On October 10th, Armika will serve on the panel “Delivering a Great Patient Experience in the Revenue Cycle“ 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 Armika’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?
Armika Berkley: I have a personal commitment to being a lifetime learner. I demonstrate hands on by blocking off my calendar, spending time with employees, shadowing employees, and learning first-hand the limitations, restraints, and also what opportunities exist within the operational structure and actually spending dedicated formal time being available and putting my hands on projects, answering the phones, learning how to triage patients and understanding the nuisances and limitations staff experiences every day. Being hands on I have the access to valuable insight needed for making executive decisions. My commitment to lifetime learning transcends across both my professional and personal life. I make sure that I understand the day-to day nuisances involved with the staff and I personally make sure that I am informed in general by taking a comprehensive approach to understanding the “why” behind the “what” is happening.
Q: What is one topic or issue you’ve been investing time in to better understand as of late?
AB: The topic of consumerism and what it means in health care is generically defined as communicating price versus value to patients, but, how does one do that in indigent care. The limitations in health care in general involve challenges such as literacy issues, and other barriers to care. So how do you introduce a consumerism concept that is so generalizable to a population that is so nuanced and challenging while really being effective in offering care? Really spending time understanding how we can be transparent with cost and how we can introduce transparency around value. It takes a lot of resources to effectively care for some one really understanding the challenges. What I have spent time learning more about is how we as safety net / indigent care providers can be more successful in that space.
Q: What contributes to better conversations between a health system’s financial and clinical leaders?
AB: Making sure there are shared definitions. Financial leaders are driven by different priorities than clinical leaders, their priorities are stated differently but should not be. So level setting the conversations around price and value where leaders are consistent on aspects that drive the economic engine for healthcare. Value and cost should be synonymous with effective healthcare delivery. In my opinion, level-setting would contribute to the conversation of helping people to bridge the gap that exist today between cost and value so they could move forward with the conversation of how to be effective in the consumerism space and help people.
