Emily Allen: Product Analyst at PNC Financial Services

I recently completed a summer internship with PNC Financial Services, in the PNC Healthcare line of business.  Within PNC Healthcare, I was a part of the treasury management group as a product analyst.  The products in PNC Healthcare, offer a comprehensive set of solutions for payers and providers.  These tools assist our clients with eligibilty, posting and reconciling receivable transactions, and billing. Treasury management specifically addresses the needs of payers and providers in regards to their short term revenue cycle. 

Although I worked on a variety of projects this summer, I primarily focused my attention on new product development as well as the impact of regulations on existing products.  By analyzing the future success of a new product in the first half of the summer, I concluded my summer by being part of the testing phase  with a product's first client.  The emphasis on the Affordable Care Act usually fails to acknowledge the impact it will have on payers and providers' finances.  Using my health policy background, I helped the product team assess the impact that a variety of new regulations will have on existing products. 

Despite not having a strong finance background, I found my HCPM education greatly valuable in navigating my way through the summer internship.  Although my fellow students most commonly interned within hospital administrations, consulting, health IT, or research fields, I found my summer in healthcare finance to be a strong learning experience that I know will serve me well in the future.  

Nayel Hakim, : Financial Analyst Intern at Gateway Health Plan

There has been a growing need in the healthcare sector to investigate novel ways of saving capital while delivering high quality and affordable care that meets the needs and expectations of patients. Currently, research is being conducted throughout the country; with ideas being shared and investigated by all the major players in healthcare sector: all this to come up with novel best practices to improve outcomes while reducing treatment costs.

For my internship, I decided to work one such project being investigated jointly by CMU and Gateway Health Plan Insurance in Pittsburgh.The program initiated by Gateway Health Plan was intended to address the perceived deficiencies in the current hospital discharge process among Gateway’s constituents by providing individualized and comprehensive follow up plan for selected discharge patients. With the goal of analyzing the success and improving the protocol, Gateway Health Plan partnered with CMU.

Having spent the summer researching and analyzing this program, I feel I was provided with a fantastic opportunity to apply all the quantities skills I picked up at Heinz. I realized there is a world of difference between learning and application; and by undertaking this process in totality, I took my knowledge from active to reflective to abstract to concrete over the course of the one year I spent at Heinz

I had the opportunity to analyze data, apply quantitative models, research best practices and finally, present and share my results with some of the best minds in the healthcare sector Pittsburgh. The feedback I got was very encouraging and enlightening. It’s been a great summer; I have learnt a lot from working with some of the best and brightest at CMU and Gateway Health Plan. I am looking to forward to meeting all my friends and colleagues at CMU and to another challenging and exciting year. 

Alana Cheeks-Lomax: Health Care Quality Analyst, Indepdence Blue Cross

When I first started applying for internships for the summer, I was very focused on going to Washington, D.C. to do policy work at a think tank or government office. Although I didn't end up spending the summer in Washington, being in Philadelphia has been amazing. Working for an insurance company has opened my eyes to another side of health reform that sometimes sheds a bad light on health insurers. Independence Blue Cross is part of the larger umbrella of Blue Cross Blue Shield and is one of the few not for profit insurance companies out there. The organization has a very strong mission that values the local community, and takes pride in its commitment to provide quality health care to all individuals.

I work within a small group of IBC that reports Pennsylvania hospital quality measures for consumers in the hopes that transparency will encourage patients to take an active role in their health and make informed decisions. I have spent a lot of my summer supporting the development and maintenance of advisory groups who inform measure development for our customers as well as drafting and editing project deliverable s based on state and federal health care legislation.

My biggest project over the summer has been analyzing and reviewing federal claims data to create regional reports on health care quality known as, "The State of the State". The "State of the State" is a yearly report card that shows how Pennsylvania is measuring up to other states around the country. Since working on this report Excel, VLOOKUP, and Arrays have become my best friend; lots of numbers and statistics. Nevertheless, the skills I have learned will definitely serve me well in the future and I can definitely say I learned a lot this summer.

Marc Vacquier, Medicare Research – The Wage Index: A Love Story

Pittsburgh is known for many things. It is home to the Steelers and their 1976 defense the “Iron Curtain,” the Pirates or “Bucks” and their return to the limelight, the Penguins, the region’s distinct spoken dialect commonly known as “Pittsburghese,” and its flourishing medical and educational institutions. But many do not realize that Pittsburgh and the surrounding region is home to the highest proportion of persons 65 and older than any other county in the United States. Thus, Pittsburgh’s large elderly population relies heavily on Medicare for its health care needs while providers rely heavily on Medicare reimbursement rates for compensation.


I accepted a position here at CMU as a summer research assistant, focusing on one specific part of the Medicare reimbursement system, called the Wage Index. The Wage Index calculates rates based on predetermined boundaries derived from census data and is intended to account for the varying cost of living throughout the country. I am investigating Pittsburgh’s Wage Index value because many in the health care profession feel it is not representative of the cost of living in the region.


I have spent the last 7 weeks learning the intricate reimbursement system while sorting a seemingly endless amount of data to calculate and reconstruct the Wage Index, a variable whose governing rules can change drastically year to year.


So far it has been a great experience and I have enjoyed working under the guidance of our former program director, Dr. David J. Dausey. If our data analysis is successful it could be used in support of Wage Index reform and a push to make reimbursement more fair and equitable.

Tony Tran - Graduate Intern at UMass Memorial Health Care

My official title is Career PATH Graduate Intern at UMass Memorial Health Care. UMMHC is a healthcare delivery system with more than 1,100 beds, serving Central MA. I work in the Quality and Patient Safety department, focused on process improvement. Overall, my department uses Lean methodologies to improve the financial, clinical, and administrative processes at UMMHC.

So far, my experience has been very rewarding. I am involved in a variety of projects, including Caring for ED Boarders and Transition of Care from ED to Inpatient (Acute Care) to name a few. I get a first-hand view of the complexities and madness in the hospitals; it's amazing to see how much "waste" or non-value added activities that occur in the hospital. This makes my job quite interesting. I'm able to make significant contributions, and improve my problem solving skills at the same time.

Although the internship has been great, I do miss everyone back at Heinz. I can't wait to see y'all soon.

Becky Tyrrell -- Health Care Consulting Intern at Pershing Yoakley & Associates

I'm nearing the end of my internship with PYA here in Knoxville, Tennessee and I'm still pretty amazed by all of the things I've learned -- both personally and professionally. I started graduate school with the goal of completing a summer internship at a consulting firm to see if the field really would be a good fit for me and if I'd be interested in pursuing a consulting career full time after graduation. I'm happy to say that so far I've found the field to be a good fit for my skills and interests and one that offers a wealth of challenge and opportunity for growth and learning.

I've especially enjoyed the fact that no two days have been alike this summer. I go into the office each morning not knowing with certainty what I'll be doing or what exactly will happen, and so far I've found that very invigorating. I like the variety, unpredictability, the time pressure, and the responsibility I'm entrusted with. I've also enjoyed being able to touch a wide range of project types because it has helped me to build a much better understanding of how all the complex and varied pieces of health care fit together.

In terms of specific project work, I've worked on engagements involving physician manpower planning, emergency department call burden assessments, fair market valuations, practice leasing agreements, clinical co-management arrangements, new care model design, health reform implementation, and much more.

I've also done a lot of research, writing, and editing, both for clients and for internal use. I've drafted memos, written email blasts on breaking health care news, written chapters on ACOs for professional organizations, and summarized calls with the Department of Health and Human Services. I've also written a lot of project proposals and created presentations to give to clients. My PowerPoint and Excel skills have definitely improved!

Overall, it has been a fantastic summer and a great glimpse into the world of health care consulting. I'm looking forward to being back in the 'burgh and seeing what everyone else has been up to though!

Elaina Sendro - Administrative Resident at UPMC

It's the start of my 11th week here at UPMC. I am working directly with the Director of Operations for the Pediatric Otolaryngology department at Children's Hospital. Overall, I've been her go-to person in assisting with any and all projects on which she is currently working.

The Department of Otolaryngology is the top rated department at UPMC and ranks second in the nation, so maintaining quality is of highest priority. Much of what was done to improve quality on the adult side is now being implemented on the pediatric side. A lot of my work this summer is focused on the pediatric quality improvement initiative.

Here are two of my ongoing projects:

Press Ganey
The department closely monitors its Press Ganey scores, which track patient satisfaction. Patients respond to each question on a 1-5 scale that is then converted into a percentage score. Various trends in the data can be analyzed once filtered by the date, survey question, physician, etc. I pull updated Press Ganey data on a regular basis in order to assess our past and current standings while setting goals for future target scores. From there, we can determine where to focus our improvement efforts. Current areas being addressed include patient access to a prompt appointment, wait times before seeing the physician, and the child-friendliness of the exam rooms.

Patient and Family Centered Care (PFCC)
Much of our improvement strategy has stemmed from the patient and family perception. We may think our operations run smoothly on the back end and we understand the reasons why particular areas are suboptimal, but the patient has none of this information. By examining our processes from the view of the patient, we can understand where any frustration or disappointment comes from. Out of this PFCC project, we have developed themed activity sheets for children in each exam room, exam room paper printed with various games, and a display board in the waiting area that notifies patients if a physician is running behind. We hope to measure our improvements through our Press Ganey scores.

Fortunately I’ve been kept busy this summer with a wide array of projects. It has given me great insight into what goes on “behind the scenes” of a hospital outpatient setting.

Jenny Sabol - Administrative Resident at UPMC

I'm about to start my 11th week working as an administrative resident in the Department of Women's Health, and here are some of my main projects:

• Patient Flow Improvement: The Ultrasound department at Magee has had issues with extraordinarily long patient wait times and organizational problems for almost 20 years.  They decided to call in the Center for Quality to find the source of and minimize the problem, so I have been working with a Process Improvement Specialist from the Center.  We started the project in June with "deep dive" sessions with all of the Ultrasound Technicians, where they were able to voice any issues with the department without any management present.  This allowed us to begin digging deep into the source of the problem.  From here we split up all the issues into categories and are forming work groups so that we can tackle each category one-by-one.  I have also spent much time observing, from the waiting room to the front desk to the tech triage area to spending days with individual techs inside the exam rooms.  I will be continuing with observations and organizing my data to find bottlenecks and areas for improvement.
• Workflow Redesign:  At Magee, physicians still handwrite their notes whenever they do rounding.  I have been working with the Chief Medical Information Officer to redesign the process so that they will start using powernotes to document electronically.  I have observed several departments to understand their rounding processes and how we can best make customized changes.  The powernotes for Post Partum are ready, so I am developing a training session to instruct the physicians on the best use of the powernotes.  We are also in the process of acquiring tablets so that the physicians can take notes right in the room.  Additionally, one of my tasks is to implement team rounding (versus the currently used individual rounding) in order to take notes in the most time efficient way.
• Physician Incentives:  I developed spreadsheets so that whenever physicians' total wRVUs (work relative value units) come in each month, estimates can be made for the fiscal year's total incentives.  The last fiscal year ended June 30th, so I am currently calculating each physician's incentive total and developing a database to generate these reports.