By Jessica Salerno, OSCPA senior content manager

The Cleveland Clinic is known for doctors, nurses and specialized medical staff working tirelessly to offer excellent patient care. But just as crucial to the success of the hospital are the CPAs working behind the scenes.

“I’m not good with blood, so I don’t aspire to [providing medical care],” said Karen Mihalik, CPA, senior director, operations and market and network services. “But I know that the role I’m in serves patients and makes things easier and better for them, [because] nobody wants to hear about a bill, they don’t want to think about insurance challenges, we try to make that as simple as we can for our patients so they can focus on the great medical care they’ll get here.”

Mihalik has worked at the Cleveland Clinic for more than 24 years, and as she tells us in the most recent episode of The State of Business with The Ohio Society of CPAs podcast, she’s working with an array of diverse and exciting challenges in health care.

“I have spent a majority of my career blending responsibilities in the traditional finance role and in an operations role, which has really allowed me to gain a lot of deep learning in the health care business, which continually evolves,” Mihalik said.

She said she always thought she would be in a more traditional role of closing the books and preparing budgets, and although that is part of her responsibilities, she’s also bringing new insurance products to the market and optimizing commercial insurance agreements.

“What really drives me in helping patients have access to this great organization, so they can receive the same kind of great care regardless of what it is,” Mihalik said. “That work really does drive me as a Cleveland Clinic care giver and Cleveland Clinic leader.”

Listen to the episode to hear more about the personal connection Mihalik has to the clinic and how it has helped her grow as a leader.