dakotAMSS Board Members
President
JODI SCHAAN
I’ve been in Medical Staff Services for over ten years. I fell into medical staff services when a friend encouraged me to apply for the Credentialing Specialist position but quickly fell in love with all the nuances and the opportunities. These opportunities made it possible to develop the position further according to my strengths and the position evolved into Medical Staff Coordinator. In August of 2022, my dream of working remotely was realized when I took a position with MultiCare working with a great team!
Originally, I joined NAMSS for their educational offerings since there were none available in ND. I've attended numerous NAMSS conferences and continue to find them very valuable for education and networking. In the spring of 2019, I took and passed my CPCS exam and decided to go for the CPMSM and passed that exam in the summer of 2019. NAMSS has given me many opportunities for professional growth.
The creation of dakotAMSS has been very exciting and beneficial for our ND & SD Medical Staff Professionals as it gives us a 'closer to home' opportunity for education and networking while also being more affordable. I made the decision to become more involved with dakotAMSS because continuing education has always been a passion of mine, along with mentoring, and I wanted to be a part of creating CE’s and a network of resources that will benefit all of our members. The friendships I have gained are priceless.
P (701) 771-9796
President Elect
JILL CAAUWE
I began working at Avera in 2021 and moved into the role of credentialing coordinator for Avera St. Mary’s Hospital and Avera Missouri River Health Center in 2022. While learning the role of credentialing, I had the opportunity to work with the Greely group, complete The Credentialing School with Edge-U-Cate, and partake in several classes through NAMSS.
The role as credentialing coordinator with Avera has been the perfect fit as it showcases my inquisitiveness and proactive approach. Just a few of the accomplishments I have achieved include the revision of the credentialing department by digitizing files, incorporating FPPEs and OPPEs into the credentialing process, updating the complete library of delineation forms, and successfully passing a Joint Commission survey. Additionally, I formed a credentialing collaborative group within Avera to exchange expertise, information, and resources.
Outside of work, I am the owner/coach of a competitive cheerleading club, a wife, and mother of three. Coaching has been a passion of mine for over ten years, as it brings me joy to see the satisfaction in others accomplishments. To me coaching and teaching is about helping individuals positively impact their lives, work, and relationships.
No matter the project or cause, I am passionate about opportunities that empower individuals in their careers as well as impact positive change within organizations. I am looking forward to all that dakotAMSS has to offer and will strive to successfully contribute to the organization.
P 605-224-3215
Treasurer
KYLIE EATHERTON
I am currently serving as the manager for payer enrollment at Monument Health. I have worked for Monument Health for a total of 9 ½ years, most recently 6 years in the Medical Staff Services department. I started in the department in March 2018 as a credentialing and privileging specialist, moved to the information specialist and most recently the manager of payer enrollment since January 2022.
There are many things I have learned and am proud of in my career in the medical staff services profession, but the top of my list is 1. Being a part of changing our departmental culture, which is a continuous commitment. 2. Leading our organization through NCQA CR accreditation and reaccreditation in 2023. 3. Leading our organization’s transition from a manual payer process to over 75% delegated credentialing contracts for provider enrollment.
My personal leadership goal is to lead with a “person-first” style of support. I have always felt that leaving work and home life at the door is very difficult for most people and supporting others in a wholesome sense is a much better experience for everyone. Our organization’s vision is “It starts with heart” and I strive to begin every interaction that way, inside and outside of my work environment.
I really look forward to sharing great experiences with the Dakota medical staff professionals. When I started in the medical staff services profession, I immediately felt as though I had found my place. In areas where I previously felt I outgrew my role or wasn’t challenged, had too much attention to detail, etc., the medical staff services professional’s family was the right fit from the start. I enjoy meeting new people, being inspired by and inspiring others, and supporting others in their journey as I find my way through mine. I believe there are no better people to have on your journey than MSPs. We are a special group!
P (605) 755-7072
Secretary
LAVONNE MCKEE
I am thrilled to be back as the secretary of dakotAMSS. Being an MSP and the dakotAMSS secretary gives me purpose and a voice. I enjoy watching people grow in their role and gain confidence in what they do and themselves. I have been in the credentialing realm for many years. I started at the SD Board of Medical and Osteopathic Examiners where I found enjoyment in licensing and working with the healthcare professionals. I then worked as the main Credentialing Specialist for 10+years. During that time, I studied as a non-traditional student to find out the why’s and purposes of credentialing, hospital privileging, etc. And graduated with my MSSM Degree in 2013.
In 2015, I started Credentialing USA, Inc and have been there since. Running a Credentialing Company is different than I thought, and a lot more difficult. But I enjoy every day and learn something new every day.
As if there was not enough going on in my working world, a few of us got together and decided that we would benefit from a local educational source, but we needed more people with our demographic area being so rural. That is when South Dakota and North Dakota formed dakotAMSS. This created a stronger bond of people to carry on the growth of the dakotAMSS network.
P (605) 214-1401
Past President
KRISTA CRONIN
Fresh out of college, I never would have imagined that working with medical professionals would have been my career path. It started with working at Huron Regional Medical Center as a pharmacy technician and then transferring into the business office where I started learning about the importance of watching for details when it came to payer enrollment. In total, I worked there for 14 years before looking for a more challenging career. I didn’t even fully understand what locums were when I signed on with Wapiti Medical Staffing as a credentialing specialist in 2015. Attention to detail and collaborating with others are strengths of mine that have been greatly enhanced with my position. I have greatly enjoyed working with dozens of facilities all across North Dakota and South Dakota and look forward to connecting people all across our states with the help of dakotAMSS.
P (605) 438-6992
ND Member-At-Large
TONYA PEARSON
I started my career in healthcare while in college, working for a neurologist in a private practice. That practice eventually got bought out by a hospital system and I spent many years in the clinic sector. After needing a change, I was suggested to apply for a credentialing position in the hospital and jumped in! It didn’t take long to figure out my attention to detail and organizational skills made this job a perfect fit for me. After 30+ years working for Trinity Health, I left hospital administration and made the transfer to work on the locum tenens side of credentialing with National Medical Resources. I have enjoyed all aspects of healthcare, helping patients, meeting and working with all different cultures of physicians and making sure we have quality providers that will see our family and friends. I was happy when dakotAMSS started as I was a member of the MN chapter and it is so much nicer to collaborate with the members on issues that directly affect us here in the Dakotas.
P (701) 877-4667
SD Member-At-Large
CHELSEA GREENFIELD
I graduated from National American University with a bachelor’s degree in Healthcare Management, and before that, an associate of applied science in Medical Staff Services Management. I have over 15 years of experience in the healthcare environment, with several of those years in direct leadership roles in credentialing and provider enrollment operations. I have a unique and well-rounded skillset, including a wide-ranging knowledge of credentialing and privileging policies and procedures, state licensing board requirements, and billing and insurance industry standards. I have extensive experience in the telemedicine sector of healthcare, and I pride myself on my project management and leadership skills.
While attending college I worked as a Provider Enrollment Specialist at Sanford Health, Sioux Falls, SD. Once graduated, I was able to secure roles as Provider Enrollment Supervisor, followed by Provider Enrollment Manager where my focus was leading an enterprise team of specialists spanning across North Dakota and South Dakota. I then moved onto the role of Project Director for a $1.2M telehealth HRSA grant for Sanford's telemedicine team. I was responsible for the strategic development and creation of an implementation plan to enhance the tele-emergency, tele-stroke, and tele-burn platform for our network partners. I was responsible for providing consistent reporting of developments to operational and clinical leadership, and was accountable for $1.2M in grant fund budgeting and operationalizing those funds to achieve the goals set forth.
I missed being involved directly with credentialing and enrollment functions, so when an opportunity presented, I moved back into the field. In 2021, I became the Licensing & Credentialing Manager at Avel eCare, a national leader in telemedicine services, headquartered in Sioux Falls, SD. I was responsible for the licensing, credentialing and privileging needs for contracted and employed providers and clinicians at Avel. I led a team of credentialing specialists to obtain and maintain licensure in 36 states and privilege at over 600 sites across the United States. I am extremely well versed in several state requirements for initial licensing and the educational requirements some have for renewal of licensure. In this role, I was instrumental in transforming the licensing and credentialing team into a full-service CVO and created policies and procedures to uphold Joint Commission standards, becoming Director of Medical Staff Services in 2023. Most recently, I have taken on a Project Management role at Modio Health, a cloud-based credentialing software system, implementing an organized data repository for those facilities needing a database to act as a secured source of truth for all credentialing and enrollment data.
I am honored to become more involved with dakotAMSS, as I am passionate about lifelong learning, and sharing the knowledge of the credentialing industry. I look forward to connecting to like minded individuals and creating long lasting positive relationships!
P (605) 366-3466