Kate H.

I really attribute my success to diversity in my working background. I didn't go to school to study finance and revenue cycle and hospital billing - I went to school for communications and marketing. Being able to work in that field and gain experiences in graphic design, public relations, and editorial work, and then coming into an industry that is completely different and really based more on facts, analytics, and AI-driven things - I think being able to integrate them both and bring a sort of creativity to it, or a different perspective, has done me really well personally. Coming into taking over an education team, there's been a lot of design and branding that we've been able to implement that really gives a polished presentation and makes it pop and more interesting to look at. Building in the analytic piece of it too has been a benefit for me personally - I think it's given me an edge.

The best career advice I've received is to be proactive. If somebody is asking you to complete a task, try to go a little bit beyond and think a little bit forward to what they may need. From a reporting standpoint, if somebody's asking you for specific elements in a report, sometimes it's better just to give them a little bit more in the off chance that they come back and say, 'Oh, actually, can you also pull in these data points as well?' I think just trying to be proactive, stay on top of items - if you see a gap, fill it and find a solution.

I would say to keep conversations factual. One thing that women really do well is show empathy, and I think that goes beyond just day-to-day life at home. Bringing those strengths and being an advocate for other people and being empathetic is something that we really excel at. Finding ways to bring that into your day-to-day interactions with others can go really far. Show courage, and of course, you want to be factual and make sure that you're making the best business decisions for the company and for your areas. But the way that you can deliver that and build trust is really important.

Right now, AI is the buzzword, and we're always looking for opportunities to better streamline our workflows. I think trying to find a way to integrate AI in a useful sense that's not necessarily overtaking anybody's job, but lifting some of the additional burdens of workflow - taking some of the busy work away, or things that are really just kind of fluff - has been something that we've been really trying to utilize it for. We're looking at ways to work with the payers more strategically without having to pick up a phone and call every time, using AI to go out and do that for us, check payer portals, perform those calls. That's really the future that we're seeing right now, especially as companies have their more legacy systems - how to overlay AI and provide that additional boost.

I think just showing respect and professionalism is most important to me. Everybody goes to work because they need to get paid, right? As well as if you have passion there, but really, everyone's there to get a paycheck. At the end of the day, just showing respect to your team - if there's people that are reporting up to you or maybe linear to you - be welcoming, show good customer service internally and externally. I think that's how you're going to build relationships and build trust from your team. It's when they feel valued and like they're heard. I think just really taking into consideration what is brought to you is so important.