The University of Miami School of Business Administration Uses its Expertise in Health Sector Management and Policy to Transform Patient Care

The University of Miami School of Business Administration, which has a long history of providing top-ranked business education programs to those working in the health care sector, is leveraging its expertise to help hospitals improve patient care and reduce costs. The School has been working with Indiana-based health care products manufacturer, Hill-Rom, to understand the relationship between people and the company’s latest innovation, the “smart bed.” Since 2009, Steven G. Ullmann, professor of management and director of the School’s Center for Health Sector Management and Policy and Howard Gitlow, a professor of management science and executive director of the School’s Institute for the Study of Quality, have been studying the implementation of a next-generation smart bed in the UM Hospital along with David Zambrana, the UM Health System’s chief operating officer and chief nursing officer.

 

“An effective deployment of smart beds can improve patient safety, helping a hospital deliver higher-quality care while lowering overall costs – three interrelated health care policy objectives,” said Ullmann of Hill-Rom’s innovative bed, which uses sensors to monitor a patient’s condition and movement, sending alerts to nurses’ mobile devices and the nursing station when a problem is sensed.

 

"If used with knowledge, skill and discipline, it will likely provide superior performance," says Gitlow, who has been working with fellow Six Sigma Master Black Belt, Amy Zuo (MBA ’05), a current senior research associate in the School of Business.

 

The university’s partnership with Hill-Rom also continues to grow as president and CEO of Hill-Rom Holdings, John Griesch has agreed to join the advisory board of the School’s Center for Health Sector Management and Policy. “We also have been able to bring our applied research back into our classroom environment,” Ullmann added. “Our students get a hands-on perspective, in a case format, of important real-world issues in health care, technology and organizational culture.”

 

For nearly 35 years, these students have included seasoned physicians and health care professionals looking to hone their business skills through the School’s 24-month Executive MBA in Health Sector Management and Policy program, which was recently ranked number one in the state and number four in the nation among MBA programs by Modern Healthcare magazine. It is the only health sector MBA program in Florida to be accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME), the premier accrediting body for healthcare management programs. In addition to the Executive MBA program, the School offers a joint MD/MBA program with the Miller School of Medicine, an undergraduate major and an undergraduate minor in health sector management and policy, and the business component for the Doctor in Nurse Practice (DNP) program at the University’s School of Nursing and Health Studies.