UAB Hosts National Health Administration Case Competition

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) was the site of a unique national contest to test the knowledge and skills of future health administrators in a “real world” health care scenario. The 2nd Health Administration Case Competition, hosted by the UAB Department of Health Services Administration, was held Feb. 7, 2008, drawing teams of graduate students from 21 universities throughout the country. Sponsored by the UAB Health System, the competition awarded cash prizes to the top three teams selected by a panel of judges.

February 14, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) was the site of a unique national contest to test the knowledge and skills of future health administrators in a “real world” health care scenario. The 2nd Health Administration Case Competition, hosted by the UAB Department of Health Services Administration, was held Feb. 7, 2008, drawing teams of graduate students from 21 universities throughout the country. Sponsored by the UAB Health System, the competition awarded cash prizes to the top three teams selected by a panel of judges.

First place in the competition was awarded to Ohio State University; second place to the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill; and, third place to Arizona State University. Three additional teams received special recognition for professionalism (Northwestern University), innovation (University of Florida), and most engaging presentation (University of Minnesota).

Each of the 21 teams was composed of two or three students enrolled in an accredited health administration graduate program. The case study for 2008 focused on the improvement of a hospital’s emergency department. Each team received the case study scenario in early January and prepared a comprehensive analysis and a set of practical recommendations in the areas of leadership, staffing issues, operational efficiency, design challenges, finance and marketing.

The teams convened in Birmingham, Ala., to present their work and to field questions from a panel of eight nationally-recognized health administration professionals. Five teams were selected as finalists, who then presented their cases for a second time to a larger audience that included the judges and other audience members.

“This case competition provided students from throughout the country an opportunity to apply what they have learned to practice with a real-life, real-time case study,” said Gerald L. Glandon, Ph.D., professor and chair of the UAB Department of Health Services Administration. “The case is designed to be a capstone experience for their graduate school training.”

UAB Health System interim CEO Dr. Ray Watts served as master of ceremonies for the Awards Dinner. The awards ceremony was followed by the L R. Jordan Distinguished Lecture. The lecture series, in its fourth year, honors L.R. “Rush” Jordan, a long-time health care executive and professor of health administration at UAB. The series was established to sustain Jordan’s legacy of integrating health care practitioners into the classroom.

This year’s presenter was Charles D. Stokes, FACHE, president of North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo. Stokes, a 1983 graduate from UAB’s Department of Health Services Administration, led the team from NMMC that received the 2006 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation’s highest Presidential honor for performance excellence. Their journey and the leadership lessons formed the basis of his lecture, “The Journey to Excellence through Inspirational Leadership.”