In celebration of Availity’s 25th anniversary, we’re highlighting associates whose impact and dedication have helped shape who we are today. Through this special Associate Spotlight series, we’re honoring the people behind our story—past, present, and future.
In this Q&A, we’re proud to spotlight Linda P., who shares reflections on her journey, the moments that mattered most, and what continues to inspire her as part of Availity.
What are you most proud of from your time at Availity?
Two things, but both show the heart of Availity.
- Heart for our industry—shown in the work that we did after the Change Healthcare incident.
- Heart for our teammates—fundraising, support, and continued events after Hurricane Helene. We supported teammates in Florida as well as the Carolinas.
When did you join Availity, what was your first role, and what do you remember most about your first year?
I joined Availity in February 2004. I was a client account manager, and at that time, we did our own implementations and what we call client success activities. I remember that we had limited tools and had to be creative to solve problems. I also remember distinctly seeing my first ANSI claim file and how excited I was because the implementation was so much easier than when a customer was submitting a print image.
When you think about our Core Values, which one resonates the most with you and which do you think will propel us through the next 25 years?
Explore Fearlessly – challenging the status quo. We have a unique view of the status quo from both providers and health plans and that gives us the opportunity to create connectivity, insights, and common ground to solve problems. And we also have insight into the ecosystem beyond providers and health plans to support the work and innovation that is coming from the HIT space.
What are three words you’d use to describe Availity today?
Trusted, Resilient, Forward-thinking.
What’s one “tiny way” your team removes friction from healthcare that most people never see?
We convert claim rejections (codes) to plain language for end users. Users are then able to know how to fix a problem with a claim without calling the payer.
What’s kept you here the longest?
I’ve worked with the provider business during my time here, and I’ll say it’s the people—but it’s more than that. It’s the people who create an environment that you want to be in. A place where you feel valued, where you feel like you make a difference, you are challenged, and at the same time, empowered to change things for the better.
What’s one thing we used to do manually that our network/platform does seamlessly today?
Good grief, from 2004 to today—it’s a bit like we had a horse and buggy and now we have a self-driving car! In the years that I have been here, it’s really changed so much, but we went from manually doing Eligibility/Claim status lookups to now being completely automated and integrated with provider systems. To think about the evolution is amazing, but more amazing to see these types of changes happening today at a rapid pace. We now work with providers that have access to technology that can plug into our platform and really change their workflows in a matter of days or weeks—not years.
Pick one industry moment you lived through. How did your team or Availity adapt, and what did we learn?
The Change Healthcare incident and what I saw was a group of people who understood the business we are in, the seriousness of what had happened, and the need to help others. We learned how to shorten our sales and implementation processes and in general, move faster. Many of those changes we made have ‘stuck’ and are now the norm. One of the main things we took away was the need to check in on each other with the amount of stress people were under; it took a physical and emotional toll. We had Russ mandate ‘no work’ days because people were working around the clock to help get transactions flowing again, and these are the things you remember: dedication, kindness, grit.
What’s a time Availity’s reliability or recovery made a difference (for a provider, plan, or patient experience)?
This happens so much that you can’t pick just one event. It happened two weeks ago, when we helped a provider solve a remit issue. It happened across the industry with the Change Healthcare issue. It happens every day as we give providers a way to communicate and transact with payers. EVERY DAY, the work Availity does matters, and we make a difference.
Thank you, Linda, for your dedication and the impact you’ve made in helping shape Availity’s story over the past 25 years!