Master of Health Informatics and Health Information Management (MHIHIM) alum Amelia Allee breaks down her Capstone project, which leverages socioeconomic data to improve health outcomes for Medicaid patients.
Amelia Allee was working in IT for a health care organization, but felt “stuck.” Seeking to deepen her leadership skills, she discovered the Master of Health Informatics and Health Information Management (MHIHIM) program at University of Washington. It was “kismet.”
“Not only does the University of Washington (UW) have a stellar reputation in Public Health, but the program only takes 18 months and has flexible hours. Along with small class sizes, flexibility for non-traditional working students and a diverse curriculum in my areas of interest, this made UW’s Master of HIHIM program the perfect fit for my needs,” she explained.
Since then, she has excelled in and completed the program. As a second-year student, Allee received the Outstanding Master’s Student award as part of the 2024 School of Public Health Awards of Excellence. Associate teaching professor John Hartgraves praised her dedication and growth, noting that she would often travel from Oregon for class sessions.
Hartgraves said, “[Her] blend of practical leadership in digital health initiatives, understanding of socio-economic factors, and academic prowess make Amelia an outstanding candidate for this award. Her work promises significant contributions to the field of public health.”
For her capstone project, Allee knew she wanted to focus on health-related social needs, or all the factors that can inhibit patients from receiving the care they need. The project was deeply personal. Allee’s father has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), an incurable, degenerative illness that makes it difficult to breathe. Witnessing the social barriers that prevented him from receiving care made her want to improve the experience of all patients.
She reflected, “I’ve witnessed this vicious cycle of him being ill, not having the economic means or transportation to see the doctor regularly, his illness getting worse, using the emergency department as primary care, subsequently missing days of work, rinse and repeat. This left an indelible mark on me and motivated my interest in advocating for healthcare institutions to assess patients beyond the bedside for systemic barriers that keep people sick.”
She ended up partnering with Washington Healthcare Authority for a year “to identify best practices in capturing patient’s health-related social needs and presented possible avenues for HCA to leverage those data to improve Medicaid patient health outcomes in Washington state.”
Outside of UW, Allee works at Providence as a Senior Project Manager in medical device cybersecurity. In her free time, she enjoys building miniatures, which are small and highly detailed set pieces. A recent miniature depicts a wizard’s lair. Master of HIHIM students like Allee understand the humanistic side of technology. Hartgraves reflected, “Her academic and professional pursuits show a strong commitment to improving healthcare delivery through better, equitable use of technology.”