Employee Spotlight: Medical QA Marina Guirguis
1.) Why did you decide to become a Leidos QTC QA?
Having worked in an emergency room for 3 years prior to working at Leidos QTC Health Services, I wanted to apply my skills toward supporting Veterans Affairs (VA). I knew that Medical QAs collaborate with providers and apply their clinical experience to their work, so that was vital in my choice to become a Medical QA.
Medical QAs are the final individuals to review a case before it is delivered to the VA for rating purposes. We review documentation of reports to ensure they fulfill the three Cs: Clear, Consistent, and Completed.
Being a Leidos QTC Medical QA is both fulfilling and enriching due to the role of assisting our nation’s veterans and service members.
2.) Describe your daily work life as a Medical QA.
There are many tasks that need to be done in a timely fashion—our examinees rely on us to ensure their cases are handled with the utmost care.
Communication and teamwork
Working together is vital to maintain the quality, timeliness, and consistency of a report.
Being a Medical QA involves a lot of communication—with providers, their offices, clinics, other departments, and teammates. One of our most important tasks is requesting information from providers and their staff so we can complete and deliver cases in a timely manner. We need to be in constant communication from start to finish to ensure our reports are accurate.
Sometimes, we have to help with tasks outside of this scope, such as assisting providers with acquiring medical records. Another important task is communicating with other departments to obtain statuses on or scheduling of diagnostics needed to complete a report. Proper communication with these teams ensures that the case is handled in a timely fashion.
Processing and reviewing cases
Cases range from simple and short to complex and extremely long, and all need to be done with the same care and focus.
After checking in with my team, I review cases and ensure the reports are accurate and meet the three Cs I mentioned earlier: Clear, Consistent, and Completed. If I locate any issues in the report, I work with the provider to resolve them. Oftentimes I have to contact a provider’s office staff or Leidos QTC Health Services clinic for more information, such as signatures and addendums.
3.) What are some challenges you’ve faced as a Medical QA? How did you overcome them?
Waiting for responses
Because this position relies heavily on communicating with multiple teams and people, there are times when we don’t receive responses in a timely fashion. I have to go through our escalation workflow, which includes emailing, calling, and getting our leaders involved. Additionally, I won’t always receive the response I expected, so that’s why having strong communication skills is vital for this position.
Adapting to new Work Instructions (WINs)
Because Leidos QTC Health Services is always growing and often acquires new contracts, we have to update our processes and WINs. Learning how to adapt to these changes requires a lot of communication between teams and leaders. For example, the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act increased the amount of cases we receive and required us to update our WINs. We needed to quickly adjust to these changes and support each other, which goes back to being a strong communicator and asking your leaders for more information.
4.) Tell us about any rewarding moments you’ve experienced at Leidos QTC Health Services.
Working for Leidos QTC Health Services has been an overall rewarding experience for a variety of reasons, such as the staff and leaders showing a sense of appreciation towards their employees.
For me, the most rewarding moments involved being selected to partake in a number of special projects. These special projects included live reviews of cases for Veterans who attended an event to have their Compensation and Pension (C&) exams performed. Having the ability to ensure these reports have a quick turnaround of delivery to the VA is rewarding so these Veterans can receive their benefits in a timely fashion.
Another rewarding experience happened when I was mentoring QA trainees and they graduated and worked independently. I helped ensure they had sufficient knowledge of processing cases. Seeing the skills that I utilized to make sure these QAs were successful is the greatest achievement.
5.) What advice do you have for former employees who are considering coming back?
Management has implemented new changes to make the QA process a beneficial, enriching, and rewarding experience for all. Through team building events, one-on-one meetings with our supervisors, and an open communication method, QAs have the chance to do their jobs with a positive mindset and environment.
The best advice I can give is to understand that this job provides many benefits including bonuses, incentives, merit raises, opportunities for growth within the company, as well as tuition reimbursement. You can take advantage of Leidos QTC Health Services’ educational programs to assist in your desire to climb the corporate ladder. The culture of all the staff and leaders promotes an environment which is insightful, collaborative, innovative, and appreciated.
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