A conversation with curt cvikota GET TO KNOW YOUR NEW HBMA PRESIDENT Curt Cvikota, CHBme, is the new HBma president for 2015. We talked to Curt about his background in the healthcare billing industry, his vision for the industry, and how he strives to maintain the ever-elusive work-life balance. HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN THE BILLING INDUSTRY? my parents started our business in the 1970s. my dad was the business manager at a local hospital and was approached to provide billing services for the anesthesia group. We added the radiology and pathology groups, and The Cvikota Company was Emerging payor models and more complicated reimbursement methods are going to bring business intelligence to large and small billing companies. born. I was never a medical billing prodigy – rather, the paper shredder, lawn mower, or courier. We had our own internal IT department because we had to develop our own software due to the lack of affordable practice management software at the time. I gravitated toward the computer room and became the night operator, running jobs and backing up the computers every night. eventually I became a programmer. There, I learned systems analysis and design. By the time I was ready to graduate from college, I was helping to develop applications and critically think about how we should deliver our software. I did some interviews, but in the end I chose the opportunity to wear the many hats that you get to put on in a small business, rather than going to work for larger companies. WHERE DO YOU SEE OUR INDUSTRY HEADED? I think that medical billing companies are going to ultimately follow two paths. There will always be practices that just want a billing service, and companies will choose to follow that route and successfully serve that market. There will also be a market of practices that will demand more and more from 8 HBma BILLINg • jaNuarY.FeBruarY.2015 their medical billing company. These companies will need to evolve to rely more on data and services to complement their billing services. emerging payor models and more complicated reimbursement methods are going to bring business intelligence to large and small billing companies. We are going to have to find ways to meet these higher expectations and still keep our companies viable. No matter which path a billing company owner follows, I think there will still likely be a continued increase in complexity and regulation, as well as continued pressure on our physician clients to deliver excellent care even more efficiently. medical billing companies, or revenue cycle management companies, or whatever our industry is described as in the future, need to be an effective, creative, trusted partner to our clients. No matter which strategy a billing company follows, the requirements – both regulatory and in terms of client needs and expectations – will change, and we will need to innovate and adapt along with our industry. HOW DID YOU BECOME INVOLVED IN HBMA? I was general manager of The Cvikota Company, and we received a mailer about the formation of IBa (now HBma), a trade association. I remember attending an early meeting in Chicago, and then minneapolis, and was blown away by the realization that there were other companies out there dealing with the same issues that I was. Besides the other business owners, I remember going to my first national meeting and meeting the vendors. I couldn’t believe how many great solutions there were that I had never even contemplated. I came back to work energized from the education, the vendors, and the fun I had networking with the many new friends I’d made.
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