Lola Bass

Served as the Chief for the Bureau of Operations within the Division of Medical Quality Assurance.

• Facilitated the development and growth of a 130 employee workforce arranging from administrative, professional, and contractor positions.
• Responsible for management oversight of a $25 million dollar annual budget. Established and managed budget implementations and contract negotiations.
• Administered statutes, rules, policies and procedures to the public, licensed health care practitioners and applicants, local, state, and federal agencies, national and state organizations, and staff.
• Worked with members of the Florida Legislature and their staff, health care regulatory boards, and other partner and stakeholders to develop new legislation or amend existing statutes to meet the regulatory needs of the state.
• Partnered with health care regulatory boards, state agencies, vendors and suppliers to effectively implement new programs and revisions to existing programs resulting from changes to federal or state laws and administrative code.
• Built and strengthened relationships with departments and agencies to manage effective planning and implementation of regulatory statues/rules and emergency response strategies.
• Enhanced operational efficiency and productivity through the development of an eCommerce interface providing access to division services supporting health care applicants, licensed health care practitioners, health care employers, and the general public.
• Launched new, robust business management software systems, resulting in improved operational insight and planning.
• Developed and optimized organizational systems to boost efficiency and keep operations scalable and agile for changing demands. Developed solutions to assist division reduce paper.
• Established and optimized bureau procedures to meet changing requirements. Set, enforced and optimized internal policies to maintain responsiveness to demands.
• Developed effective business plans to align strategic decisions with long-term objectives. Enforced alignment of project strategy with business objectives and made modifications to promote efficient project completion.
• Collaborated with process owners to refine procedures, devise best practices and correct quality audit findings.
• Delivered business strategy and developed systems and procedures to improve operational quality and team efficiency.
• Oversaw large portfolio of projects to support key business processes and strategic objectives. Built successful project plans covering objectives, resources and staffing to meet schedules. Scheduled and facilitated meetings between project stakeholders to discuss deliverables, schedules and conflicts. Reported regularly to department leadership on project budget, progress and technical problems.
• Headed project teams specializing in design and launch activities. Drove team success through shared vision and recognition of quality performance.
• Collaborated with business users, technical teams, database administrators and testing teams during kickoff meetings, joint application designing and planning sessions to validate requirements.
• Monitored contracts and service level agreements to identify potential risks and implement mitigation actions to protect development process from unforeseen delays and costs.

Managed the License Renewal and Revenue functions for the for the Bureau of Operations within the Division of Medical Assurance supporting over a million licensed health care practitioners.

• Facilitated the development and growth of 40 employees ranging from administrative to professional staff.
• Managed multi-million dollar annual budget with oversight responsibility of operational contracts, including contract negotiation, fostering relationship with vendors, analyses and monitoring vendor performance, mitigating performance issues, and performing cost benefit analyses.
• Conducted thorough reviews of operations to devise and deploy improvement strategies. This included improving renewal processing times from 6 weeks to 3 days.
• Evaluated current processes to develop improvement plans. Produced detailed and relevant reports for use in making business decisions.
• Compiled research data and gave professional presentations highlighting finds and recommended optimizations.
• Reviewed internal systems and organized training plans to address areas in need of improvement.

Managed the business operations for the Division of Medical Quality Assurance, Bureau of Operations.

• Responsible for management oversight of a $15 million dollar annual budget.
• Prepared fiscal analysis and reports using the State Accounting System (SAMAS) for the department and the legislature.
• Prepared and monitored contracts, developed formal bids, processed and approved all purchases and invoices.
• Prepared annual budget projections based on program-related projects.
• Served as staff consultant to managers and on bureau projects. Assisted with personnel, budget and project-related issues.

Managed the business operations for the Bureau of Testing Services.

• Prepared and monitored contracts, developed formal bids, processed and approved invoices, assisted management with annual budget projections based on annual expenditures and projected program-related budget needs.
• Formulated policy and procedures related to the bureau's business operations.
• Facilitated the development and growth of two administrative staff.
• Training bureau staff on budget, purchasing, and contract management.

Assisted Division Director with legislative reports, special projects, and non-budget operational policies and procedures.

• Analyzed and routed proposed legislation to management for review.
• Evaluated current processes to develop improvement plans.
• Produced detailed and relevant reports for use in making business decisions.
• Compiled research data and gave professional presentations highlighting finds and recommended optimizations.

Served as administrator for three regulatory boards and acted as staff liaison between the regulatory boards and committees, agency, and national organizations.

• Provided ongoing direction and leadership for board operations. Developed performance and quality control standards, monitored progress and results, and prepared corrective action plans to resolve performance issues identified.
• Facilitated development and growth of staff twelve professional and administrative staff.
• Prepared annual budgets and monthly management summaries of financial performance.
• Attended regulatory board meetings and prepared the official meeting meetings. Published articles in board newsletters.
• Presented at professional and academic meetings on licensure requirements and other board-related issues.

Served as supervisor for three regulatory boards. Assisted management in the regulatory activities supporting board and committee activities.

• Applied strong leadership and problem-solving skills to maintain team efficiency and organize workflows that supported health care licensing.
• Handled customer complaints, resolved issues and adjusted policies to meet changing needs.
• Facilitated development and growth of seven administrative staff. Evaluated employee performance and coached and trained to improve weak areas.
• Conducted compliance audits for continuing education, monitored license health care practitioners disciplinary violations, developed licensure applications and maintained board statutes and rules.

Assisted Executive Director in managing the post-licensure section in a multi-board office located within the Division of Medical Quality Assurance.

• Reviewed and approved professional continuing education programs.
• Reviewed and prepared professional continuing education provider applications for board review. Published approved providers in board newsletter.
• Assisted with professional license renewal process. Conducted post-renewal audits for compliance with continuing education requirements.
• Facilitated the development and growth of two administrative staff. Prepared realistic goals and schedules, developed performance and quality control standards, monitored progress and results, took corrective action and resolved performance problems.

Assisted Executive Director with meeting planning and administrative operations within a multi-board office located within the Division of Professions.

• Scheduled and planned regulatory board and committee meetings.
• Attended meetings and prepared official meeting minutes.
• Processed travel and procurement documents.
• Sorted, opened and routed incoming correspondence and deliveries to help senior leaders respond quickly to business and customer requirements.

• Handled accounts payable and receivable for a local company.
• Tracked expenses and income for business while organizing and maintaining bank statements for checking account.
• Investigated daily variances and corrected errors to resolve discrepancies.