Trinity University HCAD Herald

"It's the most wonderful time of the year..."  For Trinity HCAD, there's an additional reason why that phrase rings true.  While most programs celebrate graduation in May, our program's students graduate every December, and this year we were thrilled to welcome back the Class of 2017 to campus to mark this important milestone in their lives.  This includes our wonderful Executive program students - who completed their two-year coursework in the summer while working full-time in their respective health care organizations in locations throughout the Southwest - as well as our accomplished On-Campus program students who just completed their year-long administrative residencies at various health care organizations across a wide range of cities, markets, and states. The festivities began with the On-Campus Class of 2017's "First Reunion," in which students spent a Friday afternoon catching up with old friends (well, not that  old) and sharing fun sto

Our final Research Spotlight post of the year shines on work led by our own Brad Beauvais, published in the most recent issue of Journal of Health Care Finance .  Along with colleagues Jason Richter and Lawrence Fulton, Dr. Beauvais and his team set out to assess the impact of recently proliferated care delivery models - including patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs), accountable care organizations (ACOs), and increased utilization of hospitalists - on four profitability measures across hospitals. Examining hospital-level data from over 2,000 hospitals in the American Hospital Association's 2014 survey dataset, Beauvais and his colleagues (2016) found that PCMH development was positively associated with improvements across all four hospital profitability measures (operating margin, net patient revenue, net income, and return on assets), while hospitalist utilization was positively associated with improved operating margin and net patient revenue.  In contrast, hospitals' en

With the calendar year drawing to a close and the holidays fast approaching, we once again enjoy a number of annual traditions here at Trinity HCAD.  Those include some highlights full of joy and celebration, like First Reunion and Graduation, as well as some bittersweet moments such as the Holiday Party when we celebrate the end of the semester but have to say farewell to our second-year students who will soon scatter to begin their administrative residencies in different hospitals, cities, and markets. It's sweet to think about all that these students have accomplished in just more than a year during their time in the program, and we marvel at their incredible development and growth over that short period of time.  They have evolved from "drinking water out of a fire hose" when it comes to becoming familiar with the health care industry at the beginning of the program, to now being competent and confident young professionals who will make a meaningful difference in

It's the end of the semester, which means one thing: finals .  Here in the Trinity HCAD program, our students are in the midst of diligently preparing for final exams in some of their courses, but primarily, much of our coursework revolves around major projects that blend didactic information with applied experience, connecting the classroom to the real world.  One of our differentiating attributes that we are proud to use to our students' advantage is the fact that our student cohorts all progress through the same courses together, allowing faculty members to collaborate across courses for joint projects.  This leads to a more robust, challenging, and meaningful collection of projects that students engage in each semester: rather than dividing their efforts into four or five separate projects for each class, they are challenged to focus and go deeper on two projects covering multiple courses.  For example, the HCAD 5330 (Health Care Organization Theory & Management) and HC

Thanksgiving has come once again, and as many do, we celebrate this time of the year by pausing to reflect upon that for which we are thankful.  We wanted to share the sentiments of some members of our HCAD family who found the following reasons to give thanks this year. From Dr. Jay Shah, first-year student in the Executive Program: The idea of Thanksgiving should not be restricted to one continent or to one day; with each passing day we all should be thankful for what we have had so far.  I am grateful to HCAD faculty for their availability to accommodate our busy schedules to answer our questions. I am grateful to HCAD staff for keeping us informed on our schedules and activities. I am grateful to our fellow students who are helpful to increase my knowledge in health care administration because of their diverse background. Thank you to every one who has become part of my new Trinity family. From Shirly Ho, first-year student in the On-Campus Program and 2016 Pecha Kucha wi

This month's Research Spotlight shines on recent work done by Jason Richter and his colleagues.  Dr. Richter is an assistant professor in the Army-Baylor University at Fort Sam Houston, and he also serves as an adjunct faculty member at Trinity University, teaching the Operations Management course in the Executive program.  His work on safety culture and minimizing infections, with Ann Scheck McAlearney from The Ohio State University, was recently published ahead of print in Health Care Management Review . In their study, Richter and McAlearney focus upon hospital units that completed an intensive program referred to as CUSP (Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program) , working to identify whether certain factors of a unit's safety culture may be related to the reduction or elimination of central line-associated bloodstream infections.  They indeed found that hospital units characterized by open communications, safe staffing levels, continuous organizational learning, and teamw

As we head into the holiday season, it's a time when many of us look forward to enjoying our annual holiday traditions with family and friends.  That got us thinking about traditions within the Trinity HCAD family, and in this week's post, first-year on-campus student Camille Fagan helps give us a glimpse of the traditions that current students in the Trinity HCAD family enjoy! "Traditions are a large part of my student experience in the HCAD program. Several traditions are built into the program officially, while others are less formal and have been passed down throughout the years. Some traditions have even formed naturally within my class during our time here so far. Traditions that most alumni will remember are, of course, the Christmas party and the ACHE conference. The Christmas party is often held in Trinity’s Skyline Dining Room, where students enjoy a beautiful view of downtown San Antonio. My class is excited to experience this long-cherished HCAD tradition, e

This Friday, the Central and South Texas Chapters of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) held their annual fall collaborative event at Texas State University in San Marcos, in which local health care executives could earn ACHE education credits.  The collaborative consisted of two panel discussions addressing health care leadership, and we were proud that the second session of the event - titled, "Leading into an Unknowable Future: Creating a Committed Workforce" - included strong representation from Trinity University. The panel discussion was moderated by our own Dr. Patrick Shay ('05), and the panel consisted of Michael Roussos ('01), Hospital Administrator at University Hospital in San Antonio, Barry Burns, Vice President of Human Resources at Methodist Healthcare System, and Lt. Col. David Parker, COO at Brook Army Medical Center.  Furthermore, the session was organized and overseen by Roxanne Rosa ('01), Executive Director at University

As we approach the end of 2016, our on-campus graduate students who are completing their administrative residencies are receiving visits from their faculty readers.  These site visits often include: tours of the organizations and facilities that have defined the residents' experiences; individual meetings with residency preceptors and mentors to express gratitude for their role in the residencies and their perspective on ways to improve the program experience; and, focused time with residents to discuss their experiences over the course of the administrative residency as well as the entire program and to think about what the future holds for them. Of course, site visits aren't always just tours of facilities and individual meetings to discuss how the year has gone.  Residents are still working full time in their roles, which often means staff meetings, projects, and urgent communications that can't wait may come up during a visit.  In these instances, faculty readers g

This month's Research Spotlight shines on work from our very own, Dr. Brad Beauvais, published in the most recent issue of the  Journal of Health Administration Education .  In collaboration with colleagues Forest Kim, Mishaw Cuyler, Jason Richter, Lawrence Johnson, and David Mangelsdorff, Dr. Beauvais and his team share their development of a competency-based assessment methodology that was initially employed within the Army-Baylor Program in Health and Business Administration. The methodology, referred to as the BEAR, grew in response to a shift towards competency-based education by the Commission on Accreditation for Healthcare Management (CAHME), which in turn has corresponded with an increased emphasis on competency-based education and calls by industry groups such as the American Hospital Association for health care organizations to carefully define and consider the importance of competencies across organizational positions.  Beauvais and colleagues describe the develop

Each year October brings not only a long awaited break from summer temperatures in south Texas, but for the HCAD program it also brings our annual alumni weekend, when we celebrate the Trinity HCAD family and enjoy reconnecting across the alumni network.  This year was no exception, and first-year HCAD on-campus graduate student Camille Fagan shares the following account of the varied events: This past weekend was Alumni Weekend for our Healthcare Administration Department! There was a great turnout as graduates spent the weekend reconnecting with old classmates and friends. Trinity Alumni Coordinator Elizabeth Ford worked closely with HCAD Alumni Association President Jim Bohnsack to host a series of events over the fun-filled weekend. The first of these events was a Thursday lunch mixer between the HCAD Alumni Association's Board of Directors and the first-year on-campus HCAD students. Each Board member detailed their individual career paths and offered advice for

In a recent "Spotlight" profile by Trinity University website's news center, HCAD alum Tyler Wilson ('07 and '09) was featured for the work he is doing with value-based care at Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) in Colorado.  Specifically, Tyler serves as the National Director of Clinically Integrated Network Development & Integrity at CHI, where he provides direction for CHI's 12 clinically integrated networks (CINs) as they provide health services across the continuum of care with an emphasis on population health management and preventative care.  We're proud to hear about the work Tyler is doing with CHI, and you can read more about it by checking out his Trinity University Spotlight story here . In our on-campus and executive graduate programs, HCAD students engage in conversations across multiple courses regarding the future of value-based care in our health care delivery system.  Whether discussing the policies surrounding value-based care in

One of the many reasons why we are proud of our students in our graduate programs is the continued commitment they exhibit to serving and engaging in the community, breaking out of the "Trinity bubble" and developing habits of community service and engagement that define effective health care leaders.  A recent example of such engagement occurred this past weekend, when several first-year students from the on-campus graduate program participated in a local race hosted by CentroMed.  Camille Fagan, a current first-year student, contributed this account of the event for our blog: (Left to right: Students Pancho Escobedo and Dylan Darden, CentroMed President and CEO Dr. Ernesto Gomez, and student Justin Volkman) CentroMed, a non-profit community health center with over 20 locations across San Antonio, hosted a 5K/10K run fundraiser on September 24th.  The run was themed “Para Mi” and focused on keeping San Antonians active for their health, their families, and themselves.

There is so much effort and research activity occuring to better understand our health care delivery system, yet often it can seem either daunting to keep up with the latest news or extremely challenging to access recent findings from high-quality, peer-reviewed studies.  In light of this challenge, we hope to periodically shine a light on recent studies that relate to the important work being done every day in health care organizations across the U.S.  Our aim in these research entries is to regularly bring "bite-size" summaries of meaningful research to busy health care administrators, helping disseminate interesting findings and bring work outside the "ivory tower" to within the walls of health care organizations.  This month's research spotlight comes from a recently published study on the impact of employee engagement. It's a critical issue that continues to find its way into health care industry headlines and remains a key concern for health care l

One of the most critical components of our on-campus graduate program is the administrative residency, in which young health care administration graduate students spend a full year as an administrative resident in a health care organization, learning in the practical setting under the guidance of their preceptors, the executives of those organizations.  This residency spans the final year of the program, and throughout the residency students maintain contact with their faculty reader to share with them their experiences, their insights, their challenges, and their future directions.  One way in which these perspectives are shared is through monthly journals that the residents complete and submit to the program.  Often, these journals can be thought provoking, as residents share critical lessons gained over the course of their residencies, and this year has been no exception.  The following post comes as an excerpt from one resident's recent journal entry, in which she detailed her

Even though September 22nd is still a couple weeks away, with the fall semester now several weeks in and Labor Day behind us, we now look at summer in the rearview mirror.  Some may think of summertime as a period of rest and relaxation for both students and those working at universities, but for the HCAD program, that's certainly not the case; this past summer was a busy and active one.  Here's a glimpse of what we were up to: Both the Executive and On-Campus programs continued their work during the summer semester, lasting roughly from mid-May through early July. Sharon Hubenak, the Director of Recruitment and Residencies, was active finalizing the recruits for the On-Campus and Executive Classes of 2018, helping prepare for the new students' arrival with various administrative and admissions details, finalizing the residency placement process for the On-Campus Class of 2017, and planning for the next academic year's recruiting efforts as well as visiting with pro

After more than fifty years of educating and developing tomorrow's health care leaders, the Department of Health Care Administration is privileged and proud to be able to point to so many alumni who have made a difference in their organizations and communities through their service with health care organizations.  We are also incredibly proud of the numerous instances in which our alumni are recognized for their excellence, and in recent weeks we've had good reason to celebrate such instances.    Wayne Smith - Chairman and CEO of Community Health Systems (CHS) - and Joel Allison - CEO of Baylor Scott & White Health - were once again named to Modern Healthcare's list of the 100 Most Influential People in Health Care , for the 15th and 12th consecutive years, respectively.  In other news, among the six leaders nationally selected in 2016 for ACHE's prestigious Thomas C. Dolan Executive Diversity Program , we are proud to recognize a Trinity alum: Roxanne Rosa, Ex

This week marked the beginning of a journey for our On-Campus program's Class of 2018, just as last week marked the beginning of a journey for our Executive program's new students.   For both groups, the first week is marked by excitement, enthusiasm, and anticipation for what the future holds.  It's a time where strangers, meeting for the first time, quickly become acquainted with their classmates and look forward to establishing ties that will be maintained throughout their careers.  In some ways it's also like the beginning of a roller coaster, when one gets to the top of the first hill with much excitement but then looks ahead to the rest of the ride and also wonders how will they make it through...for both our Executive and On-Campus program students, we commonly hear that the beginning of the program feels like "drinking water from a fire hose."  Yet, just like a roller coaster, students also commonly reach the end of the program and wonder where

Earlier this week we welcomed 11 new students in our Executive Graduate program, the Executive Class of 2018!  The students kicked off their first semester with a 3-day on-campus session, with highlights including: a delicious dinner and social gathering at La Fonda on Main; professional development sessions with Bob Shaw, an esteemed alum and Executive-In-Residence; an informative lunch and discussion with Jamie Wesolowski, President and CEO of Methodist Healthcare System; Pecha Kucha presentations providing each student with a chance to "tell their story" and quickly learn about one another; and, of course, an intense three days' worth of rigorous coursework and engaging discussions. [Students hard at work developing their Pecha Kucha presentations in the Health Services Organization & Policy course] Of course, we also welcomed back our second-year Executive students, who we are very proud of as they begin the second half of their program.  One of the great

While the NCAA saw Villanova pull out a dramatic, close victory, while UConn won in dominating and decisive fashion in this year's men's and women's Final Four championships, respectively, the HCAD program at Trinity University is celebrating its own "final four" achievement this week.  Perhaps not quite the same "final four" that most people would think of, but we are celebrating the fact that Trinity University HCAD graduate students have reached the finals of the past four major case competitions we've competed in during the year.  It's quite an accomplishment, and one that speaks highly of the quality of our students, their preparation, and their dedication and work ethic. Beginning last October, a team of three students - Shawntae Batiste, Christina Roscoe, and Elle VanConia - participated in the 20th annual NAHSE Everett V. Fox Student Case Competition  in New Orleans, Louisiana, and they reached the finals, taking 3rd place overall (an