Why I Came, Why I Stayed: Sunil Acharya Feels Proud as Methodist's Patient Access Director

In “Why I Came, Why I Stayed,” you’ll get to know people who are making a difference every day at Methodist and how they contribute to providing The Meaning of Care.

Sunil Acharya, MBA, CHAM
Patient Access Director
Methodist Health System

Tell us more about yourself and your background with Methodist.

I’m originally from Nepal and took the risk of coming to America at the age of 18 to go to school. After college, I worked in sales and marketing for seven years, and I was laid off in 2008 during the recession. I was having a hard time finding a new job. Finally, through networking, I got into health care with CHI and just loved it. After working there for a couple months, I realized that this is what I wanted to do for my career.

I was at CHI for about nine years in various roles, including patient access supervisor at Lakeside hospital and patient account coordinator at the business office. I loved working with patients directly at the hospital, and I was looking for the right opportunity to come. I saw a patient access manager job open at Methodist, and I was hired in 2019. I recently got promoted to a director position after my boss retired.

For my hobbies, I love working out in the morning. I also love hiking, biking, traveling and anything that has to do with the outdoors.

I’m married with two kids, including one who is playing college football.

I’m also a part of a team that runs a nonprofit organization to assist people in Nepal.

In 2015, Nepal had a large earthquake – 7.8 magnitude. It was devastating, and our family was affected. So I decided to head over there for couple of weeks with a team after gathering donations of food, money and medicines.

That trip changed my perspective on life, and we decided to give something back to our motherland. We established a nonprofit and currently provide telemedicine to the very remote areas.

Why Methodist? What attracted you to the organization?

At Methodist, I see leaders every day and work directly with them. You can reach out to anyone for any kind of help.

After working at Methodist for nine months, we had to deal with COVID-19. At about the same time, because of organizational changes, I also took on Methodist Fremont Health. I was over three hospitals during the pandemic. While it was difficult, I felt like all of the leaders were very helpful, and the culture was just amazing.

Even though it was a challenging time, my team helped establish the screening program and hired about 40 new people to manage visitors at the hospitals as visiting policies continued to change.

What is it about Methodist that keeps you coming back?

One thing I notice at Methodist that I haven’t anywhere else is that people feel very proud to say they work for Methodist. I, personally, feel so proud to be a part of Methodist. I wear Methodist-logoed shirts everywhere. I don’t mind wearing it outside of work because I do feel proud of this organization and what we’re trying to do — provide the best possible care.

I’m looking forward to retiring from here. It’s been amazing. I’ve had the opportunity to move up, and I’m looking forward to doing even more for the organization and our patients.