Why We Started Pinnacle Healthcare Advisors
Our primary objective at Pinnacle Healthcare Advisors is to design and implement sustainable improvements that will result in a return on investment (ROI) for you, our clients. We founded Pinnacle with the belief that your people are at the core of everything you do and that developing them is the most important aspect of driving sustainable improvements in financial performance.
Todd Hakala
Todd has been transforming revenue cycles and leading process improvement projects at hospitals for over 20 years. Todd has deep technical expertise in all areas of the revenue cycle and is credentialed as a Registered Health Information Administrator.
In addition to his revenue cycle expertise, Todd has experience in implementing labor, non-labor, clinical utilization, and patient throughput initiatives at community hospitals and multi-facility health systems. Todd’s unique skillset and background gives him the ability to deliver financial benefit while also improving quality and customer service.
Todd’s knowledge, passion, and experience have helped hospitals achieve dramatic results, and you should expect similar outcomes. In his career, Todd has delivered results for hospitals like yours, such as:
- $6–$23 million of annual recurring income statement improvement
- $5–$13 million in one-time balance sheet improvement
- 10–35 day reduction in accounts receivable
Todd's Approach to Transformation
Todd is a highly successful and credentialed healthcare leader who understands process improvement as well as organizational behavior and change management. He believes in creating a “we” environment with leaders and staff members, collaborating to solve key challenges that make the team and the organization successful.
Education
Master of Healthcare Administration, University of Minnesota
Bachelor of Arts in Health Information Management, College of St. Scholastica
Andrew Jacobsen
Andrew has been helping community hospitals, tertiary medical centers, and multi-facility health systems throughout the country implement revenue cycle enhancements for over 15 years. Across his engagements, he has delivered significant improvements across all key revenue cycle metrics including net revenue, cash flow, accounts receivable days, and point of service cash collections.
As an expert in patient access, health information management, and patient accounting, Andrew has led comprehensive revenue cycle transformation initiatives as well as highly focused projects such as completing business office redesigns, implementing new financial clearance units, and designing revenue cycle workflows for a variety of health information systems including Epic and Meditech.
When you engage with Andrew, you can expect an approach that has delivered results for facilities like yours, including:
- $6 million in annually recurring income statement improvements
- 50% decrease in patient access related denials
- 30% reduction in AR days
- 20% increase in pre and point of service collections
- 25% reduction in revenue cycle vendor cost
Andrew's Approach to Transformation
Andrew’s educational background in Psychology at UC San Diego, with their institutional focus on education and public service, positions him uniquely to navigate the intricacies of organizational transformation in the highly complex healthcare revenue cycle environment.
Andrew is a problem solver and a developer of people, and he drives positive change by building strong, open relationships at the individual level and across the organization.
Education
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and History, University of California at San Diego
Brian Felland
Brian has been leading hospitals and health systems to increase functional and financial performance for over 15 years. He has transformed revenue cycle processes by helping hospitals develop enhanced technical, functional, and reporting strategies across numerous technology platforms.
Brian has deep experience across all areas of the revenue cycle, with specialized focus in patient access, denial management, vendor management, and patient financial services in both community hospitals and large, multi-facility organizations.
When you engage with Brian, you can expect an approach that has delivered results for facilities like yours, including:
- 25% reduction in avoidable adjustments
- 50% increase in point of service collections
- 20% reduction in accounts receivable days
- 20% increase in net cash factor performance
Brian's Approach to Transformation
Brian invests in his clients with his hands on and collaborative approach. He works with his teams to establish and sustain the most optimal solutions to meet each individual client need.
Education
Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology, University of California at San Diego
Bachelor of Arts in Economics, University of California at San Diego
Nick Fortman
Nick has spent his entire 10-year career as a revenue cycle performance improvement consultant with a focus on blending operational and technical solutions. Nick has extensive experience managing healthcare revenue cycle projects and developing teams to deliver solutions to end-users.
Nick is an expert at analytics, data management, reporting, and tool configuration. Nick has provided analytical and operational guidance for health systems during EHR conversions and business office consolidations.
When Nick is working on an engagement, you can expect a systematic approach that has delivered results for facilities like yours, including:
- $19M in increased recurring cash
- $10M reduction in AR backlogs
- $8M reduction in credits
Nick’s Approach to Transformation
Nick’s key to success is in breaking problems down into detailed components to build understanding and implementing lasting and sustainable solutions. Nick uses client data to ensure solutions are customized to gain buy-in from staff to maintain improvements over the long-term.
Education
Bachelor of Science, Finance, Decision Sciences, and Management Information Systems, Miami University
Kevin Blanchard
Kevin has been working with healthcare organizations for over 12 years to drive enhanced revenue cycle performance. He has been responsible for leading patient access redesign efforts, AR reduction initiatives, and EHR optimization engagements that have led to sustained improvements in net revenue, cash flow, automation, productivity, and reporting transparency.
Kevin has extensive experience developing methodologies and implementing solutions to enhance revenue cycle functionality including reporting, metric management, account prioritization, and account flow. In his career, Kevin has delivered results for hospitals like yours, such as:
- 25% increase in pre/point of service collections
- 3.4 day reduction in unbilled AR within 60 days of go-live
- Elimination of redundant work queues and black holes preventing accounts from hitting work queues
Kevin’s Approach to Transformation
Kevin collaborates with hospitals to develop methodologies and solutions that increase reporting transparency, improve workflows, and reduce denials. Kevin understands the revenue cycle work flow and can work with teams to develop methodologies and tools to increase efficiency and improve outcomes. Kevin prides himself in his ability to connect and partner with various levels of management to work towards a desired outcome throughout an engagement.
Education
Bachelor of Business Administration, University of Colorado at Boulder
Liz Hendricks
Liz serves as Pinnacle’s Operations Manager with nearly 10 years of experience working for healthcare consulting firms. With PHR certification, Liz’s area of specialty is Human Resources. Liz works to identify opportunities for increased efficiencies and decreased costs while maintaining quality and compliance.
Education
Master of Arts in Industrial Organizational Psychology, Central Michigan University
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, Capital University