athenista spotlight: Meet Shawn Mullins
Claiming to have a handle on the "paperwork," Shawn Mullins, manager of the Paper Claims Team at athenahealth, is proud to be part of the athenahealth family.
athenaPulse: So what is the Paper Claims Team?
Shawn Mullins: We are a very important part of athenahealth. The Paper Claims Team is responsible for the printing, processing and mailing of all of the paper claims submitted by athenahealth. Did you know that 14-16% of claims that athenahealth processes are paper claims? That's about 10,000 claims a day. All claims that cannot be submitted electronically because of reasons such as requiring an original signature or explanations of benefits (EOB's) go through us.
aP: How many staff do you manage?
SM: We are a team of 17 staff members comprised of analysts that handle various claims issues and representatives that assemble paper claims with supporting documents. Every morning we have "signing parties" where about half of the staff get together to sign claims. athenahealth is an authorized signatory for our clients.
aP: That sounds very efficient.
SM: Yes but I often remember the old days before we started scanning explanations of benefits (EOBs). There was a lot more paper then. In my entry level position at the time, I made a lot of trips to the filing cabinet to search for primary claims, copy them, staple the EOB to the claim, fold, and mail it in. We've come a long way since then!
aP: So what do you like best about working at athenahealth?
SM: That's easy - it's the people. All the way up to CEO Jonathan Bush, people care about each other here. I have worked for other large companies and there is no comparison. The culture here is very positive.
aP: Can you give us an example?
SM: Last year I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and needed to lose a lot of weight quickly. I needed to find a way to motivate myself so I approached my supervisor and asked him if I could come to work dressed as Spiderman if I lost the weight by a certain time. My supervisor said yes but pointed out that what I was proposing wasn't really a bet because there was nothing much at stake. He proceeded to say that if HE had to come to work dressed as the superhero of my choice when I met my weight goal, then that would probably be more of a motivator for me. The superhero that I selected for him to dress up as was Batman's sidekick Robin the Boy Wonder. I was touched that my boss as well as a few other managers were willing to dress up as superheroes to support a personal goal of mine. The next thing I knew Jonathan Bush had offered to dress up as Batman when I reached my goal. I was like, "I can't believe the CEO of this company is doing this to support me!" It was very cool.
aP: So what happened?
SM: I lost 100 pounds in 6 months and we set a date to wear our superhero costumes. It turned out that Jonathan had to be in India on the day we choose to wear costumes. He called me from India to say he was sorry he wouldn't be at work and asked if we could pick another day to dress up. I remember thinking as I heard sounds of cows and an Indian marketplace in the background, "I can't believe he's calling me from India about this."
aP: Congratulations on making your goal!
SM: Thanks. I don't think I would have had the same degree of motivation to lose the weight if it wasn't for the support I received from my athenahealth co-workers.
