Offering a comprehensive approach to the business of healthcare and equipping students with a strong foundation in administration, the FIU Business Healthcare MBA program aims to create changemakers. The intent is for graduates of the program to become analytical experts who can reshape the healthcare environment around them from the C-suite.
Part of that approach includes exploring healthcare innovation in other countries via a summer voyage across the globe where students visit hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, innovation incubators, foundations and rural villages. This July, the group traveled to Spain, Portugal and Morocco.
“In America, we've taken various pieces of our healthcare system from other countries, so being able to get involved and learn from people in those countries directly involved in health care, and hearing their experiences was very eye opening,” said Jimmy Ester, a student in the Healthcare MBA program.
A veteran and former military medic turned nurse, he is now a manager of primary care clinics in The Villages, a master-planned community in Central Florida. For Ester, the trip sparked a curiosity to learn more about how other countries parallel the U.S.’s payment systems and where he could apply these to his daily work.
“It was also interesting to learn through discussions with the administrative staff at a private hospital in Portugal, that they were owned by an insurance company,” said Ester. “I thought it was very unique and I didn't expect to see an insurance company as a primary stakeholder of a hospital in one of the countries we visited.”
Miriam Weismann, academic director of the Healthcare MBA program explained each trip earns participating students and alumni an Advanced Certificate in Global Healthcare Administration with a concentration based on where they visited.
Marsha Joseph (MBA, ’24), a licensed nursing home administrator, currently works on the IT side of things, ensuring regulatory compliance for clients at Broward-based CSPi Technology Solutions, where many clients are in the healthcare industry.
A recent graduate, she joined the trip looking to share her knowledge with current students and continue her own education, noting there was much to be learned from the initiative.
“The technology we encountered in Portugal was unlike anything I’ve seen in the U.S. during my trainings,” Joseph said. “Comparing the private and public health systems in Barcelona and Lisbon to the U.S. system was fascinating, especially in terms of how much red tape is involved in healthcare in the EU. The lack of a comprehensive healthcare system in Morocco was unexpected, and the hospital and village visits there were a humbling experience.”
The Healthcare MBA program’s previous visits included China, Singapore, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, England, France and Germany. The trip is open to students of the program who have completed the course requirements. A $1,000 scholarship to help with trip costs is available to those who qualify.
To see photos from the trip, visit the Flickr gallery.
To learn more about the Healthcare MBA program at FIU Business, click here.