Healthcare Policy Experience

Find your voice in healthcare policy.

The Kelley Physician MBA is the only MBA program that leads a physician-only cohort on an immersive trip to Washington, D.C. The Healthcare Policy Experience course is a lesson in policy told through the lens of healthcare providers specifically.

You’ll learn about healthcare policy directly from the policy makers and regulators: how public policies are developed and which policy trends affect your practice. With a deeper understanding of the process, you learn how to navigate the regulatory environment and how to have a voice in policy that affects your organization.

Watch the course in action.

How it Works

Travel

Students travel to the nation’s capital for a five-day course to learn firsthand about healthcare reform and public policy through candid discussions with policy makers, lobbyists, regulators and government officials. This course gives you a seat at the table to analyze emerging healthcare policy and grasp how it affects you.

Analyze

Students keep a daily journal reflecting on the intellectual insights of each day and how they relate to course readings, discussions and speakers. This creates a long-term reference guide for staying abreast of the healthcare policy process. Become a better manager, leader and citizen by learning how to advance your objectives in the context of an ever-changing governmental and political landscape.

The Washington Campus

While in Washington, D.C., home base for the trip is at the Washington Campus, a non-profit, non-partisan, higher education consortium of business schools and universities. Physicians will meet with Washington insiders here and, following visits to government sites throughout the city, will regroup here for class discussions with the Kelley instructor. Students learn how to ethically and effectively create public policy change.

The Student Experience

Hear from physician students about what they gained from participating in the Healthcare Policy Experience in the Kelley Physician MBA Program.

Mary Pell Abernathy, MD, MBA’18

Kelley’s exclusive physician-only course in Washington, D.C., empowered Mary Pell Abernathy, MD, MBA’18, to become a physician advocate. Dr. Abernathy helped pass legislation to improve fetal and maternal mortality rates in Indiana.

Read Dr. Abernathy's Story

Kelley Physician MBA alumnus Dr. Ed Hellman stands outside of Hine Hall at IUPUI.

Ed Hellman, MD, MBA’16

How Dr. Hellman, an orthopedic surgeon, had a revelation in Washington, D.C. that re-ignited his passion to become a patient advocate.

Read Dr. Hellman's Story

Kelley Physician MBA alumnus Dr. Tom Gardner stands with Program Director Susannah Eastwick, and another classmate with Washington, D.C. in the background.

Tom Gardner, MD, MBA'17

Follow Dr. Gardner, an Indianapolis urologist, as he blogs through his visits to Capitol Hill, the Supreme Court, Federal Trade Commission and other sites.

Read Dr. Gardner's Story

Kelley Physician MBA alumna Dr. Virginia Dolan stands in the lobby of her hospital in Springfield, Illinois.

I used to think that once a law is passed, it’s done. Through this course, I learned that’s only the beginning. We physicians can have a voice in shaping the law.
Virginia Dolan, MD, MBA’15 | Pediatrician and Medical Director of Population Health, Memorial Health System

This opportunity helps our physicians understand where policy can be improved and the steps they can take to assure the physician voice is included in the process.
Julie Manning Magid | Vice Dean, Kelley Indianapolis and Course Instructor