Speakers

Suzan Berman, CPC, CEMC, CEDC
Suzan Berman CPC, CEMC, CEDC, has been responsible for teaching the staff/faculty, mid-level providers, as well as management and support staff about the nuances of documentation requirements and billing practices as the Senior Manager of Coding and Compliance for the Physician Services Division of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She also oversees the auditing of Evaluation and Management services for the Departments of Surgery, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Cardiovascular, and Behavioral Health specialties.

Berman serves on the Ingenix Advisory Board and the Editorial Advisory Board Member for The Coding Institute. She is a former member of the AAPC National Advisory Board as well as the former secretary for the AAPC Chapter Advisory Board of Directors.

She speaks both locally and nationally for organizations such as the University of Pittsburgh, The Coding Institute, Advanced Career Solutions, Audio Educator, AAPC, MGMA, and Ingenix Publishing.

Rhonda Buckholtz
Rhonda Buckholtz is the Vice President of ICD-10 Training and Education for AAPC. A seasoned coder and coding educator, she previously served AAPC as director of local chapter relations and as a member of the organization’s National Advisory Board. She is a certified coder and PMCC coding instructor, and speaks frequently at coding conferences. She is the owner of Coding and Reimbursement Experts, a Pennsylvania coding consulting service, and teaches coding at the Venango campus of Clarion University. Prior to her employment with AAPC, Ms. Buckholtz was administrator for Wolf Creek Medical Associates, managing a five location multi-specialty practice and was business manager at an otolaryngology practice.

Andrea Clark, RHIA, CCS, CPC-H
Andrea Clark is a nationally prominent Health Information Management (HIM) consultant who focuses specifically on outpatient coding and billing systems, charge capture, coding and billing, data integrity, and outpatient compliance training services. Ms. Clark has over 20 years of hospital outpatient coding, information systems, operational and compliance training experience, including hospital-based and freestanding day surgery sites, emergency room, hospital-based clinics, and ancillary diagnostic services areas.

Ms. Clark is the founder of Health Revenue Assurance Associates, Inc., a nationwide consulting and education group specializing in Revenue Integrity™ strategic analyses and compliance-focused implementation for hospitals, physicians, and freestanding centers. The company provides in-depth coding and documentation audits, customized education/certification programs, Ambulatory Payment Classifications (APCs) strategic position and operational assessments, chargemaster/CDM data integrity reviews and updates, and seminar speaking engagements.

Cheryl D'Amato, RHIT, CCS
As director of Health Information Management (HIM) for Ingenix, Cheryl D'Amato is responsible for the development, enhancement, and maintenance of Ingenix data files with a facility coding focus. She brings to Ingenix more than two decades of experience in implementing and managing utilization, quality assurance, and health information coding systems.

Ms. D'Amato has bylined articles for numerous industry publications and currently co-authors the well-read CCS-Prep! column in Advance for Health Information Professionals. In addition, she has conducted presentations on coding, medical necessity, OPPS, and compliance at more than 50 industry seminars, webinars, and conferences including the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) National Convention.

D'Amato maintains many professional affiliations. She is currently a member of AHIMA's Coding Community Council and has served as a member of the Clinical Classification Practice Council, CCS-P Job Analysis Task Force, and Coding Policy and Strategy Committee. She has also held several high-ranking positions on the board of the AHIMA's Society for Clinical Coding (SCC), including director and chair-elect. She also is a member of Connecticut Health Information Management Association (CTHIMA), from which she received the Distinguished Member Award and served as president and delegate along with numerous other positions.

Ryan Devey
Mr. Devey is the product manager for Ingenix ePhysician Solutions. He has 15 years of experience in the health care industry. Prior to joining Ingenix, Devy worked for multiple payer organizations in a variety of roles such as provider relations representative, case manager, disease management program manager, and worksite wellness/HEDIS program developer. Devey also gained physician office experience by working as a practice administrator for a small pediatric clinic. For the past five years, he has designed and managed medical coding data management systems, workers’ compensation rebilling systems, and medical coding/fee schedule software. He earned a BS in health care administration from the University of Utah.

Jillian Harrington, MHA, CPC, CPC-P, CPC-I, CCS-P, MHP
Ms. Harrington serves as president and CEO of ComplyCode, a health care compliance consulting firm based in Binghamton, NY, and has more than 16 years of experience in the health care profession. She is the former chief compliance officer and chief privacy official of a large academic medical center, and also has extensive background in both the professional and technical components of CPT®/HCPCS and ICD-9-CM coding. She teaches CPT® coding and is an approved instructor of the Professional Medical Coding Curriculum, awarded by the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC). She has spoken frequently on health care compliance and health information management issues at regional and national professional conferences.

Ms. Harrington holds a BS degree in health care administration from Empire State College and a MS degree in health systems administration from the Rochester Institute of Technology. She is a member of the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) and a former member of their National Advisory Board, a member of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) and the Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA), and is an associate of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE).

Anita C. Hart, RHIA, CCS, CCS-P
Ms. Hart’s experience includes 15 years conducting and publishing research in clinical medicine and human genetics for Yale University, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research conclusions have been published in several peer-reviewed journals. In addition, Ms. Hart has supervised medical records management, health information management, coding and reimbursement, and workers' compensation issues as the office manager for a physical therapy rehabilitation clinic. Ms. Hart is an expert in physician and facility coding, reimbursement systems, and compliance issues. She is also the author of the many Ingenix/OPTUMInsight publications and has served as subject matter advisor on numerous other publications for hospital and physician practices. Ms. Hart is the ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM/PCS subject matter expert for the OPTUMInsight, has served as the product manager for the product line for 15 years, and has presented at numerous national conferences. Ms. Hart is a credentialed active member of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). Ms Hart is a current AHIMA Approved ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainer and leads the training and ICD-10-CM/PCS product development initiatives within OPTUMInsight Coding Solutions business unit.

Laurie Johnson, MS, RHIA, CPC-H
Laurie Johnson brings over twenty years of experience in health information management, quality assessment, risk management, utilization management, and coding and reimbursement. Her current specialization is APC/DRG review, RAC education/services, ICD-9-CM/CPT^®/HCPCS coding and education, and transitioning to ICD-10-CM/PCS. One recent exciting project was working with the National Health Services in the U.K. regarding coding and documentation audit strategies.

Before joining Ingenix, Ms. Johnson directed auditing, educational, and training programs for several nationally recognized consulting firms. She has affiliations with numerous state and national health care associations including AHIMA, Pennsylvania Health Information Management Association, Western Pennsylvania Health Information Management Association, and American Academy of Procedural Coding.

Ms. Johnson has also been a featured speaker at more than twenty conferences and seminars including AHIMA audio conferences. She was a four-year member of AHIMA's Classification and Clinical Terminology Practice Council and is a current member of Quality Initiatives and Secondary Data Practice Council. She holds a BS in health records administration from University of Pittsburgh and a MS in health care information systems, also from University of Pittsburgh.

Claire Kapilow, MSM
As director of Regulatory Affairs and Compliance for Ingenix, Claire Kapilow is responsible for tracking and analyzing health care regulations, identifying those that affect Ingenix customers and business partners, and translating those regulations into requirements for software and data. She has more than two decades of professional experience and is an expert in case mix classification systems, prospective payment, Medicare reimbursement in all settings, and software development for the management and analysis of health care information. Prior to Ingenix, she served as director of Administrative Information Systems at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center (CPMC), one of the largest health care providers in the country. In this capacity, she directed the design, development, installation, and operations of all hospital corporate systems including patient management, accounts receivable, and contract management.

Ms. Kapilow maintains professional affiliations with the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) and the National Uniform Billing Committee (NUBC). She has co-authored articles in several well-respected publications and conducted seminars on case mix management, prospective payment, and other topics. Ms. Kapilow holds a BS degree in applied mathematics from Brown University as well as a MS degree in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Lorri L. Luciano, RHIA
Lorri Luciano is the Senior Product Specialist for A-Life Hospital. As the Senior Product Specialist she assisted the Sales Team, Implementation Team and Product Steering Committee with ACTUS, A-Life Computer Assisted Coding Solution.

Prior to A-Life she was the Executive Director at Pennsylvania Health Information Management Association, a nonprofit organization. She has been an independent consultant providing Health Information Management expertise to software vendors, health care organizations and physician practices. Her emphasis is on Computer Assisted Coding Technology, Implementation of Clinical Application Software, Project Management, Productivity Evaluations and all functions within a Health Information Management Department and/or environment. Prior becoming an independent contractor, Lorri was the Operations Project Manager for SoftMed System, Inc. Her role was managing the implementation of clinical applications software from the time the contract was signed until the software was implemented.

Lorri has over 9 years experience in managing the day to day operations of a Health Information Management Department with a large health care facility in Pennsylvania. Lorri continues to remain actively involved in the American Health Information Management Association by participating on several task forces and workgroups. She is currently a member of the CAC Workgroup and CSA Task Force.

T.J. Nicolaides
Mr. Nicolaides is the product manager for Ingenix MedicalReferenceEngine.com, FeeAnalyzer.com and Ingenix Data Services products and has worked at Ingenix for 10 years. Prior to his current role, Mr. Nicolaides held several sales and sales management roles with Ingenix. He holds a BA degree in Business from the University of Utah as well as Masters of Business Administration degree, also from the University of Utah.

Nannette Orme, CPC, CEMC, PCS
Ms. Nannette Orme, Clinical Technical Editor for Ingenix, has more than 15 years of experience in the health care profession with extensive background in CPT^®, HCPCS, and ICD-9-CM coding. Prior to joining Ingenix, Ms. Orme was a consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers with expertise in physician audits and education, compliance, litigation support for Medicare self-disclosure cases, chargemaster maintenance, and E/M, multispecialty, and emergency department coding. Ms. Orme has presented at national professional conferences and contributed articles for several professional publications. She is a member of the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) and the Utah Medical Group Management Association (UMGMA).

Glenda J. Schuler, RHIT, CPC, CPC-H
Ms. Schuler has more than 30 years of experience with the health care industry in all areas of medical records, as well as utilization review and patient business services. She has working knowledge of third-party reimbursement, electronic submission of claims, and billing and collection issues. As a health care consultant, her areas of expertise include ICD-9-CM, DRG, and hospital CPT^® coding and ambulatory payment classifications (APCs), as well as chargemaster reviews. She has developed and conducted coding and reimbursement seminars and has been a featured speaker nationwide on the topic of Medicare APC groups and their impact on hospital operations. Ms. Schuler is an active member of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) and the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC).

Denise Smith, RN, BSN
Denise Smith is currently the product manager for eFacility Solutions and has been with Ingenix for 18 years. During that time, she spent 10 years working closely with the chargemaster consulting team, and, prior to accepting her most recent position, was training as a junior consultant. She earned a BS degree in nursing from the University of Utah.

 

Melinda Stegman, MBA, CCS
Ms. Stegman has more than 25 years of experience in health information management (HIM) and has held several consulting and management positions in the HIM arena. She specializes in training related to inpatient coding and DRG issues, outpatient coding issues and ambulatory payment classifications (APCs) for HIM professionals, software developers, and clients; developing outpatient billing/coding compliance tools for major accounting firms; and managing HIM consulting practices. Ms. Stegman is a regular contributing author for Advance for Health Information Management Professionals and for the Journal of Health Care Compliance. She has performed coding assessments and educational sessions throughout the country. Ms. Stegman is credentialed by American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) as a Certified Coding Specialist (CCS) and holds a Master of Business Administration degree with a concentration in Health Care Management from the University of New Mexico.

Mike Schlappi
When motivational speaker Mike Schlappi takes the floor, a dazzling smile greets you. Then you notice the wheelchair. If ever a man was defined by what he can do instead of what he can't do, it's Gold Medalist and Author Mike Schlappi. At the age of 14, Mike had expectations of a career in sports as a top notch athlete. A gunshot to the chest at point blank range challenged his dreams. He would never walk again. After months of rigorous physical therapy, he began playing basketball from his wheelchair and went on to become a standout athlete.

Mike Schlappi's thought-provoking keynote presentation challenges individuals of all ages that despite difficult circumstances, you can take response-ability and be empowered. His engaging presentations have entertained and inspired audiences worldwide. From students to chief executive officers, from the classroom to the board room, from rookies to Olympic athletes, from small gatherings to large corporate events, Mike shows audiences "If You Can't Stand Up, Stand Out!"