Katz Brunner Healthcare: Consulting, Analysis, Data, Negotiation

• Corporate History
• Principals
• Technical Advisors
• Map of Experience
• Disclaimer

• “The survival of community hospitals is at a critical stage.
  KBH is committed to the effectiveness of rural and small urban hospitals that promote community-driven objectives.”
  —Alan S. Katz
  KBH President

• “Small community hospitals have many advantages over large metropolitan hospitals.. KBH emphasizes those positives when addressing managed care issues.”
  —Alan S. Katz
  KBH President

• “Practical answers for small community hospitals are often different than those for larger hospitals. KBH experience in rural and small urban hospitals is unique and vital to success.”
  —Alan S. Katz
  KBH President

• “Managed care follows macro-level blueprints written by bureaucrats, policy wonks & academia. KBH emphasizes practicality, results meeting community-driven objectives.”
  —Alan S. Katz
  KBH President

• “Future success in US healthcare will require application of community values to advances in technology and needs for cost-effectiveness. KBH advice strikes a delicate balance.”
  —Alan S. Katz
  KBH President

• “Managed care presents constantly changing scenarios and challenges. KBH effectively focuses attention on the most critical issues, managing the inherent ambiguity.”
  —Alan S. Katz
  KBH President

• “Claims denial management has become a critical, but costly function. KBH professionals' expertise results in greater effectiveness of appeals, and more timely, accurate payments. ”
  —Melinda Brunner
  KBH VP of Operations

• “MCOs often follow logic patterns that appear contrary to normal ways of thinking, then invent their own vocabulary to rationalize their actions. KBH effectively 'translates' between the hospital and the MCOs. ”
  —Melinda Brunner
  KBH VP of Operations

• “MCOs force hospitals to devote inordinate amounts of time on administrative tasks unrelated to quality patient care. KBH can effectively relieve hospital staff of costly tasks.”
  —Melinda Brunner
  KBH VP of Operations

• “Negotiation of managed care contracts requires a combination of astute skills and specialized knowledge. KBH has expertise in both negotiating and managed care.”
  —Melinda Brunner
  KBH VP of Operations

• “Data analysis is both a science and an art. KBH's unique skill set with both multiple large databases and managed care allows robust interpretation of available data.”
  —Melinda Brunner
  KBH VP of Operations

• “Small hospital executives need both a wide spectrum of expertise, and the time necessary to apply it. KBH can be the outsourced managed care department.”
  —Melinda Brunner
  KBH VP of Operations

Melinda T. Brunner Biography

Melinda Brunner, Co-founder of Katz Brunner Healthcare (KBH) and its predecessor organization Katz Healthcare Services (KHS), is Vice President of operations, and primary corporate liaison with Syntact Healthcare, KBH’s affiliate partner for unique Intuitive Application™ software and critical data related to managed care issues.

Ms. Brunner has a unique blend of combined knowledge and skills in data base management, statistical analysis, project development and management, market research, managed care contracting and negotiating.

Ms. Brunner has a proven background in the development and analysis of multiple large data bases of national healthcare services, responsible for maintenance and processing of all KBH data, which includes over one billion patient encounters per year.

She has been instrumental in the creative consolidation of various data bases available to allow KBH to perform its unique data analyses.

Specialized project work is Melinda Brunner’s forte, including unparalleled accuracy creating simulations of the projected financial impact of managed care contract provisions upon hospitals and/or physicians.

Clients become quickly aware of the uncanny reliability of her data analyses, particularly the very real financial impacts of issues present in the "non-financial" wording of the contract, where they are often overlooked.

Ms. Brunner serves as the lead consultant in KBH analyses of an individual hospital client’s competitive market positioning related to managed care objectives.

Her skills of assessing a client hospital’s local business and industry environments, and detailed interviewing of key local area employers, brokers, government officials, and individuals.

This has proven essential in setting the groundwork establishing each respective community’s identification with the client hospital’s objectives to maintain viability in coping with managed care issues present within a rural or small urban area.  Her focus is to determine the hospital strategies which are of greatest long-term value toward meeting the community's needs.

Ms. Brunner and Mr. Katz have been working together since 1991 in the managed healthcare arena.

Their professional partnership began when Ms. Brunner held the position of Client Services Coordinator for the national managed care consulting firm in which they both previously worked.  She was then responsible for maintaining current client services and relationships, special project management, developing proposals and presentation materials, and market research.

She assumed her role with Katz Healthcare Services in 1995, a role which has continued to grow and evolve into the full partnership function seen today, involved in all aspects of consulting and data services provided to clients by the organization now known as Katz Brunner Healthcare.

Ms. Brunner completed her Master’s in Business Administration in 1997 at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and is a 1991 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Business School.

Read the biography of Alan Katz.

Return to KBH Principals.