August 2013 Employee of the Month

Meet Coding Support Analyst Natalia Pilipchuk

August Employee of the Month

Can you imagine answering more than 20,000 emails per year?

Sometimes, it probably feels that way. But, there are people at BWC who indeed write tens of thousands of emails annually. Natalia Pilipchuk, a coding support analyst, is one of them. She addressed – patiently, professionally and nearly single-handedly – more than 26,000 inquiries in 2012. That’s one reason she’s our August Employee of the Month.

Natalia was flattered with the news of her win. “I’m honored to receive the award,” said Natalia. “It feels great when your work has been recognized and appreciated.”

Natalia has worked at BWC for nearly five years. She helps nurses, claims service specialists (CSSs) and physicians review and resolve claims issues; and answers coding and billing questions to make sure our injured workers receive the best service available. She staffs the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-9) modification email box - a tool available to all field staff to assist with selecting diagnosis codes and for modification of conditions as related to orders. Over the last two years, the amount of inquiries through the email box has grown approximately 38 percent – and continues to grow.

She also has been instrumental in new technologies in her area. As we approach the implementation ICD-10, BWC required a new encoding system – the old one was discontinued. We also needed a model that would support the upcoming code set. Our new Quantim encoder does not now - nor will it ever - contain all of the customizations that were in our older model, so Natalia has had to modify hundreds of narrative descriptions for the newer technology.

“She actually modified 632 requests last week,” said her nominator, Jean Stevens, a management analyst supervisor 2. “The woman is a machine!”

Natalia helped in the testing and field-staff training effort required to successfully launch the new encoder, and contributed to the job aides that were part of that training - all in addition to her regular job modifying ICD-9 code descriptions. As the Quantim encoder was implemented, the number of email inquiries again has risen approximately 50 percent.

“Natalia has addressed that increased work load without complaint,” said Jean. “She tirelessly continues to support the agency to ensure the most appropriate diagnosis code is assigned to the claim.”

Garfield Heights CSS Jay Reel has asked for Natalia’s help with especially complex ICD coding issues; and she’s gone above and beyond, Jay says, to help him.

“She continues to amaze me with her highly effective and rapid responses,” said Jay. “Rarely do I wait more than a day for her help when she takes on any challenge I give her. More often than not, she gets back to me within hours, and this greatly reduces the stresses on my customers, the employers and injured workers I deal with daily, simply by getting my issues resolved in a highly efficient manner.

This employee's level of service needs to be recognized as an example of what this bureau is about.

Simply put, OUTSTANDING!”

It’s all just part of Natalia’s busy day.

“My goal is to provide excellent customer service, and I do my best every day to achieve it,” she said.