A nurse since 1979, Kathy Goetz increasingly took on administrative and management roles in her positions with the Iowa Heart Center. She decided earning her M.H.A. degree would allow her “to bring value” to the organization. “I am a life-long learner so going back to school was a great fit,” she notes.
In 2013, a few months after she completed the degree, Goetz was given the opportunity to apply for a position at central Iowa’s Mercy Medical Center, a partner organization of the Iowa Heart Center, as vice president of Perioperative and Specialty Physician services. That included administrative oversight of five hospital departments – surgery, endoscopy, transplant service, and pain and sleep centers – as well administration practice management responsibilities for Mercy Clinics’ specialist physician practices.
“Certainly, none of those opportunities would have presented themselves had I not completed my master’s degree,” she says. “The M.H.A. program built on my prior professional experience, providing a greater insight and understanding of global health care issues, and enhanced both my strategic and administrative management skill sets.”