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Student Teams Compete Before Expert Judges in the Inaugural Healthcare and Hospital Management Case Challenge
Case Challenge Participants
As reported in At the Frontline, six teams of students from the Mailman School, College of Physicians and Surgeons, and the schools of Business, and Public and International Affairs participated in the Inaugural Healthcare and Hospital Management Challenge in early November. The Challenge, which was sponsored by the Department of Health Policy and Management in conjunction with the Columbia Alliance for Healthcare Management, provided the teams the opportunity to test their consulting skills in analysis and communication while competing for cash prizes and the right to chant, "We're Number One!" A panel of expert judges from industry and academia challenged the teams' analyses, tested their reasoning, dissected their recommendations, and ultimately, selected the winners.
Comprised of various combinations of MPH, EMPH, MBA, MPA, and MD students, the teams were presented with a current case involving Manhattan's Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS). The case had been prepared by Edward V. Craig, MD, a senior member of the HSS medical staff and a 2007 Mailman School EMPH graduate. The teams prepared analyses of the same case, which placed them in the role of a professional consulting firm advising HSS Senior Management on a complex set of strategic issues and options involving expanding the Hospital's brand and business model beyond its Manhattan roots.
Following a grueling process of questioning, the judges selected Alexander Bock and Jennifer Hajj from the Mailman School as the winning team. The runners-up were Business School students Jeremy Lai, Lisa Aceto, and Diana Cheng, and Jaqui Kanuk, Don Schiermer, and Anette Wu, EMPH candidates from the Mailman School. One judge remarked, "To see students with little or no prior consulting experience navigate the conceptual foundations, analytical underpinnings, and operational constraints of a very hairy problem was truly impressive!"
"Our inaugural case challenge proves that the our Schools excel at student and faculty collaboration in producing practical, timely, client-ready results in the emerging areas of healthcare policy and business management," said Paul W. Thurman, MBA, a lecturer in the Department of Health Policy and Management and at the School of International and Public Affairs, executive director of the Columbia Alliance for Healthcare Management, and coordinator of the Challenge. "A key goal of the Alliance is to foster internal collaborations across the four schools and to make the quality of these collaborations known to a wider audience in healthcare practice, policy, and consulting." Mr. Thurman also praised corporate sponsors CIGNA and The Hay Group not only for their financial support, but also for their active participation as judges.
"When industry leaders spend a day on campus working with our top students-our best and most motivated future leaders-we're demonstrating the excellence of our programs and introducing our students to the standards of the 'real world'," said Tom Ference, PhD, clinical professor of Health Policy and Management and one of the Challenge's creators.
The panel of judges included Dr. Ian B. Wilcox, vice president and pharmaceutical industry sector leader of The Hay Group; Cathrin Stickney, vice president of Customer Advocacy, CIGNA; professor emerita Sheila Gorman of the Department of Health Policy and Management; John Winkleman, head of the Winkleman Group and member of the Mount Sinai Hospital Board of Directors; and professor Paula Wilson of New York University.
An important benefit of the event was best expressed by Mr. Daniel Yagoda, a first-year MPH student whose team did not qualify for the final round. "Even though we didn't make the final cut, I wanted to come back [in the afternoon] to see how to 'do it right'. Being able to watch the finalists present and discuss their solutions was invaluable."
For more information, including the results of the inaugural Case Challenge, please go to the Columbia Alliance for Healthcare Management (CAHM) website at www.cahm.columbia.edu. The case and winning presentations are also available for download at the Alliance site.
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