Suzan Berman-Hvizdash, CPC, CPC-EDS, CPC-EMS, is responsible for teaching 200+ staff/faculty on the intricacies and importance of compliance with current documentation requirements, as the Physician Educator for the Department of Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She is also actively involved as the Senior Auditor and Advisory Board Member for the Coding and Reimbursement Network (CRN), serves as a Technical Consulting Writer for Ingenix Publishing and is also an Advisory Board Member for General Surgery Coding Alert and Part B Insider, Eli Publishing as well as a National Advisory Board Member of the American Academy of Professional Coders. Mrs. Hvizdash has been the technical consultant for the AAPC for an Evaluation and Management e-learning module as well as the co-author of the CPC-EMS Study Guide. She continues to be a guest lecturer at the University of Pittsburgh speaking to undergraduate HIM students on E/M documentation.

Joan Gilhooly, MBA, CPC, CHCC, is president and consultant with Medical Business Resources LLC, has 25+ years experience in health care. Since 1992, she’s instructed physicians and coders in E/M coding, auditing and other coding and reimbursement. She’s also the technical editor for Primary Care Coder’s Pink Sheet and facilitator for the MGMA on-line course “Assessing and Improving Your Billing Office.” She is involved in health care fraud litigation.

Leslie Johnson, CCS-P, currently holds the position of Director of Education and Research at DR Management. DR Management, LLC is a practice management & consulting firm located in Fort Wayne Indiana. Ms. Johnson is the Director for Research and Education as well as the Coding and Compliance Consultant for DR Management, LLC.

Johnson has been in the industry since 1992 and has served in various positions performing billing, coding and teaching for multiple specialties. Her expertise is extensive and includes optometry & ophthalmology, family practice & internal medicine, cardiology, anesthesia/pain management, general surgery, OB, radiology, and orthopedics.

Johnson is the founder of AskLeslie.net and co-founder of the AskLeslie.net Network. Her professional skills include creating “monster” documents/tools such as "Recoupment Chart" with States' timeline specifications & laws regarding insurance company refund & recoupments and the 2004 CVP chart for coding anesthesia. She has also been quoted in various publications such as Anesthesia & Pain Coding Alert, The Pink Sheets, The Answer Books for Anesthesia and Cardiology, and ICD-9 / CPT Coding Pro Online Publications.

Joan Logue, BS, MT, ASCP, is a nationally recognized consultant on laboratory management, clinical laboratory regulation, and Medicare reimbursement issues. She has worked with major hospital and national reference laboratory clients throughout the country, and she is a frequent speaker to national professional groups on clinical laboratory management issues. Mrs. Logue is the founder and former executive director of the Clinical Laboratory Management Association (CLMA), a professional society with over 9,000 members. Prior to her position with CLMA, Mrs. Logue served as Director of Administration and Communication for the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS). Mrs. Logue also was the Administrator of Laboratory Services for a 200-bed acute care hospital, where she managed all clinical and anatomic laboratory operations.

Dennis L. Padget, MBA, CPA, FHFMA, is President and founder of DLPadget Enterprises, Inc. in Simpsonville, Kentucky, publisher of Pathology Service Coding Handbook. He is a Certified Public Accountant and a Fellow in the Healthcare Financial Management Association. He has an MBA degree from the University of Chicago and a BA degree from the University of Northern Iowa. Mr. Padget is a member of the Healthcare Financial Management Association, the American Pathology Foundation, the American Health Lawyers Association, and the Editorial Advisory Board of Pathology/Lab Coding Alert. He is a frequent speaker at state and national pathology and laboratory professional association meetings and has published several articles on hospital and physician payment, compliance and accounting issues.

Prior to his retirement from active consulting at the end of 2003, Mr. Padget headed Padget & Associates, a pathology and laboratory financial management and compliance advisory firm. During its nearly 23-year existence Padget & Associates served several hundred physician practices, independent laboratories, medical billing agencies, and hospitals in about 40 states. The firm specialized in: healthcare compliance plan development and management; anatomical and clinical pathology CPT charge and ICD9CM diagnosis coding evaluation and update studies; third-party, managed care, and hospital contracting; laboratory and pathology joint venturing and outsourcing; and pathology group integration planning and implementation.

Jerrie K. Weith, FHFMA, is the founder and President of Healthcare Management Alternatives, Inc.

Jerrie's professional experience includes physician practice, as well as hospital, financial, and A/R management. With the start-up of a number of successful small businesses, Jerrie knows how to get a new physician practice established, as well as how to manage an on-going concern. She is skilled at project management, contract negotiations, and operational anaysis, as well as revenue cycle projects centering on A/R improvement, cashflow and compliance.

Over the last 20+ years, Jerrie has become a well-respected healthcare professional in the St. Louis area marketplace. As President of HMAI, she brings her knowledge, practical experience, values, and integrity to each client engagement. Jerrie has a bachelor's degree, an MBA and is certified as a Fellow in HFMA. She is active in both MGMA and HFMA, as well as in several not-for-profit community organizations.

Diana W. Voorhees, M.A., CLS, MT, SH, CLCP, initiated her career in laboratory medicine within the Division of Hematology (Doctors Wintrobe and Cartwright) , Department of Medicine, at the University of Utah. She has also worked with the Division of Hematology at The Ohio State University, the Clinical Chemistry Department at Holy Cross Hospital in Salt Lake City, and the Special Hematology and Hemostasis Laboratory at the University of Utah. She spent 14 years as an Associate Clinical Professor and administrative faculty of Medical Laboratory Sciences in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Utah. During her last year and a half in academia, she was recruited as Program Director to design, implement and direct the program in cytotechnology in the Department of Pathology. Ms. Voorhees, upon leaving the University setting, joined Coulter Corporation and provided technical support, customer training, and education primarily in the western United States. She was recruited by a national coding and reimbursement consulting firm, Med-Index/Medicode, where she spent nearly five years developing and marketing the consulting services for hospitals and other facilities, performing consulting engagements, providing seminars for national associations, enhancing product.