Mary J. Hudec
Chief Executive Officer/Chief Operating Officer
Mary founded Odyssey Health Systems in 1995. Formerly, she was the Regional Vice President of AdvaCare, Inc. / Medi-Sec Division.
Mary possesses more than 23 years of successful practice management experience. She is knowledgeable in all phases of third-party billing and accounts receivable management. AdvaCare’s Medi-Sec Division, commonly referred to as the Academic Practice Division was created when AdvaCare acquired Medi-Sec in July, 1991.
Mary began her tenure with Medi-Sec in February 1988 and was instrumental in building Medi-Sec as a national force in the practice management and computerized billing industry. As Senior Business Executive, Mary was responsible for the profit/loss of two processing centers and one satellite office with a staff of 75 employees servicing 186 client physicians of various specialties. Mary’s primary focus was on client management with a dual emphasis on operations and business development. Throughout her tenure, Mary developed and implemented many operational procedures and protocols that Medi-Sec adopted and instituted on a national level. Under Mary’s direct management, the Cleveland Business Center flourished.
Since then, Mary has been the Director of Corporate Resources for a multi-specialty group practice consisting of over 50 physicians. Prior to the inception of Odyssey Health Systems, she was the Director of Physician Services at Wise Management Services, Inc. In this role, Mary’s responsibilities included the development and oversight of the physician billing and practice management component of Wise’s service. Additionally, she handled the project management for such prestigious clients as the Cleveland Clinic Foundation – Professional Services and MetroHealth’s Department of Medicine and Pediatrics. She has been associated with the former Mt. Sinai Healthcare System as both an independent practice management consultant and as the Director of Operations for Business Health Network, a Sinai affiliate.
As founder and CEO/COO of Odyssey Health Systems, Mary secured many prominent and distinguished client accounts. These include the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Fairview & Lakewood Hospital Physician Services Divisions, St. Agnes Hospital Integrated Specialist Group in Baltimore, Maryland, Cleveland Endovascular Institute, Ohio State University Sports Medicine Center, University Osteopathic Medical Center, University Hospitals Westlake Surgery Center and Cuyahoga Physicians Network, just to name a few. Client specialties represent anesthesiology and pain management, colorectal surgery, trauma/general surgery, critical care, cardiology, cardiothoracic surgery, plastic and reconstructive surgery, pulmonary, hematology, GYN oncology, gastroenterology, vascular surgery, internal medicine, general orthopedics including the sub-specialties of hand, spine, foot & ankle, and sports medicine.
Cindy Fasline
Director of Operations
Cindy brings over 25 years of medical billing and practice management experience to Odyssey Health Systems. Cindy was the Practice Manager for 11 years for Austintown Family Practice. In this position, Cindy’s responsibilities included the daily oversight of business operations, human resources, contracting as well as OSHA and CLIA mandates.
Through Cindy’s leadership, Austintown Family Practice was successfully positioned for acquisition by Health Secure, Inc. in 1998. Cindy continued in her role as Practice Manager. She also took on the corporate responsibilities for managed care contract review, physician credentialing and administrative financial reporting. In September 1998, Cindy joined Sharon Regional Physician Services as Operations Coordinator for 26 multi-specialty provider practices involving 11 different satellite locations. In this position, Cindy supervised in combination with the Clinical Coordinator, approximately 100 employees.
Cindy was then promoted to the position of Reimbursement Coordinator and was responsible for the day to day operations of the central billing operation. Specialties included Orthopedics, Neurology, Radiation Oncology, OB/GYN, Physical Medicine, Anesthesia, Pediatrics, Pediatric Cardiology, Internal Medicine and Family Practice. Cindy was directly responsible for the development and implementation of the anesthesia billing division which included practice management information system selection, database development, departmental workflow development and implementation, coding and physician and staff training. Cindy became a certified professional coder (CPC) in July 2000, and in addition to managing the operations of the CBO, assumed responsibility for physician and staff coding and documentation education, along with oversight of Sharon’s Corporate Compliance Program. In May 2003, NextMed Systems acquired Sharon Regional Physician Services. Cindy was promoted to Regional Client Services Executive and was responsible for the daily business operations of the Sharon offices, along with regional client services involving coding and reimbursement.
Cindy joined Odyssey Health Systems in July 2004 as Director of Operations and Reimbursement and continues in this role with Best Practices. Cindy’s primary focus is on billing operations and physician documentation auditing and education. Cindy also serves as Odyssey’s Compliance Director.
Mary Jo Nice
Human Resources Director
Mary Jo has over 35 years of multifaceted medical experience beginning with her first medical position as a treatment nurse for Pearlview Nursing Center. She next secured a nursing position with the former St. Thomas Hospital Medical Center (now Crystal Clinic Orthopaedic Center) where she floated for one year through ICU, CCU, the medical and surgical floors, oncology and orthopedics. Thereafter, she worked 3 years on the orthopedic floor before beginning her medical office career as a floor nurse at Orthopaedic Surgeons, Inc. Her duties in this position included all aspects of orthopedic patient care such as wound care, splinting, bracing and casting. She carries the distinction of being the first woman in Northeast Ohio to achieve certification as an Orthopedic Technologist. She became the Clinical Supervisor within 4 years of hire and added the duties of ordering all medical supplies, soft goods and pharmaceuticals for a fast paced office of 6 orthopedic physicians.
In 1988, Mary Jo was asked by Orthopedic Surgeons’ Administrator, Tom Hughes, to become his Administrative Assistant and readily accepted the position that began her many years of Human Resources and management experience. She processed payroll, began to administer benefits, and rapidly learned the many other tasks related to Human Resource Management. Within a year, Crystal Clinic’s new medical office building was opened. This center was the first of its kind as a free standing out-patient surgery center and was visited by practices across the country and overseas. Four separate physician practices including Orthopaedic Surgeons Inc., Crystal Arthritis Center, Summit Hand Center and Crystal Plastic Surgeons moved into the building of this ground breaking joint venture. Mary Jo was instrumental in handling the move for the largest practice and she was promoted to Practice Manager for Orthopaedic Surgeons, Inc. as Tom Hughes transitioned to become the first CEO of Crystal Clinic. She handled all benefit administration, physician credentialing, Human Resource management and the variety of tasks necessary to manage a 60 employee growing practice.
In 1998, three of the four separate Crystal Clinic groups and a newly acquired orthopedic group (Falls Orthopedic Surgeons) merged to become one practice that became Crystal Clinic, Inc. It was then that Mary Jo was promoted to Director of Human Resources. During the transition to combine the groups, Mary Jo was given the task of development and implementation of the policies, procedures and benefit programs for this new 27 orthopedic physicians’ group with nearly 200 employees. She was also the HIPAA Privacy Officer, Safety Officer and Compliance Manager. She had HR oversight for employees at two locations. As time marched on, many new physicians and employees were added. Mary Jo competently handled each new HR challenge and saw the practice grow in size to 11 locations, including a business venture with Odyssey Health Systems who provided medical billing and consultation services. During this time period, Mary Jo met and worked with Mary Hudec and Cindy Fasline providing select HR services through Crystal Clinic, Inc. for Odyssey Health Systems.
Mary Jo next joined the Odyssey Health Systems, LLC team in October 2010 as their Director of Human Resources. She currently manages all of their HR functions and serves as the HIPAA Privacy Officer and Safety Officer.