The Georgia Scroll
April 1998

New Member Proves to be Golden
By: Lisa Marchese
Chamberlin Edmonds & Associates

HFMA has struck gold! That’s right – one of HFMA’s newest members is pure gold. News of Marcine Sullivan’s hard work is spreading rapidly through the Georgia Chapter. Just mention her name and people respond quite positively. Marcine is a Health System Administrator with the State Health Planning Agency (SHPA) working directly under the Executive Director of the Agency – currently involved with developing a Managed Care Survey to identify the Managed Care Organizations in the state. Given the expected continued growth of managed care, it is necessary to have more information to insure quality services and care are available and accessible in today’s cost-cutting environment. As Marcine points out, "The purpose of the survey is to evaluate the accessibility and availability of managed care services to Georgians (such as geographic location, the breadth of covered services offered, and the type and location of medical personnel available to plan members)". Information derived from the survey will be used by the State Health Planning Agency, other state agencies and policymakers in formulating state policies, plans and rules. Consumers will also be able to use the information to assist them in making informed decisions in regards to choice of providers and health plans.

With eight years experience with SHPA, she has served in several departments including Certificate of Need Review, Planning, and Administration. Marcine has a Bachelors Degree in Psychology and Sociology from Mercer University in Macon and has earned her Masters Degree in Public Administration from Georgia College in Milledgeville. She finds Managed Care to be both interesting and challenging.

Marcine is a person with very little free time. She works many long hours and is raising her nephew, Willie, who is a high school senior this year. What little free time she has away from the office is spent with Willie who is on the Math Team, Swim Team, and serving as Senior Class President. Understandably, she is very proud of his accomplishments. Not to give the impression that she does nothing for herself, Marcine points out that she does enjoy reading, movies and the theatre, taking the opportunities to attend plays whenever possible.

Marcine’s decision to become a member of the organization in 1997 was based on several factors. Primarily that HFMA provides a means for she and the State Health Planning Agency to stay "on the cutting edge" of the many changes in the health care industry. Secondly, Marcine was drawn to the organization because of the growth of managed care and the institutes and educational opportunities provided through HFMA. Thirdly, Marcine was impressed with the quality of information available through HFMA publications.

Through her work with health care facilities, she understands the difficulty some of the smaller facilities may have due to budgetary constraints in being able to afford the services of Health Care Consultants. She also sees HFMA as a means to its membership of benefiting from the knowledge of those individuals through the institutes and publications. "I would highly recommend HFMA membership. You would have at your fingertips a plethora of information that would otherwise take a lot of time to ascertain", stated Marcine, "especially for smaller organizations with more limited resources, HFMA membership for employees would be a great investment."

This past year has proven to be an invaluable experience for her. Not only has Marcine found the contacts at HFMA to be some of the most knowledgeable and accessible professionals in the industry; she has also found the publications of HFMA to be very beneficial. The fax line and magazines have "timely articles and valuable information germane to health care". Marcine’s work on HFMA’s Managed Care Handbook has also proven to be an enriching experience for her. She states she has been truly impressed by the articles obtained and the people involved with the project. With research being an integral part of Marcine’s professional life, she has a great appreciation for the amount of time and effort that the membership has put into such publications as well as the institutions. While Marcine is impressed with her co-members of HFMA, it is apparent through conversations with members who have had the opportunity to meet and work with her that the admiration is mutual. Marcine is a wealth of knowledge and possesses a great determination for excellence. She is a very valuable addition to the membership of HFMA.

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Last modified: June 22, 2001