Inside HRSA - February 2008 - Health Resources and Services Administration
 
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Participants Give High Marks to HRSA-supported Health Care Executive Program

As the application date for upcoming summer sessions approaches, a recent survey confirms the positive impact the HRSA-supported Johnson & Johnson/UCLA Healthcare Executive program has had on its graduates.

Participants said the intensive two-week summer program helped them expand their strategic vision and gave them greater confidence in their ability to improve their organizations’ operational efficiency. The Centurion Consulting Group conducted the survey.

Participants also gave high marks to the program’s positive impact on their communities, with particular praise attributed to the Community Healthcare Improvement Projects (CHIP) that they developed during the course of the training. Nearly half of the participants reported assuming additional responsibilities in their organization since taking the training.

Rebecca Spitzgo, associate administrator for HRSA’s Office of Performance Review, which oversees the program, said the training is “a real value for HRSA. Grantees get the opportunity to step away from day-to-day challenges and learn tools they can use to improve their organizations. For many participants, it’s one of their best opportunities for high-quality, executive-level training.”

The program, which began in 2002, reflects a unique three-way partnership among HRSA, the Johnson & Johnson Co., and the University of California Los Angeles, whose faculty at the UCLA Anderson School of Management teaches the advanced training course. HRSA supplemental grant funds totaling approximately $700,000 cover participants’ tuition, travel and stay at UCLA, while Johnson & Johnson partners with UCLA to provide materials, curriculum development, and special project costs associated with the training.

  

Rebecca Spitzgo at a graduation ceremony for participants.
Rebecca Spitzgo (second from right) at a graduation ceremony for participants.

To Learn More:

Applications for sessions this summer must be submitted by March 3, 2008. For more on this program, please access a site hosted by UCLA: Johnson & Johnson/UCLA Health Care Executive Program.

Over 400 executive directors and leaders of community-based health care organizations have taken part to date; two sessions are offered each summer, with slots available for 40 participants at each session.

A unique component of the training is the CHIP project, in which participants identify a challenge in their organizations and develop solutions to address the issue by working through a peer-and-faculty consulting process. Participants develop a strategic plan designed to meet the challenge; the plan is then presented by participants to faculty and the class on the final day of the program.

Johnson & Johnson each year awards $5,000 for the most creative and original CHIP project, with $2,000 going to the individual and $3,000 to the person’s organization. The submission also must stand out for its impact on program operations, ease of implementation, and ability to be replicated in other community-based health care organizations.

The 2007 CHIP award winner was Agnes O’Connor, an administrator at the Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York, who attended in 2004. The university created mutually beneficial partnerships between the medical center and local and international industries to help meet the health care needs of their county’s 1.5 million underserved patient population.

A select number of Federal employees participate in the program as well. This year, two HRSA applicants in leadership positions will be selected, with one participating in each session.

Margaret Davis, a public health analyst with HRSA’s Bureau of Primary Health Care, participated in a session offered last summer. “What I brought back is a greater understanding of the real concerns of grantees, who face a number of challenges in the volatile health care environment. The knowledge and skills I obtained are going to make me a more effective Federal manager.”

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