Member Spolight: Julie Meadows Miller, BSN, RN, PMP

This month the Member Spotlight is on Julie Meadows Miller, BSN, RN, PMP, Director of Ambulatory Systems, Education, and Template Management, at Penn State Health. Learn more about Julie below. Want to be a part of our PAC Member Spotlight? Fill out the form here or click here and email completed form to admin@patientaccesscollaborative.net.

How long have you been a member of the Patient Access Collaborative?: 5 years

What do you like about being a member?: Being in a community of professionals who focus on patient access for their organizations provides the opportunity to really collaborate, ask questions, share best practices, and develop improvement efforts together. I find this deep well of understanding is a great benefit - both in terms of day-to-day tactics, as well as strategic planning.

How has your career benefited from being a member?: The professional development opportunities have been many and varied and have helped me to grow in my access-related roles. Knowledge gained in informal conversations with PAC colleagues, along with formal programming, have given me the tools and knowledge needed to provide guidance to executive leadership, as well as operational units.

What tips or advice would you give new members?: I think the best advice I can give to new members is to spend time getting to know the Patient Access Collaborative website - and subsequently all the resources that are available to us as members. I cannot overstate the value that the webinars, interest groups/cohorts, and best practice resources bring to the work we do each day. Additionally, engage in the conversations that happen via email, and get to know your counterparts (albeit virtually) at the other member organizations. Everyone is willing to answer questions and get together to discuss further as needed.

What do you love most about your job? The work my teams and I undertake each day is all about change and transformation. I love working with them to create solutions to problems, and to improve processes.

What meaningful project are you working on right now?: Penn State Health has grown rapidly within the last 3 years, and we are now moving to a single registration/scheduling, and EMR system. Part of the work that my teams are doing during this transition is the review of provider scheduling templates, the development of access/visit standards based on benchmarks, and the optimization of other provider scheduling templates (those already using the single system). The benchmarks may vary depending on whether the practice site is part of our complex academic group, or whether the site is a community-based practice.

What career advice do you live by?: "Relationships are everything." This is something that I was told years ago, and it is something that I live by. Having strong professional relationships across all levels of the organization, is really key to my own understanding of problems and needs and is essential to the development and success of improvement efforts, daily operations, and achieving strategic goals.

Where are you from?  Where did you go to school?: I'm originally from West Virginia, and attended nursing school at Marshall University.

What are your hobbies?: Singing, travel, being with family.

Where is your favorite place you've travelled?: That is a very difficult question to answer! I love so many of the places that I have been. My all time favorite place to vacation is Sunset Beach, North Carolina, but that has mostly to do with happy memories and family times there. It is my happy place, however.

What's a fun fact that people probably don't know about you?: I used to sing with the Virginia Symphony and Chorus

Who inspires you and why?: I find inspiration in many people and many places. I am currently inspired by a colleague in information security at another organization as he negotiates at the highest levels of the university to ensure that information security needs are being taken seriously. His success with a thoughtful approach of facts, little emotion, and the associated data security risks has been connected to institutional success as well as his own professional growth within his university.