Susan Gatehouse: Thrives in Building the Big Picture

With concerns of the COVID-19 pandemic having a disproportionate impact on certain individuals, such as minorities and the elderly, public health experts worldwide require more detailed data, provided on a real-time basis. A longstanding proponent of the reliability and integrity of data as central to healthcare, Axea Solutions’ Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Susan Gatehouse, understands such complex elements. Susan is a nationally recognized speaker and author, with a nearly 30-year history as a leading provider of revenue cycle solutions and advanced technology offerings within the healthcare sector.
It’s all About the Journey 
“It’s been a thrilling journey over the last three decades, watching the advancements in technology and how it improved the efficiency and quality of healthcare as a whole,” says Susan Gatehouse. “There is no question that technology has and continues to reshape the healthcare industry in inspiring, transformative ways,” adds Susan.
“As a result of advancements in technology, vast quantities of crucial information are now more accessible for patient care, documentation, reimbursement, and most importantly affords us the ability to measure healthcare outcomes,” says Susan. However, ensuring that information is accurate is an ongoing challenge for many healthcare organizations and providers. And this is precisely where Axea, together with its technology-based solutions and a team of industry experts, comes into play to bring efficiency and real value to clients.
Through this continual and comprehensive understanding of client pain-points, Axea developed AccuTrend™, a proprietary cloud-based system that provides integrated, self-powered access to coding audit results, performance, and detailed time-stamped progression of an audit. With built-in, automated management tools to control productivity and visibility into reporting, AccuTrend™ manages healthcare organizations’ results and provides recommendations in real-time. Nowhere in the industry can you find a technology platform with an audit approach as robust and thorough as AccuTrend™. The company’s technology solutions provide connectivity between all parties, delivering total quality insights.
Axea Solutions also provides industry-leading education with its proprietary cloud-based learning management platform, Axea Academy®. “Axea Academy® is a unique platform, unlike other available as it provides managers with a complete management tool for education and training, and coder cross-training across coding teams in multiple locations,” adds Susan.
Think, Innovation 
“With constant developments in emerging technologies, it is necessary to stay current on innovation and industry changes as they occur,” says Susan. The organization’s offering is based on noted voids within the industry. Continual awareness of client challenges is vital, as is continuous remedy assessments to provide the highest level of service and solutions to build prominence for future opportunities.
“Proven time and time again, to be successful, taking certain risks are necessary. But one cannot be afraid of taking risks,” informs Susan. She remarks that the fear of risks or making the wrong decision is one of many businesses’ first challenges. Such fear can immobilize progress and creativity and ultimately halt or destroy innovation. Susan says that one must trust their knowledge and the knowledge of those surrounding them while making informed decisions, recognizing mistakes will be made, and often a change in the course is required.
Susan is curious by nature and a firm believer in feeding that curiosity through engagement and constant learning of one’s specialty. “You must be an expert in your field, to elevate your credibility and achieve authentic success,” Susan says.
Change is Vital to Growth 
The healthcare industry’s environment is continuously changing, and like any organization, the company faces challenges along the way. It is vital to stay abreast with the changes. Moreover, you have to ensure you are providing solutions to clients’ current needs. Axea Solutions was established with a simple vision ─ to provide superior value-added services by listening to and meeting clients’ needs, always guided by a commitment to integrity. One of the primary reasons Axea has been so successful is that its vision is embedded in its corporate culture, with a consistent message to perform with integrity and succeed on merit through its quality results.
With today’s changing and competitive business environment, particularly in the healthcare sector, Axea has found that the ability to change and adapt when necessary is crucial. Being nimble, flexible, and responsive to clients’ needs could be considered the secret to the company’s success. The fact is, change is good, but significant change is evidenced when you consistently evaluate and adapt objectives and goals to ensure you deliver unparalleled service and solutions.
Strategic Solutions 
Susan founded Axea Solutions in 1999 with the primary goal of providing clients with current, thorough, and accurate auditing services and education. Under Susan’s leadership, Axea has expanded to become recognized as one of the premier Health Information Management (HIM) and revenue cycle enhancement firms, serving various clients nationwide. Susan believes nothing replaces hard work and experience; it is merely part of the journey. At the outset of her HIM career, she submerged herself in diverse healthcare settings, which provided her an inherent understanding of healthcare facilities’ revenue cycle and functional operations. She built Axea on a solid foundation of industry knowledge at a fundamental level.
Susan has continuously stayed active and engaged within the healthcare industry, providing numerous lectures at national conferences and events for industry organizations such as AHIMA, HFMA, GHIMA, and GHA. In addition, she was a contributing author and editor for the book, “Implementing Information Security in Healthcare: Building a Security Program,” and contributed to the CDC manual, “Moving Science to Coverage.” Among her many professional achievements, Susan is a recipient of the Georgia Health Information Management Association Professional Achievement Award. She was named “Female vendor RCM leader to know” by Becker’s Healthcare, and listed as “One of the Top 10 Most Influential Women in Technology, 2020.”