Company: Health Revenue Assurance Associates
Web site: www.healthrevenue.com

Professional memberships: AAPC

BC Advantage Contributor: Yes

Past speaking events: AAPC 2005-2011, Coding Con, Coding Institute, MGMA 2008, Ingenix Essentials 2007-2010, Optum Insight 2011, Lighthouse MD User Conference 2008, Lantek User Conference 2009, Emergency Management Organization, 2008,  PAHCS 2006, Southeast Utah University Speaker

Topics:

Speaker Bio:

Suzan Berman CPC, CEMC, CEDC, has recently join Health Revenue Assurance Associates, LLC (HRAA) as the Senior Director of Physician Services. She has been responsible for developing, implementing and monitoring a Compliance Plan for a large specialty practice, while teaching the staff/faculty, mid-level providers, as well as coders, management and support staff about the nuances of documentation requirements and billing practices. Most recently she was the Senior Manager of Coding and Compliance for the Physician Services Division of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She directed an Evaluation and Management auditing staff for specialties that included, various Surgical specialties, Cardiovascular, Pain Management, Acute Pain Service, Anesthesiology and Behavioral Health. She also has experience in the area of Orthopedics, Dermatology, Family Practice, Pediatrics, and Womens Health.The success of her Compliance Plan showed a decrease in the error rate of a 200+ provider practice from 36% to 11% in just over 5 years. As a result of the implementation of this plan,.

Included in this plan are training intervals, incentive structure potential, office processes, and on-going education. Berman showed a specific specialty where they could increase potential revenue by over $200,000 per year by illustrating appropriate billing and documentation proceduresCompliant billing stems from the notes supporting those services and Berman has been instrumental in creating and executing appropriate Electronic Medical Records documentation structures.ICD-10 implementation involves extensive documentation as well as compliant documentation and for that Berman has been an active participant on the UPMC ICD-10 implementation and education team. She has developed overall education for a broad audience as well as targeted training for coders and physicians. She developed a training and tracking timeline.Berman serves on the Optum (formerly Ingenix) Advisory Board and the Editorial Advisory Board Member for The Coding Institutes various Coding magazines.

She is a former member of the AAPC National Advisory Board as well as the former secretary for the AAPC Chapter Advisory Board of Directors. She speaks nationally for organizations such as the University of Pittsburgh, The Coding Institute, Advanced Career Solutions, Audio Educator, AAPC, MGMA, and Ingenix Publishing. Berman has been quoted in a variety of periodicals and has published articles and chapters for such publishers/publications as The Coding Institute, AAPC Coding Edge, Physician Practice Options, The Journal of Medical Practice Management, and Health Care Job Explosion. She was also the co-clinical technical editor for the 2005 Specialty Credential Study Guide: Evaluation and Management for Ingenix Publishing (now Optum).