I have been working in different hospitals for the last 19 years. I have done a little bit of everything, but for the last 13 years I have been working in the business office. I came about this job by a reference from a friend.
She told me to go after a job as a Medicaid collector because she thought I would be good at it. I took the interview, hit it off with my soon to be boss, and I have been in the business ever since.
I knew nothing at all about Medicaid when I started, but I got help every step of the way, as the staff was very helpful. I am now a Medicaid team leader and it is very rewarding work.
The job of a collector was kind of monotonous but the job of the team lead over the Medicaid area has more flexibility in it. My job is to oversee the Medicaid collectors and billing associates to insure that collections and billing applications are flowing correctly. I have to identify problems that stop claims from going out or revenue coming in.
I have meetings with the collectors to find out what problems we are having with our different Medicaid payers and I meet with the provider representatives of those specific entities to resolve the issues we are having.
My job is usually 8am to 4:30pm and no weekends or nights. There are some overtime projects but they are usually toward the end of the year. This is a great job if you want to be at home with the kids to help with homework, or if you value your weekends and football games.
Since I have worked in the business office, I have learned a lot about insurances of all kind. I have learned the most about Medicaid insurance and how it works. I have about the need to have every service authorized so you do not have to pay the costs yourself.
The one thing that I really enjoy about my job is having healthcare available to people who cannot afford it. There has been a lot of healthcare available to newborns under the Medicaid program that otherwise would not have had access to it.
I also get a lot of joy out of directing someone to their local DCFS office or to our financial services office so they can start the application process to obtain healthcare. I consider this the priceless part of my job.