Three faculty from the Department of Health Services Research, Management and Policy traveled to National Harbor, Maryland, to attend the 2023 AUPHA Annual Meeting.
Faculty members from the Department of Health Services Research, Management and Policy joined other health administration professionals, academic colleagues and aspiring healthcare leaders from June 29th through July 1st at the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA) Annual Meeting. Attendees widely represent more than 300 colleges and universities.
Dr. Keith Benson (UF MHA Program Director), Dr. Santanu Datta (PhD Program Director) and Dr. Ara Jo (MPH Concentration Coordinator) used the three-day opportunity to network with fellow colleagues, attend a variety of educational and conversation sessions, as well as reconnect with previous students like Dr. Samantha Larson, a 2021 graduate of the Ph.D. in Public Health program. She is now an Assistant Professor of Healthcare Management at Belmont University. Dr. Larson presented “The Significance of Utilizing Research Citation Software” during one of the poster presentation sessions on Thursday, June 29th.
This year’s meeting was held at the Gaylord Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, and highlighted keynote speakers such as Michael Rao, PhD, President of Virginia Commonwealth University and Victoria Bayless, FACHE, Chief Executive Officer of Luminis Health. Topics varied from Collaboration and Conversation Sessions on preventing resignation in long-term care facilities to Education Sessions focusing on the increasing challenge of integrating AI such as ChatGPT in healthcare administration.
The ChatGPT session was the most interesting, according to Datta, who pointed out that perspective toward AI is a determining factor for the success of healthcare and education.
“The initial general reaction that students will use ChatGPT to cheat has been replaced by the excitement that it can be a tool to create great efficiencies in how we work and get students to engage and learn if used the right way.”
Datta, who was a first-time attendee of AUPHA this year, praised the sense of comradery and community the gathering created. “Everyone was really friendly,” he mentioned. “Rather than being competitive there was a feeling of ‘we are all in this together.'”
AUPHA is a unique global network of colleges, universities, organizations, faculty, and others dedicated to excellence in healthcare and health care delivery as a result of educating professional managers, The mission of AUPHA is to “foster excellence and drive innovation in health management and policy education and promote the value of university-based management education for leadership roles in the health sector”.