Can you share with us a little about your professional background, how you got your start in healthcare, the roles you’ve enjoyed thus far, and your current priorities at Texas Health?
I fell into healthcare when I was 21 years old, when I took a job copying medical records for a large hospital in our area. I quickly climbed the ranks there, and went from supervisor to regional manager, traveling across the US setting up ROI services in hospitals. When traveling didn’t suit my lifestyle anymore, a former Patient Access leader gave me an opportunity as the cashier for the department. From there, it’s all history!
I was promoted to a supervisor and then Business Operations Manager for an outpatient department at one of the largest hospitals in the metroplex, and after 12 years in that organization, took a leap of faith, taking a Directors role at Texas Health. In the 11 years since taking the role, my responsibilities have expanded beyond one facility to four, and I also completed by business degree in 2020.
I’ve enjoyed many of my roles in healthcare and feel extremely fortunate to have made it where I am, simply because others believed in my ability. I believe my current role has brought me the most satisfaction; I’m an established leader and have felt like I am in a great place to make a real impact. With the expansion of my role, I have learned so much. COVID taught me even more, and the opportunities to gain knowledge and sharpen my skill set have been endless.
We’re looking forward to having you join the panel discussion on point-of-service collections; could you share one way that your team is working to improve collection rates this year?
We follow a *new* collection guideline/policy that is meant to ensure consistent practices and communication among our facilities. The goal is to deliver the same message and understanding of the various payment scenarios throughout the patient journey to improve the patient experience. The desire is to create an exceptional patient financial experience and enable our team with tools and guidelines (algorithms) to make collecting easier and perhaps less uncomfortable. In most cases the surprise factor no longer exists and patients come to their appointments fully aware of the expected payment. It has been very successful.
What made you decide to participate in the upcoming Patient Access event, and what are you looking forward to discussing or benchmarking with the panelists and participants?
I am interested in networking with other patient access leaders. I hope that the discussion brings insight to best practices among our organization and an opportunity to share challenges.