Alumni Spotlight: Joanne Spaleta

Joanne Spaleta, FACHE, MBA, MHA, MT, is the one of the newest members of the UNC Charlotte MHA advisory board. She is the outgoing Greater Charlotte Healthcare Executives Group (GCHEG) President. GCHEG is the local chapter for ACHE. Joann says it is important to look at the mission of what they are doing to see the benefit of joining: providing opportunity to local healthcare executives for leadership and educational development to become an ACHE Fellow. GCHEG offers 12 hours of face to face education to keep or get certification, and they assist with career development through providing opportunities to network. GCHEG is run through volunteers, so it is difficult to maintain the board and members. It is important to keep their members to stay a viable chapter with ACHE. GCHEG tries to get people involved on a committee to help them advance to being a board member. GCHEG also tries to engage students through their mentorship program, offer educational events at a reduced price, and offering scholarships to UNC Charlotte and Pfeiffer.

Joann currently works for Carolinas HealthCare System as the Assistant Vice president over Charlotte Area Health Education Center (AHEC), part of the North Carolina AHEC system. AHEC was founded in the early 70s as a way to provide continuing education to health care professionals. AHEC partners with primary care physicians to provide health care in rural areas. Every state has a mandate on continuing education hours in order to keep a license. AHEC develops programs for physicians and other health care professionals to get continuing education hours

Joann joined the UNC Charlotte MHA Advisory Board in February 2016. As a member of the advisory board, she will evaluate the trends in the healthcare field to ensure that students are getting the education they need to be prepared for their careers. She says one of the most important skills to learn is Lean Management because the future trends of health care points to doing more with less and standardizing work, such as providing affordable care and changes in Medicaid reimbursement.

Joann received her BS in Medical Technology from Western Carolina University and Master o Business Administration and Master of Health Administration from Pfeiffer University. She is an ACHE Fellow that is an advocate for the continuing education. She also spends her time volunteering and has served on the Board at University City YMCA as Board Chair.