Management Team
Philip A. Besler, CPA, FHFMA — President
Phil brings 30 years of experience in healthcare finance to the job that includes analyzing and implementing federal and statewide reimbursement laws, monitoring of federal and statewide reimbursement systems, assisting hospitals and other healthcare providers in the management of both regulated and non-regulated reimbursement systems, and representation on many healthcare committees.
Since founding the company, Phil has been responsible for meeting the financial consulting needs of over 100 healthcare clients. One of his most significant contributions to date was the forefront position he assumed in the Jersey Shore 1992 PRRB appeal case, which led to Program Memorandum 99-62, the inclusion of Charity Care and General Assistance days in the hospital DSH calculation. This effort resulted in over 300 million dollars of additional revenue for New Jersey hospitals alone.
Prior to becoming President of BESLER Consulting, Phil was a Senior Manager at Ernst & Young and earlier served the State of New Jersey Department of Health as Chief of Rate Setting. He is a licensed Certified Public Accountant and is a member of both the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting and is a graduate of Wilkes University in Pennsylvania.
E-mail: pbesler@beslerconsulting.com
Brian P. Sherin, MBA — Vice President
Brian's broad knowledge of the diverse aspects of the healthcare revenue cycle, patient accounting and reimbursement environments, in addition to his hospital administration experience, make him a powerful ally for our clients. The fact that his 20 plus years of experience also includes the selection, development, installation and management of information systems, including the integration of hospital and physician billing and in-depth proficiencies with many critical software applications, makes his support even more valuable.
Brian began his healthcare career at Deborah Heart & Lung Center where he held a number of positions, including Director of Patient Financial Services, Assistant Administrator and Chief Compliance Officer. Other key responsibilities at the provider level over the years have included Patient Access, Faculty Practice Management, coordination of the financial operations with Health Information Management, ambulatory care operations, and related administrative functions.
Brian has managed and participated in numerous client projects related to accounts receivable reduction, interim patient accounting management, managed care contracting, compliance program development and assessment, detailed revenue cycle analysis, service line operational improvement implementation, physician coding/billing and reimbursement, and chargemaster/CPT coding analysis. Brian is considered an expert in the Medicare Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) reimbursement system and the impact it has on the revenue cycle. His experience, level of professionalism and his ability to work with all levels of management translates to excellent results for our clients.
Brian holds a Master of Business Administration Degree with a Major in Finance from La Salle University and a Bachelor of Science Degree with a Major in Business and Management from the University of Maryland. He plays an active role in both the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA), having served on the local Chapter Board and earned the FHFMA designation, and the American Association of Healthcare Administrative Management (AAHAM). Brian is also a member of the Medical Group Management Association. Brian regularly provides industry presentations on current topics.
E-mail: bsherin@beslerconsulting.com
Jeffrey A. Lampman - Chief Operating Officer
Jeff Lampman brings over 25 years of healthcare financial experience to BESLER Consulting. Prior to joining the firm, Jeff served as a Vice President of Kreg Information Systems for 11 years. Prior to that time, Jeff was President of Health Care Computer Solutions.
Jeff has experience in developing services to meet the needs of the industry and managing infrastructure expansion. This skill set is important to manage the growth of the firm and maintaining the level of service to which BESLER Consulting has built the business upon.
Jeff has a degree in Business Administration.
E-mail: jlampman@beslerconsulting.com
David A. Bongiovanni, JD - General Counsel
David Bongiovanni, General Counsel and Senior Manager with BESLER Consulting, brings over twenty-four years of experience in the healthcare industry to the firm. He has advised healthcare providers and healthcare systems on managed care contracting, corporate and transactional matters, compliance requirements, reimbursement issues, delivery system development and operation, licensure and a variety of federal and state regulatory matters.
Before joining BESLER Consulting, David was a Principal of Glazer Bongiovanni, P.C., a Princeton law firm focusing on healthcare law. Previously, he was a partner in the Princeton office of Reed Smith LLP where he headed the law firm’s managed healthcare practice. While at Reed Smith, David served as the executive director for a multi-hospital organization that was formed to contract with Medicaid managed care organizations. Before joining Reed Smith, he served as legal counsel for ten years with Independence Blue Cross (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and its subsidiaries, where he assisted those organizations in developing and implementing their healthcare delivery and financing strategies.
David received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1977 from St. Joseph’s University, and his J.D., cum laude, from Widener University School of Law in 1981. After law school he served for two years as chief judicial clerk to James Crumlish, President Judge of the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.
E-mail: dbongiovanni@beslerconsulting.com
Victoria McElarney, RN, MBA, FACHE, CPC-H — Director, Chargemaster and Coding Services
Ms. Victoria McElarney is a Director with BESLER Consulting responsible for the Chargemaster and Clinical Coding Product Lines. She has more than 25 years of experience in the healthcare industry serving in various capacities. With BESLER Consulting, Ms. McElarney has performed numerous engagements involving chargemaster reviews, departmental operational assessments as they relate to the revenue cycle, coding reviews with an emphasis on defining the root causes of billing issues and various other APC related projects.
Prior to joining BESLER Consulting, Ms. McElarney began her career as a staff nurse. Later she served as a Director for several clinical departments in a multi-hospital system and was subsequently promoted to Assistant Vice President of Patient Care Services. In that capacity she was responsible for the management of the day-to-day operations of all of the clinical departments within the hospital. This combination of hands on clinical and hospital experience, coupled with her financial expertise has provided her with a distinct advantage in understanding the fiscal challenges hospitals face in this highly competitive and regulated marketplace. Ms. McElarney excels in identifying workable financial solutions for her clients.
Ms. McElarney holds a BSN from the University of Rhode Island and an MBA from Temple University. She is also a Diplomat in the American College of Healthcare Executives, a certified professional coder with expertise in facility coding and an active member of the New Jersey Chapter of the Healthcare Financial Management Association.
E-mail: vmcelarney@beslerconsulting.com
Kathryn Ruggieri — Director, Revenue Cycle Management Services
Kathryn is the Director responsible for BESLER Consulting’s Revenue Cycle product line and has been a member of our revenue cycle team for over five years. Kathryn has over 20 years of experience in healthcare financial management and has extensive knowledge of all components within the revenue cycle. Her background is very diverse having experience in acute care hospitals in addition to skilled nursing facilities, psychiatric facilities, and home healthcare.
Prior to joining BESLER Consulting, Kathryn was Combined Business Office Director for a two-hospital business office. She was responsible for the development of “best practices” in the merging of the two facilities into one centralized location. In addition, she was the Director of Patient Financial Services of an inner city hospital which included responsibility for patient accounting and patient access.
Kathryn has managed and participated in numerous client projects related to patient access, accounts receivable reduction, interim patient accounting management, CBO development and implementation, cash acceleration, and charity care evaluations. Her prior experience combined with her professionalism and ability to work with all levels of management translates into measurable results for our clients.
Kathryn holds a Bachelors degree in Health Care Administration from Quinnipiac University.
E-mail: kruggieri@beslerconsulting.com
Mary Cronin — Director, Reimbursement Services
Mary is the Director responsible for BESLER Consulting’s Reimbursement product line. Mary brings with her 16 years of progressive experience and is responsible for meeting the reimbursement needs of a myriad of major healthcare clients. Mary supports and leads her team in the preparation and review of Chapter 160 Actuals HCFA 2552, preparation and monitoring of revenue and expense budgets, product line feasibility studies, third party payer analyses and appeals, managed care contract analyses, and strategic pricing analyses.
In her tenure with the firm, Mary has overseen the preparation and review of Medicare cost reports (HCFA 2552), Chapter 160 Actuals, chargemaster maintenance reviews including strategic pricing analysis and CPT4 coding. She has also been instrumental in the completion and review of department revenue and expense budgets as well as with various financial analyses including managed care contract analysis, product line feasibility studies, third party payer analysis and subsidy modeling. In addition, she has assisted clients with various Medicare issues including the preparation and implementation of Ambulatory Payment Classification (APC) and the Psychiatric and Rehab prospective payment systems. Mary has also been involved in multiple system conversions and system implementations.
Previously, Mary worked with Innovative Health Solutions, a BESLER Consulting affiliated company, to develop enhancements for their software products. Mary also served as a reimbursement manager at a well-known New Jersey hospital.
Mary attended the Rutgers University Center for Management Development and holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Scranton.
E-mail: mcronin@beslerconsulting.com
William A. Wheeler, MBA- Director, Boston
William Wheeler has worked for the past 30 years for the Medicare Fiscal Intermediary in Massachusetts. During that time, he has been employed by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Associated Hospital Service of Maine, and most recently Anthem Blue Cross.
During his tenure with the Massachusetts Fiscal Intermediary, Mr. Wheeler held various key positions, including Manager of Medicare A Program Safeguards, and for the past 16 years has been the Audit Manager in the Medicare Audit and Reimbursement Department. He has been responsible for a myriad of audit and reimbursement functions including: provider appeals, rate setting, internal quality review, staff training, and liaison to Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on policy issues.
Mr. Wheeler has played a leadership role in serving the training needs of the provider community during major Medicare reimbursement and policy changes occurring over the past several years, and has been a key contributor to CMS on various reimbursement issues including Graduate Medical Education, Provider-Based Entities and Long-Term Hospital Prospective Payment System.
Mr. Wheeler holds a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration from Northeastern University and a Master in Business Administration from Suffolk University.
E-mail: wwheeler@beslerconsulting.com
James Proctor, Director, Atlanta
James Proctor has 15 years of healthcare management experience encompassing a variety of providers and management consulting firms. James joined BESLER from a leading public accounting firm, where he was a Manager in their Healthcare Advisory Practice. His prior experience spans across a broad spectrum of healthcare providers, and he brings to BESLER extensive experience with revenue cycle assessments, charge master reviews, charge capture assessments, coding and billing compliance reviews, as well as strategic pricing and the evolution of pricing practices.
James attended the University of Northern Iowa and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Finance. He is a member of the Healthcare Financial Management Association and the American College of Healthcare Executives.
E-mail: jproctor@beslerconsulting.com