K. Michael Nichols was placed as the associate vice president of reimbursement at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. The 664-bed academic medical center, which encompasses a children’s hospital and an inpatient medical and rehabilitation care center, is the hub of patient care for Rush, a $1.8 billion, not-for-profit healthcare, education, and research enterprise. It is nationally and internationally known for many specialties of care and areas of research, and has received numerous awards and accreditations, ranking among the top 50 hospitals in the nation in a number of categories. In his role, Mike is primarily responsible for the administration and oversight of third-party payor reimbursement programs; the development, preparation, and analysis of the hospital’s payor revenues and contractual allowance budgets; the analysis of net revenue figures for monthly financial statements; the identification of opportunities to enhance hospital revenues; and the provision of financial information to senior management.
Mike comes to Rush from Presence Health, also in Chicago, where he was the vice president of net revenue and reimbursement. The Presence system includes 12 hospitals, 27 senior care facilities, six urgent care/immediate care centers, a medical group, a retail clinic, and over 150 sites of care throughout Illinois. There, Mike was responsible for net revenue accounting, cost reporting, and reimbursement strategy for the entire system. During his year-long tenure, Mike was able to improve working relationships and communication by breaking down silos, decrease the system’s consultant spend, and address Medicare bad debt.
Previously, Mike served as a partner in the healthcare advisory services practice of RSM US, LLP for 16 years; as the national practice leader for regulatory reporting services, he worked with clients across the healthcare spectrum. He began his career with a focus on the preparation, analysis, and review of Medicare, Medicaid, and Blue Cross cost reports, as well as the determination of third-party settlement calculations, first with Health Care Service Corporation. Bill also spent time with Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC) and with Ancilla Systems before embarking on a 15-year career as a consultant with Strategic Reimbursement, Inc.
Mike is originally from Carol Stream, Illinois, and earned his bachelor’s degree in accountancy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a national speaker on reimbursement topics and is active in the Healthcare Financial Management Association, in which he served a term as president of the First Illinois chapter and received the prestigious Founders Medal of Honor. Outside of work, Mike enjoys landscaping and spending time with his family.
QLK’s Jamie Cassedy led the search to recruit Mike to Rush.
