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Work History

CRN Healthcare Solutions

Tinton Falls, NJ, United States
May 2005 - Present
Consultant 


  • Provide Consulting Services to Medical Practices, providing full practice analysis or more limited reviews, in the areas of Process improvement, coding, audits, compliance, revenue cycle management, reimbursement, appeals, looking at the front office to the back office and in between
  • Expert witness for Healthcare Attorneys in need of coding, reimbursement or process review, audit, opinion and testimony. Success includes serving on legal team which assisted in getting surgeon acquitted of many charges of fraud
  • On the Editorial Advisory Board and Consulting Editor for Otolaryngology Coding Alert, Part B Insider, and Medical Office Billing and Collections Alert published by The Coding Institute as well as on the Editorial Advisory Boards of multiple other specialty newsletters from The Coding Institute. Teach for live and audio conferences for The Coding Institute as well as AAPC audio conferences and workshops on many topics
  • Senior Auditor and Coder for The Coding Network
  • Educator for State and National Medical Societies in the areas of coding, documentation, billing, reimbursement, process improvement and compliance
  • Speaker for National MGMA Conference as well as provider of Webinars for MGMA
  • Speaker for American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) at the national, regional and local level
  • Speaker for The Coding Institute, for their CodingConferences.com division as well as their audioeducator.com division
  • Speaker at the National Conference, Ingenix Essentials on coding, reimbursement and compliance issues
  • Former Teacher for McVey Associates

 

Cash Flow Solutions, Inc

Brick, NJ, United States
Sep 1993 - May 2005
President 

 

  • Started company from ground up, selecting and purchasing computer hardware and software, hiring personnel, establishing operations procedures, protocol and controls, and developed procedures for optimum reimbursement for client physicians
  • Increased accuracy of office and surgical coding, Medicare submissions and insurance appeals, optimizing practice income
  • Increased level of patient service and accessibility related to billing and insurance claim issues
  • Increased practice revenues between 10 to 50% within first six months of assuming operation through the unique and value added services provided by Cash Flow Solutions
  • Provided start up and billing services  for new practices, including orthopaedic surgery, ENT and facial plastic surgery, endocrinology, and infectious disease specialties
  • Provided management services on a consulting basis to merged primary care group, coming from 10 individual practices to a single merged practice.  Included in management services was the design and set up of practice billing office, development of manuals addressing procedural issues, personnel policy, operational policy,  medical policy and collection procedures
  • Provide ongoing coding training on a national basis, to physicians and billing staffs, including documentation requirements, chart audits and design of systems and procedures to aid in the coding process, and improve chart support of coding
  • Provide practice management consulting services, including analyses from studies which can be as limited as basic  accounts receivable management, to engagements analyzing full practice operations
  • Have provided full Accounts Receivable Management for Primary Care, Endocrinology, General & Vascular Surgery, Orthopaedic Surgery, Otolaryngology, Facial Plastic Surgery, Pulmonology & Critical Care, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Infectious Disease, GI Neurology, Psychiatry, and Podiatry specialties,  optimizing practice income, while reducing practice costs, space requirements, and personnel concerns
  • Testified before State Legislature in the consideration and passing of pro physician legislation
  • Co-Founder of the Coding and Reimbursement Network (CRN at www.codingandreimbursement.net)
  • Consultant to the American Medical Association
  • Consultant to CMS (Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services)

 

Eli Research

Durham, NC, United States
Dec 2007 - Present
Consulting Director of Education for The Coding Institute 
  • Develop, and deliver audio and live educational conferences on coding, compliance and reimbursement topics
  • Educate future CPCTM's at The Coding Institute's CPCTM Training Camp
  • Consulting Editor for three publications, Otolaryngology Coding Alert, Medical Office Billing Alert and Part B Insider
  • List Serve Moderator for coding and billing list serves
  • Educational product development
  • Market and sell live and audio conference sponsorships
  • Network, assisting to add to the value of all Eli Research Healthcare brands
  • Provide Customer Relations when customers have questions, problems or any other needs

 

American Academy of Professonal Coding (AAPC)

Salt Lake City, UT, United States
Mar 2007 - Dec 2007
Director of Outreach Programs 

  • Develop, market and deliver e-training and education in billing, coding and compliance for the AAPC e-learning programs, including group sales and support to schools and  universities

  • Evaluate and purchase Blackboard ProSite upgrade for AAPC eLearning

    Network with the 60,000+ members of the organization, providing feedback to the management of the AAPC National Office

  • Support the President, Directors, and staff of the AAPC in whatever means as deemed appropriate by the President of the AAPC

  • Represent the AAPC at trade shows, marketing the professional organization and their services


 

 

PHYSICIAN’S SERVICES- Medical Billing and Practice Management System

Hamilton, NJ, United States
Jan 1992 - Sep 1993
Vice President 
  • Collected $70,000 of accounts receivable previously written off by physician’s office through better coding, follow-up with insurance companies, and documentation of necessity
  • Sold account to, and set up billing for an Orthopedic Surgeon, providing for collections of A/R, customer service for patients, coding of procedures and diagnoses, and all elements of practice management.  Increased receipts by over 50
  • Developed the Operations Manual for the franchise business, and performed sales presentations to new customers
  • Evaluated alternatives and negotiated for a new mailing system needed for 20-30,000 mailings per month.  The new system increased performance and provided opportunity for generating new business
  • Consulted in the area of Medicare and commercial insurance collections for physicians.  Developed and analyzed fee schedules

The Challenge Printing Company

Clifton, NJ, United States
Feb 1990 - Jan 1992
Account Representative 

Metropolitan Life Insurance Company

Roselle Park, NJ, United States
Sep 1988 - Feb 1990
Management Executive Training (MET) Program, Account Representative 

Barr Laboratories (Generic Pharmaceutical Manufacturer)

Montvale, NJ, United States
Feb 1985 - Feb 1987
Manager Production and Packaging Planning 
  • Developed and executed the Barr-Plan for the planning of bulk manufacturing and packaging of finished goods on a PC
  • Scheduled the packaging of finished goods on 9 packaging lines requiring customized labeling for 15 different customers
  • Reduced backorders 20% despite physical plant capacity limitations and greater than 50% sales growth per year for 4 years.  Developed and implemented capacity analysis tools on a PC
  • Reduced raw material inventory from $3 to $2 million via realistic planning and execution
  • Implemented a cycle counting program which increased inventory accuracy from 60% to 95%.
  • Managed the Packaging Department of 100 employees when the Manager position was vacant

 

Coopers and Lybrand

New York, NY, United States
Jan 1984 - Feb 1985
Senior Consultant: Manufacturing Resource Planning 

Lederle Laboratories Division of American Cynamide

Pearl River, NY, United States
Sep 1978 - Jan 1984
Manager Production and Inventory Control 

Clairol

Stamford, CT, United States
Jun 1977 - Sep 1978
Industrial Engineer (Executive Training Program) 

Education

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - Lally School of Management & Technology

Troy, NY, United States
Sep 1973 - May 1977
BS, Management Engineering

Hybrid program between Management Engineering and Management

New York University - Leonard N. Stern School of Business

New York, NY, United States
Sep 1979 - Jun 1982
Masters of Business Administration (MBA)

Certifications

CPC (Certification Professonal Coder)

(AAPC (American Academy of Professional Coders))
Jun 1997

Requires 18 Annual CEU's

CPC-H (Certified Professional Coder for Outpatient Hospital)

(AAPC (American Academy of Professional Coders))
Mar 2000 - Has no expiration

Requires 18 CEU's per year to maintain

CPC-P (Certified Professional Coder for Payers)

(AAPC (American Academy of Professional Coders))
Apr 2006 - Has no expiration

Requires 18 CEU's to maintaine

CPC-I (Certified Professional Coder - Instructor)

(AAPC (American Academy of Professional Coders))
Apr 2007 - Has no expiration

Requires 5 Continuing Teaching Units per year to maintain

CENTC (Certified Otolaryngology [ENT] Coder

(AAPC (American Academy of Professional Coders))
Jan 2008 - Has no expiration

Requires 8 Specialty Specific CEU's to maintain per year

CHCC (Certified Healthcare Compliance Consultant)

(HCR (Healthcare Compliance Resources))
May 2006 - Has no expiration

Requires 15 Continuing Education Units per year to maintain

Summary

 

Over 16 years of experience in management in healthcare billing, coding, operations, reimbursement and compliance, with the focus on physician practices.  Barbara has also used her industrial engineering and MBA skills to assist practices embroiled in civil and criminal litigation related to fraud in the areas of healthcare billing, coding, reimbursement, operations and compliance.  Barbara has also been an educator for large and small groups in the areas of documentation, appeals, specifics related to coding, operations, billing, reimbursement operations (including project management) and compliance, to assist practices and physicians "dot all their i's and cross all their t's" while optimizing the reimbursement that they are entitled to within the healthcare system.


Barbara is a high level manager, utilizing her MBA and skill sets she has acquired while working in the pharmaceutical industry, big 8 consulting firms, and within her own billing company as well a her current consulting firm currently.  Through the combination of her education and experience, Barbara brings her employers a combination of real world and theoretical knowledge that is not matched in the healthcare industry.

 

 

 

Barbara J. Cobuzzi Portfolio

Icon_pdf_16 Questions to ask a billing company: AMA Advocacy

This advocacy piece was written by Barbara Cobuzzi when she was President of Cash Flow Solutions on retainer by the AMA as an educational flyer for physicians considering engaging a billing company.  The purpose of the advocacy piece was to inform the physician and practices of all the benefits and risks involved with engaging an outside billing company and how to ascertain if they are a credible company and right for their practice.

Icon_pdf_16 Anatomy of a Fraud Indictment and Ultimate Acquittal - Article

This article was written by Barbara Cobuzzi and published by the Journal of medical Practice Management.  This article is a result of Barbara's experience as an expert witness on a criminal fraud case where the physician was indicted with over 50 counts of criminal fraud and by the time the case was heard and came back from the jury, he was acquitted of all counts.  This result was not by magic, but through exceptional cost, a well planned expert witness team and a top notch attorney (plus an innocent physician).  Read the article and find out about the risks and costs involved in fighting criminall fraud prosecutions.

Icon_pdf_16 Billing and Coding for ENT in SurgiCenters-Aritcle

Barbara Cobuzzi wrote this article for Surgery Center On Line about billing and coding of procedures for the Otolaryngology Specialty.

Icon_pdf_16 Modifier 59: Not a License to Unbundle - Article for Coding Edge

This article was written by Barbara Cobuzzi and published by the AAPC (American Academy of Professional Coders) monthly publication.  It is about one of the most potent and the most dangerous modiifiers available to coders.

Icon_pdf_16 Letter of Reference from Attorney, Jim Tate for Expert Witness work 3-07

Letter of reference from work Barbara Cobuzzi did as an expert on the expert witness team for Mark Capener, MD when indicted by the US Attorney of Criminal Fraud.  Dr. Capener was ultimately acquitted of all counts of healthcare fraud that were a result of this case.

Icon_pdf_16 A Compliant Plan Gathers No Dust:: Coding Edge - July 2009

This article was written by Barbara J. Cobuzzi  for and published by the American Academy of Professional Coders Monthly Publication, The Coding Edge in July 2009. 

Icon_pdf_16 Uncovering the Right Code

This article was written by Barbara J. Cobuzzi for and published by Physicians Practice Pearls in 2009 as part of a series

Icon_pdf_16 Get Paid Separately for Bundled Codes

This article was written by Barbara J. Cobuzzi for and published by Physicians Practice Pearls in 2009 as part of a series. 

 

This article stresses when and how unbundled codes may and may not be billed and coded, focusing on the correct use of unbundling modifiers

 

Icon_pdf_16 Using Templates Well

This article was written by Barbara J. Cobuzzi for and published by Physicians Practice Pearls in 2009 as part of a series. 

Icon_pdf_16 7 Tips For Audiologist Billing Success

This is an article that was written by Barbara J. Cobuzzi and published by the American Academy of Professional Coders monthly magazine, The Coding Edge.

Icon_pdf_16 Fine Tuning Billing For Audiology Tecnicians - AAPC Coding Edge December 2009

This is an article that was written by Barbara J. Cobuzzi and published by the American Academy of Professional Coders monthly magazine, The Coding Edge

Icon_pdf_16 Wisely Choose Between Modifier 25 and Modifier 57 - Article

This is an article that I wrote for the September Coding Edge (the magazine published by the American Academy of Professional Coders - AAPC) on the proper use of the 25 and 57 modifiers.

References

Erin Lang Masercola, PhD, CPC

(Professional)
Content Manager Eli Research / The Coding Institute (919) 593-3805

I first met Barbara Cobuzzi 10 years ago when I was a reporter writing about physician compliance. I hardly knew what a medical code was, and she was a very savvy and patient teacher. Since then, I have learned so much from Barb. She presents well at conferences, shares detailed reimbursement information (often pointing out what everyone else has missed), mentors other coders, and knows just about everyone. She either knows the answer to your question, or knows who you can ask. She is sharp and tenacious. If I were a physician practice with a reimbursement problem, I'd want to have Barb on my side.

 

Erin Lang Masercola, PhD, CPC

Content Manager, Eli Research/The Coding Institute 

Torrey Kim, MA, CPC

(Professional)
Editor The Coding Institute (919) 924-2833

Barbara is well-versed in Medicare policy and always has the regulations right at her fingertips. She can break down a complex coding scenario, show you exactly how to bill it, and ensure that you are compliant with all of the rules and regs.

 

Torrey Kim, MA, CPC

Editor, The Coding Institute

 

John Verhovshek, MA, CPC

(Professional)
Director of Clinical Coding Communications American Academy of Professional Coders (239) 272-0829

“I’ve never needed a coding or reimbursement answer that Barbara couldn’t find for me. She combines rare knowledge with rare enthusiasm. In a complex, constantly-changing, and heavily-regulated healthcare industry, she’s been a reliable, trusted source of advice to me for nearly a decade.”

 

 

G. John Verhovshek, MA, CPC

Director of Clinical Coding Communications

The American Academy of Professional Coders

Jeffrey S. Weingarten, MD

(Professional)
Physician / President, Hearing Resources of Michigan / President, Michigan Otolaryngologists' Purchasing Group / Past-President, Michigan Oto-Laryngological Society Ear, Nose and Throat Consultants, PC 248 569 5985

"Barbara Cobuzzi has been a frequently requested, well respected, invited guest lecturer and educator for the Michigan Oto-Laryngological Society on numerous occasions. She has come to my groups' private practice offices to design, automate, implement and streamline our billing system. She has advised me on coding issues and assisted me in at least two coding battles with a national insurance company. She is a leader in her field."

 

Jeffrey S. Weingarten, MD

Ear, Nose and Throat Consultants, PC

President, Hearing Resources of Michigan

President, Michigan Otolaryngologists' Purchasing Group

Past-President, Michigan Oto-Laryngological Society

Office  248 569 5985

Pager 313 503 0822

jsweing@comcast.net

 

 

Leesa Israel

(Professional)
Editor-in-Chief The Coding Institute

 

"Barbara is one of my most-trusted resources for all things billing and coding. She is a patient and thorough teacher, a charismatic and knowledgeable speaker, and an reliable and motivating colleague. When I need a coding or billing answer, Barbara is my go-to resource. There’s no question I’ve asked that she hasn’t known the answer to or know where to find it. Her passion for the healthcare field is inspiring."

 

~Leesa A. Israel, CPC, CUC, CMBS

Editor-in-Chief, The Coding Institute

H. Peter Bowhall

(Professional)
CEO ClaimRemedi 800-763-8484 ext 903

Barbara has been an excellent resource in the ongoing development of our web based Claim Lifecycle Manager. Her insight into the complexities of today’s billing requirements and regulations, coupled with her overall knowledge of billing operations, has helped us to further refine many of our analytics reporting tools. Barbara’s very pragmatic approach to some of the more incomprehensible facets of healthcare billing is extremely refreshing.

 

 

H. Peter Bowhall

CEO

 

 

Randene Tapio

(Professional)
Senior Healthcare Consultant LarsonAllen 320-290-6448

Barbara is a wonderful source of knowledge! Her depth of experience, combined with her years teaching and training others, make her one of the best in our industry. She is really knowledgeable in the areas of all things coding!  With Barb, you will get the most up-to-date, expert advise, there is available. I highly recommend Barb for all your coding and related needs, to ensure that your company is performing top notch!"


Barbara is a wonderful source of knowledge! Her depth of experience, combined with her years teaching and training others, make her one of the best in our industry. She is really knowledgeable in the areas of all things coding!  With Barb, you will get the most up-to-date, expert advise, there is available. I highly recommend Barb for all your coding and related needs, to ensure that your company is performing top notch!"