MHA Students Organize Inaugural Case Competition Examining Integrated Care

The student organization Society for Healthcare Administration (SOHA) held its inaugural MHA Case Competition this spring, following on the heels of the program’s first-ever appearance in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Case Competition earlier in the semester.

Three teams, comprising three MHA students each, participated and presented their work on the UAB Case Topic (“Creating an Integrated Care Delivery Model for Serious Illness Care”). Following a similar set of rules, they received the topic three weeks in advance and worked as a team to develop and present their solutions before a panel of four judges, including MHA faculty members and healthcare executives from local health systems.

All three teams did remarkably well! Every team had worked hard to put their best foot forward, and it was a difficult choice for the judges. Ultimately, Team 2 prevailed.

Overall, it was a fabulously engaging and productive evening for everyone in attendance, and a proud moment for the University’s MHA program.

Faculty hope that this initiative serves to usher in a new era of experiential (case-based) learning and real-world healthcare administration problem-solving by MHA students. Importantly, this experience provides a foundation for the program to explore the possibility of establishing an “MHA Case Competition Club” coordinated by SOHA.

This type of student-led club in turn could enable the program to provide a recurring option of participating in national and local case competitions for curriculum credit to interested MHA students.

A big thanks to the judges, and a hearty congratulations to all three participating teams!

TEAM 1
Dr. Alekhya Suri ’24 MHA
Vaishnavi Nandivada ’24 MHA
Bhargavi Pinnamani ’24 MHA

TEAM 2
Kashyap Ramadyani ’24 MHA
Hiba M. Jaidi ’24 MHA
Sara Tarascio ’24 MHA

TEAM 3
Afrah Kazi ’23 MHA
Insha Khan ’23 MHA
Dr. Mrunal Hathi ’23 MHA

Kudos to the winning team:
Kashyap Ramadyani ’24 MHA
Hiba M. Jaidi ’24 MHA
Sara Tarascio ’24 MHA

A big thank you to the panel of judges.
Kimberly Lumia, FACHE
Brigid Carney, MBA, PMP, LSSMBB, CIT
David O. Lane
Reena Kelly, Ph.D., MHA

Thank you to the original team of students who represented the University’s MHA program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Case Competition this year and who played a major role in coordinating this event for MHA students.

Prateek Mansingh ’23 MHA
Lais Aguilar ’23 MHA
Robin Cullen ’23 MHA, PharmD

Pavani Rangachari, Ph.D., CPH is a professor and director of the Master of Healthcare Administration program at the University of New Haven.