Her Story
About Barbara
Barbara Haasis is a registered nurse with more than 50 years of experience in the healthcare industry. She began her career in New York City performing open-heart surgery and providing intensive care during the early days of those procedures. After moving to Florida, she joined Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, where she worked in provider relations and contracting before being tapped to design quality programs, pay-for-performance initiatives, patient-centered medical homes, and accountable care organizations. She later took on a national role with IBM implementing similar value-based care programs and worked with a consulting firm on a neonatal intensive care unit at home model. Haasis attributes her success to an upbringing that instilled the belief there was no ceiling on what she could achieve, combined with her extroverted nature and self-confidence. She values honesty and compassion in both her professional and personal life and advises young women entering healthcare to build a broad clinical knowledge base, particularly through nursing, to foster creativity in improving care quality while reducing costs.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Barbara
01What do you attribute your success to?
I was raised to believe there was no ceiling, that I could do whatever I set my mind out to do. I'm an extrovert, never met a stranger. Believing in yourself, believing you can accomplish anything you set out to do, and don't put limits on yourself.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Make sure they got a broad base of healthcare knowledge. If going into nursing, first of all head to toe what's going on with a human being, to be able to take that knowledge into so many different fields. A degree in healthcare administration kind of focuses you on the admin part, doesn't give you that creativity to be able to come up with different ideas of how to decrease medical costs while increasing the quality of care.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Honesty and compassion. Honesty is the foundation of any and every relationship. We need to get back to caring about one another, listening, understanding, and being compassionate about differences and beliefs.
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