Heroes Helping Heroes: How Hopebridge Continues to Provide Progressive and Ethical Autism Care

A Deeper Look into the Compliance Department and Their Commitment to Quality Care

In every organization, there are hidden heroes working behind the scenes to help make the magic happen. At Hopebridge, the teams in our home office in Indianapolis, IN work tirelessly to support our centers across the country. The compliance department is one of those teams that works behind the scenes to keep our children and clinicians safe, even though the majority of our families never come in contact with them.

The compliance department is committed to providing progressive and ethical care to every child that attends Hopebridge. Some of the team’s responsibilities include ensuring patient and employee safety and dignity, processing annual patient paperwork, center safety inspections, documentation accuracy, communication of safety recalls on equipment, fire and emergency safety protocols, maintaining our BHCOE accreditation and being a confidential earpiece to anyone who wishes to voice questions or concerns.

This small-but-mighty team has created a safe space for all Hopebridge employees and families to communicate any concerns or provide anonymous feedback with a promise that the concern will be addressed in a timely manner. It is of the utmost importance that a children’s healthcare provider stays true to its ethical responsibilities, and the compliance team ensures those practices are maintained.

The team also manages Hopebridge’s insurance auditing and verification tool, ValiClaim. This unique rules engine algorithm audits all hours billed and verifies claims accuracy before being sent to insurance providers, which streamlines the process for everyone involved as another layer of support to help children get the care they need.

We interviewed Stephanie Ratliff, Vice President of Governance, Risk and Compliance, and Jeri Bostic, Compliance Auditor, to get a closer look at their daily responsibilities and perspectives. Stephanie and Jeri work alongside Foasat Ashamu, Revenue Cycle Auditor, and Tony Skulicz, Medical Records Coordinator, who round out this invaluable team.

How long have you worked at Hopebridge in the compliance department?

 Jeri has been a Hopebridge Hero for a little more than two years, of which time she has served as Compliance Auditor. Stephanie has served Hopebridge for three years but has been working in the compliance world for more than 10 years! Together, they make up the talented and committed compliance team at Hopebridge.

How would you describe your role in one sentence?

Stephanie describes her roles as “strict rule-following with very little room for grey areas.” For Jeri, it is important that she continues to be a trustworthy confidant for the Hopebridge staff and families. She says “I try to be a dependable resource for anyone who needs reliable information. As a part of the compliance team and current keeper of the grievance log, I am a vault. If anyone needs to provide anonymous feedback, simply say so and that is exactly what will happen.”

What is your favorite part of your job?

Jeri’s favorite part of her job is “knowing that I can help point staff and families in the right direction to get questions or concerns addressed in a quick manner.” Stephanie shares that her favorite part of her job is “helping our centers understand the importance of compliance and building a strong culture of compliance across the entire company.” Both Jeri and Stephanie embrace the importance of strictly abiding by all medical laws and ethical guidelines in order to provide the best care for our patients.

What is your why? What inspires you to come to work every day?

Jeri and Stephanie derive passion and motivation from the same source, knowing that they can help create a better patient experience. Stephanie says her “why” is simple, “to provide the foundation of policies and processes to ensure that children receive the care they need with the opportunity for quality outcomes.”  Similarly, Jeri says “I can find gaps in current processes and make suggestions that will someday improve the customer experience, the integrity and accessibility of data, and the safety of our staff, children and visitors.”

How were you introduced to the autism/ABA world?

Stephanie is a speech therapist by training, so she has been familiar with the world of ABA for many years. She uses that background to her advantage when creating effective processes and communication channels for our therapists in the centers. Jeri shares that she has a family member on the spectrum. She has seen the love and dedication that his parents have given him. She says, “he is such a teddy bear and can be misunderstood by others, which breaks my heart.” Jeri uses her personal passion and understanding to help others every single day. Both women are highly passionate and dedicated to providing quality ethical care to every child in need.

What GIF or emoji would describe you best?

Jeri says that her most used emojis would be 😛 and 😜. Stephanie’s passion and excitement for creating an efficient and safe space for all can be translated through this GIF.

The gif that describes Stephanie best via GIPHY.

In her closing comments, Jeri stresses this: “I am a neutral party that provides information to those that have the power to make a difference with the feedback we receive. Please feel free to share your thoughts and concerns via compliance@hopebridge.com or leave a voicemail at 844-387-1352. Together we can plant the seeds and see what grows.” It is Jeri’s personal mission to ensure that every Hopebridge employee or caregiver feels heard and respected.

If you would like to join this passionate and dedicated team or another team of Hopebridge Heroes, visit our careers page to view open positions across the United States. We are always searching for enthusiastic members to join our team! 

Blog content courtesy of Kaitlynn Coffman.

*Informed consent was obtained from the participants in this article. This information should not be captured and reused without express permission from Hopebridge, LLC.