By Spencer de Tenley, Managing Editor

The second annual TriHealth Pitch Competition saw Junior Health Services Administration major Kayla Ross take home first place for her patient documentation improvement idea. 

Mike Halloran, Xavier Center of Innovation Task Force Leader, praised Ross’ idea: “You’ve got to spend the first third of your presentation talking about the problem. Kayla did a wonderful job explaining the essence of the problem and creating amazing empathy with it. The solution then followed perfectly, which ultimately allowed her to sell the idea.”

The Xavier University Center for Innovation hosted the event in collaboration with TriHealth, which drew participation from nearly 20 groups of students. The competition initially arose from a meeting between TriHealth and Xavier representatives about improving TriHealth services to Xavier students. Halloran suggested a pitch competition in hopes of incorporating student ideas which subsequently led to the TriHealth Pitch Competition being created.

This year’s second rendition of the competition allowed individual and group entries from any of the four colleges, including graduate and undergraduate students, to compete. With a number of the students being in her major, Ross mentions, “To present among students in the graduate Health Services Administration program was definitely intimidating, as so many of them have won nationwide pitch competitions and have more experience in this type of work. It was a little nerve-wracking to compete against groups of students whose work I greatly respect.”

The students competed for $3,000 total in prizes, presenting their healthcare-specific or TriHealth-Xavier connection ideas. Each participant crafted a presentation and accompanying video leading up to the competition, which they showcased on April 9. After each competitor’s video was shown, the students were asked questions from the judges, including President Hanycz. 

 Jean Griffin, Former Xavier Dean of Student Affairs, was on the panel in her new role as a System Executive-Xavier Strategic Affiliation with TriHealth. 

“Five judges (were present): three executives from TriHealth, Jean Griffin and President Hanycz. Hanycz was a non-voting judge,” Halloran said.

“I love all my students, and therefore, I did not want to advocate for any one student,” Hanycz said.

“The panel of judges combined many years of healthcare experience, which brought new perspectives I hadn’t previously considered to my idea,” Ross said. “Their feedback was very helpful in understanding the struggles and intricacies of implementing new technology into healthcare.”

After everyone pitched their ideas, the judges met secretly to discuss the competitor’s ideas. Ross received $1,500 for her first-place pitch. Kendal Bolen, with her accessible on-campus pharmacy idea, came in second. The Colonoscopy Team, Pierson Savarino, Jill Tore and Taylor Rodhigherio, came in third for their idea on how to improve colorectal cancer screening, and they were awarded $1000 and $500, respectively. 

The Xavier Center for Innovation, which hosted the event, has three pillars of its mission. 

“We support student enterprise, we support social ventures and we support signature events and programming,” said Halloran. “The TriHealth Pitch Competition was a way to incorporate all three of our mission pillars into one event.”

“I am so grateful to TriHealth and Xavier for allowing me the opportunity to compete, and I am beyond excited at the possibility of my idea having a positive impact on healthcare technology,” Ross said after the event.