Experts

Vivek has more than 22 years of experience designing/developing software and has worked across multiple domains in his professional life, including banking, telecommunication, K-12 education and Healthcare. He has been with PayerWatch for 8+ years; Vivek believes that the customer is the most valuable asset an organization can have and that all software design should be driven by a unrelenting pursuit of end user focus and experience which enables them to effectively use applications to achieve business results. As the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) he revels in solving problems, finding creative solutions to customer needs and clearing a path for the organization to do the very best they can while constantly moving forward.

Wendy began her career at PayerWatch as Director of Client Support & Services in 2009 following twenty five years of experience in the healthcare and managed care industries including project management, EDI knowledge and decades of leadership in relevant systems and IT service environments. Wendy is currently responsible for the technical product and quality management of IT support and product services for PayerWatch. Working with developers, she has visibility over projects at all checkpoints and maintains project deliverables to ensure success at every intersection. With more than 20 years of experience as an industry executive – with focus in system/business analysis and design, integration/regression testing and product development – Wendy effectively translates customer needs and market opportunities into successful business strategies. Wendy manages the day-to-day resolution of internal and client support requests. Prior to PayerWatch, she held a number of management positions in various healthcare companies including a Chicago-based PPO Network, a national government healthcare audit contractor, a Third Party Administrator and a healthcare software revenue recovery company. Wendy also led a development team which patented the first automated claims repricing system.

Karla is the Vice President, Clinical Resources at AppealsMasters, the appeal service group of the PayerWatch family. Karla has a wealth of experience from her 30+ years as a registered nurse that allowed her to experience first hand the impact that denials have on our nation’s hospitals. Prior to her present role, she held numerous positions in the healthcare industry. Some of the highlights in her career included working as a Clinical Documentation Specialist, managing a highly successful Clinical Documentation Improvement Department, building a Medical Oncology Research Program, and building a multimillion dollar Denials and Appeals Program. Karla is passionate about making sure that our hospitals are paid for the work that they do. To that end, she has written hundreds, if not thousands, of appeals and presented dozens of cases at the hearing level. In her current role, she works as an educator and enjoys teaching how to write winning appeals. She is responsible for the quality of appeals produced by PayerWatch, and is often a co-presenter for PayerWatch's webinars that reach a national audience. Karla is a current member of ACMA and AHIMA.

Tracey Tomak is a Registered Health Information Administrator and Project Management Professional with over 20 years of experience in revenue cycle with a focus on hospital coding, charge capture, and denials management. In her current role as Director, Project Management and Client Engagement, Tracey is responsible for coordinating project implementation of PayerWatch's Veracity software. Tracey works directly with clients to ensure that they are fully utilizing the Veracity software in order to effectively manage commercial and government audits and denials. Tracey is an active member of IHIMA, serving as the Nominating Committee Chair for the 2018-19 year. Tracey is a regular guest speaker, lecturer, and author on revenue topics such as the Medicare Two-Midnight Rule, RAC and other audit activity, roles within the revenue cycle for health information ma

Brian is the Founder & Chief Product Officer of PayerWatch, a national leader in their respective categories for Appeal Support services and next-generation Denial/Appeal Management. The denial technology and revenue recovery methods he designed are currently used by over 500 hospitals and health systems nationwide. As a fierce advocate for hospitals and physicians in their right to be fully paid, he consults with and educates revenue cycle and compliance leaders throughout the U.S. on government and commercial claim dispute resolution management. He is a nationally recognized speaker and sought-after expert in the areas of Revenue Risk Management, Regulatory Audit Management and Payer Compliance. Brian pioneered the early design and development of software for revenue compliance and next-generation RCM technology to improve hospital net revenue performance. Over the last twenty years, he has worked with hundreds of hospitals and many of the nation’s largest healthcare systems to improve their managed care reimbursements, denied claim recoveries, billing integrity, RAC audit management and Medicare compliance.

Rick has been a business development professional for over 30 years. Having worked in multiple industries, including Insurance, where he started his career after college as a commercial lines underwriter for The Hartford Insurance Group. Rick spent the bulk of his business development career as vice president of business development at a large woman-owned national contracting company, where he was tasked to enhance business growth by seeking new growth areas, cross-selling new products to existing clients, generating ideas for new products to respond to changing customer needs, and seeking a diversified portfolio by expanding the product line offerings. Rick was a direct report to the company President & CEO and worked closely with her daily to help identify and explore potential growth areas. In his tenure at the firm total company revenues increased from $8,000,000 to $118,000,000 (1993 to 2020). Rick has been an active member in many trade organizations, having served in all executive roles, including serving multiple terms as a member of various Boards of Directors, Association Treasurer, association Vice President, and association President. In addition, Rick has served as a Committee Chair for marketing committees, education committees, and membership committees. Rick brings a wide breadth of knowledge to his role as President & CEO of PayerWatch and is excited to work with such an incredible group of clinical and legal professionals in our quest to help our healthcare provider clients prevent denials and win appeals to adverse insurance company denials.

Denise serves as the Senior Vice President at PayerWatch. Denise is also President of The Association for Healthcare Denial and Appeal Management (AHDAM). Denise is a Registered Respiratory Therapist, Registered Nurse, and holds a Master’s degree in Management Information Systems from the University of Illinois, Springfield. Denise has over thirty years of experience in healthcare, including clinical management, education, compliance, and appeal writing. Denise has extensive experience as a Medical Appeals Expert and has personally managed hundreds of Medicare, Managed Medicare, and Commercial appeal cases and presented hundreds of cases at the Administrative Law Judge level. Denise is a nationally known speaker and dynamic educator on Medicare and Commercial appeals processes, payer behaviors, standards of care, appeal template development, and building a road map to drive the payer to a decision in the provider’s favor. She has educated thousands of healthcare professionals around the country in successfully overturning medical care denials.

Dr. Kendall Smith is a Senior Fellow in Hospital Medicine (SFHM) and currently acts as Chief Medical Officer and Chief Physician Advisor for PayerWatch, a leading appeal educator and appeal services firm for hospitals and health systems. He’s been deeply involved in denial and appeals management throughout his hospitalist career, working collaboratively with UR/Case Management departments as well as Managed Care and Hospital C-Suite executives. His familiarity with managed care denials led him to design and implement a number of CDI programs, including those at the Cleveland Clinic in Florida and the MedStar Washington Hospital Center. He has served as a physician leader on hospital revenue cycle management teams while also serving as a the Physician Advisor for Clinical Resource Management. Dr. Smith is also an AHIMA ICD-CM/PCS approved trainer/ambassador.