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About the Pinnacle Group | return to main
Our People
David White, MBA 
Executive Director, Pinnacle Healthcare Consulting
David White is a partner in the Pinnacle Group and founding member of Pinnacle Healthcare Consulting. His professional focus has been geared towards building stronger provider relationships and identifying shared business opportunities for healthcare businesses. David is known as a creative thinker and problem solver with almost 20 years experience in healthcare organization management and consulting. His areas of expertise include new business development, health services valuation and financial analysis, healthcare market research, medical staff partnership planning and physician practice management consulting. During the past four years, Mr. White has managed over three hundred fair market value analyses. David has assisted health systems, community hospitals, rural hospitals, specialty health service providers, single and multi-specialty medical groups across the country. He has worked with national health plans regarding provider contracting and medical management issues. Prior to joining Pinnacle, David was a healthcare consultant with Milliman USA and a co-founder of Physician and Hospital Solutions. He also served as the Director of Planning and Practice Management for Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California. David received his BBA in from the University of Colorado and his MBA with a focus in Healthcare Management from Cleveland State University.
Expertise
• Business and health services valuation
• Strategic planning and business development
• Physician-hospital relationships
• Financial analysis, forecasting and modeling
• Community needs assessment and medical staff planning
• Marketing research and product development
• Physician compensation planning and analysis
Interests
• Golf on a warm day (preferably with several mulligans), skiing on a cold day
• Travel to fun and interesting places
• An evening out with good family and friends
Christopher Rehm, MHA, MBA
Executive Director, Pinnacle Physician Resource Group
Chris Rehm is the founding partner of the Pinnacle Group. His professional experiences encompass business management, planning, consulting, marketing, auditing and education within various segments of the healthcare industry; he has managed or consulted with more than thirty healthcare organizations. Chris has been active in strategic and operational management, as well as payer and facility negotiations for numerous practices Chris also works with a variety of physician groups and hospitals to develop programs to cover critical hospital-based physician services. He continues to consult on a wide variety of strategic and organizational initiatives for facilities and physician practices specializing in physician compensation, fair market value analysis and business venture feasibility. Additionally, Chris heads AfterOurs Urgent Care, Inc. - an innovative urgent care company incubated by Pinnacle. Chris earned his BBA from Boston College and his MBA and MHA from the University of Missouri- Columbia. He is active in several community charitable organizations.
Expertise
• Organizational management and leadership
• Strategic planning and business development
• Physician compensation and fair market value analysis
• Physician-hospital relationship development
• Medical practice development and operations management
• Health information technology planning and implementation
• Health plan contracting and negotiation
• Physician billing operations
Interests
• Baseball, dancing and concerts with my kids
• Wakeboarding and snowboarding
• Golf
Daniel Stech, MBA, CMPE
Executive Director, Pinnacle Products and Innovation
Dan Stech is a healthcare business expert with over 20 years of experience in settings ranging from the health policy arena and health services research to physician practice management, association management and technology development. His professional focus is on hospital-physician relationships, physician compensation and regulatory compliance. In addition to consulting, Dan leads Pinnacle's Physician Fair Market Value Program and other product initiatives. Dan is a partner in the Pinnacle Group and joined the firm in 2006 following an 11-year career with the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA). At MGMA, he held leadership positions in government affairs, healthcare consulting and between 2001 and 2006, was Director of Survey Operations. As survey director, Dan expanded the depth of performance measures observed by MGMA and firmed up MGMA's position as the market leader in physician data resources. Dan has authored numerous articles on practice management subjects and was coauthor of a book on the practice revenue development. He regularly speaks to industry groups having presented countless sessions for national, state and local health care organizations. Dan holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from Benedictine College (Atchison, KS) and a Master of Business Administration degree from Marymount University (Arlington, VA). Dan is active in a number of industry associations including MGMA and HCCA and is a member of the Board of Directors of Colorado Healthcare Strategy and Management. He received the credential of Certified Medical Practice Executive from the American College of Medical Practice Executives.
Expertise
• Fair Market Value Analysis
• Physician compensation and productivity analysis
• Physician practice management and improvement
• Strategic planning and business development
• Marketing research and product development
• Association management and planning
• Survey Design and research project management
Interests
• Having fun with the family
• Everything in the mountains from fly fishing to skiing
• Tending to an endless list of projects around the house
James Connors, III, MBA, ASA, CFA
Director, Valuation Services
Mr. Connors' professional focus has been geared toward providing business and securities valuation services to enable clients to make better decisions and reduce their exposure to compliance issues. Jim has over 20 years experience in business valuation and financial and marketing consulting. Jim joined The Pinnacle Group in mid 2008, following eight years with Quist Valuation. At Quist, he led the transactions services group, providing middle market clients with valuation analyses performed for mergers, acquisitions and corporate finance, fairness opinions, purchase price allocations as well as goodwill and intangible asset impairment. Additionally, he performed valuations for executive compensation, gift and estate tax compliance, and employee stock ownership plans. During the past eight years, Mr. Connors has managed and/or reviewed over four hundred valuation engagements. He has written articles on valuation techniques and analyses on SEC, FASB and IRS rulings and regulations. Jim earned his BA in Economics from the University of Virginia and his MBA with an emphasis in finance from the University of Colorado - Denver. He has also earned credentials as a Charter Financial Analyst and as a certified senior appraiser with the American Society of Appraisers.
Expertise
• Business, securities and intangible asset valuation
• Fair value accounting for business combinations and financial reporting
• Transaction and corporate finance advisory
• Financial analysis, forecasting and modeling
• Acquisition analysis and due diligence
• Competitor and market analysis
Interests
• Mountain biking
• Skiing
• Golf
Lucas Hutchison, MHA
Senior Healthcare Consultant / Senior Practice Manager
Lucas's professional experiences encompass business operations, strategic and market planning, and financial analysis as well as planning for healthcare organizations. He has served in various capacities, ranging from an operating room technician to an administrative resident for senior hospital leadership. Lucas joined the Pinnacle Group in 2003 and is responsible for market research, medical staff planning projects, physician practice implementation and management consulting projects. He has been active in numerous physician practice start-ups and ongoing practice management. In addition, he has served as a consultant for health systems, community hospitals, rural hospitals, specialty health service providers, single and multi-specialty medical groups across the country. Lucas will also be leading Front Range Primary Care, a new practice management solution by Pinnacle. Lucas earned his BA in Health Sciences from James Madison University and his MHA from The Medical College of Virginia.
Expertise
• Physician practice development and management
• Operations improvement
• Financial analysis and modeling
• Business and practice valuations
• Physician compensation and Fair Market Value analysis
• Market Research
• Strategic planning
• Medical staff development
Interests
• Fly fishing
• Skiing
• Golf
Jeremy Peters, MHA
Senior Consultant
Jeremy joined Pinnacle in 2006 and provides analysis and support for a broad range of healthcare projects. He is involved with Pinnacle's healthcare valuation, financial and market analysis, practice management and product development. Jeremy's background includes experience as an administrative intern, serving as a member of the leadership team at a Solucient Top 100 Hospital, where he analyzed hospital quality measures, performed financial and market analyses, and served on process improvement/re-design (LEAN) project teams. Jeremy recently earned his certification as a Certified Managerial Accountant (CMA) and is an active member of the Colorado Chapter of the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA). He received both his BA in Economics and Masters in Health Administration from the University of Michigan.
Expertise
• Fair market value analysis and physician compensation
• Financial analysis, forecasting and modeling
• Operational and strategic analysis
• Market analysis/research
• Managerial accounting
• Physician practice development and management
• Billing operations and health plan process management
Interests
• Family
• Golf
• Skiing
Jana Sizemore
Consultant
Jana Sizemore joined The Pinnacle Group in September 2009. She performs business valuation, transaction support, and financial advisory projects for both private and public entities in the healthcare industry. Her experience encompasses hospital system administration, business valuation and investment banking. Prior to joining Pinnacle, Jana was most recently employed as a Senior Financial Analyst at Exempla Healthcare in Denver, Colorado. In this role she performed various analyses to drive a profitability improvement initiative, and managed capital planning and tracking for the three hospital organization. Jana participated in a special system-wide project focused on physician contract compliance; to ensure billing conformity with physician contracts, to track payments and calculate physician income guarantee forgiveness amounts, and to standardize physician compensation rates across the system. She has prior business valuation experience
having performed several engagements for privately held companies requiring valuation analyses for tax and financial reporting purposes. Prior to her role with Exempla Healthcare, Jana was an associate investment banker at J.P. Morgan Securities and Wachovia Bank where she focused on tax-exempt fixed income securities. By utilizing debt instruments, such as traditional fixed rate bonds, variable rate demand bonds, and interest rate derivatives, she was an instrumental part of raising over $3.0 billion for various non-profit, client organizations across the nation. Jana holds a Bachelor of Science in Actuarial Science from Butler University (Indiana) and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Denver.
Expertise
• Financial analysis, forecasting and modeling
• Business and practice valuations
• Market analysis / research
• Hospital financial operations
Interests
• Hiking
• Skiing
• Paleontology
Michele Olivier, Revenue Cycle & Coding Consultant
Billing Manager
For the past ten years, revenue cycle management and coding have been Michele’s professional
focus. Her expertise in these areas complements Pinnacle’s existing core services of physician
compensation, business valuations and hospital and physician integration by adding depth to
revenue cycle reviews. This unique perspective offers clients additional value, which further
differentiates Pinnacle from other compensation companies. Michele will be offering services which include:
• Addressing and improving challenges with documentation
• Performing billing and compensation audits (evaluation and management coding service, revenue cycle optimization, Stark investigations, etc.)
• Solving difficult reimbursement issues
• Creating more efficient processes within billing office operations
• Identifying coding trends and educating providers
• Supporting business office development and efficiency
Michele began her career with The Pinnacle Group as Billing Manager in August 2007, where she
oversaw her team comprised of coders, billers, payment posters and data entry personnel. In that
role, Michele managed billing operations for diverse specialties that ranged from primary care
and OBGYN to bariatric and cardiovascular surgery. Prior to joining Pinnacle, Michele gained valuable experience in a variety of companies. In
previous roles, she held practice management positions, assisted with accounts receivable, human
resources, payroll, hospital and insurance credentialing, Colorado state licensing, new hire
orientation and personnel training. Additionally she implemented training and compliance for
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) programs as well as served in managerial roles regarding patient billing
and collections for both Medicare and private insurance companies.
Expertise
• Medical Billing and Collection
• Correct Coding and Compliance
• Fee Schedules
• Credentialing
• Contracting
• Practice Management Systems and EMR
Applications Knowledge
• Ingenix CareTracker
• Misys Tiger
• Lytec/ Eclipse/ Medical Manager
Interests
• Cooking and writing
• Enjoying city life
• Music
Mike Stone, MCSE
Chief Technical Officer
Mike has spent his professional career bridging the technical and business worlds. Mike joined the Pinnacle Group in 2002. As a result of his experience in the high tech sector, Mike has extensive knowledge of networking, remote access, TCT/IP, email and web development. Mike has focused his skills on enhancing the IT
infrastructure at Pinnacle to enable more efficient customer interaction with both billing and strategic management activities. Mike has participated in the launch of multiple office-based practices. His roles in these activities included setting up phone systems, managing web and email domains, developing web sites, designing and implementing LANs, managing secure internet connections and deploying remote access to Pinnacle's billing and scheduling systems. As CTO, Mike leads all billing and practice management client IT/automation implementations including the deployment of electronic medical record applications.
Interests
• Coaching and watching baseball
• Anything electronic from computers to audio gadgets
• Hiking with the family
Daniel McDerrmott
Consultant
Dan McDermott is an expert in EHR implementation, practice management technology integration and data mining. He joined Pinnacle in 2004 as a member of the medical billing division and was recently added to the Pinnacle Healthcare Consulting team. Dan has worked with dozens of practices to improve physician efficiency and billing. Recent achievements include designing, building and implementing a standard physician reporting structure to help address practice productivity, profitability concerns. The reporting structure provides critical information for management decision-making and will be essential to practice participation in quality reporting and pay for performance reimbursement programs. Dan's knowledge extends into the practice management arena as well as information systems with a focus on software applications. He will complete his BBA from the University of Phoenix in January 2010 and subsequently pursue graduate studies. Dan was recently
awarded the credential of Certified Professional Coder.
Expertise
• Health Data Mining and analysis
• E.H.R. Implementation and training
• Practice management / billing system utilization
• Practice technology integration and systems support
• Physician billing operations
• Medical practice operations
• Medical coding
Interests
• Outdoor activities
• Culinary arts
• Reading
Kelly McFadden, BA
Senior Healthcare Analyst
Kelly joined The Pinnacle Group in April 2008 with consulting experience in resolving operational, regulatory, and financial issues for healthcare organizations. Currently, Kelly supports consulting engagements that include fair market value reviews of physician compensation, compensation plan development,
medical staff planning, business plan development, financial and market analysis and physician practice start-up and management assistance. Prior to joining Pinnacle, Kelly worked as a Research Associate with DGA Partners, a healthcare consulting firm located in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area. Kelly's background also includes biomedical laboratory research for the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and coaching field hockey. Kelly earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania and plans to pursue graduate studies in healthcare management.
Expertise
• Physician compensation planning and analysis
• Community needs assessment and medical staff planning
• Healthcare industry trends and policy research
• Financial analysis, forecasting and modeling
• Business plan development
Interests
• Coaching and playing field hockey
• Playing with my dogs
• Becoming a Broncos fan
Kimberly Berkey
Marketing & Client Development
Kimberly leads the implementation of marketing initiatives, client development, communications and other client relations activities. She joined the team in September of 2009 and performs a variety of organizational functions including research and analysis, web development, branding and identity, product development and financial management. Prior to joining Pinnacle, Kimberly worked at Ascendant Technology where she managed a number of key projects including the development of an ongoing, complex set of deliverables for IBM that helped Ascendant earn nearly $100,000 each quarter.
Kimberly's experience also includes marketing and fundraising for numerous organizations, both non-profit and independent, such as Relay for Life and a variety of art galleries. She is currently active in Colorado's division of the American Lung Association Leadership Council, a philanthropic organization for young professionals, and volunteers for various events in the Denver community. Kimberly earned a bachelor of arts in Mass Media Communication as well as a bachelor of fine arts in Art and Art History from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in 2007. She plans to pursue graduate studies in business and marketing.
Expertise
• Marketing initiatives
• Client development
• Communications
• New media marketing
Interests
• Art and photography
• Running and exercise
• Playing with my dog in the park
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