On February 16, John Iglehart, founding editor of Health Affairs and national correspondent for the New England Journal of Medicine, met with students in FIU’s Healthcare MBA program to discuss healthcare reform. During his FIU visit, Iglehart spoke to 125 luncheon guests including leading members of South Florida’s healthcare community, educators and practitioners regarding Health Reform, Mounting Deficits and Partisan Politics: A Perilous Path on Uncertain Terrain. The event, held at the College of Business, was also sponsored by the Health Foundation of South Florida and the Robert Stempel School of Public Health and the College of Nursing and Health Sciences. The event was underwritten by Trane.
Even though the Healthcare MBA is only one-year old, it is already expanding to China. Last year, the College of Business signed a dual degree agreement with Southern Medical University (SMU) in Guangzhou—ranked as one of the top medical universities in China. Starting Fall 2011, twenty SMU students will travel to the US to pursue their Healthcare MBA at FIU.
Nancy Borkowski, clinical associate professor and director of health management programs, was recently awarded the designation of fellow in the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA). In January, Dr. Borkowski gave three presentations: “Small Business and Job Opportunities in Healthcare,” presented at the Miami-Dade County Social and Economic Development Council’s Accelerating Job Growth through Economic Development Conference; “U.S. and Global Economic Outlooks,” for the Broadspire Client Advisory Council’s Annual Meeting in Fort Lauderdale; and “International Healthcare Management: Defining Competencies and Educational Opportunities in the Dominican Republic,” a coauthored study with Gloria Deckard, associate professor, at the University of Miami-CIBER International Health Care Academic Conference, cosponsored by FIU-CIBER. In addition her co-authored paper with Gloria Deckard and Gulcin Gumus, assistant professor at Florida Atlantic University, titled “Healthcare Managers’ Perceptions of Professional Development and Organizational Support” will appear in the Summer issue of Journal of Health and Human Services Administration. Dr. Borkowski was also recently appointed to serve on the Miami-Dade County’s Social and Economic Development Council and the Broward Regional Health Planning Council.
Min Chen, clinical assistant professor, has a paper titled “Trends in Unionization of Nursing Homes,” coauthored with colleagues at Harvard University and University of Minnesota, forthcoming in Inquiry.
Deisell Martinez, Visiting Assistant Professor, has a paper titled "Optimizing Employee Time in a Purchasing Department: A Six Sigma Case Study," coauthored with colleagues at University of Miami forthcoming in International Journal of Lean Six Sigma. Dr. Martinez will also be presenting her coauthored paper titled “"An Atypical Nurse Staffing Solution" at the 2011 INFORMS Healthcare Conference.
Professors Monica Chiarini Tremblay and Gloria Deckard were awarded a $500,000 grant by Florida’s Agency of Healthcare Administration (ACHA) to help guide the implementation of a statewide health information exchange (HIE). Specifically, the team will develop and recommend methods, techniques and tools that will track and maintain the HIE project and that will inform a national program-level evaluation. This competitive grant was open to all state of Florida public universities, and the College of Business is proud to have brought this important work to FIU and to South Florida.
Professors Tremblay and Deckard are the lead faculty for the College of Business’ new degree, MS/Health Informatics and Management Information Systems. The degree will begin enrolling students this summer with a start date of Spring 2012.