Latest News

HRAA Welcomes Susan Howe, New Senior Consultant to the Team
Ms. Howe joins the team with over 25 years of experience as a coder, HIM coding... Read More...
HRAA Details Andrea Clark’s ICD-10 Education Program
Since 2001, Health Revenue Assurance Associates (HRAA) has been a leading... Read More...
HRAA Honored as one of the 2011 Top Places to Work by Florida Business Journal
Andrea Clark founded Health Revenue Assurance Associates in 2001, and since... Read More...
Management Team

HRAA is a healthcare company founded and managed by healthcare professionals who are experts in the field. We believe our greatest strengths are our professional staff, our years of experience, our service-oriented approach  and our sustained commitment to quality.  As a result, we are able to maintain the highest levels of excellence, integrity, quality assurance and results. These factors combine to produce longstanding and beneficial client partnerships. HRAA has earned an excellent reputation for its services throughout the healthcare industry.

 

Andrea Clark, RHIA, CCS, CPC-H – Chairman, CEO and Founder

Andrea Clark is a prominent healthcare industry expert who founded Healthcare Revenue Assurance Associates (HRAA) in 2001.  HRAA is a trusted source of timely, accurate and critical resources, technology and information that supports the performance of revenue integrity for hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, physician practices and integrated health systems. 

Ms. Clark has more than 30 years of experience working with healthcare professionals, information systems, hospital coding, and operational and compliance training.  She is a recognized expert in the validation of entitled reimbursement based on accurate coding, reliable data transfer, and complete documentation.
 
Prior to founding HRAA, Ms. Clark’s health information management experience included managerial positions with leading healthcare systems, and senior management consultant positions at Ernst & Young and Ingenix/St. Anthony Consulting Group.
 
Ms. Clark has created and implemented a series of outpatient revenue integrity programs throughout the country, drawing from a hands-on consulting concentration in this specialized area.  The programs establish and validate the flow of outpatient data throughout a facility to ensure the reliability and accuracy of services billed under existing and ever-changing outpatient payment systems (OPPS) and to ensure compliance with Medicare’s hospital reporting requirements.
 
Since 1999, Ms. Clark has been selected by both the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) and the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) to be a featured speaker at their national conventions.  As an active speaker, educator and motivator, Ms. Clark has presented hundreds of seminars for industry organizations, state hospital associations, and AHIMA and Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) state and local chapters throughout the country.
 
Ms. Clark earned a B.S. in Health Information Sciences from the University of Wisconsin.  She is certified by the American Health Information Management Association as a Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA), by the American Academy of Professional Coders as a Certified Coding Specialist (CCS), and a Certified Procedural Coder-Hospital (CPC-H). 

Robert Rubinowitz – President

Mr. Rubinowitz is a leader with over 10 years of healthcare operations, compliance and revenue cycle consulting management experience. By listening to clients’ needs, he has helped HRAA develop proprietary intellectual capital through managing revenue cycle implementation projects, revenue integrity assessments, navigating reimbursement changes being brought on by ever changing regulations, developing metrics to better manage revenue cycle functions, providing interim/outsource coding services and ICD-10 transition projects.   

Since joining HRAA in June of 2001, Mr. Rubinowitz has provided organizational, administrative and communication skills in overseeing all business operations including sales, marketing, accounting and human resources.  He remains focused on goals and reacts quickly to changes in market conditions.  His experience and comfort working at all levels of an organization and ability to examine, analyze, synthesize and articulate complex subject matter has been instrumental in the growth and success of HRAA, increasing annual revenues by 655%.

Prior to joining HRAA, Mr. Rubinowitz was the General Manager of e-Commerce at PRIMEDIA where he was responsible for managing the development, enhancement and strategic direction for all e-commerce operations for the Business-to-Business Internet division, IndustryClick. In addition, Mr. Rubinowitz assumed the responsibilities of designing, implementing and overseeing all business development, customer acquisition, customer retention, sales and marketing efforts for the online Supplier Directory, which spanned across 20 industries and housed more than 23,000 company listings.

Additionally, Mr. Rubinowitz was the Vice President of Marketing and e-Business at Anchor Computer and was responsible for overseeing all marketing operations and activities, as well as managing the strategy and implementation of company’s e-Business division. As a contract consultant to multiple companies, Mr. Rubinowitz provided sales and marketing, operations, P&L analysis, strategic planning, Internet solutions, strategic alliances, promotion, merchandising and buying services. Mr. Rubinowitz also held various executive positions at TigerDirect and was responsible for increasing annual revenues from $3 Million to $100 Million. 

He is a graduate of Rutgers University with a BA in Economics. Mr. Rubinowitz also served as an adjunct professor at Florida International University, where he taught Direct Marketing.

Keith Siddel MBA JD PhD (c) – Chief Marketing Officer

Keith Siddel is a nationally prominent healthcare finance expert who currently provides advice and guidance on compliance, collection, pricing, charge structure, reimbursement and the revenue cycle for providers nationwide.  Mr. Siddel has over 27 years of experience in healthcare finance, information systems, operational and compliance expertise in a wide variety of healthcare settings.  He has worked with hospitals, physician practices, hospital based and free standing day surgery centers, clinics, ancillary diagnostic centers and fully integrated healthcare providers.  Mr. Siddel worked as a trauma nurse early in his career and he draws upon this experience to create a unique perspective of healthcare by blending the clinical and financial objectives.

Mr. Siddel founded his first Healthcare Company in 1991 and since that time has founded or co-founded nine companies, primarily in healthcare.  He has provided business and financial advice to a wide variety of start up companies in a wide range of fields including telecom, retail and hospitality. He has an undergraduate degree in business with a focus on healthcare and an MBA in business and marketing.  In 2003, after selling one of his healthcare companies, Mr. Siddel took the opportunity to expand upon his expertise.  He completed the course work and research to fulfill the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy with a Healthcare focus at Virginia Commonwealth University.  He was then accepted at Concord Law School in their Juris Doctorate program with a focus in Healthcare Law, which he completed last year. 

Mr. Siddel has continued to be a frequent speaker on a wide variety of healthcare financial and operational topics for providers and professional organizations across the nation. Recently he has spoken on behalf of the AHA, HFMA and OR Managers.  He has authored and contributed to articles as well as served as the editor for books related to healthcare.   

Denise Williams, RN, CPC-H – Sr. Vice President

As the Vice President of Revenue Integrity Services for Health Revenue Assurance Associates, Ms. Williams is responsible for Charge Description Master (CDM) reviews, outpatient revenue cycle audits, Webinars, audio conferences and annual update presentations. Ms. Williams has more than 20 years of healthcare experience, including serving as a clinical nurse in cardiopulmonary, oncology and med-surgery, overseeing Medicare and third party payer compliance for a multi-hospital system, and experience in charge master coordination for two multi-hospital systems.

Ms. Williams has participated as a member of patient financial services workgroups, provider communication groups with Medicare fiscal intermediaries, and clinical task forces to create and standardize internal charging processes and standardize the processes across multi-hospital systems. As a multi-hospital charge master coordinator, Ms. Williams played an integral part in the standardization of materials management and pharmacy charging systems for facilities, as well as maintaining standardized procedure charge masters. Standardization requires balancing of clinical and ancillary department needs, while meeting the requirements for cost accounting and financial systems, as well as maintaining compliance with federal regulations.
 
Ms. Williams has provided formal education for all departments within hospital systems. She has conducted Webinars on topics including annual Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) updates, annual and quarterly Ambulatory Payment Classifications (APC), Outpatient Prospective Payment Systems (OPPS) updates, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) transmittals issued between regulatory cycles.  Currently, together with Ms. Rudolph, Ms. Williams is spearheading our ICD-10-CM Transition training for various outlets.
 
Ms. Williams is a member of the Provider Roundtable, a group of providers across the country which advise CMS on the provider impact of regulatory changes and the technical aspects of implementing regulations. She is a member of the HCPro editorial advisory board for the APC Weekly Monitor and published an article on the 2009 OPPS changes in the American Association of Professional Coders (AAPC) monthly publication, The Coding Edge.  She earned an Associate Degree in Nursing from Middle Tennessee State University.

Donna Rudolph, RHIT, CCS – Director of Inpatient Services

As the Director of Inpatient Services, Ms. Rudolph coordinates all aspects of hospital inpatient coding and billing, with focus on auditing and Medical Severity Diagnosis Related Groups (MS-DRG) validation.   

Ms. Rudolph has more than 25 years of experience as a coder, HIM manager, coding consultant and coding educator.  At HRAA, she focuses on training, educating, and the auditing of inpatient records, as well as how coding is related to clinical documentation programs.  She assists HRAA client facilities with accurate coding of patient information so they receive proper reimbursement. 
 
Prior to joining HRAA, Ms. Rudolph worked for a diverse range of coding organizations and hospitals that helped to perfect her coding expertise and her focus on the importance of complete documentation.  She has successfully trained outpatient coders in inpatient coding and guidelines, and has written and delivered educational sessions on a variety of coding topics.  She also has assisted physicians and other healthcare professionals to understand coding and MS-DRGs by serving as a member of a physicians’ peer review committee and addressing hospital committees. Currently, Ms. Rudolph is spearheading our ICD-10-CM Transition training.
 
Ms. Rudolph holds the certifications of Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT) and Certified Coding Specialist (CCS) through the American Health Information Management Association.

Peggy M. Hapner, RHIA, CCS, CASCC – Director of Ambulatory Services

Ms. Hapner joins HRAA with more than 25 years of experience in health information management, coding, teaching, data quality and operations.  Previously, she served as a manager for Medical Learning, Inc., where she was the technical expert for hospital outpatient health information management (HIM) services, responsible for the technical quality of those areas.  During her 16-year career with the company, she also contributed to projects in the company’s consulting, seminars and publications divisions.  

Prior to joining Medical Learning in 1994, Ms. Hapner was a healthcare consultant with St. Anthony Consulting, performing outpatient coding assessments and conducting on-site and mass market seminars.  In her role as senior healthcare consultant, she conducted CPT/HCPCS coding quality assessments in areas including ambulatory surgery, emergency departments and hospital-based outpatient clinics.  Ms. Hapner’s responsibilities during these on-site assignments included verifying documentation quality and code assignment, providing recommendations for medical record operations, and instructing facility staff on ICD-9-CM and CPT coding guidelines. She also served as clinical data analyst and statistician at a major medical center for over five years.  In this position, she was responsible for coding and abstracting outpatient surgical and emergency room records, as well as providing leadership in developing the facility’s training and standards for CPT coding.
 
Ms. Hapner has developed and presented facility-specific and mass market seminars on topics including outpatient coding, medical records data quality and ambulatory patient classifications (APCs). She has developed and taught courses in medical terminology, ICD-9-CM and CPT ambulatory/physician coding, transcription, health information management and clinical labs. 
 
Ms. Hapner is a graduate of Ohio State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Health Information Management and Systems. She earned an Associate’s Degree in Applied Science from Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio.  She is a registered health information administrator (RHIA), a certified coding specialist (CCS) and a certified Ambulatory Surgery Center coder (CASCC).  In addition, she has received certification as an ICD-10 Trainer from the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). She is a member of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), Ohio Health Information Management Association, Miami Valley Health Information Management Association and the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC).