Information Dissemination

• Establish a health management resource center in Slovakia at Trnava University.
• Develop and publish a national Journal of Health Management and Public Health (JHMPH) in Slovakia.
• Develop a series of International Health Care Symposiums to share health management information among CEE countries.
• Utilize videoconferencing capabilities developed by AIHA for use in CEE/HME partnerships.

Curriculum Development

• Develop and offer formalized courses in health management education at TU, UMB and HMS in specialized areas of the existing curriculum at each institution.
• Develop educational materials, workshops, seminars and course modules with HMS, TU and UMB in specialized health management areas that are important to privatization efforts and health care delivery in Slovakia.
• Exchange and facilitate nursing knowledge and curriculum development.
• Integrate nursing task force initiatives into Nursing programs at Trnava University and the Health Management School, Slovakia.

Faculty and Student Development

• Identify and develop faculty at UMB, TU, & HMS with health management interests and capabilities to teach health management education, involving full-time faculty, part-time faculty and practicing professionals in the community.
• Provide professional activities, in addition to faculty development, that will expand health management knowledge, skills, and experiences for Slovakian partners.
• Exchange and facilitate health management knowledge and learning among Master in Health Administration students from the United States and Allied Health students from the Slovak Republic.

Accreditation

• Develop educational standards, competencies and knowledge needed to be professionally competent as a health care manager.
• Work with the Minister of Health and the Minister of Education to develop national standards and competencies for health management.

Policy Analysis

• Establish an independent Center for Health Policy and Strategy in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia to promote the development, analysis and implementation of health policies and strategies in the Slovak Republic with links to all CEE countries.
• Develop a Center for Training and Consulting Skill Development at the Health Management School, Bratislava.

Nursing

• Provide access to the Nursing Resource Center (NRC) to provide faculty, students, and practitioners with a facility to support alternative forms of learning and continuing education.
• To exchange and facilitate nursing knowledge and curriculum development.

• A Memorandum of Understanding signed in February between the University of Scranton and the three Slovak institutions.
• Representatives of the Slovak partnership institutions and the University of Scranton attended AIHA's first CEE Annual Conference. The conference was held in Budapest, Hungary in May.
• In June, five Slovak partnership representatives attended the annual meetings of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA) and the Association of Health Services Research (AHSR) in Atlanta, GA.
• In September four members of the University of Scranton traveled to Slovakia to conduct a Health Management Workshop for 15 participants in Stupava, Slovakia. The workshop concentrated on management training, leadership development, team building and finance.
• In September, an Information Coordinator from each Slovak institution attended the AIHA first workshop for CEE information coordinators in Tallinn, Estonia.
• In early October eight faculty members from the University of Scranton participated in the opening of the Health Management Institute at Trnava University. Following this, the group participated in the International Symposium on Health Management in Trnava. The Learning Resource Center at Trnava University opened in October.

• In May, four Slovak faculty traveled to Scranton and acted as participant observers in the ACEHSA accrediting process. Coinciding with the trip, the University of Scranton was due for accreditation by the Commission for the Graduate Health Administration Department. The three-day accreditation process involved meetings, professor and student interviews, curriculum review, faculty reviews, course sequencing, course content standards, course evaluation, skill and knowledge competencies, facility reviews, and records review.
• Five Slovaks and two University of Scranton faculty participated in the AIHA's 2nd Annual Conference in Zagreb, Croatia in May.
• The Learning Resource Center at the Health Management School opened in May. The Resource Center provides access for students and faculty to modern management literature and research through the internet.
• In June, five Slovak partnership representatives attended the annual meetings of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA) and the Association of Health Services Research (AHSR) in Chicago, IL.
• In July, an Information Coordinator from each Slovak partnership institution participated in AIHA's second annual Information Coordinators' workshop in Krk, Croatia.
• In September three US faculty and one member of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA) conducted a Financial Management workshop entitled Marketing for Quality in Health Care in Pezinok, Slovakia.
• In October, the partnership hosted its Second Annual International Health Care Symposium entitled Quality Management of Health Care, Financing and Accreditation of Hospitals in Banska Bystrica.
• Five Slovak and two US faculty participated in a Health Policy Seminar held in Prague in October. The seminar involved participants from all five of AIHA's HME partnerships. Participants compared the status of health policy in both the US and CEE context, discussed general theses of policy analysis in the health sector, considered various approaches to teaching policy analysis skills, and discussed the use of comparative policy analysis as part of health management education curricula.
• In November a nurse from Trnava University traveled to Scranton and was inducted into the Iota Omega Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau, the International Honor Society of Nursing.
• In December, information coordinators from the Learning Resource Centers attended a special "training-of-trainers" information coordination workshop in Bratislava.

• In January, a team of three representatives of AIHA's HME partnerships in the Czech Republic and Romania traveled to Slovakia to conduct a peer review of the Scranton-Slovakia partnership. The evaluation process is intended to assist the Slovak partnership institutions in identifying their strengths and weaknesses.
• The Lord Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and Councilwoman of Trnava traveled to Scranton in February to establish an official Sister Cities International relationship between the two cities. The official ceremony took place February 11 at the Scranton City Hall where the Lord Mayor of Trnava and the Mayor of Scranton signed a joint proclamation supporting the cooperative agreement between the two cities.
• In March, Scranton-Slovakia partnership representatives attended a health care workforce conference entitled Shaping the Infrastructure of Health Professions. This gathering of over 100 senior government officials, academic administrators, scholars and health policy decision makers was designed for extended discussion of issues related to the development of the health care workforce in the CEE, and the corresponding US experience.
• Also in March, three nursing professors and one health administration professor from the University of Scranton conducted a nursing management workshop in conjunction with the Health Management School in Bratislava. The objective was to provide nurse managers with an understanding of health service management with specific application to nursing topics.
• Nine Slovak healthcare professionals visited their counterparts at the University of Scranton in late March for an in-depth analysis of healthcare facilities in the northeast Pennsylvania region. The group participated in site-visits to nursing homes, hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, volunteer facilities, the Northeast Regional Cancer Institute, and senior service centers.
• Five Slovaks and two University of Scranton faculty participated in the AIHA's 3rd Annual Conference in Bucharest, Romania in May. This year's conference highlighted the partnership experience and issues of partnership sustainability.
• In June, three Slovak partnership representatives to attended the annual conferences of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA) and the Association for Health Service Research (AHSR) in Washington, DC.
• Also in June, one student from the University of Trnava traveled to Wilkes-Barre, PA to participate in a two-month internship at Allied Services, John Heinz Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine.
• In late June, four professors from the University of Scranton conducted the second in a series of three nursing management workshops in Piestany, Slovakia. The workshop, attended by 24 nursing professionals, focused on current health promotion practices and home care. Following the workshop they, along with their counterparts, participated in the official opening of the Slovakian Nurses Information and Educational Center at the University of Trnava School of Public Health and Nursing.
• An Information Coordinator from each of the three Slovak partnership institutions participated in AIHA's third annual training workshop for Information Coordinators from the 36 Learning Resource Centers (LRCs) in CEE. The main themes of this workshop, held in Kosice, Slovakia, were information management and sustainability of the LRCs.
• In September, US faculty conducted the third in a series of three Nursing Management Workshops. Topics included case study review on finance, information management, ethics, negotiation skills, staff education; and human resources management.
• In September, five Slovaks participated in a Case Studies Development Workshop in Bucharest, Romania. At the workshop, participants learned how to develop and write case studies as a didactic approach to teaching health management education.
• In September, the partners conducted the 3rd Annual Health Care Symposium, which was held in Bratislava. The theme of the symposium was "Quality Management and Financing Primary Care.

• The Slovak and US partners conducted a Nursing Management Workshop in Modra, Slovakia in March. The workshop provided approximately 20 Slovak nurses with an understanding of health service management, with specific application to nursing.
• In April Slovak partners welcomed prospective HME partners from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, and Georgia during a study tour through CEE. During the visit, presentations and discussions covered three main topics: Slovakia's health system and health care reform, health professions education (particularly medical and management education), the specific curricula and activities of the Slovak partner institutions, and the role and activities of the Slovak HME partnership.
• One partnership nurse represented the Slovak Republic at the International Nursing Leadership Institute, International Council of Nurses (ICN), Sigma Theta Tau Meeting in London, UK. During the visit, she was inducted with other new members from CEE into the society of Sigma Theta Tau.
• Three US partners from the University of Scranton participated in the 4th Health Management Symposium, held in Trnava, Slovakia in September.
• The Slovakia/Scranton partnership has conducted a series of teleconferences. Issues addressed in these meetings include curriculum development, team building and leadership training.

Information Dissemination

• The Slovak and US partners established and published 10 issues of the Journal of Health Management and Public Health. Over 80 manuscripts have been prepared and/or published by the journal. The international editorial review board is functional.
• Seven articles have been prepared and published in the Journal of Health Administration Education on the Slovak Republic.
• The partners have conducted three International Health Care Conferences. Student have sponsored two conferences of the American College of Healthcare Executives. The partners have participated in three clinical research conferences. In total, over 375 partners collectively have participated.
• The Slovak partners published a Health Management text.
• The Health Management School established a WEB site for the partnership.

Curriculum Development

• Health Management curriculum and course content changes have been implemented at Trnava University, University of Matej Bel and Health Management School.

Professional Development

• The Slovak partners established ACHE Student Chapters at Matej Bel University and Trnava University; MGMA Chapter was established at Trnava University; AAMA International Chapter was established at the Health Management School.
• AUPHA teaching modules have been utilized by the Health Management School in workshops with over 100 participants exposed to health management materials each year since 1996.
• The partnership has established three international memberships with AUPHA (Trnava University, University of Matej Bel, Health Management School).
• MGMA Chapter established at Trnava University.
• American Academy of Medical Administrators Chapter established with Health Management School (July 1998).
• Center for Training and Consultancy Skills Development established at Health Management School.
• Established and operationalized Health Management Institute at Trnava University.
• Eight (8) specialized workshops offered reaching 250 participants.

Policy Analysis

• Center for Health Policy and Strategy established at University of Matej Bel.

Nursing

• Nursing Resource Center established at Trnava University.

Other

• Interpartnership Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) established between the University of Matej Bel and AIHA partnership institutions in the Czech Republic to further advance the field of health management.
• Sister City International Program implemented and established between Trnava and Scranton.