Jennifer Magaziner ’12

Jennifer Magaziner ’12 interned at New York Presbyterian Hospital (NYPH), one the most comprehensive university hospitals in the world, with leading specialists in every field of medicine. Jennifer spent her summer working on a Patient Access Initiative with the Patient-Centered Care Division of its Columbia campus in New York. The Patient Access Initiative is a joint project with the NYPH strategy team and Columbia Doctors aimed at using infrastructure, programs, tools, and best practices to improve the patient experience at Columbia Doctors practice sites. Jennifer helped launch a customer service improvement effort in collaboration with Columbia University Medical School’s partners to improve patient satisfaction in the University’s many medical practices. She also helped to set up the infrastructure to achieve this, including data reporting, staff mobilization, and project coordination.

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Journal 1

I recently began my 10-week summer internship at NewYork Presbyterian Hospital (NYPH) in the Department of Patient Centered Care (PCC). My project for the summer is two-fold: I will be assessing the traction of some of the department’s best practices and I will use the feedback gathered from this project to help inform the development of a Patient Access and Satisfaction Initiative for ColumbiaDoctors, the faculty practice organization affiliated with Columbia University Medical Center.

NYP’s mission statement is, “We put patients first,” and it is an integral part of the organization’s values and business model. The shift from being provider-focused to patient-focused care delivery is one that NYP made many years ago, but this approach has become more relevant than ever after the passing of the 2009 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. As part of NYP’s Hospital Value Based Purchasing (HVBP) program, some of NYP’s federal funding will be tied to Patient Satisfaction Surveys, known as the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers & Systems (HCAHPS). Hospitals all over the country are reviewing their performance against these HCAHPS surveys to determine opportunities for improvement in patient-centered care delivery. It is an exciting time to be learning about what defines patient-centered care.

I am excited for my summer here at NYP, not only because I will have the opportunity to learn about hospital operations through the patient lens, but because the internship program is structured in a way that provides maximum exposure to many areas across the five hospital campuses. I am one of 10 master’s level interns, and we are given presentations from senior leaders on their departments and the work of the hospital. We are invited to more informal mentoring sessions with senior leaders as well, and are paired with peer mentors through NYP’s Emerging Leadership Council (ELC). All of these opportunities allow us to learn a tremendous amount about the hospital and the potential career paths within it.

I have already had inspiring meetings with the Senior Vice President/Chief Operating Officer as well as the Senior Vice President of Patient Services, met with my fantastic peer mentor, who is the head of the ELC, and, after a week of research on the hospital’s PCC strategies, have begun to interview leaders and frontline staff for their feedback on some of the hospital’s PCC best practices. I have also been involved in the development of a Patient Access and Satisfaction training module for ColumbiaDoctors.

Journal 2

I am now at the end of week six of my internship and I am pleasantly surprised by the amount of Columbia Business School course learnings I am able to apply to my work. On the hospital side, I have interviewed 97 staff members to determine the progress on Leadership Rounding for Outcomes (LRFO) – a NYP initiative (based on the StuderGroup approach) that focuses directly on employee satisfaction and recognition. Studies have shown that employee satisfaction is a key lever for patient satisfaction, and I am learning about effective ways to manage employees who are tasked with saving human lives, sometimes for 24 hours straight, and often while attending to a patient’s anxious family and friends. The Leadership Development course learnings on social intelligence are particularly relevant for all levels of leadership here, from the nurse to CEO levels. I had the privilege of meeting the soon-to-be president of the hospital and he listed “self-awareness” and “empathy” as two of the top attributes he looks for in a leader. On the ColumbiaDoctors Faculty Practice Organization side, I have been researching incentives and performance within hospital settings, as I develop a Rewards and Recognition Plan for ColumbiaDoctors. This work is a natural extension of my Incentives & Performance course at Columbia Business School. The general process for developing a new Patient Satisfaction and Access Initiative, within a decentralized world of specialty private practices, is like a case study from the course, Organizational Change, and I am even drawing from my marketing class as I try to develop a branded vision for these initiatives. As I begin to learn more about the hospital’s HERCULES initiative, geared towards achieving organizational efficiencies, I see the practical aspects of operations management, supply chain management, corporate finance, and more.

I am grateful to be working with the amazing PCC team, who are a passionate and dedicated group. This week the vice president of PCC gave me the opportunity to present the preliminary findings of my LRFO assessment to senior leaders at the monthly Patient Centered Care Steering Committee Meeting. It was exciting to share my findings, and to realize how much I have learned so far. For the final four weeks of my internship I will be focusing on next steps for Employee and Patient Satisfaction on the hospital and ColumbiaDoctors side, and will be capping off my summer with a presentation for a larger audience of senior leaders, including the CEO of the hospital.

Journal 3

As I write at the close of my 10 weeks with NewYork Presbyterian Hospital, I am grateful for an amazing summer, and sad that it has come to a close. I learned a tremendous amount, and really enjoyed meeting people from all corners of the NYPH community. I am thrilled that I will be in the neighborhood this fall as I pursue my dual MBA/MPH on the Mailman School of Public Health campus, and I hope to stay in touch.

The capstone of my internship was a final presentation of my project findings and recommendations to a panel of senior leaders, including Dr. Herbert Pardes, CEO. After over 100 interviews and unit visits with frontline staff and their supervisors, managers, and directors, I was able to present on the implementation status of, and staff feedback around, the Leadership Rounding for Outcomes (LRFO) initiative as well as my recommendations for further LRFO implementation at NYPH. I also presented an update on my involvement with the joint NYPH/ColumbiaDoctors Patient Satisfaction and Access Initiative. I look forward to hearing more about how this joint initiative progresses.

My last week was spent finalizing a few implementation and educational tools for LRFO and developing the preliminary strategy and branding for a patient-satisfaction employee recognition proposal for ColumbiaDoctors.

I am looking forward to year two of Columbia Business School and year one of my MPH. I am also excited to work with Manmeet Kaur — fellow Columbia Business School NYPH summer intern and fellow co vice-president of social enterprise for the Healthcare Industry Association (HCIA) — to increase awareness on possible careers in healthcare service-delivery and administration.