Jamad Smith is pursuing an MPH at the University of Southern Mississippi to help him prepare for a career in health administration. In early 2020, he was placed at the Mississippi Rural Health Association as a Region IV PHTC Pathways to Practice Scholar.
Initially, Jamad was involved with researching rural hospital access in addition to a performance improvement project on diabetes awareness. Once the COVID-19 pandemic hit, his focus shifted towards the critical role of telemedicine. Jamad was responsible for researching new telehealth guidelines, including billing code updates. He explains, “The coverages basically waived costs of coinsurance and changed the reimbursement provisions based on government guidelines and policy. The goal is for individuals to know that their plan covers testing for COVID-19 and that telehealth is available under their plan.”
Jamad reflects, “This project allowed me to observe how legal and ethical principles played a role in public health decision making with stay at home orders. Telehealth proved its value during this pandemic.” This experience allowed Jamad to think deeply about issues any healthcare administrator must grapple with – access, quality of care, resource allocation.
In addition to growing his professional skill set, Jamad enjoyed the positive work culture at the Mississippi Rural Health Association. He explains, “I was surrounded by great mentors in a comfortable work environment. I was welcomed with open arms and was treated with respect and trustworthiness. I was able to perform meaningful work with every task and nothing I did was pointless or irrelevant.”
Jamad will graduate this summer and plans to work in an administrative position in his hometown of Mobile, Alabama or in the Atlanta, Georgia area.