An Appointment With: Patti Drolet, VP, Revenue Cycle

While Patti Drolet’s career in healthcare may have started in an entry-level clerical role, today she is the vice president of Revenue Cycle Operations at Northwell Health. Her experience at every level allowed her to gain well-rounded knowledge in all areas of revenue cycle. She accepted a leadership position at Northwell Health in 2004, where she has been using her strengths and history to help elevate the department’s performance and outcomes.

“As a leader, I take great pride in the role I have at Northwell,” says Patti. “To strategize and lead in the transformation of a business at this level requires commitment, passion, and authenticity in order to drive high-performing initiatives and teams.”

We sat down with Patti to discuss Revenue Cycle and why it’s an exciting career to join at Northwell in this month’s Appointment With.

What is revenue cycle and why is it important to Northwell Health?

Revenue cycle represents the business side of a health system and is responsible for billing and collecting all hospital receivables – a monumental task in today’s ever-changing healthcare environment.

Our role is to secure financial strength, enabling the health system to provide extraordinary quality of care in modern facilities by our clinicians.  We have an impact on patient care and the patient experience, and we take pride in knowing that our efforts help Northwell succeed in its mission.

What career opportunities are available in revenue cycle?

In revenue cycle, roles and skill sets range from entry-level clerical to leadership positions. Someone can begin in patient-facing areas, such as patient registration in our hospitals, patient financial counseling and customer service. Revenue cycle is also in non-patient-facing areas, such as insurance verification/scheduling, accounts receivable billing and follow-up, and in Health Information Management (HIM) documentation management.  Additionally, there are clinicians on our team who specialize in medical billing appeal writing, the Clinical Documentation Initiative (CDI) that validates the quality of our patients’ medical records, and in the Denial Prevention Unit (DPU) which helps us secure authorizations from our patients’ insurers for emergent admissions.

There is a very broad assortment of fulfilling careers available within the department.  And we are always looking for talented people!

What are four fun facts about working in revenue cycle at Northwell Health?

1. We have a unique opportunity to touch upon many different areas within the health system, such as patient experience, clinical departments and hospital executive leadership, among others.
2. Most of our leadership team began their careers in entry-level clerical positions.
3. We have a fun committee! We provide interactive activities for our team members throughout the year to engage in the community and the areas we serve.
4. We have a mentoring program for team members in addition to Northwell’s development opportunities at the Center for Learning and Innovation

What is your career advice to candidates looking for a career in revenue cycle?

If you have the passion and desire to work in a fast-paced, challenging and dynamic business environment, with a mission to improve the health system’s financial viability, this department is for you. Understanding all aspects of revenue cycle and learning the intricacies of this business makes for an exciting career.  Having experienced this firsthand, the opportunities available within revenue cycle and meeting the challenges of our ever-evolving health care system can be very rewarding.