Highlighted Projects & Impacts
Courtesy/Matt Jansen
Inpatient Withdrawal Management Clinic Launch
Role: Lead Program Coordinator & Operations Manager Organization: Mind Springs Health, Glenwood Springs, CO
Context: Designed and launched a 24/7 inpatient medical detox facility from construction handoff through full operations.
Tools/Skills: Project management, cross-functional leadership, Netsmart integration, SQL, Smartsheet
Impact:
- Recruited and led a 20+ interdiscipinary team (clinical, medical, admin) within 6 weeks to support 24/7 operations.
- Opened the facility on time with a <1% payer denial rate (vs. 20–25% company historical rate), achieved through staff training and compliance protocols
- Coordinated with QA teams, government stakeholders, and executive leadership to ensure regulatory compliance and funding release.
Healthcare Revenue Optimization Initiative
Role: Operations Analyst & Recovery Lead
Organization: Mind Springs Health
Overview: This initiative aim to eliminate waste and inefficiencies in the authorization and claims workflows of two behavioral health programs. The project emphasized value stream mampping, process standardization, and continuous improvement to restore and optimize financial performance.
Objectives: - Pilot and Scale-up Revenue optimization for organization-wide adoption and integration.
- Identify and eliminate process bottlenecks and redundancies contributing to claim denials and delayed reimbursements.
- Enhance workflow efficiency and standardization to ensure payer compliance and faster revenue cycles.
- Build monitoring tools to support ongoing performance management and foster a culture of continuous improvement.
Tools/Skills: SQL (claim tracking and KPI dashboards), Smartsheet (exec reporting), payer denial trend analysis, ICD-10, CPT, HCPCS coding, QA documentation
Impact:
- Rapid Revenue Recovery: Achieved $400K+ in recovered claims within 30 days by eliminating critical process errors and redesigning authorization workflows.
- Cycle Time Reduction: Reduced average time-to-payment by 45+ days across Medicaid and commercial payers through process streamlining and real-time tracking.
- Scalable Framework: Iterative revision of workflows solidified a standarized workflow prepared for phased implementation across the broader organization.
- Denial Rate Reduction: Decreased claim denials significantly by embedding quality checks and standardizing payer compliance protocols.
- Improved Transparency: Established visual management tools that enhanced operational transparency and empowered staff to monitor KPIs daily.
Role: Operations Analyst & Recovery Lead
Organization: Mind Springs Health
Objectives:
- Pilot and Scale-up Revenue optimization for organization-wide adoption and integration.
- Identify and eliminate process bottlenecks and redundancies contributing to claim denials and delayed reimbursements.
- Enhance workflow efficiency and standardization to ensure payer compliance and faster revenue cycles.
- Build monitoring tools to support ongoing performance management and foster a culture of continuous improvement.
Tools/Skills: SQL (claim tracking and KPI dashboards), Smartsheet (exec reporting), payer denial trend analysis, ICD-10, CPT, HCPCS coding, QA documentation
Impact:
- Rapid Revenue Recovery: Achieved $400K+ in recovered claims within 30 days by eliminating critical process errors and redesigning authorization workflows.
- Cycle Time Reduction: Reduced average time-to-payment by 45+ days across Medicaid and commercial payers through process streamlining and real-time tracking.
- Scalable Framework: Iterative revision of workflows solidified a standarized workflow prepared for phased implementation across the broader organization.
- Denial Rate Reduction: Decreased claim denials significantly by embedding quality checks and standardizing payer compliance protocols.
- Improved Transparency: Established visual management tools that enhanced operational transparency and empowered staff to monitor KPIs daily.
Stock Image: Unsplash
Domestication & Genomic Development of Perennial Lewis Flax
Role: Bioinformatics Analyst & Graduate Researcher
Organization: USDA ARS (Hulke Lab) & North Dakota State University
Context: Led multi-year research on the genomic, physiological, and agronomic development of perennial flax (Linum lewisii) as a viable oilseed crop for both agriculture and ecosystem restoration. Developed novel statistical models for freeze tolerance, contributed to germplasm evaluations, and produced reproducible workflows for phenotyping and genomic analysis across multiple federal partners.
Tools/Skills: R, Python, SAS, HPC, survival analysis, genome assembly, field trial design, FAIR data principles
Impact:
- First author on AoB Plants (2024) introducing a novel survival modeling framework for freezing stress in perennial crops
View Publication
- Coauthor on biogeographic and agronomic studies, including restoration and seed sourcing strategies for Lewis flax
Biogeographic Variation
Novel Crop Development
- Developed QC pipelines for genomic and transcriptomic sequencing of L. lewisii, leading to chromosome-scale genome assembly in 2024
- Mentored and supervised undergraduate research assistants; trained teams in experimental design, R, and Unix-based genomics workflows
- Contributed to >$1.3M in funded grant proposals through bioinformatic and phenotypic data analyses supporting USDA-led research
Dental Practice Operational Overhaul
Role: Office Manager & Systems Consultant Organization: Rivers Dentistry, Carbondale, CO
Context: Designed and implemented a revenue revitalization plan and operational redesign for a fatigued dental practice, upgrading billing workflows, IT systems, and third-party vendor integration.
Tools/Skills: Imagn Billing, Oryx, MyChart, Excel, DevDent platform
Impact:
- Doubled and stablized monthly collections by optimizing billing practices and integrating automated claims batching
- Reduced reimbursement delays by 6+ weeks through payer engagement and real-time follow-up workflows
- Enhanced billing accuracy for uninsured patients, resulting in improved collections and patient satisfaction
- Trained full-time staff staff in new systems and developed SOPs for consistent financial operations
Community Health Stakeholder Engagement
Role: Public Liaison & Strategic Communicator
Organization: Mind Springs HealthContext: Led external communications and outreach strategy for a new 24/7 behavioral health facility, fostering public trust and alignment with state and local agencies.
Tools/Skills: Public engagement, inter-agency coordination, media strategy, community health policy
Impact:
- Coordinated stakeholder meetings with health partners, local officials, community advocates, and media outlets to build clinic awareness and promote treatment
- Organized and facilitated community town halls to align expectations and secure buy-in for launch plans
- Secured support from state-level oversight bodies, helping meet regulatory and funding requirements for clinic operations
- Featured in radio, print, and news interviews as a spokesperson for behavioral health expansion
-- Quoted or interviewed in four regional media articles highlighting clinic development and community outreach:
Sopris Sun: Strengthening Community Support
KDNK: Achievements Presented to City Council
Post Independent: Larkin Health Agreement
Post Independent: Rifle City Council Presentation