SPEAKERS

Joseph C. Nichols, MD

President, Health Data Consulting, Inc. AHIMA approved ICD-10 coding trainer

Dr. Nichols is a board certified Orthopedic Surgeon with a long history in health information technology. He has a wide range of experiences in healthcare information technology on the provider, payer, government, and vendor side of healthcare business. He has served in positions in executive management, system design, logical database architecture, product management, consulting and healthcare value measurement for the last 18 of his 25 years in the healthcare industry.

He has given more than 200 presentations nationally related to ICD-10 and clinical documentation improvement during the past 3 years on behalf of CMS, payers, providers, integrated delivery systems, consulting groups, universities, government entities, vendors, and trade associations. He co-chairs the WEDI (Workgroup on Electronic Data Interchange) translation and coding sub-workgroup and has received WEDI merit awards 3 years in succession. He is also an AHIMA approved ICD-10 coding trainer. He is currently providing consulting services as the President of Health Data Consulting Inc.

Cathy Jennings, BS, CPC, CPC-I, CEDC, CHONC

AHIMA Approved Trainer ICD-10-CM/PCS, Managing Consultant

Cathy came to MRS with more than 20 years of experience in healthcare. Prior to joining our firm, she was the Manager of Coding Education and Staff Development for a company that served both facility and physician organizations coast-to-coast. Over the years she has worked with a multitude of hospitals and physician groups allowing her to identify best practices and bring them forward into engagements with new clients.

Cathy’s breadth of experience encompasses family practice, internal medicine, laboratory/pathology, hematology/oncology, emergency medicine, and outpatient facility coding. In addition to her CPC credential, she holds coding certifications in emergency medicine and hematology/oncology. She’s a compliance professional, AHIMA Approved ICD-10 trainer as well as a certified coding instructor through the AAPC.

Cathy holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Kansas. She was the 2013 local chapter president for the Kansas City chapter of AAPC and has been active in the chapter for many years. Cathy is a reputable speaker for the AAPC locally as well as regionally. She has also obtain an additional credential of Certified Associate Project Manager through the Project Management Institute.

Ruby Woordward, BSN, CPC, CPMA, COSC, CSFAC

Clinical Technical Editor, DecisionHealth

Ruby has contributed to numerous articles for DecisionHealth publications and has presented at both the national and local level on various orthopedic and DME related coding topics. She is currently a coding subject matter expert for DecisionHealth.

Doris Branker, CPC, CPC-I, CEMC, CIRCC

President, DB Healthcare Consulting

Doris Branker is president of DB Healthcare Consulting, a practice management consulting firm that also offers medical coding preparation camps. Doris is a nationally-recognized educator, coding expert, and practice management consultant, as well as an approved educator and PMCC licensed instructor with the AAPC. Her areas of expertise include medical coding, compliance, auditing, billing, and collections management. She holds specialty certifications in E/M, Interventional Radiology, and Cardiovascular coding.

Marvel Hammer, RN, CPC, CCS-P, ACS-PM, CPCO

President, MJH Consulting

Marvel Hammer, president, MJH Consulting, is a registered nurse as well as a certified coder. She is an accomplished professional with considerable experience on both the business and clinical sides of healthcare. She now focuses her consulting practice on medical coding, billing and compliance audits, education and has authored pain management online education courses.

Barbara Cobuzzi MBA, CPC, COC, CPC-P, CPC-I, CENTC, CPCO

President, CRN Healthcare Solutions

Barbara has 20+ years of experience in physician billing, coding, compliance, education and consulting. She is recognized nationally and has performed consulting for physician practices all over the country as well as work with the American Medical Association (AMA) and the Center for Medicare/Medicaid Services (CMS). Barbara’s experience includes managing a highly productive billing company for 12 years. She is a past member of the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) holding an executive board position on their National Advisory Board. Barbara is also a long-standing member to the Healthcare Billing and Management Association, the Association of Otolaryngology Administrators and the American Academy of Otolaryngology / Head and Neck Surgeons.

Karla Lovaasen , RHIA, RHIT, CCS, CCS-P

Director of Quality Auditing and Coding, AHIMA Approved ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainer

Karla Lovaasen is an independent healthcare consultant and has over 30 years of healthcare experience. She is a co-author of “ICD-9-CM Coding: Theory and Practice,” which was recently published by Elsevier, and is the Senior ICD-9-CM Coding Reviewer for Carol Buck’s coding publications. Her specialty is ICD-9-CM coding and auditing for inpatient reimbursement, both MS-DRGs and APR-DRGs. She has also served as a mentor to “new” coders for ICD-9 coding and reimbursement. She is a member of AHIMA and MdHIMA.

Mandy Willis , CPC

AHIMA Approved ICD-10CM/PCS Trainer

Mandy Willis is a Certified Coding Specialist and AHIMA Approved ICD-10 trainer with over 10 years of experience in health information consulting. She has worked with CMS, state Medicaids and Group Health Cooperative in Seattle, providing expertise in HIPAA transactions and code sets, medical coding and ICD-10 to assist in achieving compliance. She is a recipient of the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) Distinguished Service Award (2012) and the Outstanding Sub-Workgroup Co-Chair Award (2014). She is currently a Consultant with Public Consulting Group (PCG).

Margie Scalley Vaught , CPC, CPC-H, CCS-P, MCS-P, ACS-EM, ACS-OR

Margie Scalley Vaught and Associates

With 20+ years focused exclusively in orthopedics, Margie has a unique ability to translate coding, billing and reimbursement rules into real-world practice, (95% of attendees from previous conferences rate Margie a 10 out of 10 speaker!) She is technical editor to DecisionHealth’s Orthopedic Coder’s Pink Sheet and author of orthopedic specialty guides. She conducts day-to-day procedure coding and deciphers operative reports for orthopedic practices nationwide.

Joeseph C. Nichols

President, Health Data Consulting, Inc.

Cathy Jennings, BS, CPC, CPC-I, CEDC, CHONC

AHIMA Approved Trainer ICD-10-CM/PCS, Managing Consultant

Ruby Woodward

Clinical Technical Editor, DecisionHealth

Doris Branker

President, DB Healthcare Consulting

Marvel Hammer

President, MJH Consulting

Barbara Cobuzzi, MBA, CPC, COC, CPC-P, CPC-I, CENTC, CPCO

President, CRN Healthcare Solutions

Karla Lovaasen, RHIA, RHIT, CCS, CCS-P

Director of Quality Auditing and Coding, AHIMA Approved ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainer

Mandy Willis, CPC

AHIMA Approved ICD-10CM/PCS Trainer

Margie Scalley Vaught , CPC, CPC-H, CCS-P, MCS-P, ACS-EM, ACS-OR

Margie Scalley Vaught and Associates