About Dr. Altheimer
Dr. Octavia I. Altheimer-Umphlett is a Professor at South Suburban College, DeVry Univeristy, Columbia Southern University and the owner of her own consulting company Midwest Physician Services, an organization that focuses on revenue cycle analysis/operations, redesign of Patient Financial Operations and revenue recovery, organizational change and managing turnaround situations.
She is a visionary and a leader with innovative management strategies. She has demonstrated the ability to lead diverse teams of professionals to new levels of success in challenging healthcare industry settings. She has a proven record of maximizing revenue with organizations by developing tools and enhancing the revenue cycle for healthcare systems. Her expertise is unmatched as she has proven herself not only in the corporate, but in the classroom with her students.
Prior to founding MPS, Octavia was part of McKesson’s, Siemens Health Services and Dell Perots Consulting team. At Dell Perot, she oversaw the entire revenue cycle process for a large metropolitan hospital in the Chicagoland area. She also has worked with Walgreen’s Pharmacy Benefit Management team where she worked in a consulting capacity to redesign the formulary for several clients while being the lead in implementing and maintaining compliance with Medicare Part D and concentrating on managing regulatory compliance, minimizing denials and achieving appropriate coverage with patients who were enrolled in different tiers of pharmacy benefits. Octavia had the opportunity to complete an internship with the Center for Medicare and Medicaid where she was instrumental in the development and rollout of Medicare Part D.
In addition, Octavia has worked with institutions such as Homewood Flossmoor High School, Hillcrest High School, Thornridge High School, St. Margaret Mercy, Harris County Hospital District, DaVita, McNeal Hospital, Advocate Illinois Masonic, University of Chicago, Heartland Alliance, and East Chicago Health Center in the areas of billing, ICD9/ICD 10 coding, patient access, patient registration, denial management, cash posting, follow-up, auditing, quality assurance, utilization management, operational consulting, and physician/stafftraining and education. She has established training and quality-oversight programs to include front line managers and directors for patient financial service programs at many of these organizations to maintain compliance with the guidelines for billing and coding. She has extensive expereince with the Epic systems and very has a “metric driven” accounts receivable management philosophy. A niche has been carved out in the financial arena in the revenue cycle in which Octavia takes full advantage of with her expertise.
She was featured in the local Chicago Tribune in 2011 as an alumni student of Northwestern College that started a business in the “rough” economic climate.
She is acutely aware of the national education reform’s potential impact on the financial viability of community colleges as to why Octavia has risen to the occasion to reach the students to create awareness that there should be a streamlined approach in the tuition increases process. She has a combination of vision and drive that has proven to be an invaluable resource to many.
Octavia is a veteran of the United States Army. She holds a Doctorate in Health Administration from Central Michigan University, Master’s and Bachelor’s degree in Healthcare Administration from Governors State University and an Associate’s degree in Health Information Technology. She spends her free time with her husband and 4+2 children.