggle through mazes of hospitals and community providers, Monica became a passionate spokesperson for the importance of cultural competency in the The American College of Healthcare Executives delivery of effective patient care. (ACHE) selected Prashant Dilwali, a second-year As a first-year MHA student, Monica MHA student, as the first-place award winner in the was delighted to meet program alumna Cheri Wilson. Before joining JHSPH, Cheri received a BA in Russian from Howard University and an MA in Russian area studies from the University of Minnesota, where she Prashant Dilwali nationwide Richard J. Stull Essay Competition. Prashant presented his paper and received his award at the ACHE s Annual Congress on Healthcare Leadership, held March 13 in Chicago. His adviser, Ann-Michele Gundlach, attended the session and represented the program. Prashant is the first student in our MHA program to receive the first-place was later a PhD candidate (ABD) in Russian award in the essay competition, and we are very proud. His paper, From Acute Care to Home Care: The Evolution of history. Since 2010, Cheri has been a faculty Hopkins MHA Hospital Responsibility and Rationale for Increased Vertical research associate in the Hopkins Center Candidate Integration, will be published in the Journal of Healthcare for Health Disparities Solutions, where Management later this year. Prashant graduated in May Receives Stull she works with health care organizations and will continue his employment with his administrative on organizational cultural competency as a Award residency site, Alvarez and Marsal s healthcare division in mechanism to improve health care quality New York City. and patient safety, and to reduce health 10

11 HPM Hosts Alumni Wine Tasting in DC Given the number of departmental alumni working or living in the D.C. area, the Department of Health Policy and Management wisely chose a restaurant in Washington, Johnny s Half Shell on North Capitol Street, as this year s venue for its wine-tasting event. Hosting the event on behalf of department chair Ellen MacKenzie was Professor Gerard Anderson, director of HPM s Center for Hospital Finance and Management. Jerry is certainly no stranger to D.C. Before joining the faculty at Hopkins, he held various positions in the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of Health Gerard Anderson and Human Services, where he helped develop Medicare prospective payment legislation. Since joining HPM, Jerry has continued to be a resource to Congress; he has also directed reviews of health systems for the World Bank and USAID in multiple Ashley Spivey 11; Sierra Long 13; and Jennie Newcomb Rhodes 11 countries. Jerry updated the audience by rattling off the department s recent accomplishments. He teased the crowd by letting them know that based on the applicant pool of recent years some of you might not have been admitted under today s admission standards. Nevertheless, he applauded the alumni for their achievements and thanked them for not only attending the event on April 18 but also giving their support to current students who are launching their careers in both the public and private sectors of health services administration. Included in the crowd of departmental and MPH alumni were MHA graduates Ashley Spivey 11, Sierra Long 13 and Jennie Newcomb Rhodes 11. In addition to working in D.C., what else do these three have in common? All are graduates of UNC, Chapel Hill! Scholarships key priority for new JHU campaign Bill Ward Johns Hopkins has launched the largest fundraising campaign in the University s history. With a $4.5 billion goal, to be achieved by 2018, the Rising to the Challenge campaign is intended to strengthen JHU s financial foundation, particularly in the area of student financial aid. As part of this initiative, the School announced that members of the Class of 2002 had established the William Ward Scholarship Fund in Bill s honor. The School intends to help grow this fund further to increase the number of students who receive financial support. Although the Ward Scholarship Fund is only a small part of the overall campaign, the MHA program hopes that support will be forthcoming. Donations can be made online at giving or by contacting the School s director of development, Heath Elliott, at helliott@jhsph.edu or

12 Administrative Residency Placements for the MHA Class of 2014 Alex Bash Deloitte Consulting, LLP, McLean, VA Joubin Bavarian Alvarez & Marsal, New York, NY Aaron Burch Johns Hopkins Home Care Group, Baltimore, MD Danielle DaSilva Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC), Baltimore, MD Dane Denby Health Strategies & Solutions, Philadelphia, PA Mahesh Devnani University of Maryland Medical Center Operations, Baltimore, MD Carlos Diaz-Carrera Sibley Memorial Hospital, Washington, DC Kristen DiTucci The Johns Hopkins Hospital/Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Baltimore, MD Chantal Haberman The Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD Avantika Handa Sibley Memorial Hospital, Washington, DC Robert Hart KPMG, LLP, Baltimore, MD Susanne Katz The Johns Hopkins Health System Operations Integration, Baltimore, MD Christine Laccay MedStar Institute for Innovation MedStar Emergency Physicians, Washington, DC Emily Lenneville Howard County General Hospital, Columbia, MD Zahra Nathu Deloitte Consulting, LLP, McLean, VA Shivani Patel University of Maryland Medical Center Planning, Marketing & Business Development, Baltimore, MD Samantha Pruden Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC), Baltimore, MD Mrithyunjay Ramgopal The Advisory Board, Austin, TX Ashna Saxena The Johns Hopkins Hospital/Department of Medicine, Baltimore, MD Monica Shah Johns Hopkins Medicine International, Singapore Neethi Srinivasan New England Baptist Hospital, Boston, MA Lauren Stearns Johns Hopkins Clinical Practice Association, Baltimore, MD Amanda Surber KPMG, LLP, Baltimore, MD Stephanie Vicent The Emory Clinic, Atlanta, GA Spencer Wildonger The Johns Hopkins Hospital/Department of Surgery, Baltimore, MD Congratulations to the Class of 2013 Posing with former program director Bill Ward are 17 of this year s 23 MHA graduates who met outside Meyerhoff Symphony Hall after the Convocation ceremony, which started at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, May 21. This year s speaker, Nelson K. Sewankambo, dean emeritus of the School of Medicine in Uganda, described JHSPH not just as an American school but a global institution. Recent Delta Omega inductees, including MHA graduates Sierra Long, Julie Silver and Linda Sobh, received special recognition at the ceremony. MHA graduates and their guests celebrated afterward at a brunch reception hosted by the HPM department.