In today’s rapidly evolving healthcare environment, organizations must adapt quickly to changing payer requirements while ensuring accurate reimbursement, maintaining patient trust, and scaling operations effectively. Since joining UF Health in September 2025, April has guided the organization toward a more unified, enterprise-wide revenue cycle strategy. She oversees both hospital and physician revenue cycle operations, with a strong emphasis on standardization and scalability.
UF Health delivers a comprehensive range of services across hospitals, physician practices, and outpatient facilities, including primary and specialty care, emergency medicine, surgery, rehabilitation, oncology, and advanced inpatient care. Its network also encompasses children’s services, behavioral health, home health, and diagnostic and laboratory services, supporting patients across Gainesville, Jacksonville, and Central Florida. The vision is to be a national leader in transforming health care through innovation, collaboration, and exceptional patient-centered care.
April began her career with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting, initially pursuing a path in traditional accounting before transitioning into healthcare. When I walked in the door, I didn’t know what a DRG was, a CPT, or a UB,” April remembers. She went on to obtain her Master’s in Healthcare Administration with a concentration in analytics. Her foundational expertise continues to inform her leadership approach, particularly in aligning revenue cycle operations with financial
strategy. She entered healthcare as a business office manager at a community hospital, where she quickly developed deep operational knowledge and a hands-on leadership style.
Architecting the Epic standard
A key organizational priority under her leadership is the transformation of the Epic platform to support enterprise-wide standardization and a re-design of the current Revenue Cycle Operating Model. By implementing a single service area with consistent processes and aligning leadership to the technology design, UF Health is positioning itself to operate as a fully integrated system rather than a collection of individual entities. “At that point, we can start building the enterprise structure we need for growth and scalability,” April explains.
Standardization shapes the patient experience. When financial assistance or payment policies differ, patients may lose trust in the organization. As UF Health moves forward, it strengthens the culture, increases understanding of the system’s complexity, and builds brand loyalty by providing a consistent financial experience. The model further helps UF Health use technology more efficiently as managing separate systems is expensive. Additionally, it improves operational efficiency while reducing costs associated with managing multiple systems and vendors.
Predictive digital architectures
Technology plays a central role in this transformation. UF Health is leveraging automation and artificial intelligence to shift from reactive processes to a more proactive, “prevent versus chase” approach. With technology, teams collect accurate information at registration, beginning the billing process at the very start of the patient journey. The billing process doesn’t wait until after the patient leaves; it starts right at registration. Automation and AI guide physicians, nurses, and registration teams to capture the right information before any claim goes out the door.
AI plays a crucial role in healthcare, but April believes human expertise remains critical. She doesn’t expect technology to replace staff. Instead, she sees it making their work more efficient, reducing errors, and letting staff focus on the more complex cases and ensure high-quality patient interactions. As automation handles routine tasks, team members step in to manage the complex cases that machines can’t solve. April points out, “The level of expertise needed may be higher than today, simply because staff will handle the more complex cases that automation can’t fix.” The shift will change how UF Health measures quality and productivity in Revenue Cycle.
April highlights the importance of meeting patients where they are through technology. Today’s patients are savvy and want to interact on their own terms. She remarks, “Digitize it where it makes sense, but when a patient pulls the lever and says, ‘I need a human,’ make sure they can connect in that way.”
Unifying academic clinical governance
Success in revenue cycle transformation requires strong alignment across clinical, financial, and operational stakeholders. April prioritizes early engagement, data-driven decision-making, and transparent performance reporting to build trust and ensure sustainable change.
UF Health’s strategic priorities reach far beyond its walls. April and her team believe in building new partnerships with patients around coverage. They connect people to funding sources like Medicaid, disability services, philanthropic programs, and medication co-pay assistance, often be-fore these individuals even become patients. “Even if someone never walks through our doors, being present in the community truly matters,” April notes. By understanding what financial support the community needs, UF Health positions itself as Florida’s provider of choice.
Looking ahead, April plans to operationalize the enterprise team over the next 12 to 18 months. Her forward-thinking approach means keeping a close eye on regulatory changes and payer challenges, especially as industry technology evolves. “The reality is, it’s critical to build a team that can succeed and make sure we have the systems and technology to keep moving forward,” she says.
When April steps away from the demands of the revenue cycle, she recharges by playing the piano and listening to music. She finds that just one song can quickly lift her mood after a challenging day. “Music transforms who I am,” April reflects. Quality time with her husband and two grown sons remains her top priority, though she admits that a little retail therapy and trips to the beach help her get ready for the challenges ahead.
