The MHA program leadership had an opportunity to catch up with one of the program’s first graduates Todd Blake. Find out more about his career path and how his MHA/MBA degrees have boosted him along the way.
MHA: When/where did you complete your internship? Any other important decision points?
Todd Blake: I was fortunate enough to be introduced to Dr. Edward McEachern who, at the time, was working as an executive at the University of Utah Orthopaedic Center. He offered me an opportunity to intern with him during the summer between the first and second year of the program and I was able to stay on part time while I finished my program. I was able to participate on revenue cycle projects and worked with the management team to ensure that we had good processes around capturing charges. I remember Dr. McEachern telling me that I would likely never have the type of opportunity again to work so closely with the coders to understand the billing of professional and facility fees, and he encouraged me to take full advantage of the time.
The other important decision point while attending the program was to become a student member of ACHE. This introduced me to the many post-graduate fellowship opportunities available at major health systems in the country. I knew that attaining a fellowship upon graduation would offer me a leg up, and I spent a lot of time completing applications, writing essays and researching organizations for interviews. I was thrilled when I was offered a fellowship with Trinity Health at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center (SARMC) in Boise, Idaho.
MHA: What professional opportunities have you had since graduation?
TB: My MHA degree has been critical to advancing in my career. I spent the first year after graduation as an administrative fellow with Trinity. This was in 2007-2008 when the Great Recession hit. The hospital had to respond to the financial challenges and actually went through a significant reduction in force. I was, of course, worried about what that would mean for me as I ended my fellowship year, but I was offered to stay on and manage the central sterile processing department within the perioperative division. At the time, I remember thinking, “I don’t know anything about sterile processing,” but I knew I needed a job, and I also knew that I had strong management and process improvement skills that were desperately needed. I never expected that I would find myself in that type of role, but I have since decided that it was one of the most educational positions I could have had. I learned to identify and leverage subject matter experts in the areas where my knowledge was lacking and how to empower my direct reports to thrive in their roles. I also learned what was required to manage and staff a 24/7 operation that was absolutely critical to the successful operations of our operating rooms. I worked with surgeons, nurses, and other leaders to ensure the success of our department and the surgery suites. I had interesting and challenging human resources experiences, implemented new computer software systems to improve throughput and visibility to our assets, secured capital to expand our operation and introduced a certification program to advance the skills and education of the SPD Techs. What initially seemed at the time to be a departure from my goal of becoming an administrator in the hospital proved to be some of the most foundational experience that I could have ever had.
In 2010, I was encouraged to apply for and was hired as the business manager for patient care services at SARMC. In this role, I supported the business needs of the nursing and ancillary areas within the hospital including the development of business plans, financial proformas and capital acquisitions. I partnered closely with the chief nursing officer, and in 2012 was promoted to the director of operations where I worked in partnership with the other directors of nursing and CNO in driving efficiencies, building budgets, managing productivity. I was also able to also direct operations at several clinical departments within the hospital. I gained a great deal of insight into the complexities of hospital operations, particularly within the nursing units. We experienced many years of great success, and I developed strong friendships and relationships with that team. In fact, I still seek input from a few key mentors that helped develop me during my time at SARMC. Eventually though, I decided that after almost 10 years at the same hospital, I needed to see if the skills I had gained and the success I had would translate in another organization.
Where did you career take you next?
TB: I joined Banner Health in January of 2016 and was recruited as the associate hospital administrator for the Tucson and south campus hospitals in Tucson, Arizona. I had responsibility for all of the non-nursing clinical departments including pharmacy, cardiac services, respiratory therapy, medical imaging, laboratory and therapy departments in the hospital. I served in that role until just recently when I was promoted to senior administrator for Banner University Medical Group – Tucson.
Banner Health acquired the University of Arizona Health Network in 2015 and created Banner University Medicine (the Academic Division of Banner Health). We are just over two years into the integration. It has been exciting to be part of an organization that is on a journey to transform academic medicine. In my current role, I work closely with the department administrators in the University of Arizona College of Medicine in the physician practice plan. I’m part of a dynamic senior leadership team, and we are responsible for the successful operations of the ambulatory clinics as well as the recruitment of key physicians to further the strategic growth of our system. We are currently tackling the challenging issues of access to care, patient experience and growth as well as converting the Electronic Health Record to the Cerner system, which is the Banner standard. There are very few boring days!
I feel very fortunate with my career path thus far and look forward to the future. I know that my education at the David Eccles School of Business and dual MBA/MHA degrees have served me well as I’ve experienced professional growth and development.
