Her Story
About Tonja
I've been in healthcare for 10 years, and my journey started as a military spouse working in call centers doing collections and early out billing for medical records before I decided to go to school for it. Now I serve as the HIM Director at Midland Memorial Hospital, where I manage about 35 employees and oversee the mid-revenue cycle including medical records, transcription, coding, charge capture, and release of information. I'm also an adjunct professor at San Jacinto College, where my evenings look like helping students who want to come into my role. One of my proudest career moments was being offered the position to take over for the professor who taught me when I got my degree after she retired. I recently helped work on a project where Midland is now opening its first behavioral hospital, the PBBHC, which opens in May. In my role, I'm a forever student because law and regulations are changing on me all the time, and I'm learning to navigate the world as we start to see big changes come in the next couple years, especially with AI's movement in assisted reporting and research.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Tonja
01What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
I recently went to a speaking engagement where Ryan Link had this movement called the 1% better human. It's where you have AI prompt you every day, either to learn a new word, or to be a better wife, or to be better in your faith, and then you just read it, and whatever it is, if you do at least just one of those things every day, you're 1% better. I started it this week and had my AI go in with prompts for faith, better mom, better wife, and then a new word every day. You can't not become 1% better just by doing that. One example he gave was instead of asking your son how his day was at school, AI gave him a different prompt question, and he spent like an hour with his child that he typically didn't always get the opportunity with, because when you ask how the day is, you get that response, oh, it was good, and move on. For that day, he was a 1% better father.
02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think one of the biggest obstacles coming right now is AI's movement in, assisted with reporting and research. I think that my role, you're a forever student, because law and regulations are changing on me all the time. So I think just learning to navigate the world as we start to see the big change come in the next couple years is the key challenge and opportunity.
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