Darlene Sandridge

I started my career in journalism in 1988, but after graduating from college, I had to make a pivot to healthcare because of needing benefits and health insurance. I loved it from the start. I was a temp first for about 3 months for someone that was on maternity leave at MedStar Georgetown. She didn't come back, so I got the job. I was front desk for 7 years, then became a supervisor for a couple of years, and then became a practice manager. I've been in practice management for 17 years now. I worked for MedStar Health for 20 years total, and I've been a practice manager at Children's National for 5 years. As a practice manager of five specialties, I manage a staff of 14 individuals, including front desk staff members and a coordinator position. My key responsibilities include our annual fiscal year budget, access work where we do access meetings to present metrics and go over interventions or any innovative change we want to make to different specialties, and making sure that families have a good patient and family experience and patients are satisfied and able to get in the door. My day-to-day involves managing the staff, making sure our metrics are reaching goals and objectives, project management, and patient and family experience reviews. After being in healthcare for 16 years, I got my MBA in healthcare management in 2014, which opened up brand new doors to other exciting opportunities in management.