Chris Gardella

E-mail: acrc2u@r.postjobfree.com

** ********* **** **** 732-***-****

Colonia, NJ 07067 Cell 718-***-****

SUMMARY

Financial Planning professional with 25 years of broad based experience in a not-for-profit hospital setting. Major strengths include extensive reimbursement technical knowledge, strong leadership and excellent communication skills. Self-starting, detail-oriented, creative problem solver, who quickly learns and adapts in a changing environment.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Wyckoff Heights medical center BROOKLYN, NY

07/2012 – 11/2014

A community hospital with 90,000 Emergency Room visits and over 100,000 ambulatory care visits annually.

Vice President, Budget, Reimbursement, and Revenue

Major accomplishment: Took over a Revenue Cycle Department that was being outsourced to a Big 4 Accounting Firm. Changed all the vendors and saved over $5.0 Million annually on outsourcing expenses while cash collections remained constant relative to volume. Additionally, I engaged two companies who identified underpayments totaling $9.7 Million mostly during the time prior to my arrival.

Prepared 2013 Operating Expense budget, utilizing a Meditech budget application. The budget process included a large Reduction In Force of approximately 120 FTE’s.

Reviewed monthly Third Party entries, including PIP analysis.

Reviewed with Departmental managers monthly budget variances.

Prepared the 2012 Medicare 2552 and the Institutional Cost Report.

Prepared the 2015Operating Revenue budget which included factoring in ACA Disproportionate Share changes, as well as the loss of Direct and Indirect Medical Education monies from the closure of our Family Medicine Residency program.

Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center BROOKLYN, NY BROOKLYN, NY 12/2007 -12/2007 12/2007 12/2007-12/2007-12/2007 2/2006-12/2007 and 6/2003-6/2005

12/2007-7/2012 and 6/2005-2/2006

12/2007 – 07/2012 and 6/2005-2/2006

An Acute Care hospital with exempt Psychiatric and Rehabilitation units, as well as a hospital based skilled nursing home.

Director of Budget and Reimbursement

Manage the Budget and Reimbursement operation and leads a team of three.

Prepare the Hospital’s annual budget and work directly with key staff members to ensure the timely and accurate completion of the budget, including the reduction of an initial $20 million projected deficit. This led to the completion of service line P & L’s as well as performing sensitivity analysis due to the ongoing NYS budget crisis.

Prepare monthly revenue proofs to verify general ledger balances.

Prepare and verify third party rate computations, and work closely with primary auditors and other third party reimbursement personnel.

Prepare Medicare and Medicaid rate appeals.

Review and assist in the preparation of the Medicare 2552 and the Institutional Cost Report.

Increased the Hospital’s Bad Debt and Charity Care pool receipts for 2005 and 2006 by 10 percent working with an outside consultant. Additionally, when filing the 2007 cost report, utilized a different method of allocating charges and allowances that increased the distribution.

Interfaith medical center BROOKLYN, NY 2/2006-12/2007 and 6/2003-6/2005

A 287-bed teaching hospital, offering a variety of behavioral health services.

Director of Reimbursement and Managed Care

Managed the hospital wide financial planning operations including Budget and Reimbursement and Managed Care. Leads a team of three.

Redesigned the process for disseminating 2008 expense and FTE budget information to Department Heads by upgrading to a more web based and electronic format, and the elimination of the traditional paper budget packages.

Worked with senior management to achieve overall financial goals, including a plan to turn around a projected $16 million dollar deficit and the preparation of service line P & L’s for our inpatient services. Performed P & L’s on any potential new services to determine viability including a detailed review of our 11 off site ambulatory care centers; identifying four sites to be closed.

Prepared a monthly contractual allowance calculation to verify general ledger balances.

Maximized the hospital’s Bad Debt and Charity Care Pool receipts resulting in the hospital receiving more than double in BDCC receipts based on the last filed ICR.

Maintained and updated the Charge Description Master.

Identified managed care contracts which had not been previously renegotiated, and worked closely with an outside consultant to convert per diem contracts to a percentage of the Medicaid DRG. Approved all rate negotiations and communicated the new rates to Information Systems and Patient Accounting. Additionally, turned a $1.6 million deficit balance in our Medicaid PHSP pool to break even by identifying physicians participating in HealthFirst (our largest managed care plan) who were not in our catchments area and who had adverse admitting patterns.

Prepared and verified third party rate computations, Medicare and Medicaid rate appeals and worked closely with primary auditors and other third party reimbursement personnel.

Reviewed and assisted in the preparation of the Medicare 2552 and the Institutional Cost Report.

Identified and developed a corrective action plan for items that were impediments to the hospital’s revenue cycle and presented them at monthly meetings with a multidisciplinary team from Finance, Medical Records, and Information Technology to resolve these issues.

Worked with the administrator for Psychiatry and the director of Health Information Management to ensure a successful transition to Psych PPS.

The Brooklyn Hospital Center Brooklyn, NY 3/1990 -6/ 2003

A Multi campus teaching facility with a hospital based HHA.

Director of Reimbursement

Responsible for all reimbursement functions, including preparing the Institutional Cost Report, and reviewing rate computations. When the hospital joined the New York – Presbyterian network, I assisted in the cost report preparation of various other network hospitals (NY Methodist, Wyckoff Heights, Community Hospital of Brooklyn and New York Hospital). I successfully managed the following tasks for The Brooklyn Hospital Center:

Guided the hospital through the five-year HCFA demonstration project, which reduced residents. Worked closely with chairmen of each residency program to determine where reductions could be made without impacting patient care, and budgeted for replacement personnel.

Worked on the Caledonian closure and conversion to a Diagnostic and Treatment Center specifically calculating a budgeted per visit rate for the facility, which was near the maximum allowable.

Worked closely with the directors of Patient Accounting, Information Systems, Physical Medicine and Rehab on the transition to Rehab PPS.

Worked closely with the Vice President for Home Health Services on the annual Statement of Operations, the implementation of the interim PPS system for Home Health, and the major acquisition of another hospital based HHA.

Responsible for updating and maintaining the hospital Charge Description Master. Revised the existing hospital policy and procedure on charge master maintenance to ensure no procedures were performed without the proper charge on the hospital CDM.

EDUCATION

Pace University, New York, NY

B.B.A. General Accounting, 1988

SKILLS

Microsoft Office Suite • Internet • Lawson

REFERENCES

Will furnish upon request

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