2018-up-and-comers-coleen-santa-ana

Coleen Santa Ana's mom was an oncology nurse, so she had an interest in healthcare growing up but wasn't totally sure if it was the career for her. Then a career aptitude test helped her make a final decision. "It had me split at professional business and professional healthcare. I thought it was really fascinating. With that concrete information I locked it in as a career," she said. In which TV medical drama would you star? "Grey's Anatomy" What musician do you dream of performing at your next birthday celebration? Bruno Mars What superhero are you? Wonder Woman Before Albemarle Health joined Sentara and before Santa Ana became president, both in 2014, what is now known as Sentara Albemarle Medical Center was suffering $8 million in annual losses. Under her leadership, losses improved significantly to $1.4 million, and the hospital was $4.3 million in the black within a couple of years. "I chose this position specifically because it was an opportunity to turn around a new acquisition for Sentara. It's the first time we're entering into North Carolina as a state. This made it an exciting opportunity to improve the healthcare of a community," she said The Sentara medical center has seen improvements in readmissions and a $3.74 million increase in revenue, a 1.5% gain in market share. Santa Ana has also led clinical improvement processes to reduce variation. "I've always lived for the adventure and excitement of problem solving, cost improvement and the journey of making a positive impact anywhere I go. It's the essence of what I enjoy," she said.