Meet Sarah Vandenplas

Sarah Vandenplas has one mission: improve the patient experience. For the last 10+ years, Sarah managed high-level behind-the-scenes administrative work which ensured better patient outcomes. Her mission and the results she’s able to produce are only the tip of the iceberg on why Medicom Health is proud to welcome her as Rx Savings Assistant’s Director of Project Management.

Originally, Sarah planned to become a pediatrician. However, in 2007 as she was simultaneously attending school for her Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology and working part-time at the University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System, she saw firsthand how administrative work can have a large impact on healthcare systems. When a full-time role at UI Health opened in 2009, her driven nature and analytical problem-solving skillset were put to good use as the Director of Administrative Operations in the Department of Dermatology.

After nearly a year into the role, Sarah needed a new challenge. In 2010 she decided to obtain a Master’s in Management Information Systems. After her graduation in 2012 she continued at UI Health. However, after 5 years, it was time for the next adventure.

Armed with the perfect combination of both a business and IT degree, in 2014 Sarah accepted a position at The Family Institute at Northwestern University as their Senior Director of Program Management and Information Systems. She’s extremely proud of the work she and her team accomplished, but after 10 years on the provider-side, she wanted to round out her experience with more knowledge. Not surprising coming from the president of the Illinois chapter of the Achievement Rewards for College Scientists^® (ARCS) Foundation.

That’s when serendipity struck. It was January 2019. Sarah was attending the ARCS national conference when the president of the Minnesota chapter of ARCS and longtime friend, Medicom Health’s co-founder Barb Goergen, mentioned a job opening.

The new ambitious project Medicom Health was launching, Rx Savings Assistant, is a solution that provides qualified patients with the best-available prescription medication offers at point-of-care. Sarah was originally wary of the distance between Medicom Health’s Minneapolis-office and her home in Chicago, however, after meeting the team and learning more about the company, she felt connected to the mission and saw the role as a good fit for the next step in her career.

Sarah joined Medicom Health in July 2019 to run implementation of Rx Savings for all health systems ensuring both a smooth launch and account management. One of the things that drew Sarah to Rx Savings was the ability to get savings to the patient faster. She remarked, “On the provider side you don’t see this speed and efficiency often.”

After six months Sarah can say without a doubt, “Medicom Health has the coolest people I’ve ever worked with! Everyone’s funny and it’s not stuffy. For years the work I was doing was stuffy. I can be myself here. On the provider-side it moved like molasses. At Medicom we make a decision, have the discussion, and then do it. It’s cool and it’s rare.”

At the end of the day, Sarah knows prescriptions are expensive and people who don’t know of the options available are the ones who suffer. That’s why she’s on a mission every day to improve patient experience.