Rick Gawenda, PT

Rick Gawenda, PT, is founder and President/CEO of Gawenda Seminars & Consulting. He graduated in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy from Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan. Rick is also Director of Finance for a physical therapist owned private practice with multiple offices located in Southern California. In addition, he was Director of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Detroit Receiving Hospital from February 2003 - December 2009 where he was responsible for physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology services, both in the inpatient and outpatient setting. He has provided valuable education and consulting to hospitals, private practices, and rehabilitation agencies in the areas of CPT/ICD-9 coding, billing, documentation compliance, revenue enhancement, and denial management as they relate to outpatient therapy services.

Mr. Gawenda is the current President of the Section on Health Policy & Administration of the American Physical Therapy Association as well as the President of the Michigan Association of Medical Program Rehabilitation Administrators. Mr. Gawenda is on the editorial advisory board for Advance for Directors In Rehabilitation, Briefings on Outpatient Rehab Reimbursement and Regulations, and Eli's Rehab Report. He is also the consulting editor for Eli's Rehab Report. Mr. Gawenda serves as the liaison between the Michigan Physical Therapy Association and National Government Services, who is the Medicare Fiscal Intermediary for the State of Michigan.

Mr. Gawenda is the author of "The How-To Manual for Rehab Documentation: A Complete Guide to Increasing Reimbursement and Reducing Denials" and "Coding and Billing For Outpatient Rehab Made Easy: Proper Use of CPT Codes, ICD-9 Codes and Modifiers".

Michelle Eckard, RN

Michelle Eckard, RN, received her nursing degree from Sentara School of Health Professions located in Chesapeake, Virginia in 2005. She is co-founder and Vice President/CFO of Kinetix Advanced Physical Therapy, Inc., a private practice located in Valencia, CA.

Ms. Eckard has experience in private practice start-up, practice management and revenue enhancement. She also has experience in contracting, marketing, and provider relations. Additionally, she has experience performing outpatient therapy medical record audits to ensure documentation compliance.