On Wednesday, March 4, the Healthcare Marketing department had the pleasure of hosting a dinner event where Steve Owen, chief operating officer of Medicus Innovation, came and gave an extensive lecture on the provider based (hospitals, healthcare networks, physicians, etc) side of the Affordable Care Act.
Steve Owen has experience at the local, regional and national level of pharmaceutical sales, and he is able to provide a fresh perspective on innovative marketing/sales approaches for those in the healthcare industry. He is also the principal author of the Provider’s Guide to Value-Based Medicare Reimbursement and has been instrumental in the development of innovative data-base resources designed to assist healthcare organizations in developing plans to maximize quality and resources.
Attendance for the event included approximately 50 percent of the Healthcare Marketing majors and some notable faculty such as Faye Gilbert, Dean of the College of Business, Mike Wittmann, chair of the marketing and merchandising department, and Kelli King, professor of practice in marketing and J.T. Tisdale, director of external relations. The students were extended the unique opportunity to learn about a less publicized aspect of what is colloquially known as Obamacare—the provider-based area.
The healthcare marketing department actively participates in not only traditional classroom education, but education through real world experiences and situations by recruiting and bringing in extremely qualified and highly respected guest lecturers who are either in the field currently or have extensive experience in the field.
On top of bringing in top-notch guest lecturers, the department hosts meet-and-greets each semester. These events allow students the opportunity to have one-on-one interactions with local professionals in the pharmaceutical sales and medical device sales area.
These events also allow students huge opportunities to make connections with individuals in the field. The Healthcare Marketing department is a unique department because there are less than a handful of universities in the country that have this major, and USM’s department gives students a distinct advantage when it comes to job placement in the very competitive field of pharmaceuticals and device sales because of the background in anatomy and sales.
Steve Owen was quite impressed with the USM’s Healthcare Marketing department stating, “The thing about this program is to the best of my knowledge, there isn’t another program like this. You really have a leg up in interviews because of the background in sales and human anatomy.”
-Ross Bedenbaugh, senior healthcare marketing major
