Member engagement turnarounds
Diagnose why members aren't participating, then rebuild outreach, scripting, and nurse workflows so they do.
Nurse consultant for health plans & insurers
Patients aren't numbers.
When they are genuinely cared for, everything else follows.
I'm Debra Butner, RN, CCM. For 15 years, patients have answered my calls, followed their care plans, and stayed out of the hospital because they knew I cared. Health plans and care programs bring me in when engagement is low, and patients stop feeling like a number.
The proof
22% → 98.72%
Patient engagement, raised in four months on a program at risk.
RN · Florida multistate compact license, plus CA, NY, IL
CCM · Certified Case Manager
BCFNHC · Board Certified Functional Nurse Health Coach
15 years in remote case management
Telephone triage since 2006, starting in OB/GYN
The problem
Low engagement quietly drives cost.
Members don't answer outreach and don't follow the care plan, and they end up back in the hospital. Cases stay open longer than they should. When the numbers slip, the contract is on the line. Most programs don't fail on clinical skill. They fail on whether patients actually take part.
Results
Numbers that keep programs funded.
98.72%patient engagement, up from 22%, in four months
At-riskcontracts helped back to strong performance
Payer and program experience
AnthemBlue Cross Blue ShieldCenteneHighmark WholecareHealth Plan of San JoaquinMonogram HealtheviCoreExpress ScriptsAmazon Care
Services
How I help health plans and insurers.
Readmission reduction
Transitions-of-care protocols and close post-discharge follow-up for high-risk members.
Workflow & utilization review
Redesign case management and UR workflows to cut errors, speed case closure, and ease nurse burnout, including safe adoption of AI tools.
Case manager training
Recruit, train, and coach nurses in engagement techniques. Several nurses I mentored became managers.
Medicare & Medicaid navigation
Patient advocacy and navigation for D-SNP, Medicaid, and Medicare populations, including behavioral health.
Nurse advice line & telehealth triage
24/7 nurse advice line coverage, OB/GYN telephone triage, and telehealth monitoring for chronic, behavioral health, maternal, pediatric, and post-discharge patients.
How I work
Listen first. Then fix what's in the way.
Listen
Talk with members, nurses, and leaders to see where the program breaks down.
Diagnose
Find the real barriers: outreach timing, confusing care plans, workflow gaps.
Rebuild
Put practical changes in place with your team, not around it.
Measure
Track engagement, readmissions, and case closure until the numbers hold.
About
Named for my mother.
Donna Lee Health is named in honor of my wonderful, loving mother, Donna Lee.
At 48, she passed away from a massive heart attack that could have been easily prevented with the right patient care and communication. My sister and I were teenagers when we lost her.
I want to honor her. Every patient I work with deserves what she should have had: someone who listens, explains clearly, and makes sure nothing is missed.
Why I built this company
I have spent 20 years in nursing, including 15 years in remote case management, and I have watched the same problem repeat. Good nurses and staff are handed a phone and a set of metrics, but never taught the workflow. They are not shown how to talk to patients, how to follow through, or how to keep a conversation from becoming a checklist. Then the pressure to hit the numbers sets in. They become afraid of the metrics, and patients can hear it. The call feels rushed, so they hang up and don't want to deal with the program again. Engagement drops, and too many good nurses leave.
That is not a people problem. It is a training and support problem, and it can be fixed.
Patients come first. Strong programs are built around that commitment.
I never rush a conversation just to hit a metric, and that's exactly why the metrics go up. As a Board Certified Functional Nurse Health Coach (BCFNHC), I add a whole-person lens to engagement and care planning. I built Donna Lee Health to bring that approach to health plans and care programs, and to the nurses who carry out the work.
Coming soon
A program for nurses going remote.
I'm building a program that teaches nurses how to move into remote nursing work, drawn from my own years of remote contracts with health plans.
Case managementUtilization reviewPatient advocacyTelehealthTriage
Join the early-access list
Also from Donna Lee Health
Wellness education & specialty testing
We are exploring options for making specialty wellness testing easier to access from home. Online purchasing is not yet available; details will be shared once offerings are confirmed.
Laboratory testing is not a substitute for individualized medical evaluation. Test ordering, collection, interpretation, and follow-up may require an appropriately licensed clinician.
Government contracting
Ready for federal and state work.
Donna Lee Health LLC is registered in SAM.gov and available for nurse advice line, telephone triage, telehealth, and case management contracts, directly or as a subcontractor.
CAGE code22T78
UEIZ656BANR4JP1
Primary NAICS621399
SAM.govActive
Business sizeSmall business
WOSBCertification pending
Let's talk
Is your engagement, readmission, or case-closure number stuck?
Tell me about your program and where the numbers stand.
debra.butner@donnaleehealth.com
Send an email