Exploring Health Care Innovation

Kait Semon ’19 did her due diligence when researching programs to advance her health care career. When she met with St. Thomas staff to learn more about the Health Care MBA program, something just clicked.

As health care businesses and organizations look to disrupt the status quo and respond to the changing climate of the industry, the need for innovative thinking is growing quickly. Health care innovation is a hot industry topic and comes up often in class discussions.

Students dig into what a solution looks like and create a project that’s going to change Minnesota health care, or within their own organization, in order to be financially feasible in the future.

“What we’ve noticed throughout our courses is that the US health care system needs a lot of work,” says Semon. “Our professors probe us to be creative in our problem-solving and look at unique ways to come up with solutions." 

Classroom discussions center around complex, multi-layered issues that aren't always easy to answer: administrative pitfalls, provider costs and the third party payer system, to name a few. By the end of the classes, students come out with some idea on how to tackle health care spending on a local level.

“Here’s where people get really passionate about certain ideas like Medicare for all or a national health care system -- and other colleagues will poke holes in it,” says Semon. “It becomes this great combination of conversation and conflict to create a really great idea and apply it, professionally."