MHA students recognized by CAHME for case competition

The Ohio State University College of Public Health Master of Health Administration program hosted its sixth annual First-Year Student Case Competition on March 31. 18 teams from 12 programs around the country traveled to Columbus to learn about the Medicare Access and Chip Reauthorization Act (MACRA) and suggest strategies to implement it in a realistic health system.

“My students said this was one of the absolute best learning experiences they’ve ever had,” said Dan Gentry, MHA Program Director at the University of Iowa.

The top three teams were University of Alabama Birmingham (1), Virginia Commonwealth (2), and Baylor (3), and honorable mentions included teams from Boston University, University of Minnesota, and Rush.

The 12 universities that participated in the case study competition are all Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME)-accredited programs. CAHME President and CEO, Anthony Stanowski, congratulated the participants in the case competition, and encouraged schools to continue competing in these events.

“We’re very proud of Ohio State being one of our programs,” Stanowski said. “OSU’s commitment to improve all of graduate health care management education exemplifies the mission of CAHME.”

The teams also attended the 13^th annual Leadership Development Symposium, which featured keynote speaker Charleta Tavares, an Ohio state senator and CEO of PrimaryOne Health, which is a network of federally qualified health centers (FQHC).

An organizing committee of nine Ohio State MHA students played a significant role in the success of the event.

The Ohio State MHA case competition organizing committee. From left: Ian Breitz, Nicole Haller, Rachel Rutledge, Alaina Lotozo, Katie Racicot, Christine Sumner, Stefany Mayhew, Amanda Stopek, Lizzy Johnsen

“We established this event because they wanted to create an opportunity for first year students to test their case analysis and presentation skills in a community of their peers,” said Christine Sumner, a second-year MHA student who was the organizing committee chair for this year’s event.

“We are extremely proud of our student organization for their vision and commitment to successfully growing this event over the last seven years,” Ohio State MHA Program Director Julie Robbins said. “It is a fantastic – and fun – forum for students from across the country to learn from each other.”