MARCIE SWENSON, RN JD LLM CHC, President, Skyda Law Group

Marcie has a diverse healthcare background and degrees in nursing, healthcare administration, law, and an LLM/post-JD degree where she spent two additional years specializing in healthcare law. She has experience consulting and managing compliance programs for a wide range of clients including large health systems, hospitals, rural & Critical Access Hospitals, physician clinics, air & ground ambulance providers, health plans, and professional associations. Marcie offers FDA Regulatory Compliance, reporting, premarket approval, 510(k), and medical device registration and listing expertise.  Marcie is recognized by her experience as Region Compliance Officer for Intermountain Healthcare and managing a sophisticated large-scale compliance program that included large and small hospitals, children’s hospital, academic teaching hospital, ESRD, physician clinics, imaging centers, hospice, home health, retail pharmacies, telehealth/telemedicine, supply chain and procurement, skilled nursing, and urgent care.

Marcie served on the Legal Advisory Board for AAPC and was part of the AHLA Academic Medical Centers & Teaching Hospitals leadership board. She lectures and speaks on healthcare law and compliance at regional and national events and conferences including: HCCA, AAPC, Healthicity, Loyola University Chicago School of Law, state bar health law sections, and hospital associations.

Marcie has been and editor, author, co-author, and contributor for many legal and compliance publications including: Representing Hospitals and Health Systems Legal Guide (AHLA 2016), Healthcare Consumer FAQ (AHLA), Connections Journal (AHLA), Compliance Today (HCCA), and the Journal of Public Law.

ARTHUR PETERSEN, MD, Advisor

Dr. Arthur Petersen became a member of HCCA in 2013 when he joined the staff of one of the strongest healthcare compliance programs in the nation. At Intermountain Healthcare he was a proactive compliance specialist for the Intensive Medicine Clinical Program. He was one of several leaders that administratively supported the emergency departments, trama teams, ICUs, Hospitalists and five air ambulance bases at 22 hospitals. His work for this large, non-profit healthcare system helped him develop deep subject matter expertise in EMTALA, CMS Conditions of Participation and other clinical compliance areas.

Prior to joining Intermountain Healthcare’s Compliance Department, Arthur gained over 4 years of experience in Intermountain’s revenue cycle operations. His clinical knowledge and experience was put to use in Medicare defense audits and his business savy was utilized by the hospital charge description master team. During this time he also gained technical skills in SQL data queries and HL7 billing interfaces. In 2018 he began independent compliance work and has provided expertise to Intermountain Healthcare, Healthicity, large university medical systems and healthcare billing companies.

He and his lovely wife are the grateful parents of 9 bright, energetic, enthusiastic children

WADE THORNOCK, MPA, Advisor

Wade is the Director of Compliance at Blue Cross of Idaho acting as the Medicare Compliance Officer and with responsibilities for overseeing compliance activities across all lines of business as well as Privacy. Wade has thirteen years of experience in healthcare, human resources and compliance roles. He has held positions with both payers and healthcare systems including Intermountain Healthcare, SelectHealth, St. Luke’s Health System, and Blue Cross of Idaho. Prior to his professional career, Wade earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in health services administration from the University of Utah. Wade is a designated Professional in Human Resources and Certified in Healthcare Compliance.

AMANDA ECCLES JEX, JD, Senior Attorney & Advisor

Amanda provides healthcare legal and compliance consulting for health systems, hospitals, health plans and payers, and physician practices. Amanda leads the Skyda regulations monitoring team, has broad healthcare knowledge, and provides consulting services related to HIPAA/HITECH, privacy and security, labor and employment compliance, physician contracts, procurement contracts, SaaS and other technology contracts, risk assessment and mitigation, compliance program effectiveness, policy and procedure development, compliance education course content, and auditing/monitoring processes.

Prior to working for Skyda Consulting, Amanda worked as an Assistant Attorney General for the Utah Attorney General’s Office and as a contract attorney for Jones Otjen & Davis. Amanda earned her JD from BYU Law School a Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics from BYU; she speaks Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, Hunanese, French, and English.

Stephanie Cecchini, CPC, CEMC, CEPFG, Coding and Billing Compliance, HIM. and Health IT Advisor

Stephanie is an Medicare documention and payment expert with 25 years’ experience in audits and overpayment recovery response. She is an expert in Medical Billing and Coding, Professional Fees, Revenue Cycle Management, Compliance, Payer Overpayment Recovery, OIG and Payer Audits, Medicare Advantage, and Risk Adjustment, FFS, MACRA and MIPS, and Team Building. She provides strategic leadership and business development know-how with a heavy emphasis on technology in both the healthcare and educational verticals. These deep experiences in the healthcare industry allow her to provide unusually effective compliance consulting, auditing, training, and business coaching services.

Highlights

– Authored 3 Coding Examinations 1) Certified Evaluation and Management Coder Credential – AAPC‎ CEMC, 2) Certified Health Informatics Systems Professional Credential – ASHIM CHISP, 3) CoderScore Certified Expert Professional Fee Generalist – CompetentSee CEPFG)

– Has conducted overpayment inquiry audits for Humana, Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, OIG, Medicaid in seven states, and numerous TPAs.

– Respected Expert and National Keynote Speaker on topics including Medical Billing and Coding, Professional Fees, Revenue Cycle Management, Compliance, Payer Overpayment Recovery, OIG and Payer Audits, Medicare Advantage, and Risk Adjustment, FFS, MACRA and MIPS, and Team Building

– Author of the book: “BURNOUT: The Extinction of the American Physician” available on Amazon

– Expert in agile Product Management with deep experience running large scale operations.

LIANNE FOLEY, MS CSW, Attorney & Advisor

Lianne Foley focuses her work on healthcare regulatory compliance, professional license defense consulting, social work and case management, and has prior experience with the Medical Prosecution Division for the Illinois Department of Professional and Financial Regulation and as a clinical social worker. Lianne served as the Advance Directive Executive Editor for Loyola University Chicago School of Law’s Health Law Journal.

CHRISTOPHER FORE, Regulatory Compliance Programs Manager

​Christopher is a full-time student at the BYU J. Reuben Clark Law School and has been the executive editor for BYU Education & Law Journal
since September 2019.

He is fluent in multiple languages including Spanish and Mandarin.  Passionate about the analysis of fact patterns and presentation of arguments in legal memos and briefs, Christopher joined Skyda in July 2019.

MICHAEL SWENSON, Government Affairs & Policy Advisor

​Michael specializes in complex negotiations, conflict resolution, and working with policy makers and government officials. He has provided services for many different industry spaces including natural resource, public lands, recreation & travel, power, green energy, solar, professional associations, county and state government, and healthcare organizations.  He provides detailed support and consulting services for EPA, CDC, and FDA guidance.