Teams that Coordinate Health System's Billing Flourish Remotely
The Patient Revenue Management Organization finds creative ways to stay close
Forward Together
How is your school, department or unit building a positive culture at Duke?
She quickly discovered that, at the Patient Revenue Management Organization (PRMO), remote colleagues don’t feel far apart.
Davis’ Pre-Visit Estimate team built a family atmosphere through sharing news about kids and hobbies in weekly Zoom meetings.
Monthly online meetings featured birthdays and work milestone celebrations and occasional trivia games. In-person trainings at PRMO’s offices provided opportunities catch up over meals.
“It doesn’t feel like you’re working alone,” said Davis, who received onesies and bibs from colleagues after welcoming her son, Kadean, last year.
Prior to the pandemic, most of the roughly 1,700 staff at the PRMO, which coordinates Duke University Health System’s billing functions, shared an office building on Alston Avenue in Durham. After COVID-19, nearly all PRMO employees became remote or hybrid workers.
Now spread across the Triangle and far beyond, several PRMO teams retain a connected work culture.
Interim Divisional Chief Human Resources Officer Chelita Love has been encouraged by PRMO teams finding creative ways to stay close.
“I’m glad to be part of this team, of this group that has a real sense of belonging,” said Love.
As part of the Forward Together series highlighting examples of how teams build a positive work culture at Duke, here are a few ways PRMO’s remote teams stay connected.
Serving Together
Self-Pay & Quality Assurance Manager Kevin Timp leads two teams that help Duke patients facing financial challenges connect with care.
“A lot of us walk away each day feeling like we made a difference even though we’re behind the scenes,” Timp said.
For Timp’s fully remote colleagues, finding ways to connect has required creativity. In February, Timp, through his collaborative relationship with his departmental leadership group, helped organize a volunteering trip for PRMO staff to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina’s Raleigh location.
For a few hours on a Friday afternoon, teammates packed meals for people in need while enjoying each other’s company.
“It’s as much about the camaraderie and the time spent together as it is helping other people,” Timp said. “It gets us out of ourselves a little bit.”
Tricia McGinn visited Duke University Chapel and other Duke landmarks during a visit to Durham earlier this year.
Closing the Distance
When Tricia McGinn, who lives near Chicago, joined PRMO as a Manager of Clinical Documentation Integrity last summer, her virtual onboarding process featured several one-on-one conversations with colleagues and her hiring, like every new employee, was announced in a PRMO-wide email.
“It really says that we all belong here and that we’re welcome here,” McGinn said.
Debbie Squatriglia, PRMO’s Director of Clinical Documentation, said McGinn’s welcome was part of an effort to ensure that the post-pandemic remote workforce didn’t lose the pre-pandemic sense of connection. Those connections have been nurtured with Microsoft Teams, which team members use to share lessons, ask questions and share funny memes, and devoting time for non-work subjects into staff meetings.
“In every crisis, there’s an opportunity to do something new and exciting,” Squatriglia said.
That connection with Duke swayed McGinn and her husband, Ted, to visit Durham in March. She experienced Duke University Chapel, fell in love with the Sarah P. Duke Gardens, and shared a dinner with a few PRMO colleagues.
“The connections I’d made at Duke were a big part of what attracted us here,” McGinn said.
“Cooking with our Team”
Through fun monthly virtual gatherings to yearly family cookouts, PRMO’s remote Coding Operations Team boasts a tight-knit culture.
Earlier this year, that culture spawned a cookbook of family recipes.
The project began when Medical Coder Kathy Darst started soliciting and sharing recipes in a team-wide email.
“I don’t know what it is about food that brings people together,” Darst said. “It got really fun to do.”
Soon colleagues suggested compiling the recipes in a cookbook, which has recipes for banana pudding, fried green tomatoes and lumpia, or Filipino spring rolls.
In January 2024, Darst shared the 75-page digital collection, “Cooking with our Team,” with coworkers.
“We’re a team, we depend on each other,” said Compliance Specialist Andie Cable, who shared eggs benedict and Shepherd’s pie recipes. “That’s why we’re fostering those relationships and getting to know each other on a personal level, which is really cool.”
Send story ideas, shout-outs and photographs through our story idea form or write working@duke.edu.
Follow Working@Duke on X (Twitter),FacebookandInstagramand subscribe onYouTube.