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Cathy has more than 20 years of experience related to healthcare operational and financial management, patient financial services, and information technology, with the last ten years devoted to management consulting.
Professional Experience
Prior to joining Huron, Cathy Smith was a Senior Vice President of Wellspring Partners, now a Huron Consulting Group Practice. She has previously managed all patient business operations, including acute care, SNF, home health, physicians, and outpatient clinics. Cathy also served as a healthcare internal auditor performing operational, compliance and financial reviews. She was instrumental in implementing a health plan, including development of the EOB, claims processing and subrogation procedures, and assisting with provider/subscriber relations and managing the financial aspects of that plan. Her broad experience across the healthcare spectrum has given Cathy a strong understanding of the requirements for effective change and improvement within healthcare organizations.
Representative examples of Cathy's engagement experience include:
Reduced accounts receivable days from 83 to 62 and increased annual net revenue by 2.9%.
Increased collections from denials by $4.12M annually.
Increased collections from lost charges in radiology by $500K, and in ED by $1.4M.
Reduced contractual adjustments from 60% prior to project to 46% near end of project.
Reduced accounts receivable vendor costs by $625K annually and increased collections an average of $2M per month during the project over the prior year.
Reduced avoidable write-offs by $700K per month.
Cathy formerly served as Senior Manager in the West Region Revenue Cycle Practice for BearingPoint, (formerly KPMG Consulting), a national consulting firm with an emphasis on management consulting and business system integration. In her role, Cathy led the revenue cycle methodology development for the region and contributed to the national methodology. She also served as engagement manager on large revenue cycle projects for the region. Cathy led the recruiting efforts for the West and was instrumental in building an effective and cohesive revenue cycle team. Before joining BearingPoint, Cathy served as Senior Manager with Arthur Andersen LLP in a similar role. Prior to entering consulting, Cathy worked for the University of Texas Healthcare System in a number of roles including internal audit, system auditing, and leading the patient financial services operations.
Education & Certifications
Master of Science, Computer Science, With Honors, University of Texas
Bachelor of Science, Business Administration with Major in Accounting, Oregon State University, With Honors
Certified Internal Auditor
Certified Information System Auditor
Certified Fraud Examiner
Professional Associations
Fellow, Healthcare Financial Management Association
Coach and Instructor, Patient Financial Services Certification National Coaching Course
Speaking Engagements
Cathy teaches annually at the Healthcare Financial Management Association's Annual National Institute. | 