J. Brett Tracy, MHA, MS, PMP, CPC, serves as Vice President of Revenue Cycle for Carilion Clinic.
On October 9th, Brett will serve on the panel "The Best Thoughts on Improving Revenue Cycle Today" at Becker's Annual Health IT + Revenue Cycle Conference. As part of an ongoing series, Becker's is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference, which will take place October 9-12, 2019 in Chicago.
To learn more about the conference and Brett's session, click here.
Question: As a leader, how do you stay connected to the actual work that is being done – and not just by watching others execute, but by executing yourself? If so, how do you balance between leading and executing personally?
J. Brett Tracy: I maintain certifications as a certified professional coder (CPC), project management professional (PMP), and Epic Hospital Billing and will sit in on key meetings to provide advice / guidance based off of past experiences. I also demonstrate how I would like project plans, communication plans, and strategies demonstrated by performing it myself first for staff to see and then by asking them to replicate for future projects.
Q: What is one topic or issue you've been investing time in to better understand as of late?
BT: Automation / Robotic Process Automation / - Trying to understand ways to increase efficiency with an increasingly aging workforce. As workforce ages and more people retire, it becomes imperative to translate knowledge into automated process to improve efficiency and remove routine tasks from staff members’ processes.
Q: What contributes to better conversations between a health system's financial and clinical leaders?
BT: Shared understanding and executive communication to articulate guidelines, responsibilities, and owners of key processes. Having regularly scheduled meetings between both groups is paramount to build relationships, familiarity, and an environment where the easy and tough conversations can coexist in the same meeting. Having clear financial expectations communicated from the CFO and agreement acceptance from the COO and CMO demonstrates the executive unity needed for clinical and financial leaders to follow.