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Steve Beard is director of revenue cycle for State Collection Service, Inc., a Madison, Wis.-based company specializing in accounts receivable management and debt collection solutions.

Prior to joining State Collection Service, Steve was vice president and general manager of Ontario Systems’ Healthcare Systems Division. He began his career as a sales representative with IBM.

In addition to working with many of the nation’s largest healthcare providers, including HCA and Catholic Healthcare West, Steve has been asked to speak at numerous healthcare events across the country.

Steve holds a bachelor’s degree in management from Indiana University. His areas of expertise include:

• Bad debt write-off procedures
• Accounts receivable management
• Denials management
• Self-pay procedures
• Financial assistance

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Christine Fontaine 

Christine Fontaine, CHFP, CPAM, is vice president of revenue cycle solutions for OptumInsight, an Eden Prairie, Minn.-based company that specializes in technology services, information, analytics, and consulting.

She has more than 20 years of experience in healthcare finance—in physician and hospital business offices. Prior to joining OptumInsight, Christine was director of revenue cycle operations for Shore Health System, a member of the University of Maryland Medical System. She has also held management positions at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Montefiore Medical Center.

Christine is a frequent presenter at industry conferences on topics related to revenue cycle operations and best practices. Her areas of expertise include:

• Patient-centric access processes
• Denials management and prevention strategies
• Key performance indicators
• Staff training
• Implementation of technology solutions

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David Hammer 

David Hammer, FHFMA, CHFP, is senior vice president of revenue cycle advisory solutions at MedAssets, Alpharetta, Ga. Prior to joining MedAssets, David was a senior executive in Accenture’s Health and Public Services Group and was formerly vice president of enterprise revenue management at McKesson. In his more than 29 years of industry experience, David has held a variety of positions with leading health systems, Big Four consulting firms, IT vendors, and revenue cycle outsourcing companies. He is also a frequent speaker at industry events and is widely recognized for his many articles in national publications.

David holds an MBA in management and an MHS in health administration from the University of Florida. He also received a BBA in accounting from the University of North Florida. His areas of expertise include:

• Key performance indicators and metrics
• Enterprise scheduling and patient access
• Health information management
• Revenue cycle management
• Denials management

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Suzanne Lestina 

Suzanne Lestina, FHFMA, CPC, is AvadyneHealth’s Vice President of Client Innovation.   In this role, Suzanne will execute strategies that will lead the industry in next-generation revenue cycle concepts.  In addition, leveraging innovative tools and technology Suzanne will help customers implement change that will transform their revenue cycles and help them achieve positive outcomes.  

Prior to joining AvadyneHealth, Suzanne was HFMA’s director of revenue cycle MAP where she served as the technical expert and consultant for HFMA’s MAP product line(s).  In addition, Suzanne served in an advisory capacity regarding the technical aspects of revenue cycle performance improvement by aligning key topics, strategies, and industry best practices.  Suzanne has extensive revenue cycle experience, including 10 years of revenue cycle consulting. Prior to her consulting work, Ms. Lestina held hospital revenue cycle leadership roles in the Chicago area.

Suzanne holds a bachelor’s degree in organizational management from Concordia College. She is a past president of the 1st Illinois Chapter of HFMA and speaks frequently to HFMA chapters, healthcare providers, state hospital associations, and other professional organizations.

Her areas of expertise include:

• HFMA MAP/MAP App
• Key performance indicators and benchmarks
• Revenue cycle best practices
• Self-pay process
• Up front financial communications
• Technical claims submission questions
• 5010 (X12 electronic data standards)

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Brenda Loper

Brenda Loper is regional director of access services for four of the 10 Sentara Healthcare hospitals. She has more than 40 years of management experience within the revenue cycle, including central business office and health information systems.

Brenda was awarded a Six Sigma Green Belt by the Juran Institute in 2005, and she received an HFMA Founders Medal of Honor in 2006. Her areas of expertise include:

• Access management (centralized and decentralized)
• Developing and sustaining working relationships with clinical areas where staff who handle registration/access functions do not report to the central department
• Access staff education
• Access staff productivity issues in an emergency department
• Patient accounting

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Richard D. Madison 

Richard D. Madison is currently an advisory managing director at KPMG. His past positions include serving as vice president of revenue cycle operations for Crozer-Keystone Health System, a five-hospital system located in Delaware County, Pa. He has also been a partner with Accenture and a senior manager with Ernst & Young.

Richard has more than 27 years of combined industry and consulting experience and has helped large health systems and academic medical centers with process improvement and revenue cycle transformation.

Richard has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri and an MHA from St. Joseph’s University. He is a member of HFMA’s large health system Revenue Cycle Leadership Council. His areas of expertise include:

• Revenue cycle transformation
• Consolidating revenue cycle services
• Patient access and patient accounting
• Revenue cycle integrity and compliance
• Organizational structure and leadership

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Steve Marshall 

Steve Marshall, FHFMA, is director of patient financial services for Margaret R. Pardee Memorial Hospital, a not-for-profit community hospital based in Hendersonville, N.C.

Steve has more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry. Prior to joining Pardee, Steve was director of patient financial services/physician billing at Methodist Medical Center of Illinois, Peoria, Ill. Other past positions include corporate director of patient financial services for Central DuPage Health System, Winfield, Ill., and director of patient financial services at Central DuPage Hospital.

Steve holds an MBA from Northern Arizona University. His areas of expertise include:

• Denials management
• Revenue cycle process flowcharting
• Centralized scheduling
• HIPAA
• Bad debt analysis

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Kelly McGinnis

Kelly McGinnis is director of revenue cycle for HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley, a three-hospital system based in Kingston, N.Y. Kelly has almost 30 years of experience in various healthcare settings. She most recently helped implement a systemwide revenue cycle system, focusing on best practices for streamlining and integrating all aspects of the revenue stream—from registration through collections.

Kelly holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Buffalo. She is also trained in Six Sigma principles. Her areas of expertise include:

• Managed care
• Billing and follow-up
• Credit and collections
• Chargemaster
• Registration/scheduling
• Revenue cycle performance improvement

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Caswell Samms, III 

Caswell Samms, III, is vice president of revenue cycle at St. Barnabas Hospital, a not-for-profit acute care community hospital and Level I trauma center based in Bronx, N.Y.

Prior to joining St. Barnabas, Caswell was part of the executive team at East Orange General Hospital in East Orange, N.J., where he served as the assistant vice president of planning and business development, as well as the vice president of finance and planning.

Caswell holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Virginia State University and an MBA in finance and accounting from Regis University. He is also an expert for HFMA’s Payment & Reimbursement Forum. His areas of expertise include:

• Patient accounts
• Patient access
• Budgeting
• Planning
• Business development

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Christoph Stauder

Christoph Stauder, CPA, FHFMA, is president of Stauder Consulting LLC, a Beaverton, Ore.-based revenue cycle consulting firm that specializes in improving revenue cycle operations for hospitals and physician groups.

Christoph began his career as an auditor and business consultant with Arthur Andersen in 1985. He is past president of HFMA’s Oregon Chapter and has taught certification coaching courses for his chapter for many years. He wrote the first edition of HFMA’s PFS Study Guide in 1996 and is the author of HFMA’s new Certification Candidate Practicum, an all-day seminar offered nationally by HFMA.

Christoph holds a bachelor’s degree in religion from Gettysburg College and a master’s degree in religious studies from the University of Chicago. He is also an expert for HFMA’s CFO Forum. His areas of expertise include:

• All aspects of revenue cycle management for hospitals and physician groups
• Hospital and physician group price setting
• Clinical documentation improvement
• Budgeting
• ROI analysis

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