From the C-suite to the sky: Michaela Frey revels in unique residency experiences
While many HPM students went to any number of hospitals across western Pennsylvania for their residencies, Michaela Frey reported to work in one of the iconic buildings that dominate Pittsburgh’s skyline – Fifth Avenue Place – better known as the Highmark Building.
Frey was the first HPM student to take a residency with
Allegheny Health Network’s Clinically Integrated Network (CIN) Physician Partners
of Western Pennsylvania (PPWPA), working between operations and post-acute care
under PPWPA operations director Alex Brennsteiner.
“It is a corporate position, which has been an interesting
perspective to develop, especially compared to most of my classmates whose
residencies are in hospitals,” said Frey. Before I started, I had never even
heard of a CIN or ACO, so every day was like drinking from a firehose.”
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| Left: Michael Frey stands by an AHN LifeFlight helicopter. Right: Frey presents to AHN executives. |
While there was a lot to learn, Frey says everyone she
worked with was quick to offer a hand in getting up to speed on their roles and
programs and how she could help, which allowed her to take on several projects
during her time there.
“One of the biggest things I’ve helped with is developing an
onboarding workflow for new practices that are joining our CIN,” she said ahead
of 2027 plans where AHN will bring many new primary care and specialty practices
under the PPWPA umbrella and its accountable care organization (ACO).
Before the growth, Frey was charged with creating a
standardized onboarding workflow to ensure a smooth transition for both the
PPWPA and the incoming practice. That included meeting with directors at all
levels of the organization, seeing where they fit into the process, and then
building and refining a workflow that accounts for current conditions while
allowing for changes and streamlining once implementation starts.
“I then presented it to our leadership team for feedback, and
the group very well received it,” said Frey. “They were happy to have something
for everyone to reference as our growth picks up and onboarding begins next
year.”
In addition to helping new partners onboard, Frey worked
with HealthyWay, AHN’s employee care coordination program, specifically its Emergency
Department utilization reduction initiative. After analyzing the data, she led
a meeting with everyone involved in the initiative to discuss the findings and
coordinate action plans and updates.
“The willingness of AHN as a whole to give me any learning
experiences is something that will stick with me forever,” said Frey. “My team was
so willing to schedule one-on-ones with me to help me learn, and everyone was
excited to have me and willing to help me with anything.”
That willingness expanded beyond Frey’s team, too, as she
became a regular in meetings with vendors and other departments. It also led to
unique experiences, like when a colleague reached out via LinkedIn about
experiencing the pre-hospital transportation environment, ultimately leading to
spending time with AHN’s LifeFlight.
“I spent the whole day with the LifeFlight team, which
consisted of a pilot, flight nurse, and flight MD. They were truly incredible
and taught me anything and everything I wanted to know,” she said, adding that caring
for and transporting a trauma patient from AHN’s Canonsburg Hospital to Allegheny
General Hospital felt exactly like something you’d see on television.
With so many projects and experiences, it may be hard to
pick a standout – Frey says presenting her work on the HealthyWay program to
nearly two dozen AHN executives, including CEO Mark Sevco (HPM MHA/MBA, ’91),
tops the list.
Originally tasked with building the PowerPoint presentation for
one of the medical directors, she soon became a co-presenter to AHN’s Executive
Management Group.
Launched in January 2026, HealthyWay is a relatively new
program and was largely unknown to many of the executives who joined after the
initial pitch and were learning the details for the first time, while also
asking for suggestions on how to grow the program. However, the presenters
faced an unenviable challenge.
“Unfortunately, we had zero data to support the success of
the program,” said Frey. “No Epic (electronic medical record) data, no financial
claims data, literally nothing to support the viability and success of the
program. We were asking for basically more money and more employees, which are
two of the biggest things to ask your president for, essentially with no data
to back it up.”
Currently, HealthWay
has one nurse navigator and one health coach who handles 320 patients. AHN has
over 20,000 employees eligible for HealthyWay, along with their dependents. “It
was pretty difficult to build a presentation for our top executives and have
them not ask, 'Why are we still funding this?” she said.
Despite the fear of failure, Frey and her leaders received strong
feedback on the program, along with good questions and ideas for how to expand.
“I personally also received great comments and feedback on
my presentation skills from a few of the executives afterward, which was really
great,” she said. “That was the most nervous I’d ever been in my life, but I
will be forever grateful Dr. Sam Reynolds was so willing to give me this
experience.”
With a residency experience much different from others in
her cohort, Frey says it also helps her take a different perspective back to the
classroom while also helping her plot out what comes next.
“I really want to expand my knowledge across departments in
a health system,” she said. “I think my residency has been great for building a
foundation in health administration and exploring what interests me, but it is
pretty siloed in what types of projects I have access to, and I still think I
have a lot of learning left to do.”
Frey says she’s grateful for the opportunity Brennsteiner
provided, allowing him to mentor a student as he once was. I will forever be
indebted to Alex and PPWPA for everything they have done for me, and I truly
hope one day I can come back and work alongside him and the rest of the
department in the future.”
