Presenters

Stephanie Allard is a Senior Compliance Specialist for DoctorsManagement. She is a multi­specialty auditor with proficiency in more than 40 specialties including, but not limited, to orthopedics, cardiology, vascular, neurology, general surgery, OB/GYN, PM&R, and PT/OT. In addition to performing external audit reviews, Stephanie provides feedback and education to help clients implement practices and strategies that will reduce risk in the future. She also performs forensic auditing that includes focused reviews to be used in court cases.

Stephanie brings more than a decade of medical and management experience and a strong understanding of the entire medical billing and coding process. She has managed large teams of coders and understands the importance of quality reviews, productivity tracking and coding education. Clients appreciate that Stephanie stays current with the ever ­changing regulations and is able to convey new information in a way that helps improve their overall results. She often provides guidance and support to other coding professionals.

Stephanie holds the Certified Professional Coder (CPC®), the Certified E&M Medical Auditing (CEMA®), and the Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT®) designations. She is an active member of the National Alliance of Medical Auditing Specialists (NAMAS), the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) and the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC).

Dr. Allysceaeioun D. Britt is a public health practitioner with 20 years’ experience and research in healthcare administration and policy for Medicaid populations, program development and evaluation, population health engagement with a focus on social determinants health and vaccine-preventable diseases. She currently serves as Interim Vice President of Faculty Affairs and Development and Assistant Professor in School of Graduate Studies and Research at Meharry Medical College, Nashville TN.

Frank Cohen is the Director of Analytics and Business Intelligence for DoctorsManagement, LLC. He has authored, co-authored and published numerous articles, studies and books on health care analytics. His expertise includes applied statistics, data mining, predictive analytics, and process improvement. His latest book is titled, “RVUs: Applications for Medical Practice Success”. Frank has trained thousands of physicians, administrators, CPAs and other healthcare professionals in all areas of healthcare analytics. His experience includes eight years as a Physician Assistant in both the Navy and as a civilian, clinic administrator and hospital CEO. His clients include hospitals, large and small medical practices, medical and professional associations, legal and accounting professionals, government agencies and other health care professionals.

Maxine has more than thirty years of experience in medical practice management, adult education and general business. She has taught courses at various levels, including teaching business communications and accounting at Midwestern State University in Texas. Maxine has extensive experience teaching administrative and clinical personnel essential medical office skills such as medical terminology, coding, reimbursement, OSHA, and HIPAA compliance. She is adept at personnel management, government rules and regulations, accounting and budgeting. Additionally, her experience with practice marketing and development make her a knowledgeable and much sought-after practice management resource.

Maxine has served as an administrator of a multi-specialty clinic, where she was responsible for all clinic operations including medical records, billing and collections, OSHA, HIPAA and Medicare compliance, and all accounting operations. She also has experience in medical practice consulting and has successfully launched multiple practices.

Tracy Crane is the assistant curriculum director at Absolute Medical Coding Institute (AMCI). She is also a Medical Coding Instructor and has taught at AMCI since 2016. During her time at AMCI, Tracy has co-authored three exam preparation manuals called the Test Taking Techniques™. Tracy has also assisted in developing innovative learning curricula and techniques to enable all levels and types of learners from visual to auditory, to tactile. Her primary goal is to assist individuals in passing medical certification exams. Her passion is sharing her unique teaching style that implements AMCI's teaching methods. These methods help students grasp medical coding concepts as well as equip them with tools to pass AAPC's Certified Professional Coder exam (CPC®) and AHIMA's Certified Coding Specialist (CCS®) exam.

President/Founder, NAMAS and President, Coding & Billing Services, and a Partner at DoctorsManagement, LLC. She has over 16 years of experience as a multi-specialty auditor and coder. She has helped coders, medical chart auditors, and medical practices optimize business processes and maximize reimbursement by identifying lost revenue. She heads NAMAS, President of Coding & Billing Services and a Partner at DoctorsManagement, LLC. Shannon developed an audit certification training study guide, educational products and web-based tools for coders, auditors, and medical providers.

David M. Glaser is a shareholder in Fredrikson & Byron's Health Law Group. David assists clinics, hospitals, and other health care entities negotiate the maze of health care regulations, providing advice about risk management, reimbursement, and business planning issues. He has considerable experience in health care regulation and litigation, including compliance, criminal and civil fraud investigations, and reimbursement disputes. David's goal is to explain the government's enforcement position, and to analyze whether this position is supported by the law or represents government overreaching.

Zach Hochstetler is the director of CPT Editorial and Regulatory Affairs in the American Medical Association’s Health Solutions unit. Zach’s work focuses on several key areas, including: leading and setting strategic direction for the CPT Editorial Panel and directing the communication of health care policies, through identification and resolution of national payment and reporting problems. He is also the secretary of the CPT Editorial Panel, ensuring that the process remains open and transparent.

Zach has over 10 years of experience working on physician payment and policy issues. He spent seven years working in the Physician Payment and Policy unit of the American Medical Association, primarily tasked with managing the data acquisition and maintenance processes for the AMA RUC.

Camille “Mrs. J” Jackson, is one of the founders and curriculum director for Absolute Medical Coding Institute (AMCI). Mrs. J has authored three exam preparation manuals published annually since 2016 called the Test Taking Techniques™, she has developed innovative learning curriculum and techniques to enable all levels (novice to professional), and types of learners (visual, auditory, and tactile) to pass medical certification exams. Mrs. J has a knack for training anyone who has a desire to learn to pass the rigorous Certified Professional Coder exam (CPC®) through AAPC, and the Certified Coding Specialist (CCS®) exam through AHIMA.

Heidi is a regulatory and transactional attorney and partner with Liles Parker with more than 20 years of experience in health care legal and compliance-related issues. Formerly a chief privacy officer and interim chief compliance officer at a medical device manufacturer, Heidi has also served as an outside compliance expert to a hospital and a clinical laboratory that were under Corporate Integrity Agreements. She has assisted many clients with telehealth issues, including meeting standards and ensuring proper billing, and has helped clients buy and sell practices or entities. She also has significant reimbursement experience, defending payer audits, challenging loss of billing privileges, obtaining HCPCS codes, and other reimbursement related issues.

Robert has an exceptional range of healthcare law. His experience, and down-to-earth character have earned high marks at past PMI conferences. He heads the Washington D.C.- based law firm, Liles Parker, PLLC, one of the nation’s leading law firms representing healthcare providers in civil, criminal, and administrative proceedings related to healthcare fraud defense and regulatory matters. He was the first National Health Care Fraud Coordinator and subsequently worked as Deputy Director of the U.S. Department of Justice, Executive Office for United States Attorneys. He also co-authored PMI’s Certified Medical Compliance Officer (CMCO) credential, and serves as outside compliance counsel to a number of national health care organizations.

Michael is the President of Practice Masters, Inc., and is the founding partner of Miscoe Health Law, LLC. He has nearly thirty years of experience in healthcare coding and over twenty years as a forensic coding and compliance expert in civil and criminal cases. He has an extensive national speaking background and has been published in numerous national publications on a variety of coding and compliance topics. He has significant experience in Evaluation and Management, Physical Medicine, Electro-diagnostic, Radiologic, Physical Therapy and Chiropractic service coding.

Mr. Miscoe served on the AAPC National Advisory Board for the 2007-2009 and 2013-2015 terms and is currently serving as the President of the Board. He also serves on the AAPC Legal Advisory Board and chairs the AAPC Ethics Committee. Mr. Miscoe is admitted to the Bar in the state of California.

Ashley Morgan is Senior Counsel at Liles Parker PLLC and focuses her practice on regulatory health care compliance matters, fraud and abuse, and reimbursement issues. Ashley represents health care providers across the country in connection with a wide variety of health law issues including coverage disputes, documentation concerns, compliance, medical board complaints, and revocation / exclusion issues. Ashley has worked with an assortment of providers including dentists, home health companies, hospice agencies, primary care and specialty physicians, mental health professionals, physical therapists, durable medical equipment suppliers, and licensed acupuncturists.

Ashley has handled claims disputes with major payors including Medicare, Medicaid, various BlueCross BlueShield entities, UnitedHealthcare, and Delta Dental. She has extensive experience working on administrative appeals of large alleged extrapolated overpayments assessed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) contractors including Unified Program Integrity Contractors (UPICs) and Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) and by private payors. Ashley has also successfully defended providers against medical board and nursing board complaints.

Ashley is a Certified Medical Compliance Officer and helps clients implement effective compliance programs and provides counsel on mandatory state and industry-specific policies and procedures. In this capacity, Ashley provides on-site walk-throughs to review OSHA compliance and performs training for staff members on HIPAA and other mandatory compliance regulations. Ashley is also a Certified Professional Coder in addition to a Certified Medical Reimbursement Specialist and conducts GAP Analyses of provider’s medical record documentation to determine areas for improvement with any CMS or private payor documentation requirements.

Ashley is originally from Bethany Beach, Delaware and now lives with her husband and son in Northern Virginia and works in Liles Parker’s Washington, DC office.

Chief Medical Officer, Dallas Regional Office Dr. Nilasena is the Chief Medical Officer of the CMS Dallas Regional Office. He also serves as the regional lead for the agency’s Value-Based Purchasing initiatives and a lead contact for the HITECH Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program. Dr. Nilasena has been the CMS lead for national quality improvement efforts in Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI), Heart Failure, and Stroke. Dr. Nilasena is board certified in General Preventive Medicine/ Public Health and has Masters of Science degrees in both Public Health and Medical Informatics from the University of Utah.

Dr. Parsi has presented at numerous national pediatric conferences, runs a private pediatric practice and presently heads an education and consulting company that helps practicing pediatricians with coding and practice management. She earned her medical degree in 1994 and her pediatric residency in 1997 at Baylor College of Medicine. She received her MBA in 2008 at University of Texas at San Antonio. She holds numerous certifications and is a certified medical coder and certified pediatric coder. Currently, she serves on the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Committee on Coding and Nomenclature. In addition, she is the Chair of the Editorial Advisory Board and the editor of the coding publications for the AAP. She has served on numerous boards and was the President of the San Antonio Pediatric Society from 2011 to 2013.

Dr. Watson’s main responsibilities for CIGNA in the North Texas and Oklahoma region include: Physician and Facility engagement, Total Market Cost oversight, Strategic planning and Client Sales Support. He also chairs the West National Credentialing and the National Peer Review Committees. He previously served as the Senior Medical Director for the Texas Market of HealthSpring, Inc, a Medicare Advantage company.

Dr. Watson graduated from the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in Missouri in 1997. He completed his internship and residency in family practice at Botsford Hospital in Farmington Hills, Michigan, where he was named chief resident in 1999-2000. During that time, he also completed a fellowship in medical education and teaching through the Statewide Campus System and Michigan State University. After practicing for 8 years, Dr. Watson obtained an MBA from the University of Tennessee Knoxville, which spurred his interest in the administrative aspects of medicine. In 2015 he was named one of the “Most Influential People in Medicine” in Dallas-Fort Worth in the Dallas Business Journal.

Paul Weidenfeld focuses his practice on False Claims Act cases, fraud investigations and Qui Tam (commonly referred to as “whistleblower”) lawsuits. Mr. Weidenfeld has a rare combination of litigation experience and subject matter expertise in health law. Prior to founding Exclusion Screening, LLC, he worked over ten years as a Federal Prosecutor, including two years as the “National Health Care Fraud Coordinator” for the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, Department of Justice. Mr. Weidenfeld has also served as a Federal Public Defender and has been a Partner in one of the nation’s most prestigious law firms where he has represented health care organizations and providers involved with both civil and criminal matters, trying over 75 separate cases throughout his tenure as a litigator. Paul has been rated “AV” by Martindale-Hubbell, the highest rating which can be awarded by this nationally-recognized attorney rating service.

Sean serves as Chief Compliance Officer for numerous nationally recognized health care organizations; engaged in the development of customized Corporate Compliance Programs including: Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), Policies, Corrective Action Plans, Investigations and maintaining their Culture of Compliance. Sean has been recognized time and again by clients for successfully protecting their organization from unwarranted penalties and ensuring they receive due process. He has protected thousands of physicians, medical practice groups, and hospitals from undue penalties. In his medical audit appeal defense work Sean and his team of auditing and compliance experts have a proven record of having claims dismissed that had been brought against large and small healthcare organizations targeted by federal (Medicare), state (Medicaid), and commercial insurance payors.

Aimee is a healthcare auditor, coder, educator, and author with over 30 years of experience in the healthcare industry in both clinical and administrative positions. She has managed both small and large solo and multi-specialty practices in both public and private sectors. As the Director of Content for innoviHealth, she writes articles and books on medical coding, documentation, and reimbursement, as well as assisting in the development of coding and auditing-specific online tools. She presents webinars and podcasts and often speaks at local and national healthcare coding and auditing conferences. She enjoys helping healthcare professionals understand how to document their services correctly to protect revenue.