Metro City Hospital is dying a slow death.

Admissions are down, emergency room congestion is up, and the obstetrics department has an average vacancy rate of 70 percent. Medical testing equipment is outdated, marks for patient safety are low, and the hospital has posted seven straight years of losses.

Bottom line: Without major changes, Metro City Hospital (MCH) is on a path to bankruptcy. In an effort to avert financial collapse, the hospital has hired a consulting group to come up with a turnaround strategy.

That’s the scenario put before teams of first-year students in the School’s Master of Health Administration (MHA) Program’s Case Competition in April, an assignment that challenges MHA students to combine academic knowledge with teamwork and persuasive communication skills. The annual competition gives the students—many of whom envision a career in health care consulting—a glimpse of post-graduation challenges. It’s also a warm-up for the first-year MHA students about to start their residencies in health care-related businesses. Split into six “consulting firms” by MHA faculty, the students are charged with devising a strategy to save the fictitious Metro City Hospital. The firms will present their proposals to “MCH executives”—in reality, actual executives from Maryland hospitals who serve as judges.

“If they’re going to be in a consulting job or work for a health services organization, this is the work they’re going to do,” says Ann-Michele Gundlach, EdD, MS, associate director of the MHA Program.

Johns Hopkins Public Health writer Jackie Powder followed one team, 2 Consulting Group—Megan Bowes, Saira Chaudary, Umang Desai and team leader Jennie Newcomb. During the process, group members will pore over MCH financial documents, argue the finer points of logo designs, plot strategy and deliver their final presentation before judges Jay Blackman, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Howard County General Hospital, and Ken Lewis, MD, president and chief executive officer of Union Hospital.