Penstock Group has added Dr. Robert "Bob" Haskey, M.D., as chief medical officer of the growing payment integrity and reimbursement consulting company. Dr Haskey's 20 years of clinical practice, as well as decades of experience in payment integrity, provider relations, provider credentialing, and more, perfectly position him to further Penstock's mission of eliminating medical billing errors and lowering healthcare costs.
"Dr. Haskey's experience as a board-certified general surgeon — and not just a couple of years, but over two decades in clinical practice — gives him a breadth of lived experience to draw on," says Penstock president Laura Collier. "His clinical career combined with a detailed understanding of payer organizations and the complex world of payment integrity makes him a uniquely qualified individual with knowledge that will bring tremendous value to Penstock and our clients."
Following his clinical career, Dr. Haskey was a medical director with the Regence Group, a large four-state Blue Cross Blue Shield organization in the Pacific Northwest. After a decade in that role, he joined CGI as senior medical director. Dr. Haskey oversaw CGI's CMS Recovery Audit (RAC) program for CMS Region B, several large state Medicaid recovery audit programs, CGI's payment integrity program with Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, as well as other commercial payer organizations, and worked with data analysts in developing complex cross-claim edits that were based in real-life clinical situations.
"Penstock's innovative, mission-driven approach to payment integrity is what attracted me to this role," says Dr. Haskey. "We're not just identifying overpayments for our clients — though we do an excellent job of that — we're about trying to change the healthcare system so it's more efficient and affordable. With that comes good outcomes for patients and healthcare organizations."
In his role as Penstock's chief medical officer, Dr. Haskey will consult on the clinical side, weighing in on operative records, supporting the team when an appeal comes in, and navigating coding gray areas and provider documentation. He will also guide the development of healthcare data analytics tools that provide meaningful insight into billing trends and variances in order to increase accuracy in medical billing as a whole.
"Data analytics enables a focused, next-generation approach to payment integrity — and so much more," says Dr. Haskey. "It can provide substantive guidance for improved clinical discovery, process, and population health outcomes as well."
Penstock is part of Goodroot, a community of companies reinventing healthcare one system at a time. Goodroot's mission is to increase access and affordability throughout the healthcare system.
"Penstock launched less than two years ago and it has been very impressive to see the rapid growth in the team and the scope of medical billing and healthcare audit problems they address," says Goodroot CEO Michael Waterbury. "The addition of a physician of Dr. Haskey's caliber is a major milestone for Penstock and positions the company to continue making rapid headway on reinventing payment integrity to lower healthcare costs in the U.S."
Source: Penstock Group
