Zarina Chmelev, billing supervisor
Zarina Chmelev is a billing supervisor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at The Mount Sinai Hospital. She oversees the approval process for radiation treatment, and her team handles about 75 cases weekly for 13 physicians at the site. Although Zarina does not play a role in clinical care, she has a deep commitment to Mount Sinai’s mission. She is always willing to help patients and colleagues, says Lorena D. Pesantez-Mihov, Associate Director of Radiation Oncology.
“This team recently had a challenging approval case,“ Lorena says. “Zarina not only contacted the third-party contractor used for approvals directly, and handled a first and second appeal process, she then appealed with the patient’s plan and finally the state. Due to Zarina’s perseverance and understanding of the importance of her role, this case was overturned and approved, resulting in the patient’s being treated on time. We thank Zarina for advocating for our patients to ensure they receive timely treatment.”
Zarina is committed to her patients. “My role as a billing supervisor is to make sure that we have approvals done in a timely fashion, while also making sure that authorizations are done correctly and our patients will be covered for services. We are helping very sick patients who are fighting for their lives, and we want to make sure that they don’t have to worry about the financial part of their treatment, so that they can concentrate on getting better and get the services that they need. When we finally get the approvals, it gives us great joy knowing that we are helping cancer patients and contributing to the mission of Mount Sinai.”