Rhonda D. Orin is a litigator who specializes in representing policyholders in insurance coverage disputes across the country. Her caseload ranges from multi-million dollar environmental disputes to substantial disability claims on behalf of physicians, attorneys, other professionals and corporate executives. She also handles general commercial litigation. Among other things, Ms. Orin has been actively involved in two cases before the United States Supreme Court, one regarding an international business dispute and the other regarding government contracts. She also has argued insurance coverage disputes before the highest courts of two states: Maryland and Mississippi. Ms. Orin is the managing partner of her firm's Washington, DC office. Ms. Orin is the author of "Making Them Pay: How to Get the Most from Health Insurance and Managed Care," St. Martin's Press (April 2001)
Ms. Orin will speak to AMBA members on "Tips and Tricks for Making Insurers Pay." She will talk about the importance of putting all correspondence with carriers in writing, so that it can be proved later, saving everything (or at least all of the key documentation), developing an in-house database of each
insurance company's rates, so that you can figure out quickly if they're
inappropriately reducing a bill, and what is really meant by "usual and
customary" plus much more. Attendees will be able to put Ms. Orin's tips, tricks and suggestions to immediate use.
Jeff Rubin is a former newspaper journalist and publisher of more than 1,300 company newsletters since 1981, professional speaker Jeff Rubin relates his personal experiences - occasionally painful, frequently humorous - about building his business, and helps others to build theirs. Since starting his Pinole, California-based newsletter publishing firm, Put it in Writing, in 1981, Jeff has written and designed more than 1,300 newsletters for companies in a wide variety of industries, from defense contractors to mortuaries, from banks to motorcycle dealerships, from oil refineries to financial investment firms. He also publishes newsletters for several professional speakers.
Jeff taught newsletter writing and design at The Learning Annex in San Francisco for two years and has been a marketing consultant with the Contra Costa County (CA) Small Business Development Center. In 1997, he was featured in an article about businesses using newsletters to help promote their expertise, boost business and woo clients. The article, Rev Up The Presses, appeared in Your Company magazine, a publication of Money magazine and Time-Warner, Inc. Put It in Writing has been mentioned in the on-line edition of Business Week magazine and Jeff was profiled in the San Francisco Examiner business section in 2000. Jeff was a contributing author in the book, Confessions of Shameless Self Promoters, in 2001. Jeff's freelance articles have been published in numerous magazines, including Runner's World, Track &Field News, Family Weekly, Consulting Today, and Professional Speaker magazine, the publication of the National Speakers Association. Jeff is a member of the National Speakers Association and has been speaking professionally since 1997. He speaks frequently on writing, marketing, and integrity.
Jeff will be speaking on effective marketing, getting past the gate-keeper and getting more business.
Brenda Denman, HIPAA Coordinator
Centers for Medicare &Medicaid Services, Region VI
Brenda Denman is a Health Insurance Specialist at the Centers for Medicare &Medicaid Services in Dallas, Texas. She currently serves as a HIPAA Coordinator for educational activities for health care providers, health plans and others affected by HIPAA. She has 28 years with the federal government, working in Medicare and Medicaid, and for the Social Security Administration.
Ms. Denman will be speaking to AMBA members on HIPAA from CMS' perspective. She will provide information on the waiver required if a doctor wants to be exempt from mandatory electronic claims filing. Ms. Denman will be sharing the latest updates with regards to HIPAA and will answer questions regarding covered transactions, covered entities, business associates and much more.
Steven Housberg, Peak Healthcare Solutions
Warwick, NY
Mr. Housberg's background is in Healthcare and Practice Administration. He specializes in medical billing, consulting and related services to independent healthcare providers. Combined, Mr. Housberg's company, Peak Healthcare Solutions has over 30 years experience in the healthcare industry. Mr. Housberg holds a Masters in Health Administration and Planning, and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. His work experience includes small and large physician groups in Ophthalmology, Pediatrics, Radiation Oncology, and Chiropractics. Mr. Housberg has also worked for Accounts Receivable Management firms and institutional healthcare providers. Mr. Housberg has proven time and again to be a highly respected and valuable source of knowledge and information to our members and association.
Mr. Housberg will teach an educational break-out training session on developing a contract for use in your billing and coding service. He will review with you the essential elements a service contract should contain and there will be a discussion over various terms of the contract based on the services billers offer and his vast experience in implementing a service contract. He will also provide helpful information on providing OIG Compliance and HIPAA documentation as an attachment to your contracts.
Tom Patterson
Medical Office Management Services, Inc.
Pearl, MS
Tom Patterson will be teaching an educational break-out training session on Building Bridges, Marketing and Keeping Clients. Mr. Patterson has been a very successful billing service owner for several years and will share the techniques that have worked well for him with you. You'll learn what motivates doctors to enter into a business relationship with you and the added services you can offer to diversify your business. Patterson will help you build upon your own success and integrity.
Michael Heverin, CMRS
Advantage 2K Medical Billing
New Town, PA
Mr. Heverin will be teaching an educational break-out training session on getting Chiropractic Claims Paid. As AMBA's Chief programming engineer and a great source of product support for our members Mr. Heverin has extensive software development experience and has been a certified medical biller for several years. He is a Chiropractic billing specialist. Mr. Heverin has discovered how some carriers like to downcode claims and or not pay for services at all on some claims while paying others without a problem. He will share the secrets he's learned on how to get carriers to pay for Chiropractic claims, tracking carrier payments, use of modifiers (they do make a difference!) and billing Chiropractic claims to Medicare. You'll be sure to put his knowledge to work for you.
Sarah Lott
Owner, Texas Star Medical Billing
Vidor, TX
Sarah Lott, President of Texas Star Medical Billing, Inc., entered the field of DME in 1990, as a one-person office for a new local company and left eight years later as general manager with a staff of twelve and a growing prosperous company, which was sold to a large corporation. Sarah has helped other successful DME startup companies as well. She holds multiple certifications in DME billing, Medicare compliance, DME business organization, HIPAA and OIG compliance and is a member of AMBA as well as the Co-Chairperson of AMBA's DME Committee. Additionally, Sarah is an associate member of MESA, the Medical Equipment Suppliers Association, for the states of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma
Sarah will be teaching a Durable Medical Equipment (DME) Billing educational break-out training session. She will teach you the basics on DME billing. You'll learn about Certificates of Medical Necessity, receive tips on submitting claims and much more.
Martin Grasdal is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE), Microsoft
Certified Trainer (MCT), and a Certified Information Systems Security
Professional (CISSP) who works as an independent consultant, author, and
editor specializing in computer networking and security. With over 10 years
of networking experience, Martin is a former CTO of BrainBuzz.com, which
operates the largest IT certification web site in the world, where he was
responsible for overseeing all aspects of the company’s IT infrastructure.
Martin frequently collaborates with the principals of Tacteam.net, Tom and
Deb Shinder, and has contributed content and technical advice to a number of
their books, notably ISA Server 2000: Building Firewalls for Windows 2000
and Dr. Tom Shinder's ISA Server and Beyond: Real World Security Solutions
for Microsoft Enterprise Networks.
In an educational break-out session, Martin will discuss the problem of how to allow physicians and other outside parties to access to sensitive healthcare information on your network remotely, while maintaining the security of your systems and limiting access to only that information that is authorized as required by HIPAA and OIG regulations. His talk provides an overview of different types of remote access, what hardware and software are necessary to set up a remote access server, internet access options, performance issues, cost factors and how to use encryption to protect sensitive and protected health information data. (Note, this is a speaker change from Deb &Thomas Shinder, who were unable to attend.)
Peter Bowhall
IntelleClaim
Santa Rosa, CA
Peter is CEO of IntelleClaim, Inc. He has over 18 years of experience in the management, development and deployment of practice management systems solutions for the healthcare industry. He was CEO and a co-founder of HealthPro Solutions, a successful medical software company that was acquired by WebMD. Peter’s primary focus has been in the development of electronic claims processing systems for private practice, community health centers, public health agencies, hospital outpatient clinics and other ambulatory care centers. He has managed the development of electronic claims processing and eligibility verification interfaces with over 250 payers, clearinghouses and managed care plans throughout the United States—including Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam.
Peter will be teaching an educational break-out training session on clearinghouses, HIPAA Transactions, ANSI4010 and what the future holds. He will share information about standard transactions, ANSI4010 and what is needed by a biller to ensure claims meet HIPAA requirements. He'll also provide insight into how clearinghouses work, edits used in processing claims and give you tips to eliminate rejected claims at the clearinghouse level.
Cyndee Weston
Executive Director, AMBA
Davis, OK
Cyndee Weston has been an independent medical biller and consultant for 14 years. She founded the AMBA in 1998 as a result of her experiences and needs as a biller and knowing how important it is to network with other billers and to share information. Prior to owning her own billing service, Weston worked for many years as a Claims Adjuster for commercial carriers processing health claims. She holds certiciations in medical billing and HIPAA Compliance and has attended countless seminars and conferences on billing and has taken many online courses in coding, billing and compliance.
Cyndee will be teaching an educational break-out training session on tracking and anlyzing claim denials. Learn how to track denials in your billing software program so you can determine why claims are being denied and eliminate or reduce denied claims.
Terri D. Wyman, CMRS
Director, Medical Billing/Coding Department
Springfield, MA
Terri Wyman has over 20 years of experience in the medical assisting and medical billing/reimbursement fields. Additionally, she initiated and ran a
home-based medical transcription business. For the last 10 years, she has been an educator and administrator at the post-secondary level for several
technical schools in the Massachusetts and Connecticut areas. She has been instrumental in writing and updating curricula for both the medical assisting and medical billing/coding programs at these institutions. Her most recent projects include editing and updating textbooks for ITP and Glencoe Publishing companies for use in medical assisting and medical billing programs, and speaking at area medical assisting conferences regarding billing/coding and HIPAA privacy regulations.
Ms. Wyman will teach AMBA's Certified Medical Reimbursement Specialist (CMRS) Preparation class as an educational break-out training session. You will get a first-hand glimpse of the exam and receive tips on how to pass the exam and obtain the highest score possible. You'll learn which resources will assist you the most while preparing for and taking our CMRS exam and how best to utilize your study time. If you're interested in taking the CMRS exam, this class is for you!
