Healthcare continues to be one of the fastest growing career sectors in the nation, and for students like Katherine Moore, the option at Georgia Highlands College to earn a Bachelor of Business Administration in Healthcare Management is the perfect route to become an essential member of any healthcare management team.
As a graduate of the program, Katherine says earning her bachelor’s from GHC has allowed her to follow a longtime career goal. Currently serving as Senior Patient Intake Coordinator at Fresenius Medical Care, she said the role is a perfect fit for what she has envisioned for a career in healthcare.
Katherine always wanted to join the rapidly growing healthcare field, but it wasn’t until she sat down with faculty and staff at GHC that she learned about how many options there really were.
“I knew I wanted to work in healthcare, however I was not personally drawn to bedside care such as nursing, therapies, or anything that was in a direct hospital or clinical setting,” Katherine said. “I knew I wanted to do something in healthcare, however I knew very quickly that I was not meant to be a nurse or a physician. I still wanted to work in the sector, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do.”
After completing her associate degree in business administration, Katherine started the Bachelor of Business Administration in Healthcare Management at GHC and felt the program would be the best route for her to pursue a career in healthcare. She said she found it interesting to learn about the behind-the-scenes elements of working in the field.
“Everyone knows about the patient care aspect and billing, but you don’t fully realize all of the other departments and hands that are involved with patient care, such as Social Workers, Case Managers, Operations Specialists, Hospital Liaisons, and so many more,” she said.
Katherine describes her position at Fresenius Medical Care as working as both a Coordinator and a Supervisor/Manager.
“I have my own caseload of patients that we get from outside sources, and I have to place each patient at a clinic, obtain medical documents, obtain insurance clearance, and confirm the patient’s medical acceptance and appointment times,” she said. “I also assist my team of nine other coordinators with their caseloads and assist them with placements with various types of barriers.”
Although every day is a little different, Katherine said a typical day in her role consists of assisting her team with handling dialysis placements in various ways, such as speaking to clinics, solving problems with the placement itself, and guiding on efficient ways to handle one’s caseload. In addition, she has to pull reports, obtain statistics for upper management, and numerous other tasks that are passed over to her that vary throughout the day.
She says handling her varying and growing volume of responsibilities is the most challenging aspect of her position.
“Some days, you will have a very light caseload and it’s easy to work, but other days, your case load triples, and you have to manage both your time and your resources to take care of all of your patients,” Katherine said.
Katherine said she considers graduating Magna Cum Laude as her greatest accomplishment while at GHC but is also proud of being a first-generation college graduate. She also says that her education at GHC has helped her in numerous ways that she did not expect.
“You don’t realize how much you learn in college and use in your day-to-day life,” Katherine said. “I remember sitting in my Organizational Behavior class and thinking ‘I will never use this in my career,’ but then you enter the field and it’s actually a very useful skill that you acquired.”
She says anyone considering continuing their education with a bachelor’s degree should keep in mind that the degree opens the door to numerous opportunities, rather than limiting a graduate to a specific position.
“You don’t have to know exactly what you want to do for a long-term career, so going for a long-term bachelors will not lock you into something,” Katherine said. “Even if you don’t know exactly what you want to do, you will learn a lot of skills in these bachelor’s programs at GHC that can translate to other sectors and industries.”
