HPA Student Internships: Summer 2014

1. HPA Student Internships: Summer 2014 Jessica Ahuja interned at Artemis Hospital in India. As a case manager for international patients, Ms. Ahuja managed and coordinated the flow of patients from Oman and Uzbekistan. She handled medical inquiries and acted as a mediator for her patients. Additionally, Ms. Ahuja used her Six Sigma tools to successfully reduce the patient discharge processing time. Cyndy Cole interned with the Washington State Department of Health’s Office of the Secretary this summer, in a department overseeing performance management, quality improvement and strategic planning. Some of public health’s core roles are undergoing significant change after the Affordable Care Act. Cyndy assisted in redesigning dashboards showing performance matrices as well as process-improvement projects. Katherine Hirchak interned at White Buffalo Recovery Center on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming. Her projects included writing program Policy and Procedure and integrating Arapaho culture and world-view into operations. Ms. Hirchak also worked to improve the revenue cycle and billing process. Sahana Ingale interned at Seattle Children's Bellevue Clinic and Surgery Center. Her internship focused strongly on lean management and operations of the ambulatory surgery center. She directed an improvement process for the dermatology clinic using lean six sigma tools which resulted in a 50% reduction of clinic delays. Ms. Ingale also developed operational dashboards and a surgeon scorecard for mapping the performance metrics of the center. Tejal Kulkarni interned at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, Washington, working with the Process and Quality Improvement team. She facilitated and presented Project Team and Steering Committee meetings, conducted data analysis, took the lead with process improvement recommendations & implementation, and developed a communication plan to facilitate the project team through change management. • Gary Swan interned at Lincoln Hospital in Davenport, Washington. He developed a business proposal for a home health service for the vulnerable adult populationof Lincoln County.The underlying notion was to wrap this population with remote monitoring services to keep them in their home. This would facilitate PCP care through the various care transitions and offset cost by spending long-term monies upfront. This concept is under consideration for several million dollars in grants by the Critical Access Health Network.

2. HPA Student Internships: Summer 2014 Valerie Kurbis interned at Shriners Hospital for Children in Spokane, working in the Performance Improvement Department. Ms. Kurbis worked on a business feasibility plan that included finance and volume metrics. Her other project was to create and implement department scorecards that align with the hospital’s strategic plan. Rosalind Loren interned in Employee Health and Wellness at Kootenai Health in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. She assisted with the strategy and design for the hospital structure, the strategyimplementation process, and the evaluation metrics of a new employee benefit. Nicholas Malos interned at Legacy Health System in Oregon. He developed policies and procedures for various Revenue Cycle departments as well as a process flow map for the entire Revenue Cycle process for Medicare and commercial payers. Additionally, Mr. Malos developed a process flow map to spotlight the gaps in the State of Oregon Long Term Care patients that have a short timely filing window. Jamason Schmidt interned at Benefits Health System in the Heart and Vascular Institute. He was involved in the day-to-day operations, assisting in analyzing the biweekly financials for centralized scheduling. Mr. Schmidt also assisted in a business write-up plan, including a Green Belt project to add more room to the ICU and working with the ER to identify ways to decrease door to balloon time, and thus improve quality. Valerie Simonova interned at Spokane Eye Clinic. She implemented process improvement initiatives for scheduling triage appointments. The Spokane Eye Clinic is currently working on measuring the effectiveness of these initiatives. Brycen Taylor interned at Lincoln Hospital in Davenport, WA. He implemented a point-of-service program with the hospital to lower bad debt and increase cash flow. This included staff training on how to collect upfront cash, patient letters, and new policies and procedures. Additionally, Mr. Taylor updated all job descriptions throughout the hospital to be current with the healthcare industry.

3. HPA Student Internships: Summer 2014 Jason Tordale interned at Spokane VA Hospital doing a project with the pharmacy on the Opioid Initiative. Mr. Tordale also interned at St. Luke's Rehabilitation Hospital working with Quality Control. Israel Vidales interned at Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic at their two Spokane clinics, Spokane Falls Family Clinic and Riverstone Family Clinic. He worked with the Dental Leadership team on improving patient wait time for the Dental office. He also worked with the Medical Leadership team as they developed their new OB Clinic at West Central Community Center. Sheetal Wadhwa interned at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle. She worked with the system director on deployment of Smart IV Infusion Pumps as well as developing a Pathway to Excellence application for the Ballard Hospital. Additionally, she contributed to the supply chain implementation process. Daniel Walker interned at Franciscan Health, Tacoma. He was assigned to a hospital president to assist in developing several business plans for the neuroscience service line, as well as the nephrology and sleep programs. Additionally, Mr. Walker achievedexposure to various projects such as ambulatory care, a Critical Access Hospital, and service line and system initiatives. • Jared Williams interned at Dignity Health Facility in Phoenix, AZ. His primary project was to develop a complete business plan for an advanced cardiovascular service. He performed market assessments, financial analyses, and led discussions on key items with senior executives and physicians. The proposal was approved and the hospital is moving forward with the project.