Revenue cycle leaders across the U.S. are responsible for the financial side of the patient experience, collections, revenue analytics and revenue integrity. This is a huge responsibility to maintain the health of organizations.
Here are 15 women who hold senior and executive revenue cycle roles at hospitals and health systems. A special thank you to Rhoda Weiss, who contributed greatly to the development of this list.
Note: This list is not a ranking and member are listed in alphabetical order. Individuals or organizations do not pay and cannot pay for inclusion on this list.
Contact Laura Dyrda at ldyrda@beckershealthcare.com with questions or comments on this list.
Abigail (Abby) Abongwa. Vice President of Revenue Cycle at UW Health (Madison). Ms. Abongwa joined UW Health in 2017 and now oversees the strategy, operations and optimization of the health system’s revenue cycle. She has 20 years of experience in leadership, including time as vice president of revenue cycle at Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare. In her current role, Ms. Abongwa is also responsible for guiding decisions around the systems, tools, processes and investment for the revenue associated with patient services and coordinates those services for the health system and its partners.
Tracy Berry. Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer at BJC HealthCare (St. Louis). Ms. Berry is the chief revenue officer at BJC HealthCare and is responsible for ensuring the patients have a positive financial experience at the system. She joined BJC HealthCare in 2010 after spending almost 20 years in revenue cycle and financial services, including roles with Tenet Healthcare and Centura Health.
Jill Buathier. Chief Revenue Cycle Officer at Stanford Health Care (Palo Alto, Calif.). Ms. Buathier became the chief revenue cycle officer of Stanford Health Care in 2016, taking on responsibility for the revenue cycle strategy and operations for the system. She has experience in patient access services, patient financial clearance, revenue integrity, clinical documentation improvement program, health information management and, hospital and professional billing. She was instrumental in creating a single revenue cycle organization for the enterprise in 2017. Ms. Buathier previously served as vice president of revenue cycle and vice president of revenue operations at Stanford Hospital and Clinics.
Lisa Dachel. Vice Chair in Revenue Cycle at Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minn.). Ms. Dachel joined Mayo Clinic in 1990 and now leads the health system’s billing and accounts receivable division. She has executive leadership for the insurance client billing processes for all Mayo entities and is responsible for collecting more than $10 billion annually. Ms. Dachel has more than 40 years of experience in the field and earned her Six Sigma black belt. She has also served as a National Baldridge Quality Examiner.
Dawn Davidson. Vice President of National Net Revenue Management at Ascension (St. Louis). Ms. Davidson has a background in financial team leadership and reporting. She is the vice president of national net revenue at Ascension where she coordinates the work of more than 100 professionals across the system. She previously served as CFO and system executive of finance and corporate controller of St. Vincent Health in Indianapolis.
Miriam Flores. Executive Director of Patient Business Services at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston). Ms. Flores oversees the business office and physicians’ practice plan for University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She has spent more than 20 years serving cancer patients and leads a 250-member team to bill and collect around $4.5 billion in revenue cycle operations. During her tenure, Ms. Flores and her team have navigated through ICD-10 and EHR transitions and sunset legacy accounts. She is passionate about the patient experience and has success due to her collaborative relationship with clinicians, researchers, nurses and executives at MD Anderson.
Prabhjot (PJ) Grewal. Associate Vice President of Revenue Cycle Operations at Montefiore Health System (Bronx, N.Y.). Ms. Grewal implements revenue cycle initiatives and has responsibility for strategic pricing, project management and revenue modeling at Montefiore Health System. She also has experience with charge master maintenance and vendor management as well as denial management. Ms. Grewal has previous experience as senior director of revenue cycle operations at Montefiore.
Laura Holt. Director of Revenue Cycle Management for St. Luke’s Hospital (Chesterfield, Mo.). Ms. Holt is the senior director of revenue cycle management at St. Luke’s Hospital, where she has helped organize the system’s price transparency tool for its website and was the project leader for its revenue cycle system conversion. She also has experience managing the revenue cycle for the St. Luke’s Medical Group.
Laurie Hurwitz. Senior Vice President of Revenue Cycle at OSF HealthCare (Peoria, Ill.). Ms. Hurwitz plays an integral role in revenue cycle management at OSF HealthCare, a health system with 13 acute care facilities and a 700-member physician organization. She has previous experience as the executive director of revenue cycle at Gundersen Health System in La Crosse, Wis., and as the director of physician practice finance and decision support at McLaren-Northern Michigan.
Lakmini Kidder. Vice President of Revenue Cycle Management at Johns Hopkins Health System (Baltimore). Ms. Kidder oversees all activities related to Johns Hopkins’ revenue cycle management and works with each hospital and member organizations to implement the revenue cycle strategy. She also appraises and forecasts to determine the appropriate future conditions and strategies to achieve the health system’s goals. Ms. Kidder previously worked as senior director of revenue cycle services at Regional Hospital, the HealthPartners flagship, where she oversaw revenue cycle performance and operations.
Sarah Knodel. Senior Vice President of Revenue Cycle at Baylor Scott & White Health (Dallas). Ms. Knodel is the Senior Vice President of Revenue Cycle at Baylor Scott & White Health where she is responsible for the strategic management and direction of the enterprise contact center and revenue cycle, which includes responsibility for over 2,500 employees spanning across Access Services, Revenue Integrity, Utilization Review, Denial Resource Center, and the Central Business Office. The health system has been recognized with the Healthcare Financial Management Association MAP Award for high performance in revenue cycle multiple times during her tenure.
Billie Jean Mounts. Chief Revenue Officer for Bon Secours Mercy Health (Cincinnati). Ms. Mounts is responsible for systemwide net revenue analytics, payer reimbursement and regulatory reporting for the 50-plus hospital system that has more than $10 billion in pro forma net operating revenue. In addition to her role as chief revenue officer at Bon Secours Mercy Health, Ms. Mounts serves as operations finance liaison for the revenue cycle. During her tenure the hospital earned the Healthcare Financial Management Association Map Award for High Performance in Revenue Cycle. Ms. Mounts has previous experience as chief reimbursement officer for Providence Health & Services in Renton, Wash.
Michele Napier. Chief Revenue Officer at Orlando (Fla.) Health. Ms. Napier oversees revenue management, managed care and care management for Orlando Health, an eight-hospital health system with 600-plus physicians. She has previous experience as senior vice president and chief revenue officer for Mercy Health, a 23-hospital system. She has a background in reimbursement, strategic pricing and health-plan related operations.
Gerilynn Sevenikar. Vice President of Hospital Revenue Cycle at Sharp HealthCare (San Diego). Ms. Sevenikar has spent more than 40 years in healthcare revenue cycle operations. In her current role as the vice president of hospital revenue cycle at Sharp HealthCare, she oversees the hospital access service and business office functions as well as chargemaster and health information management.
Maria Yorba. Executive Director of Patient Financial Services at MemorialCare (Orange and Los Angeles Counties, Calif.). Ms. Yorba leads MemorialCare’s central business office, which reports total annual collections of $1.5 billion. She joined the health system in 1987 and has deepened her knowledge of healthcare operations and systems. Ms. Yorba has experience as the director of patient access, revenue cycle and patient financial services. Throughout her career, she has also been involved in system upgrades, business office mergers and financial performance and operational efficiency projects.
