I am honored to be able to share my experience at Centra. Centra is where I have “grown up” professionally. My career started as an intern in 2009 which led to an opportunity to join the Cardiac Rehab team in May of 2010 as an Exercise Physiologist. Since then, I’ve been able to work in a variety of different roles within the Heart and Vascular Institute (HVI).
Throughout my career, Centra has allowed me to grow and develop in each of my roles within the organization while still emphasizing a desire to carry out our mission of, “improving the health and quality of life for the communities we serve.” Although we have faced challenges along the way, I’ve never seen Centra Caregivers involved with our patients waver from that mission. We may have used different terms along the way, but patient care has always been a top priority.
Every part of the patient’s journey matters. When you have a patient in front of you, it is easy to embody that and understand how important the work is that we do for our patients. However, our Caregivers who are working behind-the-scenes don’t always get to see firsthand how vital their role is in continuing positive patient care.
One group that I work with and want to highlight is our Insurance Authorization Team. This team’s work is often unnoticed and often misunderstood, but the work they do is so important. While they are consistently obtaining insurance authorizations, their efforts aren’t always recognized unless there is a challenge. At HVI, we have focused on improving the process surrounding insurance denials. This has allowed us to partner with multiple groups who each own a portion of that process (RevCycle, Coding, HIM, IT Support and our Physicians). We learned that changes within our HVI portion led to a more successful outcome for our patients. It also improved the overall experience for patients because it minimized the amount of unnecessary bills arriving in their mailboxes.
Since 2020, our organization has made some significant improvements in denial management. I am proud that our team was able to work with other teams around the organization to make a difference. This group upheld Centra’s mission using teamwork and excellence to exercise good stewardship for our patients and the organization. It also provides a good reminder that regardless of our department, specialty or role, we are each contributing to the overall patient experience!