After graduating from college and working various jobs in legal, architecture, education, and engineering settings, I finally found my niche in medical billing, specifically, behavioral health.

For almost 25 years I was the Office Manager for seven individual practitioners sharing space. My job duties included credentialing all providers, scheduling, billing for both inpatient and outpatient services, payment posting, and accounts receivable. The most rewarding part was seeing the benefits of psychopharmacology and therapy services.

So where do you go after that many years of working in a psychiatric setting? Netsmart, a company that focuses on behavioral health and the delivery of effective, recovery based care.  I began as Team Lead for Therapist Helper, a solution for individual and/or small practices across the nation. For two years in this role I was liaison between payers, providers and clearinghouses as well as managed a team of support technicians. It was fast paced and challenging.

In January, 2015 I became the Manager of RCM Billing Specialists as well as Manager of Netsmart’s new EDI Department, RevConnect. I work closely with Netsmart’s intermediary consultants in setup, testing and implementation of EDI transactions some of which include 270 Eligibility Request/271 Eligibility Response; 837 Billing and 835 Remittance Files; 277 Response Files; and Eligibility 270-271 Files. For the Billing Department I ensure that claims submissions are clean and are followed up for failures and/or rejections on a consistent and timely basis.

The “life of a claim” is my life….and I like it!

Toni Rakestraw, Manager – RCM Billing Specialists

Ignite your career with Toni and the RCM Team today.  Check out job opportunities at www.ntst.com/careers.