Meet our Presenters
SESSION 1 (November 4, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm EST)
Telling Our Quality Story: Answering the Why and How
Moderator:
Teresa Copeland
OrthoTennessee/Knoxville Orthopaedic Surgery Center
35+ years experience in orthopaedic practices in Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina and Arkansas in all facets of the practice including clinical, billing and collections, contracting and facility start up.
In 2018 celebrated 25 years of employment with OrthoTennessee, a 50+ physician group, with 10 practice locations in East Tennessee.
- Director of Payer Contracting
- Commercial and WC contract negotiations–physician practice and ASC
- APM/Bundled payment contracting/data analysis—physician practice and ASC
- Credentialing Specialist Manager
- Appeals Analyst Manager
- Surgical Services
- ASC Planning/Development/Construction Coordinator
- Acquisition of furniture, fixtures, equipment, instruments
- Maintenance and service agreement management
- ASC Billing, collections and operations consultant
- Risk Manager –
- Medical Malpractice
- Practice owned captive insurance
- Quality Improvement committee member
Participates in Payer initiatives, including the Humana Bold Gold Collaborative Team, United Healthcare Administrative Advisory Council, State of TN Episode of Care Technical Advisory Group.
OrthoForum ASC Advocacy Council Chair, Purchasing Alliance Committee Member
Past speaker at Beckers and HFMA
Karen Simonton
Strategic Alliance Director, The OrthoForum
Karen is a certified CPA since 1991, and she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting from Lynchburg College. For 13 years, Karen served as Chief Administrative Officer for OrthoVirginia-West. In 2016, Karen then served as Advocacy Chair for OrthoVirginia-State where she held responsibility for representing OrthoVirginia at the federal, state and local level regarding issues that impact the ability to deliver a vertically integrated, quality based, cost effective service to patients. Karen then served as CFO for OrthoVirginia from 2018-2019, and she currently serves as the Strategic Alliance Director for The OrthoForum.
Scott Riegle
Co-Founder, ASCistus
Prior to ASCistus, 29 years of ASC operations experience in ASC facilities. large ASC Chains, and a small ASC management / development company. Positions held: Staff member / Manager / Administrator / Regional Manager / COO
Missy Danforth
Vice President, Health Care Ratings, The Leapfrog Group
Missy Danforth is the Vice President of Health Care Ratings at The Leapfrog Group, a Washington, DC based, not-for-profit organization representing the nation’s largest employers and purchasers of health benefits working to make great leaps forward in the safety, quality, and value of healthcare.
At Leapfrog, Ms. Danforth serves as member of Leapfrog’s senior leadership team informing Leapfrog’s strategic direction, engaging experts and stakeholders, and analyzing program results to engage purchasers and consumers and to drive safety and quality improvements. Ms. Danforth administers Leapfrog’s various measurement and public reporting activities including the Leapfrog Hospital Survey, the Hospital Safety Grade, Leapfrog’s Value-Based Purchasing Platform, Leapfrog’s new Ambulatory Surgery Center Survey, and emerging ratings programs.
Ms. Danforth serves on the National Quality Forum’s Patient Safety Steering Committee, is the current vice-chair of the Consensus Standards Approval Committee (CSAC), and the past co-chair of the Diagnostic Quality Committee. She serves on the Policy Committee of the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine and on the Steering Committee of the Coalition to Improve Diagnosis. She has served on several CMS Technical Expert Panels focused on patient harm. Ms. Danforth is also on the board of the PCPI Foundation, a membership organization with the goal of bringing the voices of patients and clinicians together to advance the science and practice of measurement and improvement.
Cody White
Co-Founder, ASCistus
25+ years Executive / Investor experience in healthcare technology ventures
SESSION 2 (November 11, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm EST )
Lessons Learned Through COVID-19 and Infection Control Training
Moderator:
Sylvia Johns, MHA
VP of Surgical Services, Olympia Orthopaedic Associates
Sylvia started her career in the medical field, in 1996 as a Combat Medic/Nationally Registered Emergency Medical Technician as a Reservist in the United States Army. Her military career includes serving as the lead Non-Commissioned Officer for physical exams, Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge of Physical Training, Non-Commissioned officer in charge of Outpatient Services, Tuzla, Bosnia, and the First Sergeant of 6250th United States Army Hospital. Sylvia retired from the Army Reserve with 22 years of service.
The majority of Sylvia’s civilian career has been in clinical operations. She has worked as a clinic manager, clinic administrator, and regional administrator. Sylvia has spent the last five and half years with Olympia Orthopaedic Associates, PLLC with oversight of surgical programs. Her role includes direct responsibility for the ambulatory surgery center, relationship with surgical teams at four community hospitals, management of bundle payment programs, development and expansion of outpatient total joint replacement and spine program, surgical block management for all locations, and quality reporting.
Peggy Wellman
Vice President of ASC Operations, Proliance Surgeons
Peggy serves as VP of ASC Operations for Proliance Surgeons. She has extensive experience in ambulatory surgery centers. Most recently she was the Market President for United Surgical Partners International (USPI) for the Pacific Market and oversaw a regional team that managed, developed and acquired 33 ASCs in California and Oregon. Prior to that role, she served as an RVP for USPI in California. She also had the opportunity to develop and manage physician owned surgical hospitals in states throughout the west, primarily focused on joint and spine surgery when she was working for National Surgical Hospitals. She is a strong advocate for the important role that ASCs play in the healthcare delivery system focused on personalized, high quality patient care delivered for a lower cost than hospitals. She served on the Executive Board of the CA ASC association for 7 years, working to improve relationships with health plans and regulators and has advocated for ASCs at the Federal and State level.
Tammra (Tammy) Goodrich RN, BSN, MHA
Peri-Operative Clinical consultant for 3M Healthcare Infection Prevention Division
Tammy has a Bachelor’s degree in nursing, Master’s degree in Healthcare Administration and has completed the Harvard Business courses for healthcare leaders.
Tammy’s professional experience and career in healthcare began in 1985 as a Med/Surg RN and quickly transitioned to ICU, ER and finally found her true love of nursing in the OR. She has scrubbed and circulated in the OR for over 29 years. She has experience in all specialties with emphasis in Cardiovascular and Orthopedic surgery. She has been an OR and GI lab manager, has been a member of multiple infection prevention teams, chaired the committee for the design and construction of the McKay Hospital OR and was lead OR Champion for the improvement of patient safety and experience. Prior to joining 3M, she was the director of clinical resources leading the Ogden Region Medical Center administrative team for product evaluation, value analysis and clinical safety.
SESSION 3 (November 18, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm EST )
AAAHC Certification Program, Total Joint and Spine Panel Discussion, and Increased Medicare Volume
Beth Russell
Knoxville Orthopaedic Surgery Center
Surgery has been my love for over 20 years. I started as a surgical tech and then after four years went to nursing school. As a nurse, my first job was an RN first assistant in Orthopaedic Surgery. I was lucky enough to get to work with an amazing group of orthopaedic surgeons. I went on to pursue my masters degree in nursing which gave me the opportunity to work as the operating room director at the same hospital I had worked as an RNFA. A few years later, the opportunity presented itself for me to accept the position as Executive Director at Knoxville Orthopaedic Surgery Center, working for the same surgeons I had worked with as an RNFA for years. It was the perfect fit and perfect job for me. KOSC is a 9 room orthopaedic surgery center. I tell people we are truly our own small hospital.
Michelle Birch
AAAHC
Michelle Birch has over 20 years of experience in strategy development for start-ups, risk-based health insurance models, market analysis, product and service launches, branding, and market development across the spectrum of the health care industry. She advanced a Medicaid Accountable Care Entity (ACE), developing the provider network and orientation to prepare for alternative payment models involving risk and shared savings. She prepared health assessments and conducted extensive outreach communications for beneficiaries while complying with state and federal regulations. Michelle also implemented a new benefit design for a specialized employee benefit trust with a provider hospital organization (PHO) yielding practice growth and utilization for the PHO by promoting the benefits of medical home and essential benefits of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). With proven results uniting sales, marketing and operations, her focus is on improving population and public health.
Today, Michelle is working with AAAHC to advance accreditation through the ambulatory health care segment, including surgery centers, student health, government agencies, and office-based practices to ensure quality and safety for both patients and staff as well as the long-term viability of ambulatory health care. Promoting the AAAHC Advanced Orthopaedic Certification program, she aims to corroborate positive patient outcomes and enhance the role of ambulatory surgery centers as a safe, alternative site for total joint replacement and complex spine procedures.
Anthony Harden
Campbell Clinic
Anthony has 30+ years’ experience in the Operating Room, with the last 17 years being spent in the ASC with Campbell Clinic Surgery Center. He currently is the Clinical Manager over Pre-op, PACU, and Surgery in their new Center that has 8 operating rooms, 2 procedure rooms, 12 pre-op bays, and 24 post-op bays. He was a part of setting up the Total Joint Program for Campbell Clinic. He currently oversees the daily operations of the center.
Miranda Smart, BSN, RN
Charge Nurse, Knoxville Orthopaedic Surgery Center
Miranda earned a BSN degree from Tennessee Wesleyan College in 2008. She began her nursing career as a critical care nurse with a focus on cardiovascular medicine. After joining KOSC, she honed her skills as an orthopaedic perioperative nurse and used her expertise to aid in the development and growth of the KOSC joint replacement surgery services. Miranda currently serves as the charge nurse of KOSC’s extended care area overseeing pre-and post-operative care of over 600 knee, hip and shoulder replacement surgeries per year.
Teresa Copeland
OrthoTennessee/Knoxville Orthopaedic Surgery Center
35+ years experience in orthopaedic practices in Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina and Arkansas in all facets of the practice including clinical, billing and collections, contracting and facility start up.
In 2018 celebrated 25 years of employment with OrthoTennessee, a 50+ physician group, with 10 practice locations in East Tennessee.
- Director of Payer Contracting
- Commercial and WC contract negotiations–physician practice and ASC
- APM/Bundled payment contracting/data analysis—physician practice and ASC
- Credentialing Specialist Manager
- Appeals Analyst Manager
- Surgical Services
- ASC Planning/Development/Construction Coordinator
- Acquisition of furniture, fixtures, equipment, instruments
- Maintenance and service agreement management
- ASC Billing, collections and operations consultant
- Risk Manager –
- Medical Malpractice
- Practice owned captive insurance
- Quality Improvement committee member
Participates in Payer initiatives, including the Humana Bold Gold Collaborative Team, United Healthcare Administrative Advisory Council, State of TN Episode of Care Technical Advisory Group.
OrthoForum ASC Advocacy Council Chair, Purchasing Alliance Committee Member
Past speaker at Beckers and HFMA
