SUBMISSION - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Executive Vice President
- Executive Vice President of Third Party Liability
Cassie Henson has more than 15 years of experience as a healthcare attorney working in complex claims operations, including third party liability recovery, workers' compensation, and insurance denials. She oversees Third Party Liability, supporting clients nationwide, in coordination of benefits and revenue billing and recovery. With her legal knowledge and expertise, she works with healthcare providers of all sizes to build compliant patient friendly liability programs to maximize reimbursement on this unique set of claims and help clients navigate the settlement of liens by implementing strategic initiatives.
Job Titles:
- Executive Vice President
- Executive Vice President of Self - Pay
Ed Beitle has more than 30 years of in-depth senior leadership experience in self-pay collections, bad debt, insurance, and call center operations, including managing more than 400 patient service representatives and insurance and customer service professionals. At ElevatePFS, he leads the effort to help hospitals and health systems more effectively collect on self-pay dollars and provide compassionate service to patients who need help paying for clinical care. His responsibilities include overseeing all call center operations, P&L, collection strategies, resource allocation, and implementation plans.
Job Titles:
- Executive Vice President
- Executive Vice President of Eligibility
Emily Arias' career in healthcare leadership spans nearly 15 years and is built on a foundation of helping providers find more efficient and effective ways to deliver caring and compassionate financial advocacy to patients in need. Arias oversees the ElevatePFS Eligibility operations in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions and provides revenue cycle expertise and leadership insight to teams supporting our hospital and health system partners across the nation during her tenure.
Job Titles:
- COO
- Division President
- Division President & COO of Patient Outreach
Emily Fisher leads the ElevatePFS eligibility, disability, and self-pay service lines. She brings more than 20 years of experience in patient advocacy and revenue cycle operations management in the service of healthcare clients and their patients. Under her leadership, ElevatePFS has grown into the largest provider of hospital revenue cycle solutions for the uninsured and underinsured patient. She led the development of our government and charity programs from its roots in Medicaid eligibility into today's full-service solution that evaluates patient eligibility for all available federal, state, county, and charity. She also conceived and developed our complex claims programs, which have grown to include appeals and denials, out-of-state Medicaid, third party liability and worker's compensation services.
Frank Stellato's more than 30-year career spans businesses from multiple industries and sizes - from the healthcare, finance, and high-tech arenas, and from startups to Fortune 100 companies. He is well known for his proven leadership, team building, organizational and analytical skills. His strong background in the medical and healthcare industries serving in finance, marketing, and operational management roles is an invaluable asset to our team as we strive to deliver superior service and exceptional value to our hospital and health system partners.
Job Titles:
- Regional President of Eligibility
Godlee Davis has engaged in healthcare social advocacy for over 25 years, with more than 15 years of medical assistance eligibility experience and more than 20 years of experience with Social Security disability advocacy. As former president and chief executive officer of DECO Recovery Management, she led the company's corporate vision and growth strategy and oversaw all of its operations. Davis has participated in many state and federal government and social advocacy group collaboratives to evaluate and improve eligibility determination processes for medical assistance and has served on transition teams for state agency officials. Playing an intricate role in social advocacy for communities across the country, her efforts work to improve the quality of life for underprivileged residents.
Jack Tindal brings more than 30 years of executive-level human resources experience in healthcare. Tindal has demonstrated success in integrating company cultures during acquisitions and mergers and has a broad background in recruiting, labor relations, and human resources operations. He is responsible for ElevatePFS HR operations, including recruiting and acquisition integrations.
Job Titles:
- Executive Vice President
- Executive Vice President of Workers' Compensation
Josie Sackmann has more than 20 years of experience working in healthcare and is responsible for developing, planning, directing, and controlling the activities of the Workers' Compensation service line. She drives business objectives to ensure financial and operating success through short- and long-range planning, action, and innovation. Her leadership creates an environment that engages team members, develops quality operations and administrative processes, growth, and predictable financial performance, while supporting and demonstrating the company's mission, vision, and core values. Results-focused, she acts as a change agent to effectively drive performance results.
Job Titles:
- Division President of Complex Claims
Justin Myers, an attorney by trade, has more than 20 years of combined experience in healthcare operations and litigation. He joined ElevatePFS in 2015 and leads the Complex Claims Division, maintaining successful relationships with clients needing assistance with workers' compensation, VA, coordination of benefit denials, and third-party liability. He has previously served in roles in Operations, Client Services, and most recently as Vice President of Business Development, where he earned the distinction of Top Salesperson for 2022 and 2023.
Job Titles:
- Executive Vice President
- Executive Vice President, Growth Strategy
Lisa Almaraz is a results-driven professional with more than 25 years of revenue cycle experience that includes patient financial services, patient access services, and revenue integrity. She is responsible for leading ElevatePFS A/R management strategies, operational effectiveness and efficiencies, management processes, and financial performance. Almaraz's tenure has demonstrated the ability to implement process improvements, maximize efficiencies, and balance strategic decisions and financial discipline.
Job Titles:
- Executive Vice President
- Executive Vice President of a / R Services
Lynn Musselwhite has more than 30 years of experience in healthcare with specific expertise in financial management and revenue cycle articulation for large integrated healthcare delivery systems. Musselwhite is passionate about leading teams, and her acute understanding of project management has helped her build a proven history of achieving system strategic initiatives. She oversees ElevatePFS A/R Services, ensuring our team delivers excellent customer service and dynamic results in accounts receivable follow-up for all clients.
Job Titles:
- Executive Vice President
- Executive Vice President of Eligibility
With nearly 15 years working in the healthcare industry, Matt Blackner has been an influential presence on the ElevatePFS leadership team with his command of some of the more complex aspects of healthcare operations and the invaluable leadership experience he brings from outside the healthcare realm. Blackner oversees Eligibility operations in multiple regions across the company's nationwide portfolio of hospitals and health systems. His responsibilities include inpatient and outpatient certifications, health plan enrollment, and disability.
Job Titles:
- Executive Vice President
- Executive Vice President of Payment Recovery Services
With more than 20 years in the healthcare industry, Micaela Walls-Suarez's expertise spans across multiple revenue cycle environments. Her experience includes work with non-profit and for-profit acute care hospitals, critical access hospitals, community health centers, and multi-specialty physician clinics. Responsible for ElevatePFS' Payment Recovery Services, she leads with a strategic vision, leveraging advanced proprietary technology and a seasoned team adept in contract modeling and appeals management to enhance claims reimbursement for clients, ensuring a comprehensive approach to fiscal health and organization success.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Chief Executive Officer
A visionary executive with more than 35 years of experience in the healthcare revenue cycle management industry, Michael Shea leads ElevatePFS as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. Shea has a strong track record of directing strategic growth with impressive results at multiple successful healthcare organizations, and his business acumen, deep industry expertise and insight direct the strategic goals to drive continued growth at ElevatePFS. Prior to joining ElevatePFS, he served as a top-level executive and built successful RCM companies with a combination of solid organic growth coupled with acquisitions to facilitate product expansion and market growth. He previously served as president and chief executive officer of Bolder Healthcare Solutions from 2012 through 2018 and he founded MedAssist Incorporated in 1989. Under his vision and direction, these companies became two of the largest and most respected national leaders in revenue cycle management. Shea has also been the recipient of multiple professional honors in his career, including the 2003 Ernst & Young Midwest Entrepreneur of the Year award in healthcare.
Nicole Guido's more than 25 years of experience in healthcare on both the provider and vendor side of revenue cycle management has provided her with deep experience and understanding of what's required to build mutually successful partnerships with hospital and health systems nationally. Her diverse range of business development experience and revenue cycle acumen informs her leadership of the ElevatePFS sales, client services, and implementations team to elevate the experience of our hospital and health system partners. She is a longtime member of the Healthcare Financial Management Association and the American Association of Healthcare Management and is a recognized speaker on the local and national levels.
Job Titles:
- General Counsel
- Vice President
- ElevatePFS' Chief Executive Officer
Tom Birchfield reports to ElevatePFS' chief executive officer on legal and compliance matters and has practiced law for more than 30 years, much of it in healthcare and healthcare related fields. Prior to coming to ElevatePFS, he was a regional managing partner for a national law firm called Fisher Phillips, LLP for over 12 years and a partner at Greenebaum Doll & McDonald for 17 years.
Job Titles:
- COO, Complex Claims Division
A finance and operations expert with more than 30 years of experience in the healthcare revenue cycle management industry, Tom Watters oversees the ElevatePFS complex claims services. His experience includes leadership roles on the provider side, giving him important insight into what it takes to develop mutually successful relationships between hospitals and their outsourced revenue cycle management partners. Watters also manages strategic business initiatives and merger and acquisition efforts at ElevatePFS, where his highly informed perspective on operational analysis helps ensure seamless integration activity.
Job Titles:
- Chief Information Officer
With more than 30 years of IT and business leadership experience, Tony Briggs proven track record of achievement extends from small business to Fortune 100 companies and covers multiple industries including healthcare, retail, supply chain distribution, wholesale, and franchising. Briggs oversees ElevatePFS' entire IT operations, directing everything from broad strategic planning to specific tactical execution. His executive accomplishments are driven by the disciplines of program management, company integrations, expense-reduction programs, and business re-engineering.