Mary has dedicated 24 years to sharing her expertise and compassion in the industry. Her journey began as a practice manager for operations at an obstetrician-gynecologist (OB/GYN) clinic. Seventeen years ago, she relocated to Atlanta with her husband, who was undergoing training at the time.
There, she started work at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.

Hired at the facility as a practice manager for four different groups – hospitalist, pathology, neuropsychology, and psychiatry – Mary eventually noticed something was wrong with the neuropsychology group. She wondered why they were losing so much money when they should have been very profitable. Mary soon realized it was a coding error.

“They were forgetting to put a modifier on their claims and so half of their claims were getting written off,” she explained.

Mary said the real issue was a lack of communication between coding and operations and the revenue cycle.

“The back end everybody kind of had their job,” she continued. “But they weren't talking to each other.”

As a result, Mary ended up becoming a project manager to bring together everyone from the coding side and revenue cycle side.

“That department went from being way in the red to way in the black, just changing that one thing,” she said.
Mary was amazed at how quickly the department improved from one seemingly simple change.

This was the start of something bigger for Mary. She discovered a new passion that aligned with her desire to help people.

From there, she began working with other departments to make similar changes and bring them together. She continued doing this at the facility for a long time.
When the pandemic hit, Mary transitioned to remote work, affording her additional family time. Recognizing the increasing difficulty to return in-person with all of the changes that occurred by the time the pandemic was over, she decided she was unable to return to the site and instead began consulting on her own.
“I love the work,” Mary explained. “I had my own company.”

Because of her empathetic nature, this was very fulfilling for Mary. She enjoyed making clients happy, but there was just one issue – she loved doing the work, not selling it. 
This is how Mary ended up at RCCS. There, she continues doing the work she loves for clients without having to seek the clients out herself.

“While it was awesome to be my own boss, I am super happy being an employee as well and being part of a group,” Mary said.

Since moving to RCCS, Mary’s main focus is now getting a greater understanding of what everyone's function is and how to capitalize on it and bring new ideas to the table to move the business forward.

“I think there's an opportunity to do something in the market that really isn't out there and that's just doing some charge capture that isn't front end, [and] isn't denials, but you're finding missing charges and posting that for people,” she explained.

Mary helps clients discover the money they did not even know they had. Her work does not just stop at helping clients correct mistakes for the future, but going back and fixing past mistakes to recover lost funds.

“It's a beautiful thing because it's acknowledging that the providers didn't get credit for the work that they're doing and giving them back that credit so that you can set budgets going forward based off of more accurate revenue,” Mary said.

Mary emphasizes the challenge of gaining client trust by being competent, confident, and reassuring about confidentiality.

“[It’s about being] pleasant and competent and confident in what you're doing,” she said.

“And help them understand what you can do for them in a way that makes them feel safe.”

Since moving to RCCS, Mary said her favorite part has been having a team again. She always said it makes her happy to feel recognized for her contributions now, which she did not have the opportunity to feel when she was her own boss.

“No one is saying ‘good job’ or ‘you need to do differently,’” she explained. “There is no feedback because it is your own beast. You get stuck a little bit when you are on your own and you see things one way.”

Mary also teaches classes about consulting and revenue consulting. She said one of the benefits she always says they have is looking at topics from a different angle which is hard to do when you're working for your own company without the ability to bounce ideas off other people.

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta was not the end of Mary’s journey helping pediatric organizations with their coding issues. Outside of RCCS, Mary also helps educate organizations that cannot afford full-service consulting on what they can do themselves, where she particularly has a heart for working with pediatric organizations.

“Pediatrics practices especially are getting absorbed so quickly,” she said. “And because I worked at children's, that's my background. It's my connections – things like that.”
Mary's impactful efforts extend beyond aiding organizations; they also benefit patients. She frequently receives questions about why patients' insurance did not cover procedures. Often, these stem from coding errors, like mislabeling a chest x-ray as a broken leg, which she is easily able to help with.

Outside of work and assisting underfunded organizations with coding issues, Mary usually spends time with her children, where she invests considerable effort in ensuring her daughter's final year before college is unforgettable.

“I've got a musician and I've got an equestrian,” she said. “They do all kinds of things.”
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Alongside cherishing moments with her retired trauma surgeon husband, Mary finds joy in playing tennis together. And whenever she can, Mary finds solace within the pages of a good book.