UCLA Fielding School of Public Health to host international competition for healthcare scholars

The UCLA Fielding School of Public Health will host the 7th annual “Healthcare Management Case Competition,” pitting teams of healthcare management graduate students against each other to solve a real-world challenge faced by UCLA Health. UCLA Health has been the premier sponsor of the competition all seven years.

“The competition provides health care management graduate students an opportunity to put what they have learned into practice,” said Dr. Laura Erskine, professor in the UCLA Fielding School’s Department of Health Policy and Management and director of UCLA Fielding’s UCLA Center for Healthcare Management. “Student teams, of up to four members and from around the world, are challenged to provide solutions and recommendations to a real-time, real-world management challenge faced by a southern California health care system. It gets very competitive, and is a great, `hands-on’ learning exercise for the participants.” 

The competition is open to graduate students studying healthcare management at a nationally accredited school, and 92 teams, from 41 programs across the United States, registered by the November deadline. Prize money totaling $26,000 is available for the top four teams. Semi-finals and finals will take place in January 2026.

Of the more than 60 teams that participated in 2024, the top four teams were The Ohio State University, University of Minnesota, Army-Baylor MHA/MBA Program, and Columbia University.

“Your case competition was a fantastic learning experience,” said Dr. Julie Robbins, an Ohio State University professor who served as that team’s faculty advisor. “I was particularly impressed with the level of commitment from the medical center leadership.”

Further information is available on the Center's website; along with the case competition, the Center also hosts the Paul Torrens Health Forum at UCLA, an established community gathering where practitioners and academics regularly discuss timely public health issues affecting the industry.