Recruited to provide stability and leadership to distressed coding department for 5 hospitals. Stepped in to directly manage 2 teams including DNFB, with no supervisors, amounting to 7 direct reports. Department had experienced overhaul 6 months prior, facing issues of low staff performance and morale, undefined workflow governing account administration and management, and persistent bottlenecks delaying reimbursement. Identified and remediated issues impacting data quality and revenue cycle. Strengthened training on ICD-10 diagnosis coding, CPT/HCPCS coding, and coding modifiers. Defined strategy for quality coding program to meet regulatory compliance. Contributed to planning, monitoring, and managing OP coding budget.► Provide leadership essential to meeting 95% standard across all hospitals. Defined performance standards and implemented SharePoint to communicate workflow requirements and coding errors to be escalated and remediated.► Fully restructured 300+ work queues and assigned managers to each to greatly facilitate workflow and execution.► Instituted department’s 1st audit and education team comprised of top performers who earned promotions. Team provided support to coders and analysts regarding quarterly updates to coding guidelines.► Captured top 25th percentile ranking on employee engagement during 1st year, for factors including providing people the opportunity to do what they do best, issuing recognition for good work, and encouraging growth and development.

Promoted to steer full-scale restructuring for this 3rd-party payer and reduce outstanding appeals inventory by half within 60 days. Evaluated each member of 20-person administrative support and coding analysis teams to assess their skills and knowledge, then issued series of recommendations regarding whom to retain, retrain, or release into other positions. Also, instituted new requirement for team members to hold Certified Professional Coder designation. Provided training and mentorship regarding claims integrity and compliance measures and ensured team met or exceeded objectives for coder productivity, quality analysis, and client turnaround time. Provided subject matter expertise to revenue development and implementation committees. Previously held title of Assistant Director of Operations, Claims Editing (3/2016–3/2017).► Generated record $1.5M+ in monthly revenue by remediating bottlenecks and slashing outstanding appeals inventory 50% within 60 days.► Raised team performance to 95%+, largely by instituting forecasting KPI dashboard to track productivity and trends, delivering data to identify top performers, as well as team members potentially benefitting from improvement.

Principally guided launch of onshore HIM coding operations for this international 3rd-party vendor and reported directly to SVP, Healthcare. Launch encompassed ground-up strategic planning, dashboard maintenance, and reporting on internal performance indicators. Drove series of process improvements to optimize productivity and quality. Served as DRG and APC auditor on principal DX, POAs, MCCs, CCs, modifiers, discharge disposition, and POS.► Installed, trained, and provided leadership to 20-member team, whose high performance proved instrumental to capturing business with #1-rated health system in the greater Orlando area, according to US News & World Report.► Designated to serve as project manager and committee member overseeing execution of offshore ICD-10 training modules.

Advanced to this role with this 700-bed acute care teaching hospital to structure and implement new coding training, education, and onboarding for 1st-year resident physicians. Previously held title of Manager, Coding Documentation & Compliance (7/2013 to 7/2014), overseeing provider E/M and same-day surgery audits, coding-focused CMS audits and building detailed reports for Annual Risk Assessment and Audit Work Plan. Additionally, served as the RAC audits reviewer, as well as project manager and committee member for ICD-10 implementation. ► Challenged approximately 12 3rd-party audit requests from Bureau of Program Integrity and captured up to $20K per claim in revenue that had been previously denied. Submitted explanations of issues and remediation measures.► Created physician coding and compliance audit policy and executed formal education program for providers to build their core competencies on coding regulations, documentation standards, and compliance requirements.

Conducted comprehensive medical coding for outpatient ambulatory, same-day surgery, ER, and E&M departments of large university teaching hospital. Leveraged deep knowledge of coding research and analysis.

Provided vocational and continuing undergraduate education in Health Information Management department. Developed and delivered lesson plans, course materials, assignments, and assessments.

Merited fast-track advancement to this role, to principally direct 6-member coding and compliance team for this radiology service affiliated with a 400-bed teaching hospital. Previously held titles: Coding & Compliance Specialist (4/2009 to 7/2009) and Certified Medical Coder (6/2008 to 4/2009). Conducted audits, monitored processes, documented data, and created detailed reports. Reviewed denials and rejections. Trained and mentored staff.