Ethel "Willi" Haskins-Cotton
Insurance Program Specialist
University Health Services (UHS)
Presidential Distinguished Staff Award, Non-Exempt Staff, 2008-09

Ethel "Willi" Haskins-Cotton's dedication and initiative has greatly enhanced the services UHS provides to the campus community. She patiently spends time helping international students, graduate assistants and other students, many of whom are managing their own health care for the first time, understand the complexities of medical insurance.

Haskins-Cotton established a third-party billing program enabling major insurance companies to reimburse many of the medical services UHS provides. Because of her hard work, UHS has been able to expand its range of services at a time when many college health centers have had to decrease services due to funding shortages.

Her responsibilities include negotiating with major insurance companies, providing information to patients, overseeing medical coding and managing the billing office. She is the key point person for members of the UMBC community who have insurance and billing questions. She manages the UMBC student insurance enrollment process for graduate assistants and international students, and acts as ombudsperson for all students enrolled in UMBC's student health plan.

Because of her outstanding foresight, Haskins-Cotton has been the catalyst for ideas that improve efficiency at UHS, including the creation of a separate "check-out" area for patients that greatly reduces the number of calls and questions about student bills.

An outstanding team member and supervisor, Haskins-Cotton goes beyond her responsibilities to assist UHS staff. For example, she volunteered to become the office point person for technology issues, teaching herself many of the complexities involved in using the software and then training her coworkers.