Karla on LinkedIn

Karla Hiravi, RN, BSN

President

Karla serves as the Vice President, Clinical Resources of PayerWatch / AppealMasters. Karla is a registered nurse and holds a BSN from the University of Pittsburgh, Johnstown. She has over thirty years of varied experiences in healthcare, including Clinical Documentation Improvement (CDI), management of a CDI department, development of a hospital-based denial and appeal program, development of an oncology research program, nurse and physician education, appeal writing, presentations at the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) level, and direct management of appeals at every level, up to post ALJ appeals.

She was a frequent guest speaker at the University of Pittsburgh, Johnstown for many years, and served as a preceptor for nurse practitioner and Pharm D. students while they studied medical research through the University of Pittsburgh. Karla has been with PayerWatch – AppealMasters since 2016 and continues to participate in and educate clinicians and coders about the medical appeal process.

Denise on LinkedIn

Denise Wilson, MS, RN, RRT 

Immediate Past President

Denise serves as the Senior Vice President at Denial Research Group – AppealMasters. Denise is also President of The Association for Healthcare Denial and Appeal Management. Denise is a Registered Respiratory Therapist, Registered Nurse, and holds a Master’s degree in Management Information Systems from the University of Illinois, Springfield.

Denise has over thirty years of experience in healthcare, including clinical management, education, compliance, and appeal writing. Denise has extensive experience as a Medical Appeals Expert and has personally managed hundreds of Medicare, Managed Medicare, and Commercial appeal cases and presented hundreds of cases at the Administrative Law Judge level.

Denise is a nationally known speaker and dynamic educator on Medicare and Commercial appeals processes, payer behaviors, standards of care, appeal template development, and building a road map to drive the payer to a decision in the provider’s favor. She has educated thousands of healthcare professionals around the country in successfully overturning medical care denials.

Brian on LinkedIn

Brian McGraw 

Treasurer

Brian is a nationally recognized speaker and sought-after expert in the areas of Revenue Risk Management, Regulatory Audit Management and Payer Compliance. Brian pioneered the early design and development of BPM software for revenue compliance and next-generation RCM technology to improve hospital net revenue performance. Over the last twenty years, he has worked with hundreds of hospitals and many of the nation’s largest healthcare systems to improve their managed care reimbursements, denied claim recoveries, billing integrity, RAC audit management and Medicare compliance.

Larry on LinkedIn

Larry Hegland, MD

Director

Larry is an experienced hospital and group practice administrator with 30 years of experience at several nationally known organizations. He also has experience in provider-sponsored health plan and accountable care organization operations. He is an Anesthesiologist, having trained at Northwestern University and possesses a management degree from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a nationally known speaker and consultant in the area of Physician Advisor services. He is founding and current board member of the American College of Physician Advisors. He also sponsors the RAC Relief listserv, a nationally recognized free education resource for Physician Advisors, case managers, coders and revenue cycle staff. Larry’s particular area of interest is in Physician Advisor Program development and Physician Advisor mentoring.

Vivek on LinkedIn

Vivek Radhakrishna

Secretary

Vivek has more than 22 years of experience designing/developing software and has worked across multiple domains in his professional life, including banking, telecommunication, K-12 education and Healthcare. He has been with Intersect Healthcare for 7+ years; Vivek believes that the customer is the most valuable asset an organization can have and that all software design should be driven by a unrelenting pursuit of end user focus and experience which enables them to effectively use applications to achieve business results. As the VP of Engineering he revels in solving problems, finding creative solutions to customer needs and clearing a path for the organization to do the very best they can while constantly moving forward.