JULIE ORZALI

MEDICAL BILLING SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT

Julie graduated from Sienna College in Loudonville, NY, with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. She has also obtained a Master’s degree in Healthcare Administration from Union University in Schenectady, NY.

Her career started in Public Accounting where she was responsible for auditing and preparing financial statements and Federal/State personal & corporate tax returns. Thereafter, she worked as a Senior Auditor/ Audit Supervisor for Empire Blue Cross, a Medicare Administrative Contractor, now known as National Government Services. Julie coordinated the audits of statistical and billing records for hospitals and other healthcare facilities, ensuring that Medicare payments were properly made. With her experience, she has developed and maintained an extensive working knowledge of all Medicare Federal regulations and pronouncements. 

Julie also worked as a Regional Coordinator and Reimbursement Manager for the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA). In her stay at HCA, she managed and supported the financial activities of approximately 20 hospitals in the Northeast region. Through her accurate and effective cost report filings, Julie was able to obtain proper Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements. Her efforts resulted in an estimated $40 Million additional Medicare reimbursements for her assigned hospitals.

In addition, Ms. Orzali worked as the Director for Consolidated Fiscal Reporting, Special Projects and Costing, and Rate Setting within the Finance Group (Medicaid) at the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) in Albany, New York. During her stay at OMH, she, together with three other State agencies, developed a cost report that was required by almost 2,000 healthcare entities. This report was beneficial for state funding and Medicaid rate-setting purposes. Additionally, Julie provided training to ensure proper cost report preparation to over 1,500 participants annually. 

Julie then joined Ernst and Young (E&Y) in Houston TX as a Regulatory and Reimbursement Engagement Manager. She was responsible for the completion and review of Medicare cost reports, management of engagements as the client’s Independent Review Organization (IRO), conducting of audits and reviews under attorney-client privilege, and conducting revenue cycle engagement. She also served as a Subject Matter Expert for Medicare Provider Based Audit appeals for the practice. 

For 15 years, Julie served as the Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Reimbursement and Revenue Cycle Management at Healogics. Healogics is a healthcare management company providing wound care and hyperbaric oxygen therapy services to approximately 700 hospitals. She provided expert guidance on Medicare audits (e.g., UPIC, RAC, SMRC, TPE) to the company’s client hospitals and physician practice of over 300 providers. Julie’s responsibilities included providing billing, credentialing, and coding expert advice to the Central Business Office and Compliance department. She trained staff and developed educational tools utilized by staff and physicians. Julie was the company’s liaison and met and interacted with leaders at CMS, Contractor Medical Director at the local CMS level, and with commercial insurance companies to influence policy changes, as needed.

Currently. Julie is the President and Senior Managing Director of Primo Healthcare Compliance Consultants (PHCC) located in Houston, Texas. With her 35 years of healthcare regulatory, revenue cycle, reimbursement, healthcare finance, compliance, and consulting experience, she is leading the company’s healthcare team.