Before coming to the ASC of Stevens Point, Ms. Zigler-Otis worked at Bay Area Medical Center in Marinette, Wis., where she held many positions over a 10-year period, including administrative director of process effectiveness, compliance officer, director of performance improvement and interim director of health information management. She also worked for several hospitals including Bay Area Medical Center and Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village, Ill.
Ms. Zigler-Otis has led the ASC of Stevens Point's transition to outsourcing the billing and collections process, which she says has led to a dramatic improvement in A/R as well as its overall collections process. "We continue to tweak the collections process on a regular basis, and my goal in this area is to be a 'best practice' facility both with data-driven results, such as A/R, and smooth collections," she says. Ms. Zigler-Otis has also overseen the center's initiative to employ its own staff rather than to "lease" employees. She has led the effort to "get the word out" about the ASC at Stevens Point through open houses, radio campaigns and through the Portage County Business Council.
The staff at ASC of Stevens Point is Ms. Zigler-Otis' favorite part of her job. "We have wonderful staff and physicians; everyone works well together, and there is lots and lots of teamwork. You never hear 'that is not my job.' I also enjoy the owners. They are very supportive of the center and treat everyone with respect."
Ms. Zigler-Otis enjoys the diversity she encounters as an administrator. "Every day is different. I usually start off with a plan of what I want to accomplish for the day and once I arrive it takes a totally different turn," she says. "I also like the various hats I get to wear — it keeps the job interesting. I handle the human resources items (benefits as well as payroll), accounts payable, administrative policy and procedure development, regulatory/compliance issues, billing liaison with our outsource company and patient complaints on billing and collections, just to name a few."
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