Elizabeth Daley, MHA, CMIS, CMOM, CMCO, is Director of Client Success at Collect Rx, a 15-year-old company launched by former executives from third-party vendors who pioneered the out-of-network (OON) industry. The company works with 2,100 clients across the country and have built a proprietary database with thousands of claim resolutions at their fingertips to facilitate and expedite the negotiation process.
Elizabeth helps her clients in hospitals, ASCs, labs, behavior health, and clinics improve workflows and best practices to reduce cost and improve revenue efficiency. The workflow optimization and data analytics technology used by Collect Rx helps clients secure the highest reimbursement rates.
“Our experts in negotiations and appeals help clients achieve higher reimbursement on bills and collections,” she said. “The other day, we worked with an ASC to recoup $250K in revenue for one claim! And because Collect Rx is paid a percentage of successful claim resolutions, it is an attractive business proposition for its clients.”
Elizabeth started her healthcare career in 2005 working for multi-specialist private practices in Houston as an administrator and practice manager. She was responsible for operations and revenue growth in each office. She worked hard and this role and gained confidence in her abilities.
During one of her employment reviews, she learned that hard work and dollars were only part of the equation. Her boss gave her high marks for management duties, but said that her leadership skills were lacking, and her team had a hard time connecting with her.
Her manager and some of the staff had earned certifications through Practice Management Institute (PMI). Eager to learn all she could, she followed their lead, and earned three certifications in medical office management (CMOM), insurance processing (CMIS), and compliance (CMCO). She also attended several of PMI’s national conferences.
“I enjoy the networking with presenters and participants from all over the nation to get their perspective,” she said.
In 2018, Elizabeth was hired by Collect Rx as a Senior Account Manager with 15 revenue-cycle management clients across the country. Armed with a strong revenue and practice management background, she was tasked with communicating trends in charge, cash collections, days outstanding, aging AR, average daily revenue, discharge not final billed, payor mix, insurance delays, aging by payor, waterfall report, negotiation/appeal results, and denial trends.
Inspired to push her knowledge further, Elizabeth enrolled in the Master of Health Administration program at Texas Women’s University in 2018.
“It’s something that I always wanted to do, and I really enjoyed it!”
During her MHA program, she was able to draw from her past work experiences and PMI training to gain a deeper understanding for what it means to lead.
“It all clicked during my MHA studies. I learned that leadership is not just about how hard you work. It is also about connecting with employees and building trust. You must let your team know you are a real person. Once I figured that out, I became a better leader, and I had a better team!”
Elizabeth completed her MHA last year, and was promoted to Director in July 2020. In her new role, she develops Client Success Managers to handle everything from relationship management, revenue cycle management project management with specialty hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, behavioral health, and labs.
When COVID hit last year, Elizabeth and her clients shifted into a different gear.
“People wanted to feel safe, and they were struggling with what to do procedurally with staffing, scheduling, and re-scheduling. They were COVID testing all surgery patients. Labs were impacted and there was a sharp decrease in elective surgeries.”
“People are still not comfortable coming into an office for care. It has been a struggle. Everyone is making decisions and trying to do the best they can. My work has become more client-focused rather than account management.”
Before the pandemic, Collect Rx workforce was mostly office based. Now, most of the employees work remotely which she thinks initially was a hard shift for them.
“There’s a level of trust you have to have in remote workers. I was working remotely before the pandemic. We have definitely made changes after COVID hit, and we have shown that we can still be productive working from home.”