Health Care Finance and the Mechanics of Insurance and Reimbursement

Michael K. Harrington, MATS, MSHA, RHIA, CHP, has more than 30 years of experience in health care in areas such as Health Information Management, managing homecare companies on a local and regional level, and consulting in the post-acute sector. He is a leading authority on healthcare reimbursement and Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) and has extensive experience in implementing the RCM model in physicians’ offices and other healthcare organizations outside of the acute-care setting. After starting out in the healthcare field in a home care company as a coordinator, Harrington quickly advanced into managing home care companies that handled durable medical equipment, specialty home infusion, high-tech respiratory services, and specialty biologicals, and repositioned these companies by using reimbursement and quality clinical care as the cornerstones to his success. In addition to managing home care companies, Harrington started to teach and was part of the adjunct faculty at Gwynedd Mercy College, Temple University, and St. Joseph’s University in the Philadelphia area. His focus has always been in healthcare reimbursement when teaching, but he has instructed in other areas, such as Healthcare Policy, Healthcare Ethics, Healthcare Delivery, Computerized Medical Records, and Healthcare Law. Recently, Harrington has been named Program Director over the Health Administration Department for St. Joseph’s College of Maine. His responsibilities include the Undergraduate Health Administration, Health Information Management, Long-Term Care, Radiologic Science Administration Programs, and a Graduate Level Health Administration Program. Harrington earned his bachelor’s degree from LaSalle College and his master’s degree from Independence University (formerly California College for Health Sciences). Harrington also earned his Registered Health Information Management (RHIA) credentials at Alabama State University. He is an active patient advocate and is a much soughtafter speaker, on a global basis, in the areas of healthcare reimbursement, healthcare finance, and healthcare operations. He can be reached at michaelharrington@sjcme.edu.