Health Care Administration Leadership and Management (HALM) Fellowship

Overview

The Health Care Administration Leadership and Management (HALM) fellowship is an ACGME-accredited training program at Cleveland Clinic. Housed within Education and offered by the Graduate Medical Education Department, the program is a two‐year fellowship combining block, longitudinal and project-based learning.  

The aim of the Cleveland Clinic HALM fellowship is to prepare early-career physicians (generally within their first three years of training completion) to successfully lead in today’s complex healthcare environment by providing them with a personalized program of leadership skills development along with broad knowledge and experience across multiple domains of health system operations. This experience will enable them to be successful leaders in the areas of their interest and choice, be it patient care delivery, quality, education or research.  

Fellows will gain exposure to key leadership and operational domains across the Cleveland Clinic enterprise including operations, finance, human resources, legal, strategy and informatics. A strong emphasis is placed on quality, safety, patient experience and continuous improvement. Fellows will have the opportunity to spend time at Cleveland Clinic locations outside of Northeast Ohio including international sites.

How to Apply

For consideration, please complete the online HALM Fellowship Application. This system offers secure upload of your required document. 

Timeline:

The fellowship year starts July 1, 2026, and ends on June 30, 2028.

• Applications will be accepted Oct. 1, 2025, through Nov. 15, 2025. Applicants will be notified around the end of November if they have been selected for an interview. 
• Interviews will take place in two rounds by the end of January 2026. 
• Interviewees will be notified of selection decisions by early March 2026.

The application window for the 2028 academic year will open in late 2027. Please direct any questions to Donna Baumiller, MS, C-TAGME.

Eligibility

This two‐year fellowship is accredited by the ACGME and administered by Graduate Medical Education. All required clinical education for entry into ACGME-accredited fellowship programs must be completed in an ACGME-accredited residency program, an AOA-approved residency program, a program with ACGME International (ACGME-I) Advanced Specialty Accreditation or a Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC)-accredited or College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC)-accredited residency program located in Canada.

Given the nature of the Health Care Administration Leadership and Management fellowship, privileges as a limited clinical practitioner (and only as an LCP) in the specialty area at Cleveland Clinic is a requirement.  

Time Commitment and Salary

Much of the work during the two-year fellowship is self‐directed and will require time for completion of assignments, fellowship projects and capstone work. Fellows are required to receive no less than 50% release time from their departments/institutes (as an appointed limited clinical practitioner) to devote to fellowship projects, which should be discussed with department/institute leadership as a condition of applying. A letter of support from the candidate’s current or future department or institute chair will be required as part of the application. 

The following mixed model formula is used to calculate the fellow’s salary during the two-year fellowship: 50% is commensurate with the fellow’s assumed PGY level (view the PGY salary table) and paid by GME, with the other portion of the salary determined by the fellow’s clinical institute.

Curriculum

This is a two‐year fellowship combining block, longitudinal and project-based learning. Half of the fellow’s time will be spent dedicated to the fellowship and the other half will be clinical time.

Example of Monthly Block Schedule

Sample Block Diagram:

*Electives may include away rotations in the Florida Market or international sites such as Cleveland Clinic London. Electives may also focus on Medical Education and Value-based Care.

*Fellows receive 20 days of vacation per academic year, usually taken during elective rotations.

Committee Membership/Leadership

As part of the HALM fellowship, trainees are exposed to longitudinal participation in committees and experiences including:

• Monthly Leadership Rounds
• Continuous Improvement Collaborative
• Tiered huddles

The fellows are also exposed to key committees and team meetings on a rotational basis, such as:

• Board of Governors / Medical Executive Committee (BOG/MEC) and subcommittees
• Enterprise Quality, Safety & Patient Experience Committees

Projects and Capstone

Over the course of the two-year fellowship, fellows are expected to develop and complete a capstone project. The capstone project is intended to have an enterprisewide scope.

As part of this process, fellows will have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with several leaders from different departments across the enterprise. In collaboration with these leaders, fellows will identify projects that are of particular interest to them, secure executive project sponsors and mentors, and develop a timeline for their project(s). 

As fellows will be drawn from a variety of medical disciplines and will come to the fellowship with a variety of backgrounds, their unique specialization and interests will be key drivers of project selection. Input will also be sought from the chairs and other leaders in their respective clinical departments. We hope to ensure that fellows select capstone projects that reflect both their own interests as well as the critical needs of the organization, while also allowing for progressive responsibility over tasks and processes relative to their projects throughout the fellowship.

Fellows will be responsible for prioritizing time to work on their capstone project(s) throughout their fellowship. They will also have two blocks in year 2 dedicated to capstone work and flexibility during elective time to complete, assess and prepare their scholarly activity for publication and/or presentation. The involvement of a senior executive leader as well as other senior physician and non-physician leaders will help ensure that the fellow has appropriate support, feedback and organizational commitment to enable the project to be successfully completed. 

In addition to the fellow-led capstone project, the program team will work with rotation leaders to identify additional projects or initiatives that would be appropriate for fellows to lead.

Our Team

James Gutierrez, MD, MSc
Chief, Primary Care Institute
Program Director

James Stoller, MD, MS
Chief, Education Foundation
Associate Program Director

Jessica Donato, MD
GME Liaison in Safety, Quality & Patient Experience
Associate Program Director

Donna Baumiller, MS, C-TAGME
Program Manager