Master Your Healthcare Career
Master Your Healthcare Career
The Powerful Impact of Case Competitions with Randa Hall
Participating in a case competition benefits students by providing experience with real world problem solving, broadening your network, and practicing critical skills like teamwork and persuasion. Join us with our special guest, Randa Hall, MSHA/MBA, the Associate Chair of External Relations & Alumni Affairs and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Services Administration at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Randa chairs the well-respected UAB Health Administration Case Competition, which started in 2007.
Randa describes how the UAB Case Competition was inspired and its incredible growth. In 2024, teams from 67 of the leading healthcare management schools have participated in this unparalleled learning experience. She will discuss what differentiates the winning teams, how to best prepare for the competition, and how students who participated in the competition have benefited in their career.
Join us for an insightful discussion that highlights the transformative power of case competitions as a key part of professional development.
To learn more about the benefits of participating in a case competition, the past winning teams at major competitions, and a video tutorial offering tips on being successful, visit: https://cahme.org/about/case-competitions/.
Well, Melissa, thank you very much for that introduction and a warm welcome today to Randall Hall from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. I've got to know Randall well over the past decade and going to the UAB case competition. But before we get into that, Randall, would you mind just going through a little bit about your health care journey?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Thanks, anthony. I've been so fortunate. I went to undergraduate in the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and then came to UAB to do my master's in health administration and an MBA an MBA and then took off and did my administrative residency and then worked in a group practice a health system, a group practice, and then a quality improvement organization for North and South Carolina. And then we decided to move closer to our homes and so ended up in Birmingham at UAB, thanks to a colleague of mine who we had done our residencies at the same place. It's a small world, so the networking helped.
Speaker 2:And so I came back to UAB and for the first 14 years really worked primarily with the MSHA program, running the operations and residency and internship placements, and about a decade ago took on a broader role within the department, working with our alumni. But it's been nice because a number of those students I've recruited over the years now are running health systems all over the country, so we tap into their expertise on lots of different occasions. And throughout my time as a faculty member and working with the MSHA program I've really, you know, stayed connected to the field of practice. And so when we kind of came up with this idea for the case competition. It's allowed me to stay connected to the health care world, which then is where we get cases, and has allowed me to stay in that world. So it's been a lot of fun and gosh. Almost 23 years at UAB, so we've been doing the case competition. We're working on our 19th this year.
Speaker 1:And if I'm not mistaken you were. I don't think the UAB case competition was the first because if I'm correct in here, it was the National Association of Health Services Executive Case Competition, Absolutely. So talk about that, because I know that really had an impact on UAB doing this.
Speaker 2:For sure, and you know we, the NAHSE, has the longest standing health care case competition. I think they're working on twenty nine years this fall and we had a team participate in that and they placed third place. I believe it was and as we were debriefing the only thing that they they said it was the best experience they had had while they were in graduate school. It allowed them to actually apply what they've learned in to the case and the result of their hard work was that they finished third. And the result of their hard work was that they finished third and as the only thing they said is that we wish all of our classmates could have participated in such an event, so it kind of planted the seed and about a year after that is when we started. So it has been a neat evolution of case competitions has been a neat evolution of case competitions. I guess we were the only two for a long time and now there's about 30 different case competitions, so it's really grown over the years.
Speaker 1:It is crazy, and CAMI does track the winners of the actually the top three programs of a variety of I don't know if we hit all 30 in there, but of the case competitions around the country, and it's on our website for any of our listeners who want to take a look at it. But the UAB case competition and I'll use other people's words in this, and I've heard the UAB case competition referred to as the Super Bowl of case competitions, case competition referred to as the Super Bowl of case competitions, and I'm going to ask you, why do people say that? What makes the UAB case competition so special?
Speaker 2:Wow, that's humbling. You know we couldn't do it without the participation of all of these programs. We do try to listen, we get feedback and try to make adjustments each year. Some are just minor tweaks, other times it's bigger changes and maybe that's part and parcel why? Maybe it's considered that We've been fortunate that over the years, so as of the finish of the 18th competition, we've had 67 different teams participate Some of them are no longer CAMI accredited and that's the requirement for our competition but 67 different schools and during that time we've had about 24 schools that have placed in the top three over those years and if you add in the semifinalists and finalists it's close. It's about 45 teams. So I hope that maybe part of it is. You know, you don't know that every team is going to win every year, so maybe people keep coming back hoping that this will be their year People keep coming back hoping that this will be their year, randa.
Speaker 1:One of the things that I remember is my alma mater, which actually participated in a few case competitions. The first time they went down it was the feeling like, oh, we're going to go and we're going to win this case competition. We have no doubt about it. And they learned very quickly how skilled the students are in there and practiced and researched and I think that really kind of comes out with how people approach sending a team to the competition.
Speaker 2:I was just going to say Warren Smedley, who's actually been a presentation advisor for us as long as we've had that kind of component. A presentation advisor for us as long as we've had that kind of component. He has been able to watch the teams evolve in their presentation skills and it's amazing how skillful these teams are now from the time when we first began. So kudos to all of the teams and the schools for really preparing their teams.
Speaker 1:And you know just around that, rand, as you say, that I've attended, I think, almost every case competition since I became CEO. I might have missed one, I'm not quite sure if I did, but when I'm there with other executives we all just kind of shake our heads and just say I'm glad I'm not in health care management anymore, because there's no way I can compete with these students more, because there's no way I can compete with these students. You mentioned something at the very beginning where you kind of gave a little bit of your bio on what you were doing and you kind of touched on it again networking. I think you know you go into the case competition thinking, okay, I really need to learn the subject, I know the and you get your. You know you really get your nose down in your books and kind of pull the information together and understand. But the side benefit and the huge benefit is networking. Talk about that.
Speaker 2:That is one of the biggest benefits of participating in any case competition, paying in any case competition the fact that you're able to. You know you're there to compete but yet there's. It's always. It's certainly a networking with the other teams and the students and the faculty from those programs. But even bigger than that is the exposure and opportunities to meet healthcare executives from around the country.
Speaker 2:You know we've had close to 200 different judges helping us in the case competitions over the years and they represent all kinds of different companies, depending on what the case is. And for the students I mean, even a bigger side of, I guess, side benefit is that we've had several at least that I know of several different occasions where the students presented and then at the end of the competition or sometime later they actually received an offer for an internship or a fellowship from someone that was on that was judging them. So it's really neat. You know kind of how that has happened over the years. And what I was remembering last night is also our judges are networking with one another and we've even had a more junior judge actually get to know a senior executive and then go work for him. So it's been beneficial for the students as well as even the judges.
Speaker 1:So it's been beneficial for the students as well as even the judges. So you know, you've kind of hit on a couple of points and you could see me smiling, but our listeners can't see me smiling, because I have actually recruited students from the case competition to come work for Cami and they've done an incredibly great job, because you see the best of the best of the programs that are there and the level of talent and skill and commitment, it's just amazing. And then I've also recruited judges to be on Cami's board or committees.
Speaker 2:There's one currently, I believe.
Speaker 1:Networking happens all around. And, Randall, one of the parts that I've always kind of found interesting, and you seem like you do this almost every year, but you actually have some former case competition participants coming back as judges too.
Speaker 2:And you know we got some feedback at one point earlier in the competition that we had too many seasoned executives and that we probably should have a more balance. And that's where we go back to some of our teams that have won. Primarily, we've gone from those teams, but we've also pulled from teams a member of a team that didn't win necessarily but had content, expertise in whatever the case might be. So, yeah, that's a side benefit as well that we hope to bring back those amazing team members and let them judge on the other side. They've also then said it's definitely harder as a student on that side, but it's also you know you're pulling for. You know, as a judge it's. It also brings some different challenges because all the teams are really good and so how do you really decide which team moves forward?
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I've always been fascinated with the cases that you've had at the case competition and when I, when I first started at CAMI, my predecessor, margaret Margaret Jones, said to me I'm sorry, margaret Schulte said to me Anthony, you know, stay in touch with Miranda, you might be able to provide her with either some judges to look at or even some ideas on cases. So we we have worked together over the past on it and to me one of the memorable ones was I was on the board at Bon Secours and a case competition. It was the case where you kind of looked at the community benefits. I've also sat on others that were also kind of fascinating to me around that, but you've been at this game far longer than I. What have been some of the cases that the students had that you really felt were wow, these were really interesting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have each year. I love the case, you know, because we really try to target a subject area that's really challenging the health care landscape and so we've been fortunate to kind of hit things as they were really being an issue. Me know, when they get in their residency or fellowship or new job, that oftentimes they've been asked to do a project surrounded a particular case competition that they topic, that they worked on. But when I think back, you know the Aetna CVS managed care strategy in Delaware was one of the most fascinating case topics. We hadn't done as many around managed care and this was a particularly interesting one. I have to say kudos to Jillian Joyner and Michael Cole for them bringing together such a fascinating case.
Speaker 2:I also thought this year's case on pediatric behavioral health was really timely given the almost I think we would call it an epidemic in behavioral health issues for children around the world, around the country, and Emily Koudelka was the author of that, and what we try to do is get judges from broad backgrounds and my hope is that oftentimes they might end up being a case author for us. One of those was Tom Grono who when he was at UPMC he had a case for us about the trauma center and the competition against Allegheny, and that was an incredible case as well. So we've been fortunate to have lots of you know, different types of cases and I think that's one of the neat things that we try to do is, you know, have it not you know we have a lot of hospital operations, but group practice, behavioral health, long-term care, palliative care, different areas that you know. Again, that are current topics, that are, you know, challenges faced by healthcare executives.
Speaker 1:You know, I think back to that CVS Aetna case and Mike Cole, who was the president of the region, the healthcare region for Aetna and Jillian who was vice president the region, the health care region for Aetna and Jillian who was vice president. I mean their commitment to the process and then they were there in the final rounds listening to the students and gathering ideas and thoughts and we're just really kind of thrilled that.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, and I guess that's our hope is that each year the host organization will take the ideas from all of these teams and be able to implement them.
Speaker 2:There are amazing ideas from all the teams, not just those who place in the top three or top six, three or top six, and we've been fortunate that in a number of instances the organization has invited the first place team to their organization and asked them to present their findings or recommendations to their senior leadership group. In fact, Community Hospital Corporation invited the team that won that year to their. They did it was a virtual presentation, but they ended up using one of their recommendations that they had not thought about prior to learning, hearing it from the team and which I mean. That to me, is like implementing one of the strategies is so cool. To me is like implementing one of the strategies is so cool. We've had others that have been invited, you know, back to do virtual presentations. We're hoping there was a suggestion that this year's case winner might present at the National Children's Hospital Association meeting. We're hoping that might still come to fruition.
Speaker 1:That was an exceptional case and I think you know to me listening in on that. When I was there, I mean to see the executives that attended from different hospitals, healthcare systems around the country was crazy nuts. I mean you had people from Children's of Philadelphia, you had, you know all over the place.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they were all over.
Speaker 1:So you know I. So if I'm a student and I go, hey, there's a case competition available. The first thought in my mind is oh my God, I've got my schoolwork that I have to do, I've got my part time job, I've got a little bit of a social life that I'm trying to accomplish and I've got all this other work that I'm going to do. I don you make the ability to be seen by executives around the country far outweigh that little bit of loss of personal time.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:I totally agree the skill development that you gain.
Speaker 2:You hone in on your evaluation, analytical skills, but also your presentation skills.
Speaker 2:That I mean, as I mentioned earlier, that those have really gotten stellar over the you know, almost two decades we've been doing this and you know it's one thing to present in front of your classmates and each other, but there is a whole different level of the bar has been raised once you're going from preliminary to semifinal to finals and it's you know, I think, back on some of the teams that that that I've seen and you know it's a bonding experience within that team and we hope that that's something that they take with them for a lifetime with that team.
Speaker 2:But it also is certainly, as we've mentioned, potentially an entree into jobs or fellowships, and even beyond that you will more than likely work with or for some of the people that you've met over the years in these various case competitions. So it's as we always say, it's a really small world and I think the students find out how small it is once they, you know, they come to a case competition and then they're interviewing for an internship or a fellowship, just you know, within that same time frame or the next year.
Speaker 1:And you see it on some of the students' resumes. Yes, yeah, you know, participant in the UAB case competition or placed first or placed second. You know, you see those things out there and for the executives that are out there that means a lot.
Speaker 2:Exactly yes.
Speaker 1:So I'm a student. Let's pretend I'm a student and I'm going geez. This case competition idea sounds like a great idea. I want to be part of the UAB case competition. Let me give Randa a call and ask her how do I get to be part of the UAB case competition?
Speaker 2:Well, first and foremost, you go to a CAMI accredited program and in the residential format, so the executive formats, it's just a whole different level. So we limit it to the residential format. So that's, that's the first thing. And then it's a matter of you know getting your team together from your school, and schools do it a variety of ways. I look back over the years, probably the most common way is students expressing interest and then their faculty members picking the teams from the students that were interested and typically they're looking at who's our best finance person, who's the best at problem solving and presentation skills. And then it's working together, working a lot. We asked the teams did you work 40 hours, 40 to 120 or 120 plus? And most of them are over 40 hours during that time frame, closer to probably 80. And so you're right, it's balancing all of those competing interests. But if the ones that win are the ones who really do spend that time, you know. But first you know getting the content and the evidence based rationale for why they've chosen a particular recommendation, and then honing your presentation skills.
Speaker 2:And we I guess we get to this part of you know people ask who wins, you know, is it the ones with the best content or the ones with the best presentation, and I like to refer to that, to the steak and sizzle. The steak is the content, but that sizzle is that extra special, maybe the secret sauce that really takes you to another level in how you're able to present your ideas. Many times students will you know, if they don't make it forward, they'll watch the next rounds and they'll think well, we had the same idea. But it's a matter of how you present that idea, and I think there's such a value in that, whether you're in a case competition or you're working in a job, you have to learn to tell your story, and so those who can tell their story the best tend to do well in all things, but certainly in case competitions, you know, sometimes teams will weave a patient or a family member throughout their case.
Speaker 2:But that has to be. It can be an effective strategy, but it has to be done well. It can't be just an afterthought. They're at the beginning and the end. You really do have to weave them throughout, but it is. It is a. It's a real balance between getting the content and the presentation down to win.
Speaker 1:You really, you really say it and you're right. I mean, I remember some teams who didn't make it past the first round and then they heard the others and I had some conversations with them and what they said was we had the same thing they did and it was like, yeah, probably. But look, don't think it's not like you see people, but it's people who really kind of believe and tell the story in a very impactful way. Absolutely. You mentioned Warren Smedley, and so again another person I recruit. I met Warren at the UAB case competition and he's actually doing site visits for us now too. But Warren also lent a video that he did to us and it's on the CAMI website about tips and techniques for students who are in case competition. So if there's any students out there who want to learn the secret sauce, warren kind of looks at all his past years and puts it together onto that video. That's great.
Speaker 1:I, you know, I think about the student cases that have won, that I've seen over the past couple years and you're absolutely right, it's the contents there and the presentation styles there and also that chemistry. You really kind of get a sense of that chemistry within the team. I've also kind of seen it. When I've talked to those teams that went through afterwards, you can hear how they're interacting with each other.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's neat, it is really.
Speaker 1:Well, randa, this has been fabulous and I you know again. I just I'm a big admirer of you and what you do, and when you talk about someone that's really passionate about what you do, do it. You've got your rules at the UAB case competition. I've tried to bend those rules at certain times. Rules at the UAB case competition. I've tried to bend those rules at certain times and you've kind of like reeled me back in, but you stick to those rules and I think you run an amazing case competition and the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you, anthony, for inviting me to participate, and I want to give a shout out to UAB Health System, because without their financial support and sponsorship, you know, we wouldn't be able to continue this competition, but they still can see the value that it brings to the field of practice, so we're very appreciative of their support.
Speaker 1:Thank you for mentioning that, because they have been over the years and I knew you. I know you also sometimes get some additional support from organizations, maybe sometimes from the case competition people themselves, but if I'm a winning team, there's there's more than just an attaboy with it. What?
Speaker 2:I know I totally forgot to mention.
Speaker 2:after all, there's real money involved in these competitions and as a student as I recall, that would have been really helpful to have that whether you're an undergraduate or graduate student, and we've been fortunate to be able to provide that nice, and I'm not naive. I know that's why, ultimately, people come because there's the chase of the money, but we do hope that a bigger benefit is that they are able to network with these other students and healthcare executives to make this world a better place as they become the next generation of healthcare leaders.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's so true, and I totally agree with you.
Speaker 1:I think the money's there as a sweetener, but if you participate in a case competition with the hopes of winning the big prize of the first place, you're not gonna win.
Speaker 1:You really need to participate in the case competition with the sense that, hey, I'm gonna work together with this team, we're gonna come up and kind of work with it. The other thing I want to mention, though, too. It's really important because it also costs money to get to the case competition. And I'm not just talking about entrance fees, which which, relatively, are minor, but it's the travel costs of sending students, the sometimes, you know clothing costs that you've got to do, or hotels and room and stuff. And I know I've spoke to different executives, and you know I want to give a shout out to Tony Armada, who was a graduate of the Xavier program, and I know Tony had made significant donations to Xavier so that the team could go to the case competitions. And there's others that have kind of approached it as well too. So if you're in a school and you want to send students to a case competition, one of the big sources for you to go to is your alumni, because having your students be represented, this is a big thing.
Speaker 2:It is, and you know, as an alum of a program, you know you want to be proud and you know, especially when they place. You know it's also a way to get alums involved in providing feedback on, you know, presentations and stuff, so not giving them the ideas, but or the solutions, but just the feedback on how they could be even more effective. And it is a concern, though, because you know there's a lot of opportunities to participate, but those add up each and every one that you participate in and we are. We try to keep our costs down and not raise the registration fee, but there are still those other costs that are associated, and it is, you know, one of those things that the programs really have to be thinking about how to provide those opportunities, and what's happened is that there are more regional case competitions now, so you don't have to travel maybe as far or as long that have beginning to sprout up, which I think is really neat.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I almost kind of equated to like you've got division one NCAA and you've got division two and division three and look you know, if you, if you can compete in those regional ones, great. And some of the regional ones are interesting because they're approaching those case competitions in different ways than what you are.
Speaker 2:Yes, there's a different. I mean there's totally in-person, you know virtual, totally virtual, and then hybrid opportunities. So for and on almost any different topic, whether it's informatics, hospital operations, entrepreneurship, innovations, and so it, depending on what your, the student's interests are. There's a case competition that would match up with that.
Speaker 1:I was thinking, there's interprofessional education, exactly.
Speaker 2:Exactly Case competition.
Speaker 1:And then Trinity looks at innovation with their case, competition Right Phenomenal. And then you even have Ohio State that does first years. Yes, exactly, you know which is interesting. So, but there's there's certainly a fondness in my heart for the UABQs.
Speaker 2:Well, we appreciate your support and your continued participation with us. Anthony, Take care my pleasure.