As a U.S. Air Force veteran, Yamil Miranda-Usúa (PEMBA, ’25) knows many military personnel face unique healthcare concerns after leaving the service. A doctor at Tampa General Hospital, Miranda-Usúa had a vision for creating a clinic that would be a nexus of care for veterans in the Tampa area, which has a large veteran and military population. To increase patient comfort level, the clinic would feature settings and designs familiar to veterans, staffed by professionals who had also served or have a deep understanding of military culture. Through the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Haslam College of Business’ Physician Executive MBA (PEMBA) program, Miranda-Usúa transformed his vision into a reality: the Military and Veterans Primary (MVP) Care Center at Tampa General Hospital.
Bringing a Concept to Life
Every PEMBA student completes an Organizational Action Project (OAP) that contributes significant value to their organizations. Miranda-Usúa used his OAP to not only design and launch the clinic, but he also used feedback from patients and discussions with potential partners to improve marketing and services. Further, he developed key partnerships and started organizing disparate veterans’ services from across the hospital into a coordinated service line.
In line with Miranda-Usúa’s idea, all the MVP center’s clinical and administrative staff have direct military ties, whether prior service or military family members. The design and furnishings also mirror Air Force medical facilities, with displays, military coins, unit flags and patches donated by patients on display. It also offers veterans multiple services, simplifying access to critical healthcare. Services provided include primary care, mental health, onsite lab, imaging center, fitness program and a traumatic brain injury (TBI) program made possible through a healthcare partnership.
Gaining a Business Perspective
When he entered Haslam’s PEMBA program, Miranda-Usúa had a good grasp of what he wanted on the healthcare delivery side of the clinic. The business side was another matter.
“I would say a lot of it happened through the MBA program,” he explained. “It changed my thought process from just focusing on the clinical aspect, which is what you typically do as a physician. I was paying more attention to the business side, the marketing, the partnerships and the finance part of it.”
Jim Rosenberg, lecturer and director of corporate engagement for Haslam’s graduate healthcare division, served as Miranda-Usúa’s OAP advisor. He recalls the Tampa physician as passionate about establishing a clinic that would deliver the best possible care for veterans and service members.
“Yamil came to his Organizational Action Project with a clear vision and a passion for what he wanted to create,” Rosenberg said. “He proved himself to be a very creative business leader, using what he was learning in PEMBA to identify and tackle operations, marketing, finance and partnership challenges as they arose. It was exciting to work through questions with him in our meetings.”
Building a Customer Base
Center growth was slow at first, but traffic soon picked up. Miranda-Usúa’s goal was to have 500 patients as the clinic celebrated its first anniversary in March. That count stands at 650 as of early August.
He attributes some of this success to the PEMBA program. With what he learned about marketing, for example, he realized the hospital’s overall pitch was not reaching potential MVP patients. More tightly honed messaging was needed for their patients.
“I’ve had meetings with our marketing head to say that this is a specific population, and we have to go at it with a different kind of message, or it’s just going to fall on deaf ears,” Miranda-Usúa recalls. “I think that the marketing aspect has been big for getting engagement with the stakeholders.”
Additionally, the TBI program, which was folded into the clinic from an underperforming offsite location, has seen a dramatic surge in activity.
“They were struggling to fill clinics and maybe some days canceling clinics,” Miranda-Usúa said. “Now, we have about a six-week wait list.”
While the MVP center is financially well positioned, PEMBA taught Miranda-Usúa the value of outreach to potential donors, grantors and mission-aligned organizations. That outreach has translated into a $25,000 grant from an insurance company and the development of a partnership with the medical group at the nearby McDill Air Force base.
Growing into a Leadership Role
One goal of Haslam’s PEMBA program is to help students build a leadership mindset. It does so by pairing physicians with individual leadership coaches and assigning team projects that push participants to get comfortable in unfamiliar roles, such as management and operational strategy. Miranda-Usúa said these experiences benefited his work with the clinic.
“It’s given me confidence to tap into community resources,” he explained. “One of the things we’re doing, and I would have never thought about it without PEMBA, is reaching out to the county government to bring in a veteran services officer to help veterans fight for and obtain disability claims. We’re going to have one of them stationed in our clinic periodically.”
His time in PEMBA enabled Miranda-Usúa to make the MVP center successful, so much so that it is undergoing a name change. While originally conceived as a primary care facility, given its expanded service lines, the clinic will soon be the Military and Veteran Health and Wellness Center.
A Program That Cares about Its Students
Beyond his work with the clinic, Miranda-Usúa appreciated how PEMBA faculty and staff pack a year’s worth of learning and support into the program while accommodating students’ full-time work schedules. He found the program so engaging, he decided to bring his family along for his initial on-campus residence period (RP) and continued to do so for the rest of the program.
“When we went to Knoxville for our first RP, everybody was so welcoming, we loved it,” he said. “We would stay in Tennessee usually a few days or a week and go to the Smokies or go somewhere else,” he said. “It was a great experience, and if I had not done it, I would not have been able to do this project. Or, at least, the outcome would not be the same as it is right now.”
Kate Atchley, professor of practice and executive director of Haslam’s healthcare division, noted that, while Haslam’s Executive MBA programs strive to deliver the skills and knowledge that will enable students to excel in their careers, faculty and staff respect the many commitments their students have.
“We are proud to see how successfully Yamil’s clinic is serving its community, particularly given everything he balanced during his PEMBA year,” she said. “The program is demanding, especially for busy physicians, so we were delighted that Yamil found a way to make his residence periods part of his family life.”
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Scott McNutt, senior business writer/publicist, [email protected]
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