Three FIU Healthcare MBA professors will receive program research grants to engage in new research initiatives in partnership with value-based primary care provider Cano Health, a new program partner.
Information systems and business analytics faculty members Min Chen and Paulo Gomes as well as Jayati Sinha from the Department of Marketing and Logistics will each receive $4,000. The research is intended for publication and designed to become a course project for students in each respective class.
“The purpose of these community health partnerships is for the medical institution and the academic institution to exchange ideas and promote research and student interaction,” said Miriam Weismann, academic director of the Healthcare MBA program. “A component of all these partnerships is to improve community healthcare.”
Working in collaboration with Dr. Alberto Jacir (MBA ’15), director of Cano Health, the research will examine different aspects of patient no-show rates that have become increasingly costly for hospitals and medical centers, explained Weismann.
Researchers will explore:
- What influences patient volume and capacity at the hospital center – Paulo Gomes
- How social determinants of health influence the probability that a patient won’t attend an appointment – Min Chen
- Market analysis that will provide data to create a strategy that will improve patient engagement – Jayati Sinha
“This program is very active in creating community partnerships with South Florida hospitals to engage in research projects as well as co-author and publish case studies,” said Weismann.
The research conducted in partnership with Cano Health will be one of the case studies in the Healthcare MBA program that provides real-world experience for students.
Over the past nine years, program faculty and students have worked with hospitals including Baptist Health South Florida and Cleveland Clinic Florida. In the HCMBA capstone course, students use the case studies to engage in health policy analysis and present their findings and conclusions to administrators at partner hospitals.
The Healthcare MBA program also offers a broad range of courses and initiatives designed to prepare students for high-level professional and leadership roles. That includes Lean Six Sigma yellow and green belt certification for every student, which centers on efficiencies in supply chain, quality assurance, business risk and other management processes.
FIU HCMBA professors Weismann and Sue Ganske also provide this training to administrators and executives at South Florida healthcare institutions. Training is currently underway at four hospitals under the Baptist Health South Florida umbrella. As part of this initiative, Baptist Health South Florida has dedicated two fellowships annually to graduates from the Healthcare MBA program. Additionally, Weismann noted, the money raised through the Lean Six Sigma certification is used to fund faculty research grants and student scholarships.
“It’s a very important business model and in the last four years we’ve raised almost $200,000 doing this,” said Weismann. “In this day and age, you can’t go to a healthcare organization and say contribute to us; the beauty of what we do with Lean Six Sigma is that it’s value added to both our partners and to our program at every step.”