Project Work

Taking part in active, hands-on, substantive projects form the basis of the Palomar Health Administrative Fellowship Program. Project work allows the fellow to develop effective administrative, analytical and communicative skills while giving back to the organization.

Palomar Health has many challenging projects, and it is the fellow's opportunity to design projects which are of greatest interest to the fellow and best meet short and long-term career objectives.

Past Projects

Below is a summary of some of the past projects that fellows have worked on during their Palomar Health fellowship:

• Performance Excellence - Served as one of three primary writers for Malcolm Baldrige Award application which resulted in Bronze level state award recognition. Independent areas of emphasis included Leadership and Patient Focus Categories.
•  Performance Excellence – Led initial phase of creating an internal Project Management support office (PMO) through extensive research of the Project Management Institute and other Best Practices, consolidated existing Information Technology and Facilities forms and templates to create consistency by project complexity, drafted a mock-up of PMO intranet website and built a glossary to support education and training.
• Strategic Planning – Managed the transitional coordination for the re-licensure of the Pediatrics/NICU beds at Palomar Medical Center to Rady Children’s Hospital, creating a hospital within a hospital model.
• Strategic Planning - Independently developed outpatient clinic business plan to increase market share, enhance Palomar Health brand and assist organization in attaining its vision. Secured partnership, developed marketing/PR strategies, devised organizational structure and new department, engaged medical groups for oversight, developed operating budget and pro forma, coordinated EMR implementation and conducted feasibility site assessments.
• Strategic Planning/Physician Relations - Developed system wide Neurosciences Strategic Plan to facilitate the development of The Neurosciences Institute to leverage Palomar Health’s ability to provide comprehensive care to our patients within our communities.
• Strategic Planning – Developed business plan which led to the development of a new Wound Care Center within the hospital district.
• Strategic Planning and Business Development - Deafted and presented a business plan to the PPH Foundation and its subsidiary Palomar Health Technology, Inc. outlining the business viability of assuming a role as an intellectual property holding entity for the development of innovative technologies.
• Business Development - Devised business plan for new outpatient Cardiovascular Services and presented to EMT and Board of Directors.
• Facilities - Relocation, reorganization and management of existing valet service, resulting in wider access for customers and increased revenues.
• Finance - Performed financial analysis regarding potential partnership with a local Integrative and Acupuncture Center.
• Finance - Developed $5.1M Corporate Administration department operating budget which resulted in a $600,000 annual savings for the implementation on an in-house legal department.
• Finance - Preformed root cause analyses for billing edits of high revenue departments in conjunction with patient financial services, leading to an increase of $3 million in gross collections.
• Human Resources - Managed district wide implementation of an emergency/disaster notification system using Everbridge software and internal Human Resources software, prepared needs assessment and created user groups to begin pilot testing.
• Human Resources - Led Outpatient Rehabilitation team to analyze customer service issues and developed strategies to increase Press Ganey scores by 8%.
• Human Resources/Marketing - Devised market feasibility study and financial analysis to institute a formal HR instructor recruitment initiative and increased marketing of Palomar Health's education courses which resulted in expanded marketing initiatives, acceptance of a recommendation for departmental alignment and $51,400 ROI.
• Human Resources/Marketing - Organized and facilitated communication focus group with more than 50 staff and leadership members in order to improve communication processes throughout the organization.
• Human Resources/Operations - Devised business plan to increase flexible staffing and productivity for Environmental Services and Food and Nutrition areas.
• Finance - Co-facilitated planning efforts for Palomar Health's Revenue Cycle/Business Quality initiative.
• Information Technology - Conducted research of various information technologies and compared them versus the domains of Palomar Health's Balanced Scorecard for system wide implementation.
• Marketing - Developed Palomar Health Administrative Fellowship program website which increased awareness of the program and the organization; as reflected by a 200% increase in the number of applications submitted over a two year period.
• Marketing - Conducted best practices website analysis of leading healthcare organizations to provide recommendations which were eventually incorporated into the Marketing department's FY 2007 web strategy and current Palomar Health website.
• Innovation and Technology - Managed several projects for implementation of Patient Registration Kiosks at three hospital facilities. Assisted in applying elements of revenue cycle, fund-raising, marketing, and facilities in kiosk capabilities.
• Innovation and Technology - Planned and executed VGo Robot telecommunication pilot program at two facilities. Teamed with VGo developers to test software updates that will allow Palomar Health to be the first organization in the country to use technology for patient satisfaction purposes. Created strategy for ongoing program throughout the health system.
• Operations - Assisted in the Interim role of Director of Volunteer Services by interviewing candidates for position, planning for recruitment of 200 volunteers for new hospital, and creating structure for a volunteer-driven guest relations program.

Previous Fellows:

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