Solve Healthcare Problems, Win Prizes, and Network!
Deadline for team registration is Oct. 2, 2026
In CAHL’s academic contest for Undergraduate & Graduate Healthcare programs, students use their ingenuity & insight to create a 15-minute presentation & 500-word executive summary to solve a real healthcare leadership challenge.
$1,000 Graduate Team First Place | $750 Graduate Second Place
$800 Undergrad Team First Place | $450 Undergrad Second Place
All participants receive one-on-one career coaching & resume review. Students interested in health management & operations are encouraged to register.
Competition Details
Eligibility
- Graduate and undergraduate students who are currently enrolled in healthcare programs at schools that are in the geographic area of the ACHE CAHL Higher Education Network are eligible. This are a includes 50 of California’s 58 counties and extends as far south as Kern County and San Luis Obispo and North to the Oregon border.
- School leaders, download the poster at the link below to promote this event on campus.
Judging
- Teams will be judged on their analysis of the case, their responsiveness to the prompt, the executive summary, and their presentation skills.
- Judges will focus on the viability of the strategies and the flow of the presentation. This includes content, organization, and demonstration of logical thinking. In addition, the team must be able to answer questions in a prompt, concise, and accurate manner.
- Executive summaries will be evaluated on their utility as stand-alone documents that reflect the analyses and resulting recommendations for the organization.
- The judging panels will be composed of high-level executives from diverse backgrounds. They are selected by the Case Study Competition Committee and remain anonymous until the day of the competition.
Team Composition
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Teams must be composed of 3-4 undergrad or 3-4 graduate students at their
respective schools. - In addition to the above, recent graduates of a graduate healthcare program whose degree was conferred in 2026 are eligible if at least 50% of their 3–4-person team composition is comprised of active graduate students.
- Teams must register by Sunday, October 2nd.
- Teams are required to submit their materials via a Google Form file upload by 11:59 PM on November 5, 2026. This allows for the materials to be adequately reviewed by the judges prior to the event.
Register Here and Learn More
For additional information on the Case Study Competition, please download and read
the following FAQ.
If you have questions after reading the FAQ, please reach out to Bryan Rivera, MBA,
RN, FACHE at cahlcasecomp@gmailcom.
Rules
- All case analysis and development of case presentation materials must be done
by official members of the team only. - Team members may use only reference materials available to the general public.
- Team members cannot contact the site or engage employees or partners of the sponsoring organizations, or organizations identified in the materials.
Santa Clara, CA
We’ll gather at Kaiser Santa Clara Medical Center in the heart of the Silicon Valley for a
morning of academic competition and a career morning. The afternoon will highlight the
competition finalists and conclude with networking with the judges and other CAHL
professionals.
Faculty advisors are aware to partner with their student competitors to remove any
transportation barriers.