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Health Management Program Collaborates with South African Professional Development Organization

When Dr. Gustaaf Wolvaardt, the Executive Director of the Foundation for Professional Development (FPD), which is affiliated with the South African Medical Association, wanted to strengthen his organization's health management curriculum several years ago, he approached Dr. Michael Merson, Anna M.R. Lauder Professor and Dean of Public Health, whom he had met while the two were World Health Organization colleagues. Wolvaardt proposed a collaboration between the FPD and the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health's Health Management Program (HMP). As a result, HMP and the FPD now have a multi-faceted formal relationship, under which HMP faculty teach courses in South Africa each year, assess the management needs of potential FPD students, review and help design certain parts of the FPD's curriculum, and assist in structuring student evaluations.

Henry Dove, right, a Health Management Program lecturer, in South Africa to teach a course in advanced health care management at the Foundation for Professional Development (FPD), with Koren Odierna, center, an M.P.H. candidate interning with FPD, and Kari Hartwig, left, Assistant Clinical Professor in the Division of Global Health, who was in South Africa conducting a five-country evaluation of capacity building efforts in management,leadership and governance for non-profit organizations providing HIV/AIDS prevention and care services (for an initiative sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation's Secure the Future project).

In addition, HMP faculty are now partnering with the FPD to design future content areas in health care management for new managers handling the South African government's roll out of anti-retroviral drugs and HIV/AIDS in the workplace issues. The assessment will give an indication of the skills required to effectively manage the roll out, and whether the FPD's Advanced Health Management program is responsive to these needs.

Henry Dove, Ph.D., a lecturer in HMP, has volunteered to teach at the FPD for the last two summers. He recently returned from teaching a two day class in advanced health care management training, which covered managed care and operations management. Dove's class was one in a series leading to a diploma in health management, and was taken by 16 physicians, a lawyer, and a Ph.D. who work as executives and administrators in healthcare organizations. Student evaluations indicate that Dove's course was enlightening and informative. One student commented “Now I know how much there is to know!”

Next year, enrollment in the diploma in health management course is expected to increase to 25, and the course focus will be on management and resource allocation decisions in HIV/AIDS care, as this is one of the challenges facing South African health care, and is likely to impact both the public and private sectors.

“The FPD advanced health care management course provides our program with insights about the critical needs in this area around the world,” says Elizabeth Bradley, Associate Professor of Public Health and Director of HMP. “We contribute our particular expertise, but we really learn a lot too. It is an excellent partnership in that way, and we hope to contribute to the improved management of the scarce resources relative to the needs that exist in South Africa.”

FPD officers explain that for the FPD and its students, the partnership translates into access to international and comparable U.S. experiences in health care management. They feel that in terms of managed care in particular, the knowledge and insights that reach South African students through the program are invaluable. This is important because South Africa is entering a phase where increased restrictions are placed on treatment options due to health care funding decisions. Moreover, health managers are under increasing pressure to be able to estimate utilization and costs, and are expected to be able to weigh these against envisaged benefits.

The approximately 50 courses offered by the FPD range from clinical refreshers for physicians and other healthcare providers to management courses for healthcare executives, and are adjusted constantly to meet ever-changing healthcare needs. The needs are so fluid, Dove explained, that Koren Odierna, an M.P.H. candidate in HMP, is interning with the FPD this summer to assist in determining what courses it should develop for the future. She is sending a survey to current and past FPD students, government entities, hospitals and pharmaceutical company representatives in order to get a sense of areas in which opportunities for professional development are needed. In addition, Wolvaardt identifies areas of importance for coverage, such as courses which address lessons that countries like the U.S. have learned in adjusting to the increasing role of managed care in the health care system.

-Story by Christy Gordon, based on interviews with Henry Dove on July 15, 2004, Elizabeth Bradley on July 20, 2004, Gustaaf Wolvaardt, Elsabé Klinck and Marié de Wet on July 27, 2004, and Koren Odierna on August 12, 2004.