UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Teams from 23 universities across the nation recently competed in the sixth annual Penn State Health Policy and Administration Case Competition, hosted by the Department of Health Policy and Administration.
Students in health administration undergraduate programs, along with both in-residence and online Master of Health Administration (MHA) programs, competed in the virtual event.
“The annual case competition provided a unique opportunity for students to apply the knowledge they have gained in the classroom to a real healthcare challenge,” said Carol Mills, assistant teaching professor of health policy and administration and co-chair of the Health Policy and Administration Case Competition.
Students were given 40 hours to develop a solution to a real-world industry challenge: retaining a multi-generational nursing staff. This year’s case was developed in collaboration with leadership from Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, sponsor of this year’s event. With an ongoing nursing shortage, Hershey Medical Center is concerned about maintaining its valuable nursing staff, which includes nurses ranging from 20-70 years of age.
“Students worked in teams to explore the current challenge and propose feasible and evidence-based solutions to that problem,” said Maria Dawson, associate teaching professor of health policy and administration and co-chair of the Health Policy and Administration Case Competition.
Teams considered the needs of different generations of nurses and were asked to develop retention strategies and innovative approaches to employee benefits, including health insurance, other types of insurance, paid time off and more.
The teams then presented their recommended solutions to judges. Preliminary rounds were judged by professionals currently working in leadership positions in the healthcare industry, many of whom are alumni of the Penn State Department of Health Policy and Administration. The judges evaluated each team’s proposal in the context of real-world practice. Final presentations were judged by four leaders from Hershey Medical Center.
According to Chris Calkins, teaching professor of health policy and administration and executive director of Penn State’s residential and online MHA programs, the annual case competition serves four primary purposes.
First, it allows students studying health administration to tackle a current issue confronting a health system.
Second, it provides an opportunity for collaboration. Decisions in healthcare are primarily made in teams, and many of them are made with urgency and uncertainty. The case competition provides an opportunity for students to work quickly in a team to solve a problem, under a time crunch and with imperfect data, emulating the daily life of many healthcare administrators.
Third, it provides an opportunity for students to engage with healthcare professionals. Judges for the case competition are professionals working in the field, and their questions are informed by years of commensurate experience. Finalists also had a rare opportunity to pitch their solutions to leaders of a nationally ranked health system.
Lastly, the case competition provided an opportunity for Penn State Health leadership to meet emerging industry leaders and hear innovative solutions to system issues, proving effective for recruitment and raising brand awareness.
“It is rare for students from all levels, undergraduate and MHA, to have the opportunity to participate in the same case competition,” said Calkins. “Feedback from participants highlights the opportunity to compete with students from around the country. It reinforces for the students that they made the right career choice, and they get to meet others on the same path who will someday be colleagues and peers in the field of health administration.”
The annual case competition saw students compete with teams from top health-related programs around the country for monetary prizes of up to $2,500 for the team awarded first place in each category.
Winners of the 2024 Penn State Health Administration Case Competition:
Undergraduate Programs:
1st place: Olivia Langille, Sanya Patel, Akshita Ponnuru, Tiffany Rusnok – Loyola University Chicago
2nd place: Leticia Delgado, Gracelyn Gattis, Aaron Oliva – University of Nevada, Las Vegas
3rd place: Lauren Angus, Dylan Kurian, Cindy Le – University of Pittsburgh
Residential MHA Programs:
1st place: Benjamin Blake, Delaney Field, Khushee Modi, Alexandra Sass – University of Alabama at Birmingham
2nd place: Essence Byrantkendrick, Masroor Habeeb, Nadia Siddiqui, Erik Wittstadt – University of Texas Science Center
3rd place: Kaitlyn Hubany, Janki Patel, Marisa Randolph, Nick Seiffert – Medical University of South Carolina
Online MHA Programs:
1st place: Robert Gallagher, Rebekah Langford, Emma Penn, Kathryn Siano – Rush University
2nd place: Kenneth Benson, Lajmi Islam, Sophia Steddin – Tulane University
3rd place: Priyanka Bhogala, Emily Butler, Theresa Hernandez, Jessica Lang – University of Scranton