UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Teams from 20 universities across the nation recently competed in the fifth annual Penn State Health Administration Case Competition, hosted by the Penn State Department of Health Policy and Administration.

Health Policy and Administration (HPA) welcomed undergraduate, residential and online Master of Health Administration (MHA) program students to participate in the virtual event. The competition provided an opportunity for students to take the knowledge they have gained in the classroom and apply it to a real healthcare challenge.

Students were given 40 hours to develop a solution to a real-world industry challenge. This year’s case focused on the average length of stay at the Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, which sponsored this year’s event. Average length of stay is an issue many tertiary and quaternary hospitals nationwide currently face and can be especially difficult for large referral medical centers, like Hershey Medical Center.

“The core challenge for many hospitals is that patients who are eligible for discharge to home or a post-acute setting, like a rehabilitation hospital or a skilled nursing facility, cannot be discharged because there are no beds available in those facilities or there are staffing shortages at the home health agency which limits discharges for patients needing support,” said Chris Calkins, teaching professor of health policy and administration and professor-in-charge for both the residential and online MHA programs at Penn State. “As a result, patients stay in acute care settings much longer than expected, significantly limiting Hershey Medical Center’s capacity to accept and admit new patients from referring hospitals or through their emergency department.”

Teams were asked to provide solutions that helped lower the average length of stay in the short term and provide longer-term options that would be sustainable for Hershey Medical Center.

The teams then presented their recommended solutions to judges. The preliminary rounds were judged by friends and alumni of HPA, most of whom are currently working in leadership positions in the healthcare industry. There were 38 judges divided into nine panels for the first and second round presentations. The judges evaluated each team’s proposal in the context of real-world practice. Final presentations were judged by four leaders from the Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Center.

According to Calkins, 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 Penn State Health Administration 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 engagement with healthcare professionals. Judges for the case competition were professionals working in the field, and their questions were 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 undergraduate students and MHA students to have the opportunity to compete with one another. There are other case competitions around the country, but none that combine all levels of degree programs,” said Calkins. “Feedback from participants highlights the opportunity to compete with students from around the country. It is reinforcing for the students not only that they made the right career choice, but they also 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 $2,000 for the team awarded first place in each category.

Winners of the 2023 Penn State Health Administration Case Competition

Undergraduate Programs

• 1st place: Sanya Patel, Georgia Glidden, Angelique Flores, Tiffany Rusnok – Loyola University Chicago
• 2nd place: Sabrina Lee, Nina Royer, Stephen Ciccarone, Elijah Beard – Penn State
• 3rd place: Nana Keita, Mandy Prescott, Angelina Colucci, Paige Myers – Penn State

Residential MHA Programs

• 1st place: Tanyon Loose, Alex Reidel, Hubert Zhou, Keshaav Krishnaa P – Cornell University
• 2nd place: Alexandra Voisey, Ezra Washington Gore, Josef Saway, George Fereg – University of Alabama at Birmingham
• 3rd place: Esther Ruedi, Marjorie Lutz, Kent Turner, Chris Ervin – Army Baylor University

Online MHA Programs

• 1st place: Abby Anderson, Michael Vieyra, Sarah Earley – George Washington University
• 2nd place: Harshitha Ramanan, Conner Bartley, Alycia Ford – Duquesne University
• 3rd place: Jiwon Yang, Yudamis Rodriguez, Pontea Allen – University of the Incarnate Word