Revenue Cycle Leader Profile: Dawn Bates, FACS Administrator, aka “DaNinja” at Receivables Management Partners (RMP)

The following is a profile of just one of the thousands of revenue cycle leaders across the U.S. I'd like to thank Dawn Bates for generously offering her time to provide her insights. If you are a revenue cycle professional at a healthcare organization and would like to participate in a profile like this, please contact me. I would love to hear from you.

----

What's your name, organization & position? 

Dawn Bates, FACS Administrator, aka “DaNinja” at Receivables Management Partners (RMP) 

How long have you worked there?

15 years

How long have you worked in the revenue cycle field?

19 years

How did you land in the world of revenue cycle?

I applied for a job as a secretary or receptionist at Allied Credit Services in Philadelphia, where I was born. The woman interviewing me thought I had a great voice for collecting, so she offered me a job as a collector. OSI bought Allied a couple years later, and this allowed me to transfer to IMC Credit Services, which was then bought by RMP. Some fifteen years later, I’m responsible for driving change at the company.

If you could thank just one person in the industry, who would it be?

There are too many people to thank, so choosing one is impossible. At RMP, there are two people I consider mentors: Doug Marcum and Steve Gayheart. The leadership and knowledge they shared with me, and the gift of their confidence in me, have been invaluable. I treasure them.

What does your typical day at work look like?

I wake up with a plan to tackle one thing, like a new workflow, a report, scheduling a job to run, a change in workflow, analysis of data, etc. Then I check my phone and see that nothing I “planned” for that day will be happening.

A lot of my day is spent fixing things that are not running as they should be. On a typical day, I deal with every aspect of the revenue cycle. When I am done working on things that need immediate attention, I work on massive, company-wide projects that need to be implemented or changed.

Amid all this, at any given moment and many times during the day, I end up creating or thinking up a tactical solution to an issue or figure out where to add a tiny tweak to help something run better. I am fortunate to have the autonomy to create systems and processes in our database to help drive revenue and client satisfaction.

Can you think of something great you've learned about this business you'd really like to pass along?

Without this industry and what we do, prices for services would be a lot higher because of the lost revenue. We are actually providing a service to our population; “collecting” does not have to be an ugly business. We actually help people manage their lives.

Is there a TV show or movie that you can't live without?

It changes. Chicago PD would probably be my fave right now. Then again, I Love EMPIRE. I have a large range!

If you weren't in your current career, what else would you most love to do for work?

I would most definitely pursue being an FBI agent. I love figuring things out and putting the puzzle together.

What do you think needs to change most urgently in the revenue cycle field?

Shutting down the actual “bad” agencies out there is a must. They use abusive tactics and go outside the line to collect the money and as a result, more and more regulations are put in place against us all. This makes it harder on the agencies that are really attempting to help the consumer, and on the consumer because of the hurdles it creates for them in the end.

[article_ad]