University of Washington Master of Health Administration faculty members Kurt C. O’Brien and Robert H. Malte have published a new article describing an innovative, case-based approach to helping students develop the skills needed to lead complex healthcare organizations.
The article, “An Integrated Case-Based Learning Framework for MHA Education: The Resolution Health System,” appears in the Journal of Health Administration Education. It details how UW’s Master of Health Administration (MHA) programs use realistic scenarios and interactive learning experiences to help students apply classroom knowledge to the challenges healthcare leaders face.
Rather than relying solely on traditional case studies, the UW approach combines a comprehensive case study of a fictional healthcare organization with a series of shorter, focused scenarios, or “mini cases.” This framework allows faculty to tailor learning activities to specific course objectives while helping students develop and demonstrate essential competencies in healthcare administration.
“We want students to move beyond understanding management concepts in theory and develop the confidence and critical-thinking skills to apply them in practice,” said Kurt C. O’Brien, associate teaching professor and interim program director. “The mini case approach gives us the flexibility to create learning experiences that reflect the complexity of healthcare leadership while connecting directly to the skills students need to succeed.”
Bringing healthcare leadership challenges into the classroom
The framework builds on a comprehensive case developed by UW MHA faculty in 2021 around Resolution Health, a fictional nonprofit health system comprising four hospitals in a single regional market. Designed to reflect the complexity of a contemporary healthcare organization, the case provides a consistent foundation for scenarios that challenge students to think and act like healthcare leaders.
Faculty subsequently developed mini cases that place students in realistic professional situations involving financial decision-making, strategic planning, human resources, organizational culture, conflict resolution, patient safety, quality improvement, digital transformation and other challenges.
One example places students in the role of a newly-hired manager at Resolution Health’s geriatric care clinic. Students must consider how to manage day-to-day operations, navigate organizational relationships, address competing priorities, and lead change. Other exercises include simulated negotiations in which students apply skills and frameworks introduced in their coursework.
Clinical associate professor and former healthcare chief executive officer Robert H. Malte helped shape the original Resolution Health case to encourage students to approach problems from a leader’s perspective.
“Healthcare leaders rarely face challenges that fit neatly into a single discipline or textbook chapter,” Malte said. “By giving students a realistic organizational setting and asking them to work through difficult decisions, we can help them see how financial, operational, strategic and human considerations intersect in healthcare management.”
Connecting learning to professional competencies
The mini case approach also supports the MHA programs’ efforts to assess students’ development across the curriculum. UW’s MHA competency model includes 23 distinct competencies mapped to course learning objectives. The faculty began expanding the use of mini cases in 2024 to help assess students’ ability to apply these competencies, including those not fully addressed through the existing capstone experience.
The approach supports both individual and team-based assignments, giving students opportunities to practice communication, collaboration, negotiation, conflict management, and decision-making. By returning to the same fictional health system across multiple courses, students can examine different challenges within a consistent organizational context and build upon their learning over time.
Early classroom experience has been encouraging. In one negotiation exercise, students reported positive perceptions of the practical application of their learning, and course evaluations reflected strong feedback on the small-group case activities. The authors note that further systematic evaluation is needed to measure the approach’s impact more fully.
The framework also creates opportunities for faculty collaboration, allowing instructors to draw on their varied professional expertise and develop scenarios aligned with evolving healthcare challenges and program competencies.
Preparing graduates for the complexities of healthcare
For prospective MHA students, the approach illustrates UW’s emphasis on integrating management theory with practical application. Through realistic scenarios, students are challenged to analyze complex problems, consider multiple perspectives, and make decisions in situations that mirror the demands of healthcare administration.
As healthcare organizations navigate financial pressures, workforce challenges, technological change and evolving community needs, developing adaptable, thoughtful leaders remains essential. UW’s integrated case-based learning framework offers one way to help prepare graduates to meet those challenges.
The authors conclude that combining a comprehensive organizational case with targeted mini cases can provide a flexible and engaging learning model for health administration education, with potential value for other programs preparing the next generation of healthcare leaders.