MHA Alumni on the Move: Matthew Kuhlenbeck
Matthew Kuhlenbeck is a Saint Louis University M.H.A. alumnus and health management and policy Ph.D. candidate on the move.
After 16 years with the Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH), one of the largest health philanthropic organizations in the country, Kuhlenbeck transitioned to the Greater Rochester Health Foundation where he serves as president and CEO. In the interview below, Kuhlenbeck shares insights on philanthropy, his new role, and the impact a Saint Louis University education had on his career.
Why did you pursue an M.H.A. and Ph.D. from Saint Louis University?
I decided to pursue my M.H.A. early in my studies at Northern Illinois University. While I had a passion for health care and public health, I felt the best place for me to impact the lives of individuals was in the medical space supporting the implementation of high quality care.
SLU offered, and still offers, a student experience that was too impressive to pass. The focus on “real world” experience including opportunities to work with faculty who are still active in health service management, projects with health care institutions working on current challenges, and a mid-program internship which offered exposure to a variety of career paths, were all attractive and made my decision easy. Other programs at the time were primarily rooted in only theory and lacked these “out of the classroom” experiences.
I decided to pursue my Ph.D. based on my experience at SLU gaining my M.H.A., my experience at MFH, and my own personal desire to be able to answer some of the many questions I have been faced in my career.
While pursuing my MHA, the faculty who I gained the most from were those who had practiced in the field and used that experience in the classroom. Their ability to take what a book or article might say and apply it to the non-academic world was invaluable. After I graduated from SLU, I made it a personal goal to gain field experience and then give that experience back through either teaching or other academic pursuits; paying forward the experience I gained to the next generation.
SLU offered, and still offers, a student experience that was too impressive to pass."
In addition, I found myself struggling to answer questions in my professional setting. When I left SLU, I found myself in a non-traditional health care setting. Rather than implementing care or supporting a health care institution, I found myself in a health-focused philanthropy seeking to disrupt the health system in positive ways.
I was exposed to variety of policy and program areas, as well as presented to large system-focused opportunities, with little practical knowledge on how to measure and understand the impact being made. I found myself with more questions than answers, and little understanding of the best course of exploration to find answers. After discussions with faculty at SLU, I felt the training associated with a doctorate degree would provide me these skills.
Which course(s) at SLU were most beneficial to your career goals? In what way?
I found my health care finance and organizational strategy courses the most valuable. Each provided value in a different way. Through the finance courses I was better able to understand the structures of health care and how finance mechanisms are used to both sustain and grow organizations, as well as how policy and systems impact direct patient care.
The organizational strategy courses allowed me to take all of the course instruction and apply it, at the time, in a simulated health care system. The ability to distill the various courses offered in my studies and apply them in a simulated health care setting allowed me to better understand the various factors driving the health care system and the effects of each on an organization.
As part of this course, we also presented to a panel of working professionals who acted as the board of directors for the simulated health care organization. Having my assumptions tested and challenged by professionals allowed me to grow as professional and better prepared me for working with my own board of directors post-graduation.
What is your current job title/role? And what will you do in your next role?
This interview finds me at a transition point in my career. For the past 16 years, I have been with the Missouri Foundation for Health, one of the largest health philanthropies in the US. I have most recently been a program director for MFH with varying responsibilities.
The majority of my time at MFH has been focused on leading teams and programs focused on positive disruptions in the health care system. This has included running a large public health program focused on smoking reduction through programming and policy change, along with other system change efforts associated with impact investing, behavioral health, rural health care access, as well as a variety of efforts to develop leadership and organizational capacity in Missouri.
Starting January 14, 2019, I’ll be president and CEO of the Greater Rochester Health Foundation (GRHF) in Rochester, NY. In this role, I’ll be providing strategic and operational leadership to a foundation focused on health improvement and health care access in the western/central New York State. Similar to MFH, GRHF is focused on positive change and improving the lives of individuals. I still have much to learn in this new role and I’m looking forward to this new chapter in my career.
What do you like most about your career field?
In the philanthropic field, I enjoy most the ability to challenge the status quo.
Philanthropy is blessed with resources to strategically deploy to make change. In many ways, it’s a field unencumbered by outside influencers such as payers, intense state/federal regulation, and/or direct connection to individuals. As a result, philanthropy tends to operate at a level that allows one to see the interaction of systems and organizations and how that impacts individual outcomes.
In addition, philanthropy is self-resourced, allowing foundations to put energy and funding toward addressing gaps in these systems, rather than ensuring revenue streams. The field is also able to challenge the status quo with its voice, raising awareness of challenges and issues faced in the health space, and its ability to test new and innovative approaches, learning from mistakes and shortcomings, and spreading what works.
What do you think will be a crucial topic or issue regarding health care over the next 10 years?
The most pressing topic in my opinion will be how the U.S. views access to health care; is it a right or a privilege? Currently, health care is a privilege and not a right guaranteed under the constitution. This discussion will come to a head in the next 10 years as Americans are living longer and have been raised with the expectation that certain programs will be available to them in their later years (i.e. Medicare, Social Security).
Unfortunately, the cost of these programs is increasing at a far greater rate than the dollars currently going into these systems and will most likely not be able to support those eligible without change.
The most pressing topic in my opinion will be how the U.S. views access to healthcare; is it a right or a privilege?"
I believe the result will be an inevitable reexamination of how Americans are supported and the role of government in health care. The U.S. is the only industrialized nation without some form of universal access to health care. How this conversation will progress is anyone guess. Ideally this will lead to new and innovative approaches to how health care is paid for and how American’s health needs are supported. It’s clear even today, the current system does not work for everyone and many are falling through the gaps.
If you had a motto or words to live by, as they relate to the evolving field of health care, what would it be?
“To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge” – Benjamin Disraeli
About the College for Public Health and Social Justice
The Saint Louis University College for Public Health and Social Justice is the only academic unit of its kind, studying social, environmental and physical influences that together determine the health and well-being of people and communities. It also is the only accredited school or college of public health among nearly 250 Catholic institutions of higher education in the United States.
Guided by a mission of social justice and focused on finding innovative and collaborative solutions for complex health problems, the College offers nationally recognized programs in public health, social work, health administration, applied behavior analysis, and criminology and criminal justice.