Except that these people are university students, and their assignment is to create an action plan: not for some hypothetical textbook case, but for real challenges facing a real hospital.
That's the concept for last month's annual Health Administration Case Competition hosted by UAB's Master of Science in Health Communication Program. Or as the annual event's mission statement describes it, "The UAB Health Administration Case Competition provides graduate students an opportunity to put what they have learned into practice with a real-life, real-time case. It's designed to be a capstone experience that tests analytic abilities, teamwork, communication, and presentation skills."
This year marks the competition's 10th anniversary, and the number of competitors from around the U.S. has mushroomed from 10 to 38 since 2006. The initial concept for the event originated with Randa Hall, MBA, MSHA, Associate Director of Alumni Affairs at UAB.
"It started in 2004 when I took a team from UAB to another Case Competition sponsored by the National Association for Health Service Executives," Hall says. "We won third place, and when we got back and were debriefing about it, one of the students said her only regret was that her whole class didn't get to participate, because the competition was for minority students only.
"That stuck in my head, and when we were redoing the curriculum for our graduate program, we said, 'Why not host one for everybody, so that all the graduate students can attend?'"
One of this year's judges was an administrator from Oschner Health System in Louisiana, which was selected as the test case to be posed to students. "The judges are made up of seasoned healthcare professionals from around the country," says Mickey Trimm, PhD, director of the UAB Center for Healthcare Management & Leadership. "We like to have administrators from the test case take part in judging, because they're very familiar with the actual problem and real-life situation. It helps the students by giving them a perspective from the people who are dealing with it every day."
The competition is a rigorous one, consisting of three phases. The student teams each go onstage to present their Power Point proposals to panels of judges who select 12 semi-finalists from the group. That afternoon is the finalists' round, where judges choose six finalist teams and give them pointers on how to fine-tune their presentations. At the next day's session, the finalists present to a new panel of judges who choose the competition's three winners. The final three receive cash prizes.
"We often take UAB interns and residents at Brookwood Baptist Health," says Scott Fenn, Chief Integration Officer at the facility, "and I know the rigor they go through in the case studies. I've been hearing about the event since I've lived in Birmingham. I've judged other competitions around the country as well, and this one was probably not only the largest but best-done in its coordination. It's a much bigger deal here than anywhere else in the country."
The competition has also covered a wide range of healthcare topics over the years. "The most fun part is that each year we've been able to get cases that were really relevant," Hall says. "Healthcare is not just hospitals any more, so we've looked at urgent care centers, palliative care, and now population health. Our students are fortunate to have lots of interactions with executives throughout the country during the time that they're here."
The competition is only one part of UAB's high profile nationally. The university's Healthcare Management Masters Degree program has been ranked number two in the country, and its undergraduate Healthcare Management Program is ranked number one among online healthcare management programs, according to Trimm.
Preparing for the Case Competition was a rewarding experience, according to UAB Healthcare Administration grad student Brett LeFevre, who'll graduate in May. "We had great team unity and were able to share ideas and feedback openly without our ideas getting rejected," he says. "It was difficult at points when we came to a roadblock, realizing that we had to retrace our steps and try a different approach. We trusted each other well, and that was beneficial for helping prepare."
"The other national competitions don't all take place in a medical mecca like Birmingham," Hall says, "and over the years, students have told me that they have never presented to a CEO before. They say it was intimidating, but a great experience."
The rapid growth of the competition since its inaugural event has been a challenge of its own, Hall says. "The first year we were at a facility that would only hold about a hundred people, but we quickly outgrew that and have been at either the Wynfrey or the Hyatt Regency ever since. Now, it looks like we may have to find an even larger space."
"Our case was challenging but was a great learning experience," LeFevre says. "It allowed us to apply knowledge and skills to a relevant situation that's common in healthcare organizations across the country. We also had the opportunity to meet a lot of great people, both students and professionals, which will help us expand our networks going forward."
