Two Baptist Health leaders featured on Becker’s list of ‘up-and-comers’ in health IT and revenue cycle management

Becker’s Hospital Review has named two Baptist Health leaders, Sara Meinke, MSHI, CHCIO, CDH-E, senior director of IT ambulatory network innovation, and Steven Kos, MHA, RHIA, senior director of revenue cycle application support, to its list of “up-and-comers” in IT health and revenue cycle management for 2023.

The 30-strong list includes individuals “leading the charge at hospitals, health systems and health care companies across the nation,” who bring “a deep understanding of health care’s changing landscape and help their organizations adjust accordingly,” according to Becker’s.

In her role, Meinke focuses on ambulatory partnerships and innovation delivery for Baptist Health’s partner network, providing oversight and support to enterprise systems. Her team builds platforms that extend the health system’s tools and systems to other providers within the community to enhance patient access and continuity of care. Having served in a variety of positions over 20 years at Baptist, Meinke’s many accomplishments include leading the efforts to consolidate multiple, disparate EHRs into a single ambulatory platform, leading end-user support and IS initiatives for the opening of Baptist Medical Center Clay, and leading the implementation of the health system’s first ambient voice AI solution to contextualize physician-patient conversations to improve delivery of patient care.

Regarding Meinke’s inclusion on the list, Aaron Miri, MBA, FCHIME, senior vice president and chief digital and information officer at Baptist Health, said: “Sara’s dedication to delivering new tools and systems that ultimately improve patient access across Baptist Health and our partner network are apparent in every project she undertakes. Her commitment to innovation and improving the future of health care rightly earns her a spot on Becker’s list.”

Kos leads a team that supports patient flow, patient access, scheduling, health information management, revenue integrity and billing. He collaborates with the information services (IS) and revenue cycle operational leadership departments to plan, design and implement system technologies and workflow solutions across the health system. Since joining Baptist Health in 2022, he has helped coordinate the implementation of a new Electronic Health Record (EHR) system. He has been recognized across the Epic community for being part of a top-quartile performing revenue cycle support team. Kos also led the revenue cycle IS for the opening of Baptist Clay.

“Steve has extensive experience in revenue cycle IS and has proved to be an invaluable addition to the team,” said Stacey Johnston, MD, vice president and chief application officer at Baptist Health. “His tireless work across the revenue cycle service-scape to streamline workflows and automate systems has improved our patients’ experience.”