Influential Woman · Health care
Maria Mora
Financial Counselor, NYP Hudson Valley Hospital Center
White Plains, NY
Her Story
About Maria
Maria Mora serves as a financial coordinator at NYP Westchester Behavioral Health Center, having recently transferred from NYP Hudson Valley Hospital after one month in her new role. With about 15 years in healthcare, she began her career as a patient representative at Hudson Valley Hospital Center, where she handled claims follow-up, denials, self-pay collections, and insurance authorizations. After six years, she was promoted to financial counselor in the cancer center, supporting patients by connecting them with copay assistance programs, foundations, and hospital financial aid. Maria completed two master's degrees from the University of Phoenix online in March 2024, one in Healthcare Business Administration and the other in Healthcare Administration and Business Administration. She is currently studying for her CPC certification through the AAPC to enhance her coding skills in her current position, which involves mental health services for children. Maria attributes her success to the support and guidance of her husband and family, who encouraged her to pursue a career in healthcare's administrative side rather than clinical roles. She values respect and communication in both her professional and personal life and advises aspiring professionals to never give up, research opportunities, and utilize available resources like the internet and hospital portals.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Maria
01What do you attribute your success to?
I believe my husband and my family, especially my husband, he has been always someone that pushed me to go above and beyond. He advised me to go into healthcare because it's a field that always needs people, and helped me realize I could work in the back end with paperwork, insurance, and authorizations rather than being a nurse.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best one was to obtain my master's degree.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Never to give up, always to look, research, question, find out, ask. Especially today that we have the Internet with so many resources, just go for it, and look what you need, and the resources are there. You can go to the library or walk in any hospital and ask or go through the websites of the portals of the websites, the clinics, to see what positions they have.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The challenge can be hard when you come brand new, building trust, with the regulations that healthcare have, and the emotional demand. Working with patients you get attached and it's emotional when news comes that they didn't make it. The opportunity is to learn more and see what else is available, always looking to see what other positions are open to keep climbing the levels going either lateral or going up.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Respect and communication.
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