Assistant Director Operations & Client Relations
Email Address: kathy.sage@d1-healthcare.com
Kathy Sage began her career with the benefit service arm (MESSA) of a large statewide educational association (MEA). She started with them as a file clerk and within six months earned her way up to a supervisory management position overseeing 30 employees. She worked her way up to a middle management position overseeing 7 departments with 245 employees. This then led her to an executive leadership role as Director of Administration with responsibility for the entire operation including budget development/administration and having accountability to the Board of Directors. Kathy's major accomplishments included:
Instilling a humble and service driven environment for our membership.
Developing a full-spectrum integrated online enrollment, claims paying and report generating system which was leading edge in the industry.
Overseeing the payment of claims (Medical, Rx, STD, LTD, HI and Med Supp) insuring fiscal integrity and quick turnaround.
Negotiating with insurers, providers and internal unions.
Hiring a team of clinicians to assist Clients and their employees in navigating the complex healthcare system to manage high cost claims.
After 16 years of service, Kathy expanded her scope of experience to the private sector by joining one of the largest and highly successful Third Party Administrators. She joined as Director of Claims Administration with responsibility for operational activities including:
Overseeing medical claims and disability payments.
Hiring and supervising Clinicians to administer Case Management.
Acting as liaison for stop loss, subrogation recoveries, audits and legal matters.
Interfacing with Insurers, PPO’s, HMO’s, POS’s, and PBM’s.
Developing a proprietary Provider Network
She moved to a Client Service Position to directly work with large self-funded Employers in a Benefit Consulting role and continued this role with a mid-sized consulting firm (Ballard Benefit Works) and then with a large international consulting firm (A J Gallagher).
Throughout Kathy’s career, her dedicated mission has been to provide premier customer service with integrity and enthusiasm while meeting the performance and profitability goals of her employers.