A 4-year journey from switchboard operator to hospital CFO

Emilee Stratton was only supposed to spend 16 weeks in Childress, Texas. A decade later, she’s still in town, overseeing the finances of Childress Regional Medical Center, which this year was named to the National Rural Hospital Association’s “Top 20 Rural and Community Hospitals” list for the second time.

Ms. Stratton came to Childress from Montana with her now-husband, a journeyman lineman who was coming to the area for training. The plan was to go back to Montana once his program was over, but then he was offered a job in the area.

“He said, ‘What do you think? Should I accept?'” she told Becker’s. “I said, ‘You can accept, but I’ve got to find something to do. I have to work down here, too.'”

She interviewed at Childress Medical Center. She was a registered medical assistant in Montana, but they didn’t have any similar openings at Childress, so she took a job as a switchboard operator in 2014.

At the hospital switchboard, Ms. Stratton got a chance to learn about her new community.

“One thing I’ll always remember up there is just being able to see people and understanding the needs in the community,” she said. “I think that truly helps as a CFO as well, just being able to understand the community, the patients, the needs of people coming in and how they come in. They don’t come in here because they want to, it’s usually because there’s something going on.”

After serving as operator, she moved to the insurance office and served as the Medicare and Medicare Advantage biller.

“Forty-six percent to 50% of our patient population is Medicare,” she said. “And so, that was a big task. Understanding insurance, understanding denials, understanding how insurance [companies] should pay per your contract … I feel like that’s actually what kind of makes me a good CFO as well, because I understand all that, and so it was cool starting in that position and I’m thankful for it because it helps me out now.”

From there, she became an office manager and eventually CFO in 2018. In April, Childress was named to NRHA’s top 20 hospitals  list, which is based on eight factors: inpatient market share, outpatient market share, quality, outcomes, patient perspective, cost, charge and finance.

Ms. Stratton said the hospital scored in the 94th percentile for finance, of which she is proud.

“You could give the best care to every single patient, but if your finances aren’t in line, you’re never going to be able to stay open.”

Childress was previously named to the list in 2016. That year, the hospital shared the distinction with another Texas hospital. This year, it was the only Lone Star State hospital honored.

“Our mission statement is to be the best rural hospital in Texas and we nailed it,” she said. “So now we have to change our mission statement. We need to be bigger and better.”

Learn more about our electronic health record offering >