Concord Medical Group is a physician-owned and -operated organization founded by Dr. Kyle Sheets in 2001. The group’s beginning focused on supporting rural hospitals in Texas. Concord has grown over the years and, in addition to emergency medicine, the group offers hospitalist and radiology specialties. Concord is now in ten states, managing over 80 programs with over 1,300 providers. Emergency medicine continues to be the group’s main focus. For more information on the Concord Medical Group, click here.

Excerpts from a conversation with Steve Kearney, Executive Vice President, and Chief Financial Officer

Concord Medical Group prides itself on its bespoke approach. There is no cookie-cutter approach as they focus carefully on meeting the needs of each of their clients. This includes providing the highest-quality patient care; supporting their physicians and other professionals with scheduling, training, and recruitment; and ensuring the effectiveness of their programs. Mr. Kearney joined Concord Medical Group over four years ago after managing two other emergency medicine groups. He comes with years of experience in developing and improving accounting, financial reporting, and financial planning & analysis as well as supporting financial systems that support higher levels of performance.

Mr. Kearney was familiar with EDPMA since he had worked in emergency medicine for years and had attended several Solutions Summit conferences. Steve recommended joining EDPMA, in part, due to the productive Solutions Summit conferences indicating a level of professionalism within the association. Steve said, “the conference has always been so well run and the programming informative and timely.” Mr. Kearney believes EDPMA’s member mix of physician groups and suppliers is useful. He said, “if we were looking for a supplier, of course, we would look at who is a member of EDPMA as a starting point.”

Mr. Kearney sees some of the current challenges in emergency medicine related to the implementation of the No Surprises Act and issues that regularly come up with payers. Mr. Kearney emphasized all the resources available to EDPMA members including the Toolboxes which provide detailed information on legislative and regulatory matters at the state and federal levels, including templates for taking action. And Steve wants to be sure his senior-level team is exposed to all these resources as they provide hands-on, practical and useable information. Steve also highlighted that being a member of EDPMA provides a collaborative approach to identifying and solving issues in emergency medicine. He knows the “go-it-alone” approach usually is not successful but working with so many knowledgeable colleagues provides the best avenue for meeting the challenges in emergency medicine and being successful.

Mr. Kearney and Dr. Sheets will be attending the 2021 Solutions Summit (September 26-29 in Fort Worth, TX). They look forward to seeing their colleagues, hearing the latest updates on business issues, legislation, and regulatory updates, and enjoying the great networking events. Steve has joined the Practice Management Committee and is encouraging his senior management team to join other EDPMA Committees such as Federal Health Policy, State Regulatory and Insurance, and the Quality, Coding, and Documentation committees.

EDPMA New Member Spotlight: Alteon Health

Alteon Health partners with hospitals to deliver the highest-quality patient care. The company works to empower physicians and staff to employ innovative and adaptable care-delivery models. Alteon Health prides itself on strengthening the skills of their team members through mentorship, education, and professional development. For more information on Alteon Health, click here.

Excerpts from a conversation with Chris Greenwood, Vice President, Growth and Integrations

Mr. Greenwood joined Alteon Health 2 1/2 years ago after several years in various business areas in healthcare including managed care contracting, EHR development and implementation, and onboarding and integration of new business through organic growth, mergers and acquisitions. Alteon Health was formed in 2017 from the merger of two long-standing physician staffing companies – Emergency Medicine Associates (EMA) of Maryland and Island Medical Management of New York. Together, the company has over 40 years of experience in emergency medicine.

Chris spearheaded the effort to have Alteon Health become an EDPMA member because of several conversations he had with EDPMA members and a review of EDPMA’s advocacy work, particularly at the Federal level. Mr. Greenwood said, “Alteon Health wants to become part of EDPMA’s collaborative team, raise our voice on issues of importance to emergency medicine and be a thought leader.” Chris understands the importance of being involved and informed on Federal legislation and the impact of various laws and policies on their business model and physicians. Mr. Greenwood highlights that the pressures of the Coronavirus pandemic have contributed to new challenges for emergency medicine including new staffing issues and potentially lower volumes continuing. Chris believes that EDPMA’s collaborative approach helps all groups and businesses in emergency medicine reach better results than each company can attain acting individually.

Other challenges Mr. Greenwood sees in emergency medicine include staying informed on CMS’s activities and being part of EDPMA’s collective input into the decision-making process. Chris appreciates EDPMA’s efforts in working on the issues related to the implementation of the No Surprises Act (NSA) and keeping the membership informed through the monthly Advocacy Newsletter. Chris appreciates that EDPMA works proactively on various legislative and regulatory issues, such as Surprise Medical Billing and problematic down-coding at both the Federal and state levels. He also commented that he is looking forward to the Wednesday morning session at the upcoming Solutions Summit (scheduled for September 26-29) focusing on key legislative issues.

Chris has joined EDPMA’s Federal Health Policy Committee (FHPC) and the State Regulatory and Insurance Committee (SRIC) and is encouraging his team members to join others, in particular, the Quality, Coding, and Documentation Committee (QCDC) and the Practice Management Committee (PMC). Chris understands it’s important to hear the discussion of the issues and viewpoints while being part of the group that develops solutions and strategies. Mr. Greenwood looks forward to seeing many colleagues at EDPMA’s 2021 Solutions Summit on September 26-29 in Fort Worth, Texas.

Nym Health has been in business for about three years and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.  Nym Health transforms revenue cycle management with direct-to-billing autonomous coding that reduces denials and operational expenses, accelerates payment cycles and maximizes audit-readiness. For more information on Nym Health, please click here.

Excerpts from a conversation with Amihai Neiderman, Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Neiderman has a BA in Math and Computer Sciences, served as an officer for over 10 years in the Israeli Defense Force’s cybersecurity unit, and volunteered as an EMT for more than 8 years. Medicine also runs in the family, as his wife is an ENT surgeon at a large hospital. Amihai and his partner, CTO Adam Rimon, founded Nym Health in 2018.

Nym Health employs physicians, teamed alongside programmers and computational linguists. In addition, every employee at Nym completes a certified medical coding course. This strategy supports Nym’s goal of understanding what the physician is doing, placing themselves alongside the physician in the emergency department with each individual patient.

Nym’s autonomous coding technology, applied in a real-world environment, enables Nym to capture the nuances of medical coding. This knowledge in turn assists their clients, as Nym better understands how coding then drives reimbursement. Nym is well aware that for the practicing emergency medicine physician, the challenge of working in a busy emergency department is characterized by an irregular schedule, hectic events followed by down times, and different volume flows. High-acuity patients need a physician’s full focus, and high-quality patient care is their top concern, with medical coding not being a main priority for the physician.

Amihai was introduced to EDPMA by a colleague in emergency medicine and was planning on speaking at the 2020 Solutions Summit (before it was cancelled due to the COVID pandemic). Instead, Mr. Neiderman chose to join EDPMA to ensure Nym was able to hear first-hand about key issues and challenges in emergency medicine, learning about the legislative and regulatory priorities EDPMA members are focused on at both the State and Federal level.

By becoming a member, Nym Health’s employees receive all of EDPMA’s information, including the monthly Membership and Advocacy newsletters, weekly ED newsletter and action and news alerts. According to Amihai, “We are always looking to improve what we’re doing and proactively help the industry, so joining EDPMA made a lot of sense.”

In addition, Nym’s Chief Medical Information Officer has joined the Quality, Coding and Documentation Committee (QCDC) to learn what members see is happening with problematic downcoding, and be a part of the discussion to come up with solutions.

Amihai and his team will be attending and exhibiting at the 2021 Solutions Summit (September 26-29, Fort Worth, TX.) As this will be Nym Health’s first Solutions Summit, he is looking forward to meeting many of the members, hearing the educational sessions and enjoying the many networking opportunities.

Carson-Tahoe Emergency Physicians, Carson City, NV, has been in practice for over 35 years. In 2020, the group expanded to 26 emergency bays and has six FastTrack emergency bays. And Carson Tahoe Health is the first and only organization in Nevada to receive the esteemed Lantern Award from the Emergency Nurses Association. The ENA recognizes just 25 emergency departments worldwide that exemplify exceptional practice and innovative performance. Here’s more information on The Lantern Award and for information on Carson Tahoe Emergency Physicians, please click here.

Excerpts from a conversation with David Strull, MD, Chief Business Officer
Dr. Strull began his career with Carson-Tahoe Emergency Physicians (CTEP) and worked clinically for over 33 years. He continues to lead the business side of the group. Dr. Strull said 2020 was the most challenging year he has seen given the Coronavirus pandemic. In addition to the clinical challenges with the introduction of a new disease into the community, David said, the personal risk to doctors, nurses and the whole team combined with the sudden decline in patient volume, particularly in March-April, added up to an unusual and difficult year. Dr. Strull points out that most of the volume returned later in the year but it still has not returned fully to pre-COVID levels.

Dr. Strull was aware of EDPMA but it was the COVID-focused information that pushed him to join. EDPMA provided detailed information about COVID relief packages and advocated for emergency medicine throughout 2020. (See 2020 EDPMA Advocacy Successes.) Dr. Strull realized that he needed to better understand the various Federal programs and take advantage of the webinars that helped clarify the Paycheck Protection Act, the CARES Act and other programs, and he was pleased that EDPMA was a leader in advocating for emergency medicine physicians and participating in likeminded coalitions. In addition to all of the Coronavirus-related information, Dr. Strull discussed the critical importance of the Surprise Medical Billing (SMB) Act and the need to get involved in the operationalizing of this legislation. Dr. Strull is aware that this will be a top priority for EDPMA in 2021. And David points out that Nevada has its own Surprise Medical Billing bill. Thus, how the state and Federal bills will work in a real-world environment is of critical importance.

Dr. Strull also discussed that one key challenge in emergency medicine is that cognitive services are undervalued as compared with procedural services. David said, “emergency medicine physicians are often reimbursed at a lower level because they did not perform a procedure, such as surgery, but instead, provided an analysis and recommendation to treat the individual.” Dr. Strull believes this imbalance in the House of Medicine should be addressed. David also commented on the important work that EDPMA does in fighting commercial payers who try to limit reimbursements without reasonable justification. Dr. Strull appreciates the work that EDPMA does to rectify these situations. While David has not yet had time to join an EDPMA Committee, he plans to do so in 2021 so he can be directly involved in the idea generation and action plans for this year.