Health Care Management Student Profile

Student Interview

Matt Johnson
Currently enrolled at Rush University
Master's in Health Systems Management

What drew you to health systems management?

In college I was interested in health care. I actually thought I would go to med school, but I decided that wasn’t a good path for me when I found I wasn’t enjoying the science courses as much as I thought I would.

So I got a master’s in higher education, and worked in that field for 10 years. Then I reached a point that I should either get a doctorate or go into a new field. I explored several MBA programs as well as the program at Rush.

How did you choose a school?

The faculty I met at Rush seemed really passionate and engaged with what they were doing in health care. The program is structured as a hybrid of a business program and a public health program. This is a hospital environment, which gives us a better sense of what’s happening in health care.

This is a 2-year master’s program, and I’m in the first year.

How are you able to pay for the program?

The financial aid is loan-based. I was able to get one scholarship, but the rest is financed through federal student loans.

What part of the program has been most interesting for you?

Right now I’m taking epidemiology; that’s something you won’t find in an MBA program. I’m also enjoying the finance courses. I’m looking forward to a course in managed care. That’s an area that is always evolving.

We’ve been visiting different facilities to see how the hospitals are structured, how they run. We went to the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, which is focused solely on rehabilitation.

We visited a community hospital. All of them provide health care, but they focus on different populations and different issues. From here it falls on us to explore through internships, practicums, or just going out and investigating.

Have you been working while you’ve been in school?

I’m working in health systems management program office, on a couple of different projects. I’m studying the succession planning practices for hospital CEOs – we’re doing a nationwide survey on how CEOs are chosen at teaching hospitals.

The other project is coordinating internships for two interns from Russia, helping them learn what it means to provide health care in a free market economy. It’s very different from what they’re used to.

How do you balance school, work, and having a life?

The biggest stressor for me has been not having the free time I had before I went back to school. But you can’t study all the time, and you can’t work all the time. You take advantage of things as they come along; last night I went out to dinner and a movie. It would be very difficult to work full-time in this program; I really admire people who can go to school full-time and also work full-time.

Will you do an internship?

Definitely. Most people do it the summer between the first and second year. I’m interested in so many things that narrowing it down is a big challenge, so I’m talking to my advisor and thinking about all my options.

In 5 years, where do you hope to be with your career?

I’m interested in consulting, which requires broad exposure to health care in different settings.

Strategic planning is where my greatest strengths lie. Another huge area is facilities planning, a lot of hospitals are doing major construction work. Because so many hospitals were built in the 1950s, they’re coming to the end of their useful life. Hospitals bring in consultants to help with facilities planning.

I would also like to work for a medical center, managing a department. In the past I’ve enjoyed supervising and mentoring, which I wouldn’t likely get in a consulting position. There’s never a dull day in a medical center – the politics are changing, the technology is changing, the payment structure is changing.

What are some characteristics of successful health administrators?

They excel in problem solving and strategic thinking. Every day in health care you’re faced with a set of challenges you need to solve. You need the ability to take a problem and pick it apart, come up with logical solutions.

But it’s not just about the bottom line, being profitable or not profitable. People in the health profession need to be passionate about health care. It’s caring about providing the best quality health care to the largest number of people.

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