I've been working on my resume; seems we can always find something to tweak just a bit. I've been trying to decide if I wanted an Objective at the top or a Summary statement. Regardless, I did expand a bit on a profile section and wanted to elaborate on that just a bit here.
My second certification is my PMP; which is the one that represents a very exciting part of IT management for me personally. I enjoy the challenge and the diversity of managing projects. When a project is underway, it's great to work with so many other stakeholders and to get to know others and work on various teams. Plus, coordinating various work packages, checking on status updates and being sure everyone knows what is happening is a challenge, but a good one. It's a great feeling to document accomplishments and lessons learned, and to celebrate milestones with team members. Yes I am good at multi-tasking, and can switch topics and focus quickly.
A common preliminary phase, before a project even begins, is researching and preparing a business case on a possible project. I completed all business analysis work for any possible IT project, studying options that would address a particular issue, and narrowing down those possibilities to 2 or 3. A business analysis document was then prepared, delineating low, medium and high project solutions. This may not directly translate only to cost, although, of course, that was a heavily weighted factor.
IT projects, at LifeSpring, usually fell into 1 of 3 groups:
1. IT Infrastructure: on these projects, I performed detailed business analysis function, including analytical skills, research and then preparing a document of the different options or choices of how to proceed. This document included how the project tied to the agency balanced scorecard and goals/objectives. Of course, IT Infrastructure programs were very heavily weighted with detailed technology descriptions. This was necessary to later prepare a scope and SOW of any contractor. Generally, this was written as an addendum, since non-technical staff really did not want to read through this. On any IT Infrastructure project, I also served as the project manager.
2. Specialized Software for program/service: examples of these were transcription services, financial software for the CFO and document imaging system for medical records. For the financial software the CFO conducted the initial study and decided what program to use. For the other two, I worked with managers of those areas and we researched available sources. Once that was complete, I, again, prepared the BA documents, with the analysis results and research done. Often, these required a longer time frame and much more work with multi-disciplinary departments, since they might affect so many different areas of the organization. It was often important to stress the limits of any technology solution: it was important to remind everyone that technology will improve processes.
3. Software maintenance/upgrade projects: in this group, fell many conflicting drivers. Some were cost, time involved, compatibility with other agency documents, compliance requirements with the state or other payor sources, and the availability to hire staff who are familiar with the program(s). The over-riding driver, of course, was ITIL security requirements, to safeguard agency data. These projects did, however, mainly fall into the same level of work as the infrastructure ones. Obviously, there was not as much detail required on the “why would it be beneficial” part of the documentation, it was necessary to see that the program was stable, and out of beta testing, often waiting until the first service pack was released for MS products.
For all IT projects, Business Analysis is an integrated portion of the initial planning and research/investigation stage. I worked closely with vendors to get preliminary costs of equipment or the purchases of services (bandwidth, long distance, etc). I compared and contrasted options, going through an ITIL-like checklist that included:
Cost
Scope of change
Implementation/transition plan (would it involve a lot of staff training etc)
Ease of solution (did it require a great deal of manual operations once in place)
Expected life expectancy (how long before this would have to be revisited)
Risk (how likely is success/failure in terms of meeting scope, cost, risk, and schedule)
Quality (even though it meets the solution we need, is it the “right” option for this agency)
Additional Options (are there other benefits to this project that will help other issues)
Schedule (can this be done in 1 fiscal year, 1 quarter, etc)
Skillset of technical staff (can this be implemented and maintained with the staffing level and expertise we have now)
Disruption Factor (how much lost productivity is to be expected during transition and implementation)
Reliance Degree (how much will this solution depend on outside resources/vendors after implementation)
Friday, November 20, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
My Resume Is Available Here!
I finally have a version of my resume online. I wanted to offer everyone a link so you can see a bit more about my work experience. I also wanted to start to add a bit more about my style of supervision and what I consider to be key qualities that I would bring to your company and your team.
So, for today, I want to describe my style of supervision. I supervised my department as a team, with each person a specialist in their area of expertise. Even when I supervised Accounts Receivable, I had assigned responsibilities so each staff person had certain accounts they were solely responsible for, divided by the payor source. This allowed billers to be "experts" in the payors they covered. This translates into Project Management deliverables quite well, I believe. Once the Work Breakdown Structure is complete, each team member will have their "area of expertise" and the part of the project they are responsible for. A team member brings their area of specialized ability to the project, allowing everyone working on the project access to their knowledge and skills.
I will add that I try to live by the rule of not asking a staff person to do something I will not do myself. Other staff will not see me leaving early every Friday afternoon or walking out of the office while they are still there, working on a problem. I do not believe in blaming staff for everything that goes wrong and then taking credit for the successes. In fact, I always try to do the opposite.
So, for today, I want to describe my style of supervision. I supervised my department as a team, with each person a specialist in their area of expertise. Even when I supervised Accounts Receivable, I had assigned responsibilities so each staff person had certain accounts they were solely responsible for, divided by the payor source. This allowed billers to be "experts" in the payors they covered. This translates into Project Management deliverables quite well, I believe. Once the Work Breakdown Structure is complete, each team member will have their "area of expertise" and the part of the project they are responsible for. A team member brings their area of specialized ability to the project, allowing everyone working on the project access to their knowledge and skills.
I will add that I try to live by the rule of not asking a staff person to do something I will not do myself. Other staff will not see me leaving early every Friday afternoon or walking out of the office while they are still there, working on a problem. I do not believe in blaming staff for everything that goes wrong and then taking credit for the successes. In fact, I always try to do the opposite.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
It's OFFICIAL! I'm PMP Certified
I took my PMP Certification exam this morning and passed! I am usually pretty calm, but this exam had me nervous! Not only paying the fee (I sure didn't want to have to pay that again) but I knew the exam would be difficult.
I started my "brain dump" immediately, just as Michelle Sainte-Carson from http://www.solarity.com/ had told me. I had my table of processes and knowledge areas, and then the formulas I could remember (there was only 1 that I had trouble with, but I answered those questions fine). Michelle taught my class about 4 weeks ago, and she's great. Not only does she really break down the material but she gives tons of ways to help you remember things. And she continued working with me even after the course was over. She answered questions and offered to be a study buddy with me.
I should get my certificate in a few weeks, and I'm going to put it in a frame that matches the ones holding my degrees. Now, my job hunt is my project (actually I recently WON some ITIL courses on linkedin, so I can start on that too). I really am ready to move on into project management, the next career phase for me! I am interested in contract work, even if it means I temporarily relocate, unless I can really find a full time position here in the Louisville area.
Well, off to update my resume!
I started my "brain dump" immediately, just as Michelle Sainte-Carson from http://www.solarity.com/ had told me. I had my table of processes and knowledge areas, and then the formulas I could remember (there was only 1 that I had trouble with, but I answered those questions fine). Michelle taught my class about 4 weeks ago, and she's great. Not only does she really break down the material but she gives tons of ways to help you remember things. And she continued working with me even after the course was over. She answered questions and offered to be a study buddy with me.
I should get my certificate in a few weeks, and I'm going to put it in a frame that matches the ones holding my degrees. Now, my job hunt is my project (actually I recently WON some ITIL courses on linkedin, so I can start on that too). I really am ready to move on into project management, the next career phase for me! I am interested in contract work, even if it means I temporarily relocate, unless I can really find a full time position here in the Louisville area.
Well, off to update my resume!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Healthcare Industry Experience
Sometimes, I think we take for granted what we've done in our career and can overlook the obvious. Jeanine Holden of KForce Technology Staffing, reviewed my experience and mentioned my expertise in healthcare, and how I had not high lighted that in my resume. I laughed..I had not considered it, even though I know that is a specialty area, and in mental health, a bit more of a niche than others!
So I thought I'd elaborate a bit here, covering some of the knowledge and skills I have. The agency I worked for was JCAHO accredited, or "Joint Commission" as they are referred to now. In 17 years employment there, I've been through 5 full survey visits, as well as a follow up to one visit, as we corrected some agency processes. Surveys always covered a section on information. I worked with the Medical Records Manager and Business Operations Director to keep all accreditation data current. As a member of executive management, I was also involved in that part of the survey, and of course, the exit interview with the consulting and education presentation by the surveyors.
I worked very closely with our Business Operations Director when federal HIPAA privacy and security legislation went into effect. We worked hand in hand to implement the changes and the processes the agency would need in order to meet these standards, travelling to HIPAA presentations in the state and nationally in order to determine what would work best for our company. She served as the agency Privacy Officer and I served as the agency Security Officer.
However, in health care, probably the largest area of difficulty and the most difficult area to master is managed care and the prior authorization request and approval reporting. In the recent years in Indiana, the state Medicaid program had transitioned to a managed care format for most of the Medicaid recipients. Contracts were initiated with at least 3 different managed care insurance providers. In this process, all 3 companies had slightly different interpretations and rules regarding approvals, staff credentials, what services required prior approval, and more. Furthermore, clients could select a different company whenever they wanted and as often as they wanted. A client could, literally, change companies more than once every month. So, a prior approval by one company had to then be communicated to the subsequent company, in order to be paid for the service. Programming needed to be able to respond to this and turn on a dime, so to speak. It took months to process all the event rules necessary to set this up and track it for client accounts. It was also a very confusing, difficult thing for support staff, as each change required a change in the client's fund source information AND in the approved services for which could be billed. Coordinating all the data changes and attaining approvals prior to services were a major initiative, and on-going tweaks still came up, as a company would alter the services neededing approval before payment. In addition, the use of "rolling calendar years" made it more difficult to track within the computer program. But IT, Accounts Receivable and Front Desk Operations all worked to get this implemented agency wide.
Well, I won't blame you if you don't follow some of the issues in the Medicaid Managed Care, many other agencies are struggling with that also, and the Accounts Receivable Director and I often felt attached at the hip as we tried to figure out how to program and set up yet another rule change.
BUT, the biggest change in all the healthcare work I was involved in for the agency surrounded another HIPAA requirement. This one was more fundamental to the agency's success, as it involved programming all billing processes and file structures for all electronic billing. The HIPAA 837 Professional format was used by the agency to re-write all third party billing (insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, etc). One of the advantageous outputs was the ability to drop the third party clearinghouse previoiusly used for Medicaid bills. This saved, literally, thousands of dollars annually, in clearinghouse fees as we began billing Medicaid directly. Since Medicaid represented around 75-80% of agency income, that was a substantial fee that we eliminated from agency costs. We also set up the 835 payment application process. This took an electronic Explanation of Benefits and imported it to the agency software program, converting it to the correct format so it could be read by the program, and then setting up rules to apply the payments electronically. This reduced over 80 hours extra work at the end of the month from AR staff time previously spent manually applying payments to individual charges.
Yes, my experience is in healthcare and social services; however don't forget that expereince can translate to other industries and projects in different industries. But I wanted to actually delineate some of the projects I worked on and some of the problems my agency faced so you might get an idea of some of the work I've done.
I do hope if you find my experience in line with a position you know of that is available, you will contact them or myself. Thank you for reading!
Teri Baskett
ITIL Certified
PMP Certification pending
So I thought I'd elaborate a bit here, covering some of the knowledge and skills I have. The agency I worked for was JCAHO accredited, or "Joint Commission" as they are referred to now. In 17 years employment there, I've been through 5 full survey visits, as well as a follow up to one visit, as we corrected some agency processes. Surveys always covered a section on information. I worked with the Medical Records Manager and Business Operations Director to keep all accreditation data current. As a member of executive management, I was also involved in that part of the survey, and of course, the exit interview with the consulting and education presentation by the surveyors.
I worked very closely with our Business Operations Director when federal HIPAA privacy and security legislation went into effect. We worked hand in hand to implement the changes and the processes the agency would need in order to meet these standards, travelling to HIPAA presentations in the state and nationally in order to determine what would work best for our company. She served as the agency Privacy Officer and I served as the agency Security Officer.
However, in health care, probably the largest area of difficulty and the most difficult area to master is managed care and the prior authorization request and approval reporting. In the recent years in Indiana, the state Medicaid program had transitioned to a managed care format for most of the Medicaid recipients. Contracts were initiated with at least 3 different managed care insurance providers. In this process, all 3 companies had slightly different interpretations and rules regarding approvals, staff credentials, what services required prior approval, and more. Furthermore, clients could select a different company whenever they wanted and as often as they wanted. A client could, literally, change companies more than once every month. So, a prior approval by one company had to then be communicated to the subsequent company, in order to be paid for the service. Programming needed to be able to respond to this and turn on a dime, so to speak. It took months to process all the event rules necessary to set this up and track it for client accounts. It was also a very confusing, difficult thing for support staff, as each change required a change in the client's fund source information AND in the approved services for which could be billed. Coordinating all the data changes and attaining approvals prior to services were a major initiative, and on-going tweaks still came up, as a company would alter the services neededing approval before payment. In addition, the use of "rolling calendar years" made it more difficult to track within the computer program. But IT, Accounts Receivable and Front Desk Operations all worked to get this implemented agency wide.
Well, I won't blame you if you don't follow some of the issues in the Medicaid Managed Care, many other agencies are struggling with that also, and the Accounts Receivable Director and I often felt attached at the hip as we tried to figure out how to program and set up yet another rule change.
BUT, the biggest change in all the healthcare work I was involved in for the agency surrounded another HIPAA requirement. This one was more fundamental to the agency's success, as it involved programming all billing processes and file structures for all electronic billing. The HIPAA 837 Professional format was used by the agency to re-write all third party billing (insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, etc). One of the advantageous outputs was the ability to drop the third party clearinghouse previoiusly used for Medicaid bills. This saved, literally, thousands of dollars annually, in clearinghouse fees as we began billing Medicaid directly. Since Medicaid represented around 75-80% of agency income, that was a substantial fee that we eliminated from agency costs. We also set up the 835 payment application process. This took an electronic Explanation of Benefits and imported it to the agency software program, converting it to the correct format so it could be read by the program, and then setting up rules to apply the payments electronically. This reduced over 80 hours extra work at the end of the month from AR staff time previously spent manually applying payments to individual charges.
Yes, my experience is in healthcare and social services; however don't forget that expereince can translate to other industries and projects in different industries. But I wanted to actually delineate some of the projects I worked on and some of the problems my agency faced so you might get an idea of some of the work I've done.
I do hope if you find my experience in line with a position you know of that is available, you will contact them or myself. Thank you for reading!
Teri Baskett
ITIL Certified
PMP Certification pending
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Super User Plan
The latest addition to the department's staff is an in-house training position. As the programming team developed new screens and data entry for all the agency services, production staff required more in-depth orientation and on-going updates to functions they were responsible for documenting. This position is also responsible for the development and on-going support for a "Super User" group, a key group of support and production staff. This group receive more in-depth training and education to support everyone at their location with any technology issues that may arise. They know about the networking equipment at that site, how to reset locked accounts, and how to troubleshoot screens and data quickly, so staff are back up and running very quickly. The Super User plan was put in place to reduce downtime and wait time for responses from helpdesk calls. Training and education sessions were provided on site or through web-conferencing, to reduce expense and time out of the office for the Super Users.
One of the positive outputs of this was the ability to learn more about what staff might want to know in general about computers/networking/internet functions. Some of these were then documented and available, similar to a white paper, on the intranet, while others made topics for lunch and learns or web-conferences opened to all staff. This included how to set up and maintain internet security functions for their children (such as "Net Nanny" type products), how to select and update virus protection programs, how to set up a home network and share peripherals, and elementary descriptions of some technical specifications and what they mean. An example was a list and definition of digital camera specifications, so staff could understand and make an informed decision. The Super User program has been one of the department's most successful initiatives, in terms of improving customer service. It was the first major step in setting up an agency Service Catalog, based on ITIL Foundation plans. The second phase should be the building of an extensive "self help" intranet initiative.
Thanks for reading, if you would like any more information, please contact me! If anything here sounds like I would be a good fit for a position you know is available, please send them a link and let me know!
One of the positive outputs of this was the ability to learn more about what staff might want to know in general about computers/networking/internet functions. Some of these were then documented and available, similar to a white paper, on the intranet, while others made topics for lunch and learns or web-conferences opened to all staff. This included how to set up and maintain internet security functions for their children (such as "Net Nanny" type products), how to select and update virus protection programs, how to set up a home network and share peripherals, and elementary descriptions of some technical specifications and what they mean. An example was a list and definition of digital camera specifications, so staff could understand and make an informed decision. The Super User program has been one of the department's most successful initiatives, in terms of improving customer service. It was the first major step in setting up an agency Service Catalog, based on ITIL Foundation plans. The second phase should be the building of an extensive "self help" intranet initiative.
Thanks for reading, if you would like any more information, please contact me! If anything here sounds like I would be a good fit for a position you know is available, please send them a link and let me know!
VOIP and more
Some years ago, the agency left administrative offices within another service organization and opened executive offices in new buildings. At this time, it was necessary to purchase a telephone system, and voicemail. I and our Network Administrator, set up a Cisco Voice Over IP solution and voicemail system. The first year, this was provided to the new exective offices and sites that were located in the same city. The following year, the system was extended agency wide. Through the initiation of extensive Least Call Routing programs, we were able to reduce intra-lata long distance rates for calls and faxes over $70,000. The voicemaiil system also allowed the agency to set up automated attendants to help incoming calls be routed more effiiciently to the correct extension. The agency now maintains 24 attendants. In addition, IT could control all scheduling and routing of incoming calls, so all calls could be answered, maintaining our 24 by 7 crisis line from all sites to our emergency services.
Of course, IT also managed many small projects for the agency. There is a key card security system at all executive and administrative office sites, and video security cameras record all service areas. We set up an automated reminder call system for all client appointments, reducing support staff time by an estimated 1.5 staff positions weekly. Updates are maintained to several database programs, to keep all reference information current. There is a scheduling program for conference rooms and audio visual equipment, such as projectors and laptops. A recent contract with Cisco WebEx provides web conferencing options open to any staff in the agency. This is used for Executive Board planning meetings, as well as management communication and communication with vendors. A new Cisco VPN provides remote access to the network, both for staff and contractors.
Thanks for reading, if you would like any more information, please contact me! If anything here sounds like I would be a good fit for a position you know is available, please send them a link and let me know!
Of course, IT also managed many small projects for the agency. There is a key card security system at all executive and administrative office sites, and video security cameras record all service areas. We set up an automated reminder call system for all client appointments, reducing support staff time by an estimated 1.5 staff positions weekly. Updates are maintained to several database programs, to keep all reference information current. There is a scheduling program for conference rooms and audio visual equipment, such as projectors and laptops. A recent contract with Cisco WebEx provides web conferencing options open to any staff in the agency. This is used for Executive Board planning meetings, as well as management communication and communication with vendors. A new Cisco VPN provides remote access to the network, both for staff and contractors.
Thanks for reading, if you would like any more information, please contact me! If anything here sounds like I would be a good fit for a position you know is available, please send them a link and let me know!
Training Staff: IT Programming Skills
Over time, the agency sponsored 5 websites, along with an intranet for staff communications and information. The intranet provided staff with links for completing forms that were then emailed to supervisors, housed searchable policies and procedures for the entire company, and allowed updates and changes to client accounts to be emailed directly to the accounting department. Staff could install new printer drivers, access links that pertained to their job functions and credentials, and more. A web developer position managed on-going programming and updates to functions, adding more and more links and user offerings. He expanded access to more and more forms, including client information translated into other languages, so all sites could quickly and easily access those whenever needed.
Eventually, the agency expanded the programming services to a team of 3 positions. These positions were responsible for all agency specific programming in a proprietary integrated UNIX system that contained all major data functions for the entire agency. This included client and staff databases, accounts receivable and accounts payable, fixed assets, financial information and reporting, all production data, demographics, and data mining used for grant submissions, and data for state and licensure, as well as JCAHO certification.
Thanks for reading, if you would like any more information, please contact me! If anything here sounds like I would be a good fit for a position you know is available, please send them a link and let me know!
Eventually, the agency expanded the programming services to a team of 3 positions. These positions were responsible for all agency specific programming in a proprietary integrated UNIX system that contained all major data functions for the entire agency. This included client and staff databases, accounts receivable and accounts payable, fixed assets, financial information and reporting, all production data, demographics, and data mining used for grant submissions, and data for state and licensure, as well as JCAHO certification.
Thanks for reading, if you would like any more information, please contact me! If anything here sounds like I would be a good fit for a position you know is available, please send them a link and let me know!
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