DEBRA SPINDEL, MBA – Vice President
Debra joined Hoag Hospital in 1993 as Administrator for one of its first practice management clients, a 25 physician multi-specialty medical group. After Hoag Practice Management, Inc. was formed in 1997, Debra was appointed its Vice President and under her leadership, the customer base and the scope of services offered expanded significantly. During the years, she accumulated considerable expertise in the areas of strategic planning, process improvement, workflow redesign and automation, physician compensation formula development, revenue cycle management, financial modeling, and implementation of electronic medical records (EMR). Her responsibilities at Nautilus include budget accountability, strategic and financial planning, contract negotiation, client relations and general oversight of operations.
Prior to joining Hoag, Debra worked in the food service industry as a VP of Finance for a large chain restaurant company. She holds an MBA degree in Financial Management from UC Irvine. She also passed the rigorous CMPE exam (Certified Medical Practice Executive) given by the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) to assess knowledge of the physician healthcare environment. A past president of the Orange County MGMA chapter and board member of California MGMA, Debra has also been a featured speaker on EMR Implementation at various healthcare forums and a member of the EHR Advisory Committee of the Pacific Business Group on Health. In addition, her views on technology adoption in medical groups have published in the MGMA national journal, Healthcare IT News and other national magazines.
JANE BROWN – Director, Technology Services
Jane has been a valued member of the HPMI and now Nautilus team since 1991. She started her career at Hoag Hospital as the Practice Manager for one of the first medical practice clients and soon assumed responsibility for implementing various computer systems throughout the medical practices. To supplement her operations background, Jane acquired considerable expertise with deployment and support of practice management/billing systems and other technologies for the physician office. The system support provided to all Nautilus clients includes application server hosting, 24-hour help desk, all end user training, database maintenance, application upgrades, in-office hardware support In 2001, Jane directed the first successful implementation of EMR one of our client practices. Since then, she has overseen numerous additional EMR implementations and has developed expert knowledge in this area as well.
Jane has a BA degree in Administration and has completed Information Technology coursework related to Database Administration and IT Project Management.
Jill Cresap - Director, Practice Management Operation
Jill joined Nautilus in May 2008, bringing with her over 13 years of experience in the medical management industry. She is responsible for overseeing Nautilus’ practice management operations and consulting services.
In 1995, Jill started her own medical marketing consulting firm in Long Beach, California. By 2001, her business had grown to a place where she added medical operations management to the services provided. Jill has had the opportunity to work within a variety of medical arenas including, family practice, podiatry, physical therapy, surgical centers, obstetrics-gynecology, cardiology and integrative medicine, and hospital settings. Her areas of expertise include personnel management, organizational efficiency and process improvement, medical marketing and customer service training.
Jill is a member of the California Medical Group Manager’s Association (CAMGMA) as well as the Orange County MGMA. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Behavioral Science and is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Organizational Psychology.
Charitie K Horsley, CPC, NCP - Director, Physician Billing and Collection Services
Charitie is responsible for Nautilus’ revenue cycle management and physician billing service operations. With more than 13 years of physician practice management experience, she joined the Patient Accounts team at Nautilus in July 2008. She has used our NextGen practice management system (EPM) for many years and has become proficient with its numerous robust features. Combining a strengths-based management style with the NextGen EPM software capabilities, Charitie has demonstrated extraordinary results for revenue cycle management and accounts receivable performance.
Charitie started her career as a computer systems trainer with a Columbia Physician Services Division in Utah. She was a key member of the team that converted more than 20 practices to a new practice management system in record time. From this project, she began consulting with various practices and simultaneously became the Business Office Manager at the 3rd largest Multi-Specialty clinic in Utah. She speaks nationally on topics including: Coding Updates, Business Office Management, and NextGen Software Strategies. After eight years at Ogden Clinic as the Director of Patient Accounts and Compliance, she returned to consulting and systems training on a full time basis.
In the past three years, she has worked with more than 20 practices in Utah, Arizona, Texas, and California on their NextGen system implementation and patient accounts improvements. Charitie comes from a long line of health care professionals and graduated Cum Laude with a BS Degree from Weber State University in Health Administrative Services. She is also a certified coding professional.
TOM LOUGHREY – Director, Reimbursement Analysis and Education
Tom is responsible for providing value-added feedback and education to Nautilus billing service clients related to optimizing reimbursement, payer contracts, credentialing and coding education. He joined our team in June 2006 and has more than twenty five years experience in health care management at a variety of levels. For the past twenty years his experience has focused on physician reimbursement and productivity. Tom has an MBA in Health & Hospital Administration from the University of Florida and came to Orange County, California as an assistant hospital administrator where he began to work on physician reimbursement issues. This developed into a successful independent physician billing operation that Tom sold in 1987 when he became a consultant and then president with the nationally recognized firm of Conomikes Associates.
Tom has become a sought-after speaker on physician coding and reimbursement issues. He is a Certified Coding Specialist – Physician (CCS-P) and has conducted audit assignments for medical practices across the country. He regularly presents the advanced surgical coding course for the American College of Surgeons as well as other national specialty organizations.
Tom’s professional affiliations include Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), American health Information Management Association (AHIMA), American Association of Professional Coders (AAPC) and the Professional Association of Health Care Office Managers (PAHCOM).
MARY STURTEVANT, CPA – Director, Physician Accounting Services
Prior to joining the Nautilus team in February 2008, Mary was the Manager of Accounting and acting CFO at PacifiCare Behavioral Health of California, Inc. At PacifiCare, she acquired extensive knowledge of accounting and financial reporting in the heavily regulated healthcare industry. In addition to her accounting expertise, Mary also has considerable experience in budgeting, process improvement and system implementations. At Nautilus, Mary is responsible for financial reporting and providing accounting support to our physician clients.
Mary has a BS degree in Accounting and is a CPA licensed in California.