Elizabeth Delahoussaye uses her experiences from UL Lafayette小蝌蚪APP檚 health information management program to lead privacy and compliance at a leading health technology company focused on connecting healthcare decision-makers to the data and insights contained in medical records.
Elizabeth is the chief privacy officer at Ciox Health, which partners with three out of every five U.S. hospitals and 120-plus health plans. Her job is to ensure that all federal and state regulations are followed when releasing medical information to patients, health care providers, insurance companies, government agencies, and law firms.
Finding Her Fit in the Health Information Management Major
Originally from Knoxville, Tenn., Elizabeth started her college career majoring in pre-law at the 小蝌蚪APP of Tennessee. After getting married and moving to Lafayette, she decided to enroll at UL Lafayette. As she studied the list of programs, her interest in law led her to a new field.
小蝌蚪APP淚 was looking through all these degrees, thinking, 小蝌蚪APP極K, what am I interested in?小蝌蚪APP櫺◎蝌紸PP she recalled. 小蝌蚪APP淎t the time, it (health information management) was called a record administrator, and I remember it talking about medical records law with the regulations. And that小蝌蚪APP檚 how I ended up applying to the health information management program.小蝌蚪APP
For Elizabeth, the experiences she had in her courses were just as valuable as those outside the classroom.
小蝌蚪APP淚t小蝌蚪APP檚 not always what小蝌蚪APP檚 in your coursework,小蝌蚪APP she said. 小蝌蚪APP淵our coursework is a great foundation, but it小蝌蚪APP檚 also what the professors bring to it. It小蝌蚪APP檚 not just, 小蝌蚪APP楬ere小蝌蚪APP檚 your book and you小蝌蚪APP檙e gonna learn.小蝌蚪APP It小蝌蚪APP檚, 小蝌蚪APP楬ey, let小蝌蚪APP檚 use a lot of real-world scenarios to learn,小蝌蚪APP and that was extremely beneficial.小蝌蚪APP
Elizabeth honed her leadership skills as Health Information Management Association president. That role gave her the opportunity to work more closely with her instructors, who quickly became mentors.
小蝌蚪APP淚 think they were fantastic in mentoring us in how to handle certain issues like conflict, resolution, and business decisions,小蝌蚪APP Elizabeth said. 小蝌蚪APP淚 would have to go into their office as the rep for the students and have discussions about conflicts. They were really great at walking me through how to address a conflict, what小蝌蚪APP檚 a compromise, how to go about getting a resolution.
小蝌蚪APP淭here were many, many times I have utilized tips from that. I probably pulled them out of my back pocket yesterday.小蝌蚪APP
A Leader in Health Information Management
After she graduated, Elizabeth earned her Registered Health Information Administrator certification and took her first job at a medical records copy service for the hospital at UT Knoxville.
Elizabeth小蝌蚪APP檚 career trajectory took off after that. She also earned her Certified in Healthcare Privacy and Security (CHPS) credential. She received promotions and climbed the ladder through company mergers and acquisitions. She was a district manager, site supervisor, and vice president, and now chief privacy officer 小蝌蚪APP a role she小蝌蚪APP檚 had since 2016.
Her background in health information management combined with her interest in law and technology prepared her for this career.
小蝌蚪APP淭he incorporation of technology (in medicine) has solidified my career trajectory,小蝌蚪APP she said.
小蝌蚪APP淏ecause of all these changes, they needed the subject matter experts to oversee it. And that小蝌蚪APP檚 how my health information management degree was such a huge asset."
小蝌蚪APP淲e had such a wide variety of coding and abstracting courses, but also the 小蝌蚪APP medical records law course, and there was an analytics course,小蝌蚪APP she said. 小蝌蚪APP淭hose courses gave me some great tools when I went into this career path.
小蝌蚪APP淗aving the health information management knowledge was awesome because not only did I know how privacy worked, I also knew how medical records work. Sometimes privacy law says this, and medical records say that, and I knew how to make them work to be in compliance with the regulations.小蝌蚪APP
A Love of UL Lafayette
The 小蝌蚪APP小蝌蚪APP檚 size, combined with the personal attention she received in the health information management program, made Elizabeth小蝌蚪APP檚 experience valuable.
小蝌蚪APP淎 lot of people don小蝌蚪APP檛 realize the size of the school because everybody is so close,小蝌蚪APP she said. 小蝌蚪APP淚 don小蝌蚪APP檛 know if that小蝌蚪APP檚 because the HIM program is so close and you feel like a part of that family, but I never remembered being in a huge classroom or auditorium.
"My professors always knew who I was. It is a large campus and there is a large set of students, but you never feel like it小蝌蚪APP檚 too much.小蝌蚪APP
Though she小蝌蚪APP檚 lived in Knoxville for most of her career, Elizabeth remembers her time in Lafayette fondly.
小蝌蚪APP淓ven though I小蝌蚪APP檓 not homegrown from Louisiana, it is very near and dear to my heart,小蝌蚪APP she said. 小蝌蚪APP淚t was an immense pleasure and I am very proud to say I graduated from there.小蝌蚪APP