MedAxiom Fall 2013 Conference
 
Speakers
Margie Amato
Director, Business Office and Coding Network
MedAxiom

Margie Amato, MBA, RHIA, ACS-CA, has worked in health care administration for over 25 years. In her role as Director of MedAxiom’s Business Office Coding Network (BOCN) Margie helps member practices improve the profitability and effectiveness of the complete billing process. This is accomplished through extensive educational coding programs, networking and by utilizing a management system of key indicators to measure and benchmark each step of the billing process. Her health care experience varies from coding and quality/utilization management to oncology service-line management. The most recent years have been devoted to cardiology practice management. Before coming to MedAxiom, Margie served as Practice Administrator for Utah Heart Clinic for 10 years and then served as the Director of Physician Services for a Salt Lake City hospital where she started and managed a cardiology practice, a neurosurgery practice, and a hospitalist program. Margie holds a Bachelors Degree in Health Information Management from the College of Saint Mary and a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the University of Nebraska. Margie maintains credentials as a Registered Health Information Administrator and an Advanced Coding Specialist in Cardiology. Margie currently serves on the Board of Medical Specialty Coding where she writes and updates test questions for the ACS-CA and SCP-CA Cardiology coding exams. She recently served on the Utah Health Information Management Association Board as the Director of Alternate Care. Margie also served in the Presidency of the Utah MGMA Board of Directors for 7 years.


 
Cathleen Biga
President & CEO
Cardiovascular Management of Illinois

Cathleen Biga is President and CEO of Cardiovascular Management of Illinois. She has over 30 years experience in health care, including positions as hospital CEO, VPof patient Care services and has been active in practice management for the last 15 years. She has recently completed three integrations for her current groups – successfully transitioning 46 cardiologists. CMI now offers management, billing, and EHR support for the integrated groups. Cathleen serves as the Executive Director of Adventist Heart and Vascular Institute and is instrumental in the development and growth of the CV Service Line for the organization. She has been active nationally with consulting and lecturing on physician/hospital integration, development and formation of CV SL, quality initiatives, development of Clinical co management agreements, designing balanced quality score cards, and advocacy issues. She serves on the advisory board of Medaxiom, is Past-President of CSCA, past-president of Cardiology Advocacy alliance, an active member of numerous ACC committees and workgroups and is on the Illinois Board of Councilors of ACC. She serves on multiple Boards and remains active in her community. With her background in hospital administration she is able to bring a unique perspective to practice management in these complex times.


 
Denise Brown
VP – Business Intelligence Solutions & Senior Consultant
MedAxiom Consulting

Denise Brown is the Vice-President of MedAxiom Consulting. As a health care executive with over 25 years of experience in hospital system and private practice healthcare operations, operational efficiency, physician recruitment, business development, marketing, and facilities planning; she recently achieved her Green Belt in Lean Sigma from the Johns Hopkins, Center for Innovation in Quality Patient Care.
 
Prior to her current position she was Chief Operating Officer at West Michigan Heart in Grand Rapids, Michigan. There she led the clinical, technical and business operations initiatives; business development efforts and operationalized both co-management and integration efforts for the practice. Ms. Brown also served as Director of Business Development for Wisconsin Heart and Vascular Clinics, owners of the Wisconsin Heart Hospital. She has extensive experience in developing clinical program models to drive referring physician, patient/consumer and payer engagement.
 
Denise also held prior positions as the AV.P. of Purchasing for Health Services Corporation of America (HSCA) one of the founding members of AmeriNet GPO as well as Materials Management Directorships at two healthcare systems in Wisconsin.



 
Joseph T Butz
Senior Divisional VP, Cardiac & Transplant Services
Sentara Healthcare

Joseph T. Butz, MBA, JD is the Senior Divisional Vice President for Sentara Healthcare, which is a $5.5B, 10 Hospital Health System located in the State of Virginia. His responsibilities in this role encompass oversight of the Sentara Heart Hospital ranked among the Top 50 Cardiac facilities in the Nation by U.S. News & World Report, and the functioning of a 7 Hospital Cardiac Service Line, including strategic operations, budgeting, technology, physician practice operations and strategic planning. Sentara Heart represents a statewide Cardiac Service Line performing over 1,500 cardiac surgeries and 8,000 procedures. Mr. Butz joined Sentara in 2008 and has overseen the expansion of Sentara Heart to include such innovative services as the Total Artificial Heart, Trans Aortic Valvular Replacement (TAVR) and CT Stress Perfusion. Mr. Butz holds an M.B.A. from Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management and a J.D. from DePaul University, College of Law.



 
Dr. Al Dodds
Physician
Michigan Heart

Dr. G. Alfred Dodds III is a non-invasive cardiologist with Michigan Heart at St. Joseph Mercy Health System in Ann Arbor, MI. Established in 1994, Michigan Heart is a nationally recognized leader in comprehensive cardiovascular care. After integrating with St. Joseph Mercy Health System three years ago, Michigan Heart expanded their footprint in providing high quality, patient-focused care at nine clinical offices and five hospitals throughout southeast Michigan. Dr. Dodds joined Michigan Heart in 2000, and has special interests in adult congenital heart disease, valvular heart disease, nuclear cardiology and echocardiography including transesophageal echocardiography. As one of 34 cardiologists and 12 midlevel providers at Michigan Heart, Dr. Dodds has authored and co-authored many publications, abstracts and book chapters involving various topics in cardiac disease. Dr. Dodds is currently on staff at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital. He is the Chair of Clinical Operations Committee, Chair of Physician Compensation Committee, and a member of the Physician Recruitment Committee. Dr. Dodds previously served on the Michigan Heart Board of Directors for several years, and was the 2011 Chair of the Washtenaw County Heart Ball for the American Heart Association. 


 
Loretto Gonzalez
CFO
Foothill Cardiology / California Heart Medical Group, Inc.

Loretto has been involved in financial management for twenty-five years.  Fourteen years as the controller and recently the Chief Financial Officer of Foothill Cardiology/California Heart Medical Group - the largest cardiology group in Southern California.  Prior to transitioning to the healthcare industry, Loretto was a Banking Executive involved in office branch management. 

Loretto has a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from California State Polytechnic University Pomona.



 
Carl Hartman M.D.
Medical Director
Sentara Heart

Throughout his career, Dr. Hartman has assumed a position of medical leadership at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. He has served as Chairman of the Division of Cardiology Services, Director of Intermediate Care and Telemetry Units and Director of the Cardiac Care Unit. He is currently an associate professor of medicine at the Eastern Virginia Medical School and past President of the Medical Staff at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. Dr. Hartman is now serving as Medical Director of Sentara Heart Hospital and as Medical Director of a 10 hospital cardiac service line.




 
John Harvey
CEO/Physician
Oklahoma Heart Hospital Physicians

John Harvey MD is one of the founding members of the Oklahoma Heart Hospital, one of the largest specialty cardiac hospitals in the United States.
  He received his MD from the University of Oklahoma with training in Oklahoma and Beth Israel Hospital in Boston.  He is also a founding member of Oklahoma Cardiovascular Associates, a 65 member cardiac specialty group which has now merged with the hospital.  He continues to have a practice in Interventional Cardiology but in the last 3 years has also served as the CEO of the Oklahoma Heart Hospital.


 
R. Terry Heath
Health Care Attorney
Hall, Render, Killian, Heath & Lyman, P.C.

Mr. Heath has been practicing law continuously since 1979 as a health care attorney. He represents a wide array of physician practices and other health care clients nationwide. He regularly provides advice and counsel regarding business and regulatory issues pertaining to professional practices, hospitals and health systems and the formation of joint ventures between and among physicians and/or hospitals, specialty hospitals and medical practices. He also counsels clients on ongoing "corporate" affairs of medical practices and many other business, tax, clinical services and regulatory matters. Owners of professional practices also often enlist Mr. Heath's help in transactions in partnering with other related entities, such as ambulatory surgery centers, cardiac catheterization laboratories and diagnostic/imaging centers.  Mr. Heath has rendered or renders advice and counsel to the nation's largest cardiology practice and the nation's largest nonprofit health system, as well as many other general hospitals, specialty hospitals, joint ventures and physician practices.  Mr. Heath helps clients form hospital-physician ventures designed to improve the quality of health care services offered in their local communities. He was selected by Nightingale Publications as one of the top 10 physician's attorneys in the United States.  Mr. Heath is a past managing partner of Hall Render Killian Heath & Lyman, the nation's largest law firm devoted to serving health care providers.




 
Craig Hittle
Senior Manager
Somerset CPAs, P.C

Craig Hittle is a senior manager in our Health Care Team working with various health care clients in multiple industries and specialties.  He works extensively with physicians, administrators and hospitals on integration strategies and fair market valuations for acquisitions and service line management arrangements. Craig also specializes in consulting services to Durable Medical Equipment (“DME”) and Sleep Diagnostic Testing companies with primary focus on business valuation, acquisitions and business transactions, financial and strategic planning, revenue enhancement and operational analysis.  He has significant experience in DME business valuation and due diligence, business negotiations and partnerships, finance and capital structure, financial modeling and analytics, operations consulting and hospital-based DME consulting.


 
Pat Holloway
Chief Operating Officer
Oklahoma Heart Hospital Physicians

Pat Holloway is Chief Operating Officer of Oklahoma Heart Hospital Physicians (OHHP), the state’s largest cardiovascular provider consisting of 65 employed physicians and 24 mid-level providers.    He has served as the group’s chief administrator for the past 14 years and has been integrally involved in the formation, development and operations of Oklahoma Heart Hospital (OHH), the physician group’s parent organization.   OHH consists of two specialty heart hospitals (99-bed OHH North and 62-bed OHH South) with combined volumes of approximately 1,400 open heart surgeries, 4,000 coronary interventions, 12,000 coronary caths, 500 endarterectomies and 300 peripheral bypass grafts.  Prior to OHHP, Pat worked as Chief Executive Officer for two cardiovascular groups affiliated with MedCath, Inc. and as Director of Physician Operations with Baptist Health System in Birmingham, Alabama.  He received  his BS and MBA degrees in accounting and finance from the University of North Texas and his MHA degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.  He is a Certified Public Accountant.



 
Ann Honeycutt
Practice Administrator
Virginia Cardiovascular Specialists, Richmond, VA

Ann has been the Executive Director for Virginia Cardiovascular Specialists, a 38 man cardiology group in Richmond, VA. for 12 years. VCS is the largest independent cardiology group in Central Virginia.  She has served in numerous roles in healthcare for over 30 years including the CEO for Stuart Circle Hospital and Executive Director for St. Mary’s Hospital in Richmond, Va. Ann is the Administrative liaison for the Va. Chapter of the ACC and has served on the Cardiology Advocacy Board (CAA) since inception in 2005 and was President in 2007.   During her years in Richmond, Ann has played an active role in the community working with the AHA, Children’s Hospital and RMGMA.  She has served on the Children’s Hospital Board for over 16 years and was Chairman of the Board for 4 years. Ann was also involved with Central Virginia Health Network, the first network for non profit hospitals in Richmond prior to the hospital consolidations, and served as their chairman. She is currently working with other independent groups in Richmond to develop a clinically integrated network.  VCS has been involved in Clinical Co Management partnerships with their local hospital.


 
Suzette Jaskie
President & CEO
MedAxiom Consulting

Suzette Jaskie is President of MedAxiom Consulting and the Executive Vice-President of MedAxiom. Ms. Jaskie was the CEO of West Michigan Heart and Wisconsin Heart and Vascular in Milwaukee, WI prior to her current position. She also previously served as the Executive Director of the Frederick Meijer Heart and Vascular Institute, for Spectrum Health System in Grand Rapids, MI, that governs and manages the cardiovascular service line for the regional health system. Ms. Jaskie has a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the University of Hartford and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Wisconsin.
 
Ms. Jaskie is a former President of Medical Group Management Association's cardiovascular assembly (CSCA) and is currently a serving on the American College of Cardiology's Practice Management Council. Ms. Jaskie is a faculty member of the American College of Cardiology Advanced Leadership Institute and a former board member of the Cardiovascular Advocacy Alliance. She has rich experience in strategic planning and program development and has been a speaker at numerous conferences on varied topics such as Physician Compensation, Strategic Planning, Product Line and Program Development, Performance Management, Operations Efficiency, as well as Governance and Leadership.



 
Catherine Krawczeski MD
Director, Quality Improvement and Clinical Effectiveness. Co-Director, Center for Acute Care Nephrology
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center


Catherine Krawczeski MD is an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and is clinical faculty in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC). She is the director of Quality Improvement and Clinical Effectiveness for the Heart Institute.

Dr. Krawczeski received her medical degree from the University of Missouri and completed pediatric residency at Washington University/St. Louis Children’s Hospital and fellowships in pediatric cardiology and pediatric critical care medicine at the same institution. She is board certified in both specialties.

Dr. Krawczeski focuses her research on clinical outcomes after pediatric cardiac surgery. She has a particular interest in the effects of cardiopulmonary bypass on the kidney, focusing on biomarker technology for the early diagnosis and treatment of kidney injury.

Dr. Krawczeski  also has a strong interest in Quality Improvement and has been instrumental in developing a quality improvement program for cardiovascular disease at CCHMC and in creating Heart Institute “dashboards” to track outcomes and determine strategic improvement priorities. She manages a large portfolio of improvement initiatives in the Heart Institute, working to improve health care delivery and patient outcomes.


 
Dr. Warren Levy MD, FACC
President & Chief Medical Officer
Virginia Heart

Dr. Levy is an interventional cardiologist who serves as President and Chief Medical Officer of Virginia Heart, located in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.  Virginia Heart remains an independent private practice with 37 cardiologists and18 Nurse Practitioners providing care at nine clinical offices and six hospitals, covering a large geographic footprint. Dr. Levy has served on committees of the American College of Cardiology, as Chairman of Clinical Risk Management (Peer Review) for a major hospital, is Medical Director of Non-Invasive Cardiovascular Services and has served on the Admissions Committee of The George Washington University School of Medicine. He is currently on faculty at The Georgetown University School of Medicine and has published multiple studies as first author in major peer reviewed medical journals.



 
0Richard Lockwood
CEO
HeartPlace



 
Mark McDonald
Assistant Vice President, Heart Institute
The Heart Institute at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

The Heart Institute AVP role is responsible for the articulation of the clinical and research missions of the Heart Institute, strategic planning and daily operational business management of the cardiovascular service line. Mark McDonald received an MA from the University of Cincinnati. Subsequently, he held positions with Kaiser Permanente as Manager, Management Engineering, the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati as the Vice President for Cardiovascular Services, and the Ohio Heart and Vascular Center as the Chief Operating Officer prior to joining the Heart Institute at Cincinnati Children’s. He currently serves on the Advisory Council for MedAxiom and the Adult Congenital Pediatric Congenital (ACPC) workgroup for the American College of Cardiology.   


 
Mike Mytych
Principal
Health Information Consulting, LLC

Mr. Mytych has over twenty-five years in Healthcare, and is a former VP with Baxter Health Care Systems Division and has extensive Physician/Hospital Communications Product experience having spent twelve years in Hospital Information Systems Sales and Marketing.

He is a nationally recognized for expertise in the use of clinical systems and bridging together disparate systems enabling care integration and coordination. He is frequently asked to review application designs for leading edge product developers. Mr. Mytych’s background includes an extensive amount of experience working with organizations to optimize their use of technologies to improve information access for clinicians with an emphasis in physician acceptance, clinical aggregation and analytics.

Mr. Mytych has been instrumental in the formation of numerous health information exchange strategies for private enterprises serving hospitals and physicians and also those that serve the regional and State Designated Entities and has participated in over 25 HIE projects.

Mr. Mytych has spoken at dozens of conferences and he is an adjunct faculty member of the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee teaching Information Systems Technology Procurement in the Medical Informatics Graduate Program. He also serves as an Advisor to the Master’s Program at the Milwaukee School of Engineering Healthcare Informatics Department.

He has a Master’s in Business Administration from Marquette University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the University of Dubuque.



 
0Dr. Jorge Navas
Vice President
Clearwater Cardiovascular Consultants




 
Jim Pool
Attorney
Maynard, Cooper & Gale

Mr. Pool represents hospitals and physician groups, including Alabama's largest nonprofit health system and one of the nation's largest cardiovascular practices, regarding health care regulatory, tax, compliance and other matters. In addition, he represents a large number of tax exempt entities both inside and outside the health care industry. He is regularly consulted by professionals across the state regarding a wide range of both health care and tax exempt issues. He is a frequent speaker on health care, corporate compliance, and tax exempt entities topics.



 
Stacie Prasifka
Chief Executive Officer
North Texas Heart Center, PA

Stacie Prasifka, CPA is the CEO of North Texas Heart Center, an independent cardiology group of 15, in Dallas, Texas.  She has over 20 years experience in the healthcare industry and 18 years in private practice cardiology with NTHC.  Stacie has served as the CEO of NTHC for the past 11 years and in her role has seen the practice transition in many ways in order to stay independent in the ever changing healthcare environment.  She has served on the board of the North Texas Association of Medical Administrators and as its president for one term.  During her tenure with North Texas Heart Center she has assisted in the development and management of a joint venture imaging center.  In more recent years she has been involved in the development of a general acute care hospital in Dallas which has further expanded her knowledge of the industry.  Stacie received her BBA from the University of Texas at Arlington and her CPA from the State of Texas.
   

 
0Karen Retchless
Chief Operating Officer
Clearwater Cardiovascular Consultants




 
Joel Sauer
VP - Consulting
MedAxiom Consulting

For over 14 years, Joel Sauer was Chief Executive Officer of a large Midwestern multi-specialty physician group. Through his leadership, the group expanded from a single specialty practice of 15, to over 225 physicians with over 600 employees in nearly every medical specialty.
 
In 2009, Joel orchestrated the acquisition of his own group by a large health system and then acquiring other practices to create an accountable care network. Beyond engineering the transaction details, Joel provided the leadership behind the operational and cultural integration of the merged entities. Beginning in 2001, Joel led his group's conversion from a paper chart to a full electronic health record. Given the complexity of the process, both from an operational and cultural standpoint, Joel considers this one of his greatest accomplishments. Joel headed up two significant site development projects for the group including the construction of an attached, two operating room, ambulatory surgery center and a significant expansion and renovation of the group's previous building. Other relevant experiences Joel brings to the table include: strategic planning, joint venture formation, hospital/health system relations, financial analysis, payor contract negotiations, implementing operational efficiencies, and ancillary services creation.
 
Prior to his tour as CEO, Joel worked for a large hospital, managed an outpatient ancillary services business, and worked for a healthcare software developer in implementation and support.



 
Girish Shroff MD
Physician
Baptist Heart Specialists




 
Rick Siegel
Vice President, Cardiac Services
Wellstar Health System

Seasoned healthcare executive with demonstrated success in various healthcare settings and a proven track record of leadership excellence; one of the first recipients of the dual MBA/MHA from Georgia State University in 1982; recognized as a leader in the Atlanta healthcare market arena; excels in performance coaching, expansion and growth, strategic planning and revenue enhancement via new programs; achieves outstanding results by building effective teams and coaching and mentoring future leaders; has keen ability to execute plans and create value; understands employee engagement and patient satisfaction are high priorities; straight-forward with high level of integrity.



 
Fred Simmons, JR. CMPE, CPA
CEO
Clearwater Cardiovascular and Interventional Consultants

Frederic R. Simmons, Jr., CPME, CPA, has wide ranging experience in the medical practice industry as a CEO, Executive Director, consultant and outside accountant. 
Fred has served as the CEO of Clearwater Cardiovascular and Interventional Consultants in Clearwater, Florida since 1995.  Previously, he served as Executive Director of University Medical Service Association, Inc., the faculty practice plan of the University of South Florida, College of Medicine in Tampa, FL.  Before joining UMSA, Fred practiced public accounting in the Accounting and Audit Division of a national CPA firm.

Throughout his career, Fred has provided consulting and expert witness services in the medical practice industry. He is a frequent contributor to MedAxiom and MGMA. Fred has written numerous articles on practice management topics and is a contributing author of the Medical Practice Management Body of Knowledge Review Series: Financial Management book for MGMA.

Fred has served as the Chairman of the MGMA Survey Advisory Committee and currently serves on the MedAxiom Survey Committee.  He is a Past President of the Academic Practice Assembly of the Medical Group Management Association. Fred received his Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Florida State University and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Florida.


 
Larry Sobal
VP for Cancer and Cardiovascular Services
Appleton Cardiology - ThedaCare System

Larry Sobal is the System Vice President for Cancer and Cardiovascular Services for ThedaCare, a multihospital health system based in Appleton, Wisconsin. He has been involved in the healthcare industry for 30 years as CEO or as senior executive in a variety of health systems and consulting firms.
 
Aside from focusing on the growth and development of the cancer and cardiovascular programs across ThedaCare, he is actively promoting employer-based wellness programs as the CEO spokesperson for the Well Cities-Fox Cities initiative and by encouraging local employers to become more aggressive in improving the health status of their insured populations by utilizing biometric incentive-based benefit plans.
 
His academic background includes a Masters of Business Administration from Washington University in St. Louis and a Masters in Health Administration & Planning from the Washington University Medical School.



 
Dr. Mark Steiner
Lead Physician
Orlando Heart Center


Dr. Mark Steiner is an interventional cardiologist who specializes in both cardiac and peripheral vascular interventions with Orlando Heart Center.  He received his Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Virginia in 1990 and his Doctorate in Medicine from Washington University in St. Louis in 1994.  Dr. Steiner completed his Internal Medicine Residency training at Barnes Hospital at Washington University in St. Louis in 1997 and his Cardiology and Interventional Cardiology Fellowships at Emory University in Atlanta in 2001.  He has served as the President and Managing Partner of Orlando Heart Center, a 25 physician cardiology group, since 2007 and became the Co-Medical Director of the Orlando Health Heart Institute in 2011.


 
Michael Stover
Principal
Somerset CPAs, P.C


Michael Stover is a Principal in the Healthcare Valuation Division of Somerset CPAs.  Michael has been providing healthcare valuation and consulting services for more than 19 years.  He provides fair market value (FMV) opinions for a variety of physician employment arrangements including, Physician compensation, Physician Services Agreements (PSA), Physician On-Call and Coverage, Clinical Co-Management, Medical Director Services and other management service contracts between Physicians and Hospital Systems.

He also provides FMV opinions for healthcare entities including physician practices, ambulatory surgery centers, diagnostic imaging centers, catheterization labs, sleep labs, home healthcare, assisted living facilities and Hospitals.

Mr. Stover’s healthcare consulting experience includes physician practice management, physician compensation methodologies, practice mergers, acquisitions and reorganizations, and various physician and hospital joint ventures arrangements.



 
Tom Talley
VP, COO
Minneapolis Heart Institute

Tom Talley has worked in healthcare for 37 years, both in hospitals and in medical practices in a senior administrative position. He has 21 years of leadership experience in cardiovascular groups in Iowa, North Carolina and Minnesota. He is currently the COO of the Minneapolis Heart Institute that consists of 65 Cardiologists and Surgeons along with 42 NP’s and PA’s. Tom has operational responsibility for the Cardiovascular Service Division of Abbott Northwestern Hospital consisting of the 128 bed Heart Hospital on the Abbott Northwestern campus along with the five metro and regional cardiology clinics within the Minneapolis Heart Institute. For the past 9 years, he has served as an Advisory Board member of MedAxiom. Tom received his BS in Business Administration and his MBA in Management from Emporia State University in Kansas.


 
Lori Walsh
VP - Membership
MedAxiom

Lori received her Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville then a Masters in Health Administration for University of Arkansas in Little Rock. While completing her master’s degree, she began working in cardiology with Heart Clinic Arkansas, as a graduate assistant. Lori felt so comfortable in this environment, she stayed with HCA through 2009 working within the operational side of the practice. During her tenure, she oversaw a full EHR implementation with GEMMS, launched three new outreach clinics and a cath lab, as well as managing the staff at these new facilities. Lori became entrenched within the practice and was promoted to Director of Operations where her involvement included a practice merger, workflow redesign projects and more. Lori’s role with MedAxiom as National Sales Manager is to bring her vast practice experience to our current and prospective members through building relationships and sharing the value of the MedAxiom membership benefits for the practices.



 
Patrick White
President
MedAxiom

Pat has been in the health-care management field for over thirty years, seventeen of which were in medical-group practice management. He received a master of public health degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and spent thirteen years with the Henry Ford Health System, including five years as the Administrator for the Department of Internal Medicine. He has also served as the Executive Director of Michigan Heart, a 36-member cardiology practice in Ann Arbor, for twelve years. Pat was also very active in the Cardiology Leadership Alliance (CLA) and served as its President in 2001.  

Pat is on the Board of Directors for the Council for Certification in CardioVascular Imaging (CCCVI) and also on the Board of Directors for the CCCVI Foundation for which he is also the Secretary/Treasurer.  He is also on the Board for the Cardiology Advocacy Alliance.




 
0Kristine Zeller CMPE, MSHSA
Practice Administrator
Cardiovascular Medicine, PC (Davenport)


Kris is the practice administrator of Cardiovascular Medicine, PC, an independent group of 24 cardiologists and 15 MLP’s located in Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois.  Throughout her 25+ years with CVM, Kris has experienced many transitions, integrations and other opportunities to keep her role ever challenging.  Though independent, her practice currently has several contractual relationships with two competing hospital systems, including CVSL Co-Management agreements. Kris has a bachelors in Business and Human Resource Management and received her master’s in Health Care Administration in 2006.  She has been active with the Iowa MGMA and was the Iowa Medical Society Administrator of the year in 1997.  Kris remains active with Junior Achievement and AHA.



 
Gary L. Zrimec
CEO
North Ohio Heart Center

Gary Zrimec is a graduate of Baldwin Wallace College, where he earned both a BA and MBA. Additionally, he has a Masters Degree from Case Western Reserve University.
 
He is Chief Executive Officer of North Ohio Heart Center, which is a forty eight (48) physician cardiology and family practice/internal medicine practice on the west side of Cleveland, Ohio. Gary has responsibility for all aspects of the organization, including recruitment of new physicians and development of new business opportunities. North Ohio Heart Center, Inc. completed an integration transaction with an area hospital effective September 1, 2010 for which Gary had primary responsibility.
 
Gary serves on the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee for North Ohio Heart Center and its primary care division, the Ohio Medical Group.
 
Gary is a member of the Medical Group Management Association and the American College of Healthcare Executives. He serves on the Board of Trustees for the American Heart Association and is a member of Rotary International. Gary is married and has two daughters.