Influential Woman · Financial Billing

Sarah Burmann

Regional Finance Director, Oxford Valley Health

Her Story

About Sarah

Throughout my career, I've worked my way through most offices and into different positions, always trying to learn and absorb everything from every area of any business I've worked in. When I worked in engineering, I tried to learn as much as I could there - obviously I'm not an engineer, but when it came to the office, the billing, dealing with architectures, work orders, planning and scheduling the jobs that needed to be completed, I immersed myself fully. Coming into the nursing side of things and the healthcare side, I tried to learn basically everything I could from any area that I could, from ordering supplies, essential supplies, nursing supplies, different department supplies, working with vendors and our representatives from the different insurance companies, dealing with contracting and hospices. It's really just about asking a lot of questions and picking people's brains, investigating to push forward and learn more things. One of my proudest moments was when we went through a CHO, a change of ownership, which means about a year worth of unpaid claims that you have to bill at the same time but they're all denied until that year is up. The collection process for that is quite strenuous, and doing it alone, I was able to recoup I would say 98% of that, multiple millions. I'm pretty proud of myself for that.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Sarah

01What do you attribute your success to?

Personally, I would say my stubbornness. I refuse to give up or give in. That's really what drives me - when I face a challenge, I don't back down. Whether it takes adaptability or whatever it's going to take, I'm going to get there and find the best solution. It's that refusal to quit that has helped me push through difficult situations, like when I had to recoup multiple millions in unpaid claims during our change of ownership. I just keep going until I figure it out.

02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

Don't be afraid to not know the answer. It's always easy to find the answer - you can always find the answer. Most people are afraid to ask the question, and so they don't want to look dumb, so they'll make things up or they just don't have all the information at hand. I think most people, myself included as someone who employs people, I always tell them I prefer you ask me a question. I would rather you think you're going to look dumb and ask me 10 million questions a day than not know the answer and give false information to people. So always ask the question. If you don't know something, it's okay - nobody knows everything. Even if I don't know, we'll figure it out together. Don't be afraid to ask, don't be afraid to not know.

03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?

I think compartmentalization is really important to me. I try to compartmentalize different areas of my life, whether it's personal, professional, or education-wise. I plan my day very scheduled and very specific so that my weekends are my own. My weekdays are very packed between work and school and having a son, so I keep myself very busy. But on the weekends, I try to make it open so that I don't have work, I don't have school, and my son and I can do things, or I can just do things with friends or family or groups. It allows me to have that free time. I create time for myself to go to the gym or go for a hike or do things that you need to do to keep yourself grounded. I also value not forgetting my worth - not sliding back, not taking that step back, not letting other people walk over you, and pushing forward.

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