Healthcare Administrative Partners was founded on the principle that hospitals and physician practices require a higher level of service and solutions from performance management vendors. Our core executive team members each bring a minimum of twenty years of experience in the healthcare arena. We will collaborate with you to navigate today’s challenges as well as provide the strategic foresight to prepare for the changes that lie ahead.

HAP’s proven service models can be applied and customized to your needs, delivering significant improvements in the key parameters by which you measure success.

Meet the members of the Healthcare Administrative Partners’ management team.

Brian Effron is the founder and President of Healthcare Administrative Partners. In just 13 years, his strategic leadership has propelled HAP to an industry-leading position in the practice and revenue cycle management services arena.

Prior to founding HAP, Mr. Effron spent 20 years as a business consultant to physician practices and hospitals at Medaphis Physician Services Corporation (formerly Professional Management Services) and at ARPUS Incorporated. The innovative solutions to complex billing and performance management issues developed under his watch culminated in his appointment to President of both organizations. Notwithstanding his success, Mr. Effron perceived an opportunity to advance provider billing and revenue cycle management to a higher level and established Healthcare Administrative Partners in 1996. Today, HAP prides itself on a client base of more than seventy medical groups and hospitals, and an unparalled record of customer satisfaction.

Mr. Effron serves on the Board of Directors of various charities and medical institutions. He has lectured extensively on topics such as revenue cycle management and provider reimbursement. He is also a founding member of the Healthcare Billing and Management Association.

Carin Carlson joined Healthcare Administrative Partners in 2003 as Vice President of Business Development. She is directly responsible for all new business activity at HAP including sales, marketing, product development and strategic planning. During her tenure in this position, HAP has enjoyed a year over year growth rate averaging 25% through expansion into new product offerings and clinical specialties.

Ms. Carlson has been a driving force in revenue cycle management for more than 25 years, delivering solutions that meet vital client needs and a positive ROI. As a Registered Nurse early in her career, she developed critical insights into the logistics of healthcare delivery which she parlayed into a founding role with GMIS—a clinical software development firm. As one of the founding members of GMIS, Ms. Carlson was instrumental in developing innovative products and in growing market share, which led to the company’s initial public offering in 1992. GMIS was later acquired by HBOC, and then McKesson, where Ms. Carlson served as Vice President of the Payor Solutions Group. In this capacity, she revamped the sales and marketing model to drive significant improvements in efficiency, customer satisfaction and sales results.

Ms. Carlson is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton School of Business where she earned a Masters degree in Nursing Administration and a certificate in Business Administration. She also holds a B.S. in Nursing from Indiana University.

Angelo J. Devita joined Healthcare Administrative Partners in 2009 as Vice President of Client Services. In this newly created position, he provides direct oversight to all client service functions including new customer implementations, training, practice management and consulting service delivery. Mr. Devita brings more than 25 years of experience to HAP, touching all sides of the healthcare continuum including a nationally recognized hospital system, a Fortune 100 payor and innovative personal health services companies.

In numerous positions throughout his career, Mr. Devita has taken on and exceeded challenging goals related to maximizing revenue, improving organizational efficiencies and leveraging relationships. His track record of success is founded on his keen ability to understand client needs and develop viable solutions. As one of the founding sales executives of U.S. Healthcare, he helped shepherd a start-up managed care company to national prominence. Most recently, he was charged with developing and implementing strategic initiatives for AllOneHealth. He has also served in a Senior Business Development capacity for the Jefferson Health System and several other provider organizations.

Mr. Devita holds a Masters degree in Public Health from Yale University. He is currently an adjunct professor for Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business Executive MBA Program.

JoAnne Dougherty has been with Healthcare Administrative Partners since its inception in 1996. She currently directs key client services related to practice and financial management. Her leadership skills and knowledge base have been instrumental in HAP’s rapid growth and consistently high customer satisfaction scores.

Ms. Dougherty has consulted in the practice management field for more than two decades. Her experience extends to radiology and pathology, as well as numerous other physician specialties and hospital-based models. Initially, at HAP, she oversaw both Practice Management and Operations. As the company has expanded, she has redirected her focus to business development, practice management and consulting.

In prior senior positions at Medaphis Physician Services (formerly Professional Management Services) and MDS, Ms. Dougherty was responsible for business management services, encompassing contract negotiations, budgeting and financial planning, which resulted in vastly improved financial “health” for the client practices.

Jane R. Knox joined Healthcare Administrative Partners in 2007 as Vice President of Operations. In this position, she directs a multi-site staff that provides all of HAP’s coding and billing services. Leveraging more than 20 years of experience in provider revenue analysis and collections, Ms. Knox was instrumental in the implementation and migration of HAP’s state-of-the-art billing system.

Ms. Knox excels in building billing practice teams and implementing quality and efficiency improvement programs. Most recently, she served as Director of Revenue Services for Quest Diagnostic Laboratories Inc.—one of the largest pathology laboratories in the United States. While managing a workflow of more than 500,000 daily transactions, she drove favorable changes in key billing indicators that resulted in millions of dollars of incremental collected revenue. Ms. Knox also thoroughly understands the physician and hospital perspective of the billing process, holding numerous financial management positions with Saint Mary’s Medical Center.

Ms. Knox holds an MBA from Holy Family University and is certified as a Six Sigma Green Belt.

John E. Thomas joined Healthcare Administrative Partners as Senior Consultant in 2001. In this role, he oversees practice management and consulting services to HAP clients. Mr. Thomas’ breadth of expertise includes hospitals, medical schools, office-based specialties, managed care networks and public health.

During his 25 years in healthcare, Mr. Thomas has been engaged to analyze and resolve business development scenarios encompassing practice formation, contract negotiations, strategic planning and reimbursement maximization. Numerous practices, including emergency medicine, anesthesia and pathology, have drawn on his expertise to perform service and revenue cycle management reviews. Prior to joining HAP, Mr. Thomas served as Vice President of both PractiCare and Medaphis (formerly Professional Management Services). As sole principal of Professional Medical Management, he focused on the development and management of physician networks.

Mr. Thomas has lectured at numerous university medical schools including Harvard University and Georgetown University. He has published extensively in the fields of Radiology and Diagnostic Imaging. He is a graduate of Temple University with a B.S. in Business Management and Finance.

Paul G. Trakofler joined Healthcare Administrative Partners in 2004 as Chief Information Officer. In this capacity, he is responsible for all technology development and implementation initiatives at HAP. Mr. Trakofler’s 20-year career bridges a variety of service industries, giving him a broad base of knowledge on which to draw to meet customer requirements.

Under Mr. Trakofler’s management, HAP has instituted numerous technology infrastructure improvements that directly translate into incremental cash flow for our customers. For example, he directed the development of CODIA—HAP‘s proprietary workflow engine that drives the client revenue cycle by reducing charge lag days and claim denials, while accelerating Accounts Receivable processing. In previous Senior Information Technology positions at Electronic Data Systems and Aetna U.S. Healthcare, Mr. Trakofler was also challenged to deliver enterprise software solutions to enhance efficiency and reduce operating costs with great success.

Mr. Trakofler holds a B.S. degree in Computer Science from The University of Pittsburgh and a Masters degree in Software Engineering from Pennsylvania State University.

Joseph E. Wilson Jr. joined Healthcare Administrative Partners as Chief Financial Officer in 2006, and is responsible for the planning, direction and control of the company’s financial and human resources plans, practices and policies.

Mr. Wilson brings more than 25 years of experience to HAP, including several past positions as Chief Financial Officer. Key areas of expertise include financial planning & analysis, mergers and acquisitions, operations management, corporate taxation, Sarbanes Oxley, risk management and employee benefits administration. With years of practical CFO and COO experience, Mr. Wilson is acutely aware of the critical importance of cash flow as it relates to medical practice operation.

Mr. Wilson is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a B.S. in Accounting from LaSalle University.