With over 20 years in the medical records industry, Cheryl Zatopek brings a rare combination of operational expertise and genuine care for the people behind every request. As Senior Director Global Operations & Client Experience at ReleasePoint, she oversees the systems, workflows, and team that ensure medical records reach clients quickly, accurately, and completely.
We sat down with Cheryl to learn about the evolution of medical records retrieval, what drives operational excellence at ReleasePoint, and why she never loses sight of the families behind every case.
You’ve been in the medical records industry for over 20 years. How did you get here?
Cheryl: I started with another retrieval company where I worked my way through nearly every operational role you can imagine—call team supervisor, client services, even the mailroom. I’m very well-rounded in the record retrieval lifecycle because I’ve literally done it all.
About five years ago, I joined ReleasePoint along with some other former colleagues. It was a natural fit because we knew the industry and were equipped to tackle ReleasePoint’s commitment to sourcing records quickly and correctly. That’s what we do, and it has been fun to grow alongside ReleasePoint as they’ve become technology leaders in the space.
What do you love about your career and your role at ReleasePoint?
Cheryl: I like working with people. But more than that, I like helping people—and I try to remind my team of this all the time.
Behind every case we work on, there’s a real person and a real family. Maybe someone needs medical records for their disability claim. Maybe it’s to get life insurance in place so their family is protected if something happens. Or, maybe loved ones are waiting for a life insurance death benefit to be paid out.
When you see a case in front of you, you want to pull out all the stops. What can we do to get these records from the provider? What needs to be fixed? How can we get them faster? Because those records need to get into the hands of the reviewer so they can make their determination—whether it’s issuing a life policy, processing a claim because someone passed away, or helping someone prepare for their disability hearing.
We’re helping our clients and agents, of course. But we’re also helping a person out there who’s waiting for an answer.
I love that bigger perspective and meaning. What’s the biggest change you’ve witnessed over the years?
Cheryl: When I first started over 20 years ago, we were mailing and faxing requests constantly. We’d get records back as hard copies in the mail, and then, believe it or not, we’d FedEx those records to clients to get them there in time. Everything was paper.
Now, everything is electronic. Even when we receive hard copy records from providers (and we still get more than you’d think) we scan them into the system immediately so we can electronically transfer them to the client.
We have a fantastic platform here at ReleasePoint. Providers can fax records to us, email them, or even upload them directly to our portal. We get records back electronically and deliver them to clients much faster than ever before.
What do you see changing next in medical records retrieval?
Cheryl: I think we’re on the forefront of what’s next, and I have to brag on my own company here. The work we’re doing with RP Insights and MIDAS is really helping shave off underwriting time and improve decision-making across industries like life insurance, disability and legal.
RP Insights provides a high-level summary of medical records so teams can quickly understand what’s relevant. Midas takes it a step further. It does a deeper analysis of the record, flags keywords that clients care about (like “cancer” or specific diagnoses), and allows reviewers to easily pivot to the full record for additional context.
Some of these medical charts can be massive: hundreds of pages. These tools help teams hone in on what they need and make decisions faster. We can even run records through Midas and RP Insights that we didn’t retrieve ourselves, which opens up a lot of possibilities for clients.
Quality assurance seems to be a big point of pride at ReleasePoint. How do you think about it operationally?
Cheryl: Quality is critical. If we go after EHR data and can’t get what the client is asking for, we can quickly pivot to traditional medical records retrieval— also called APS in some industries. It’s all automated, so there’s no delay in our system.
We live and breathe cycle time. As soon as an order comes into our shop, the clock starts ticking. That’s how we’re measured. So everything we do is designed to support fast turnaround times and avoid anything that could stall a case.
Automation is key. We want cases to flow through the system as quickly as possible without getting bottlenecked. People are also involved in our processes for quality assurance and high-quality account support, but wherever we can identify efficiencies through automation, we take them.
It sounds like reducing cycle time is at the center of everything ReleasePoint does operationally.
Cheryl: Exactly. Whether it’s quality assurance, handling special authorizations, leveraging our broad provider reach—it all ladders up to one goal: delivering the best cycle times of any provider in the market.
And when something does stall a case—like when a medical provider requires their own authorization instead of accepting the one from the client—we make it as easy as possible to resolve. We have a great system where we can contact the patient directly by email with a pre-filled authorization. All they have to do is sign and send it back.
Some clients prefer to handle that piece themselves, so we send them the authorization already filled out. They just need to get it signed by their patient. We try to make it as smooth as possible for everyone involved. Unfortunately, special authorizations can’t be avoided with certain providers, but when they happen, we make the process easy.
How important is data and analytics to your role?
Cheryl: It’s everything. In operations, we’re very data-driven because we’re always focused on cycle time and what flows into it. I know I sound like a broken record, but cycle time is how cases get resolved faster and ultimately that saves our clients a lot of money.
We’re big on continuous improvement. We even have a dedicated continuous improvement team that looks for efficiencies. If we feel like there’s an area that can be improved—whether it’s removing redundancies or addressing bottlenecks—we’re going to tackle it.
We use data to study the entire workflow. We monitor where cases are in the process, how long they’re sitting in each stage, and where we might be able to shave off time. At the end of the day, that’s where the rubber meets the road: cycle time. Anything we can do to reduce it, we will.
Where are you based, and what do you like to do outside of work?
Cheryl: I’m in Central Texas. When I’m not working, I love to cook. If you were coming over for dinner, I’d probably make you an Italian dish.
I also enjoy reading, though I’ll admit I probably watch too many movies. I watch them while I’m baking and cooking.
How do you see yourself growing at ReleasePoint in the years to come?
Cheryl: I enjoy working to make a difference—both for our clients and for our operations team.
On the client side, I love listening to their needs and feedback. It’s a challenge to take that feedback and turn it around into a deliverable that makes them happy. When they’re concerned about something, I want to see us solve it.
On the operations side, I enjoy working closely with the team to understand the challenges they face and figure out what we can do to improve. We can’t work in a vacuum. It all works hand-in-hand.
That’s what keeps me energized—making things better for everyone involved.