AUPHA: What’s your educational background and why did you choose the area(s) of study that you did?
Biggs: BA – (Business – Sociology), Simpson College
MBA– (Health Administration), The George Washington University
LL.B. – (Law), LaSalle Ext. University
Ph.D. – (Health Administration), The Pennsylvania State University
When I was in high school, a surgeon neighbor convinced me I’d be better as the hospital administrator than as one of many physicians. As an undergraduate, I would tell college classmates I wanted to be a hospital administrator and none of them knew what that was or what one did. In many ways, I found I probably didn’t really know either.
While attending Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, the CEO of Iowa Methodist Hospital in Des Moines, Donald W. Cordes, who was also chair of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) at the time, created a three year “administrative residency” for me until I graduated. I felt very fortunate to have this experience.
Initially, I planned to attend the University of Iowa for the appropriate graduate education. However, when I went to Iowa City for my interview, a faculty member by the name of Leon I. Gintzig convinced me I should consider attending The George Washington University (GWU) instead. In fact, he said, “I am going there myself this Fall.” Dr. Gintzig also told me something I have never forgotten. He said, “even if GWU is the worst HA program in the country, you will learn more just being in Washington, DC than you will in other cities.” In many ways, he was right. I was exposed to the Library of Congress, the National Library of Medicine, classes at Bethesda Naval Hospital, the National Institutes of Health, the State Department and various other government agencies dealing with healthcare issues, and also to the activities of foreign embassies, etc. during my learning experience in Washington. It was an exciting time.
AUPHA: Tell us about the jobs you have held before you got into academe.
Biggs: I spent two years in an administrative residency at what is now Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. The following five years were spent as an assistant administrator at the 700-bed Harrisburg (PA) Hospital. Then, at age 29, I was selected to be the CEO of Lewistown Hospital in Lewistown, Pennsylvania. While there, I accomplished one of the main things I had been hired to do - the merger of the first osteopathic and allopathic hospitals in the U.S. The merger was very successful, and I needed another challenge.
At that time, The Pennsylvania State University had a new Ph.D. program in health administration, which seemed interesting; Gordon Brown, who became a good friend and later went to the University of Missouri and also served as Chair of AUPHA, was the director. With his encouragement and the cooperation of the hospital, I took a leave of absence to enroll in that program. Many friends were certain I needed some type of medical care – psychiatric, perhaps - for leaving that hospital position to return to school.
Next step after completing the doctoral program at Penn State was becoming a regional director for Nashville-based Hospital Affiliates, now Quorum Health Resources. I was based in Denver and oversaw 6 – 8 hospitals managed by the company. After two years of constant travel, I became the CEO at Presbyterian Denver Hospital and stayed there for 7 years until we sold the system to an investor-owned company, which is now Hospital Corporation of America.
AUPHA: Where have you held faculty appointments during your career?
Biggs: My faculty appointment has been and is at the University of Colorado. When I was with Hospital Affiliates and Presbyterian Denver Hospital, I was a part-time faculty member, and transitioned to full-time in 1990.
AUPHA: What made you choose the program you currently lead?
Biggs: In a way, I did not really choose the programs I currently lead, the programs chose me. I began at the University of Colorado in 1978 by teaching one course in the on-campus program. By 1990, we had sold the Presbyterian system, it was time for another challenge, and when I was asked to go full time with the HA programs, it seemed academia was that challenge.
Historically, the program directorship became a rather rotating position among the full-time faculty; I was acting director in 1992-93. I also started the Center for Health Administration based at the University during that time; the Center does community health needs assessments for hospitals and communities, linking the knowledge of academia with the reality of community needs. Subsequently, the Dean and the faculty of the health administration programs asked me, and I became director of the University’s two graduate programs in health administration in 1997.
AUPHA: Tell us what’s unique about your program, faculty, students.
Biggs: Uniquely, I am the director of two separate Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME) accredited graduate programs in health administration, with two different faculties. I don’t believe any other school in the country has a similar design. One of the programs is a traditional campus-based master’s program in health administration; the other is an executive master’s in health administration. The campus HA program faculty all have full time appointments at the University of Colorado Denver and live in Colorado. The faculty of the executive program includes some members from Colorado, but most are from other CAHME accredited universities that have campus HA programs. The campus program is 42 years old and the executive program is 25 years old.
Somewhat uniquely, both of our HA programs are housed in the Business School, and both grant an MBA in health administration. We admit and graduate students three times per year in the campus program; usually, about 50% are from out of state. We admit and graduate executive program students once a year in July; rarely is any student in this program under 30 years of age and most are in positions of management authority in their workplaces. About 30% of the students are physicians; students are admitted from all over the U.S. and from foreign countries.
AUPHA: What’s the greatest challenge you face in your role as Program Chair/Director?
Biggs: One challenge is that it seems we are constantly going through an accreditation process. Our two graduate health administration programs are separately accredited by CAHME because the faculties are different and the programs are different. Also, because our programs offer an MBA in health administration and not an MHA, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) looks at both programs in great detail when the Business School itself is accredited.
So, for example, in 2011 the following accreditation activities are taking place: a CAHME Progress Report was due February 1, 2011 for the campus program; the second week of February, 2011, AACSB conducted a site visit for the Business School accreditation, which included scrutiny of both graduate health administration programs; and on July 1, 2011, we begin the CAHME “self-study year” for the executive program. There is rarely any time during any year when something is not happening related to one accreditation or another.
Accreditation is a good thing and it certainly helps HA programs improve. I am hopeful, however, that CAHME and AACSB might develop a joint accreditation or mutual recognition process; I know a pilot project will take place soon. It would seem beneficial for both groups to pursue this approach, so some of the time spent on the programs’ inward focus might be directed toward expansion of the outward application of our efforts. An enhanced melding of academic theory with its practical applications might help this country develop more viable solutions to the healthcare dilemmas currently facing us. Our students are our future resources, and we need to point them toward that end.
Another challenge, soon to be solved, is that our Business School is currently housed in nine different locations in Denver. Next year, the entire Business School, including the two health administration programs, will move into a renovated building purchased by the University specifically for the Business School.
A third challenge is finding scholarships or other financial aid for excellent health administration students. As is true in many states, funding for higher education has decreased significantly in Colorado.
Finally, it is interesting to me that during all the years I was a hospital CEO, I rarely worked weekends. In this job I seem to work weekends fairly regularly.
AUPHA: What do you consider your greatest accomplishment during your tenure as Program Chair/Director?
Biggs: I am particularly pleased both of our HA programs have become nationally ranked since I became director. It is gratifying to have very strong support for the HA programs from the Deans and other faculty in the Business School, and similar support of the HA programs from practitioners in healthcare organizations in the field. I am also happy about how well the faculties of both HA programs seem to work together and support each other. Most especially, however, watching our graduates as they further their careers on the foundations our programs have given them is priceless.
AUPHA: What keeps you in this field, despite the challenges you note?
Biggs: In addition to the items mentioned above, interacting with the students and seeing them do well are both exceptionally rewarding to me. I enjoy working with the really talented students in both of the programs, eventually helping them land jobs that fit their skill sets, and knowing they will be successful. I enjoy the stimulation this job provides, whether interacting with students or faculty, faculty from other schools, or practitioners in the field or related businesses. Knowing we are helping to meet the need for qualified healthcare management personnel provides another type of satisfaction. And an anticipation of what might be around the corner next is always there.
AUPHA: If making a living/money were not a consideration, what would you be doing instead or what would you do in retirement?
Biggs: So many possibilities, so little time! I have been amazingly fortunate to have had excellent mentors throughout my career, and I’d like to be able to return the favor to others. Maintaining some involvement in linking students with the field would be very rewarding, and hopefully useful. I really enjoy speaking to hospital boards of directors about how to function successfully, and have just finished my third book about governance for hospital and healthcare boards. (Hospital boards are great groups of people and I could speak with them every week. Getting to some places may not always be great, but the board interaction sure is fun.) Outside of the field, my wife and I enjoy travel, sailing and our horses, and I am aiming to win a squash tournament one of these days!