Meet Wendi Barber, chief financial officer for the Kettering Medical Center system (KMCS), Soin Medical Center and Greene Memorial Hospital. Wendi was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee but grew up in the Orlando area. She has spent over 25 years working in health care finance and operations across the country from the East Coast to the West Coast and beyond (Hawaii).
She joined the network in January of 2019 as the chief financial and chief operating officer of Soin Medical Center and Greene Memorial Hospital and then took on additional responsibilities at KMCS (Kettering, Sycamore, and Troy) in early 2020. Wendi was drawn to work at the network because of the “Kettering experience”—its people and culture culture, and her desire to work with the executive team she was hired into. One of the accomplishments she’s most proud of was being able to work with the Revenue Integrity and Optimization Council, a multi-disciplinary team reviewing and improving revenue cycle processes, which reduced authorization denials by more than 40% from 2019 to 2020.
What inspires her the most about her job is the ability to partner with clinical leaders to improve patient experience and outcomes, which in turn improves the networks financial viability and stability. Wendi leaves us with a little bit of advice in regard our careers. “Seek opportunities to grow your skillset, both personally and professionally. As you do, opportunities will present themselves. I also look for two things in every role I take on: 1. What experience/expertise/knowledge do I have to contribute/give/share to improve the organization and/or team? 2. What am I able to learn from the organization/team to improve/better myself and grow professionally and personally?”