“Adaptis welcomes Jan to his new position as CEO of Adaptis,” Carlos Olivares, chairman of the board of Adaptis, said, speaking for the Board of Directors. “His excellent managerial experience will serve Adaptis well, and we look forward to a bright future under his leadership.”

After a long career in business and eight years as CEO of Adaptis, Jim Anderson has decided to retire. While at Adaptis, Anderson brought a wealth of experience to the success and operation of the company. Under his leadership, Adaptis has grown into a well-recognized organization in the healthcare industry, excelling in both the U.S. and India, where the company and its affiliates have gained significant market share. Anderson was responsible for the timely implementation of a new systems platform, which was instrumental in Adaptis’ partnering with an industry leader TriZetto. He did all of this while giving back to the community through his involvement with Northwest Hospital, Technology Access Foundation and the Washington State Hospital Board.

“Jim’s tremendous leadership has transformed Adaptis to its current level, and Jim will be missed,” Olivares said. “We wish him every success in the future.”

“Paul has a deep well of experience to draw upon when helping potential clients craft a solution from the Adaptis portfolio of BPO services,” says Claesson. Bessembinders’ extensive career has ranged from the insurance industry, to IT outsourcing management and enterprise-level healthcare IT sales. Most recently, Bessembinders was principal in a consulting firm, specializing in helping clinical care providers select and negotiate terms with healthcare IT systems providers. Bessembinders has successfully worked in outsourcing in the U.S. as well as Canada being responsible for top customers and regions including CSI and Computer Associates.

“Adaptis has targeted an underserved segment of the market, health plans with fewer than 500,000 members. I’m excited to collaborate and assist these plans take advantage of the efficiencies of scale and technology that have, until recently, been available to only the largest players,” says Bessembinders.

Pym received his bachelor of business administration and juris doctor degrees from the University of Washington and the UW School of Law and was associate editor of the Washington Law Review. During his career, he also served as president of the King County Bar Association, chairman of the board of United Way of King County, chairman of the board of the 5th Avenue Theatre Association, and member of the boards of trustees of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the Seattle Repertory Theatre and the University of Washington Law School Foundation.

“We are very pleased to have a professional with John’s experience and energy on our team,” Claesson said. “He has exceptional experience that will help us bring our various business processing solutions to the highly underserved small-to-midsize health payer market.”

Hudson is a highly seasoned sales management professional with more than 20 years of healthcare and technology industry experience most recently with companies such as Zavata and Health eConnex, among others. Hudson’s forte is his ability to help organizations to grow. With direct experience in building relationships with larger national healthcare entities, Adaptis hopes to more quickly expand its market presence.

Hudson attended the University of Kentucky in Lexington where he received a bachelor’s degree in political science. He is also well-trained in the principals of selling and management, having completed a Total Quality Management course at the Harvard University School of Public Health and various Solution Selling techniques courses.

Co-authors of Building Management in Healthcare by the Numbers (2008), Rezai and Jansen will lead a roundtable discussion about tying compliance, claims, analytics, audit, legal and investigations together to create a more effective plan to deter, detect and prevent fraud. The National Healthcare Anti-Fraud Association has noted that in the U.S. alone, it has been estimated that nearly 68 billion dollars have been lost to healthcare fraud. “With healthcare spending going up, these numbers will escalate, too,” said Rezai. “Our discussion will focus on some of the proactive steps health payers can take to stem these losses, including how to determine whether to outsource the fraud management function or maintain it internally.” Rezai is chief compliance officer at Adaptis and has nearly a decade of healthcare compliance experience.

“Healthcare fraud bears little resemblance to the typical criminal act, where it is frequently known what was committed, where and when. With healthcare fraud, there is often only the suggestion that a provider is performing differently than peers. Identifying healthcare fraud, especially when plans are already working hard to meet challenging regulations, demands a specialized approach,” said Dr. Jansen, a healthcare compliance veteran of more than 30 years, the last 20 focusing on healthcare fraud detection and prevention

Barrera was encouraged to participate in TAF by his highly educated parents who fled El Salvador and have had to start over in Seattle working minimum wage jobs. Barrera is a prime example of a TAF success story. Lynn Demarco, TAF program director, noticed Barrera’s dedication from the start. “Encouraged and supported by his family, Luis started with TAF during the summer before ninth grade and committed to the technology training and internship program through his high school years, which helped prepare him for a college-bound path,” Demarco said. “He is an exceptional student and we expect him to continue on to even greater success. Not only does Luis have the technical skills to be successful, he also has a great attitude and positive outlook, as well as a good work ethic that will serve him in the years ahead.”

For 11 years TAF, which focuses efforts on underserved children of color, has offered free after-school programs emphasizing technology, math, writing and science: TechStart serving grades K-8; the Technical Teens Internship Program for grades 9-12, providing job readiness training six hours a week; and Higher ED Bound, comprised of college preparation workshops with mentorship and a $1,000/year scholarship for each year of completion. Barrera completed four years of Higher ED Bound, earning himself $4,000. The TAF programs have been so successful that an agreement was recently signed with the Federal Way School District to jointly launch TAF Academy, a public school serving sixth through 12th grades emphasizing science, technology, engineering and math. TAF Academy at Federal Way is scheduled to open in September and similar partnerships for more schools in Washington state are being pursued.

Adaptis and its staff recognized the value of TAF from the onset, providing corporate support through internships and volunteering to teach courses. Yolanda Webster, Adaptis human resources administrator, praised the value TAF is having on the community. “We were excited to build an internship program and subsequent scholarship drive around TAF because of the great impact the organization is having with local youth who not only provide value to our organization as interns today, but will undoubtedly become prime candidates as potential employees in the future,” she said. The TAF organization’s stunning statistics prove their approach works. One hundred percent of TAF high school seniors graduate from high school and 100 percent of students like Barrera who stay in TAF programs through high school have entered college. Through TAF, over 300 teens have secured paid summer internships at local corporations.

After interning at Adaptis for three consecutive summers, Barrera’s dedication to education and work personally touched many employees, who initiated the scholarship drive, ultimately raising more than $8,000. Darryl Means, Adaptis director of healthcare solutions, got to know Barrera and helped lead the effort. “After visiting TAF and seeing the value of their programs first hand, coupled with the dedication of their students, many of us wanted to do more,” Means said. “We set up a process for donations and put together a highly successful company fundraiser which brought in significant funds.” The Adaptis Achievement Award will be an annual employee-driven effort. In addition, Adaptis has adopted a TAF TechStart classroom for the 2008-2009 school year, providing a forum for Adaptis employees to volunteer educational time and share their skills four days a week.

“The Healthcare Informatics Top 100 is an esteemed listing of the best in the healthcare industry and we are very proud to be counted among this select group,” Adaptis SVP and Chief Business Development Officer Jan Claesson said. “With our customer-focused service and technology offerings we are well-positioned to help health insurers make significant strides in their ongoing pursuit to effectively increase efficiency, improve accuracy and stay current with compliance while controlling escalating healthcare costs.”

Perhaps most representative of the value Adaptis provides health insurers is its relationship with The Community Health Plan of Washington (CHPW) which includes more than 230,000 plan members and has quadrupled in size since Adaptis began work with the plan in 1997. In recent years Adaptis helped CHPW effectively launch its Medicare Advantage program. According to CHPW Chief Executive Officer Darnell Dent, “We knew it would be a push—enrollment within six months of CMS approving our Medicare Advantage plan application; Adaptis teamed with us and we launched in record time. With Adaptis, partnership isn’t just a word; it’s a commitment.”

To compile the rankings, Healthcare Informatics surveys a broad range of companies that provide products and services to the healthcare sector. Only health information technology (HIT) revenues are counted to determine which companies are included in the list. This is the fifth consecutive year Adaptis has been named to this select list. Over the years Adaptis has aggressively expanded its portfolio of BPO solutions and consulting services to position itself to serve growing small-to mid-sized health payer market covering Medicaid managed care, Medicare Advantage and Commercial Health Plans.

Adaptis will facilitate a discussion on the role of health plan leaders to set vision and manage change within their organizations so that management and staff are prepared to respond effectively to ongoing market transformations. “Health payers face an unprecedented period of change that touch all aspects of their business operations,” Adaptis Senior Vice President and Chief Business Development Officer Jan Claesson said. “As a company that knows the ins and outs of how to expertly manage change while ensuring success, we are well acquainted with the tools, strategies and planning needed to maneuver through even the most disruptive changes successfully.”

“We pride ourselves on our inclusive, forward-thinking management style, so it means a lot to us to receive this recognition. We’re thrilled to be included in the list of ‘Top 14 Hottest Companies’ in the city,” stated Adaptis Chief Executive Officer James K. Anderson.

National-award winning Seattle Metropolitan magazine is Seattle’s top-selling magazine, with a total monthly readership of more than 175,000 educated, affluent professionals. The magazine is known for its influential “best of” issues. A short description of “The 14 Hottest Companies” article can be viewed at the Seattle Metropolitan website.

“Having our Compliance Officer earn this recognition from the world’s premiere compliance and ethics association shows our commitment to maintaining a culture of compliance at Adaptis. We are extremely proud of Roya’s achievement.” stated Adaptis Chief Executive Officer James K. Anderson.

The HCCA is a professional association for healthcare compliance professionals and its stated goal is to “champion ethical practice and compliance standards.” The HCCA has more than 5,000 members and almost 1,700 members are CHC certified in the U.S.

Compliance professionals are tasked with assuring that federal, state and local regulations that govern healthcare are followed. CCB President Debbie Troklus noted, “The United States government constantly updates the laws and regulations surrounding Medicare to ensure proper billing and to eliminate fraud. These new regulations demand professionals who both understand the new regulations and how to implement programs to ensure compliance within their companies.”

Healthcare compliance professionals come from a variety of backgrounds including coding, medical practice, law and government. Early in the compliance movement, Roya was chosen as the first-ever Chief Compliance Officer for a large psychiatric hospital in Washington State. Later she was recruited as Chief of Compliance and Chief of Operations for a large, inner city federally qualified health center on the east coast where she gained experience in primary care.

Because the Adaptis corporate office paid the publishing costs for 300 copies of the cookbook, all proceeds from the 103-page recipe book go towards helping the families selected by the ROC. “As a company, Adaptis places a great deal of importance on giving back to the communities where we work and live. When I heard about this cookbook effort, I wanted to show the Yakima ROC employees that the Seattle office supports their efforts 100%, and that we would put our money where our mouth is,” said company CEO and president James K. Anderson.

The Yakima chapter of the Company’s charity committee, Adaptis Cares, gathered 200 recipes from nearly all 31 employees. After an intense period of testing, tasting, and typing, the Bon Appétit, Recipes from Yakima Adaptis Cares cookbook was ready to be sold. By mid-December, the committee had sold 150 of their 300 copies of the cookbook, giving the group $1500 to spend on items such as clothing, food and toys. In addition, employees used their own money to purchase goods for the families. The committee was able to sponsor one more family than they originally planned, and to buy gasoline vouchers and other gift cards to help the families get through the holidays. When the manager of the Union Gap ShopKo, where the group went on a shopping trip, learned about the committee’s efforts, he offered discounts and an additional $150 in gift cards.

“We’re all grateful that we have a job, and we want to give something back,” said Peggy Jackson, office manager of the facility. One reason the Yakima employees worked so enthusiastically on this fundraising effort is that many can empathize with the plight of the families that they are assisting. “When you go without, it’s a pretty empty feeling,” says Adaptis employee Tami Sowder. “I know, I’ve been there.”

The Yakima ROC Adaptis Cares committee has, in the past, contributed $2000 to the YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter with money raised through a silent auction. They donated enough to the Union Gospel Mission to pay for almost 100 Thanksgiving dinners, and they gathered nearly 500 pounds of canned goods earlier this year for Northwest Harvest.

“We just believe in helping the community,” says Jackson. “The employees are very, very generous people.”

Adaptis Chief Executive Officer Jim Anderson discussed the advantages of a BPO partnership with Clear Choice. “This is a strategic partnership providing a win-win opportunity for both organizations.” Anderson explained, “Our health payer services and industry expertise, supported by an industry-leading platform, will enable Clear Choice to streamline their existing processes and decrease manual interventions without the financial and organizational investment typically required. They can free resources and focus on what’s most important to them – serving their members.”

“When Adaptis first approached us – we were deep into strategy discussions about how to best serve our members – especially as we expand into new products and states. We based our decision on long-term business and service objectives, and the fact that the culture of our two organizations clicked from the outset.” Patricia Gibford, Chief Executive Officer and President of Clear Choice continues, “They had the services we need in order to continue to grow, the healthcare expertise to understand our business and the right technology to support those services, and it lets us focus on the high touch interfaces with members and providers. As a growing organization, this change is a natural evolution.”

Adaptis Health Care Practice Leader Chuck Black, who headed up the industry leading support team, asserts, “Our approach was to work closely with Clear Choice to determine that the services they chose fully addressed their enterprise solution needs – they’re growing and they are being proactive about it.”

Clear Choice Health Plans offers health insurance, including Medicaid, Medicare Advantage plans, commercial plans, individual plans and third party administration to individuals and businesses throughout the region. The organization recently expanded into the Montana market, and is about to introduce new products to Oregon, Idaho and Washington.

“Tēla’s streamlined front-end service is an integral part of our own full-spectrum business integration solution,” states Jim Anderson, President and CEO of Adaptis. “Our health payer clients come to one place for all their operational functions; now we can offer them an expanded service resource for onshore front-end work, nationwide.”

“We’ve been seeking to expand our onshore front-end services – what better way than through a proven relationship?” asks Brij Sharma, Tēla’s CEO. “HealthASPex has provided Tēla with onshore local mailroom and scanning functions for some time and the quality and consistency of delivery has been very impressive.” Bob Carlin, President of HealthASPex will join Tēla as Senior Vice President and continue to oversee all onshore operations.

Tēla has grown steadily since 2003, with multiple onshore partners for mailroom and scanning operations. HAX presented an opportunity to also provide onshore front-end claims services. “We wanted to offer a one-stop onshore and offshore solution that handled mailroom, EDI, scanning and OCR – plus all-important PPO routing.” explains Sharma.

Sharma points out that the acquisition will enhance current Tēla functions and adds some key strategic benefits. The company continues local partnering strategies stressing quality, economy and local presence. Also Tēla gains another highly efficient OCR engine and the associated source code. The deal also allows them to enhance its PPO routing capability, furthering its competitive stance.

In addition to the front-end offerings through Tēla, Adaptis offers full claims administration, medical management, benefits administration and management – with proven, consistent, industry leading service level performance.

Sharon Gorman, Adaptis Vice President of Human Resources and Corporate Administration, stated, “We are very pleased to have filled these positions with the depth of knowledge and experience that these Directors bring to critical roles within Adaptis. We pride ourselves on our ability to hire such outstanding talent in their respective areas of expertise.”

Joleen Bond brings 20 years experience to her new role as Adaptis Director of Healthcare Operations. Reporting to Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Mort Latta, Joleen is responsible for meeting operational performance requirements and ensuring best practices for all of Adaptis production functions including Claims, Providers, Members, Call Centers and Client Financial, among others for all customers. This includes Adaptis Operations Centers in Seattle, Yakima and other centers as future business may require. For the past 12 years Joleen served as Director of Patient Financial Services at Group Health Cooperative and Perot Systems and earlier was President and co-founder of Advantage Healthcare Consultants.

With more than 25 years of systems operations and information technology leadership and nearly 10 years healthcare industry experience, Darryl Means brings great depth to his role as Director of Healthcare Solutions. In his new role Darryl reports to Leanne Hughes-Mickel, Managing Director of Business Services, and provides leadership and strategic direction to the Business Analyst teams who gather business requirements, design and configure healthcare solutions around client needs and priorities. As a senior manager Darryl will also lead business development support by providing the sales staff with teams to conduct operational assessment activities with potential clients, proposal support and implementation planning. Most recently Darryl was Director of Strategic Consulting Services for Siemens Medical Solutions Health Services and previously was a Principal Consultant within the Technology Services group of Shared Medical Systems.

In his new role as Director of Data Management, Darryl Thompson provides leadership and direction while keeping an eye focused on continuous quality improvement for Adaptis technology solutions, data modeling and architecture, production monitoring and performance tuning. Prior to his promotion, Darryl, who is Qnxt certified, played a key role in successfully managing the company’s Qnxt data conversion, and other successful data conversions. Nine of his more than eleven years of data management experience is in healthcare, which is crucial when directing cross-functional teams in the resolution of business-critical system matters and data-related production issues while ensuring positive client relations. Darryl reports to the Managing Director of Business Services.

On October 5th Adaptis Yakima-based employees presented their local YWCA with a generous employee-driven donation to support the Bringing it Home Capital Campaign. The campaign was launched to help the YWCA move to a larger battered woman’s shelter, thereby improving its ability to support women of domestic violence. To raise funds Adaptis employees held a community auction. Employees provided homemade crafts and other donations and solicited sponsorship from local businesses who generously donated to the event. A cookbook is also in being created to raise funds later in the year for families in need.

In September Seattle-based Adaptis employees rallied for the more than 21 million children and adults in the U.S. who suffer from diabetes, America’s fastest growing disease. The local Diabetes Walk took place at Seward Park on September 29th in Seattle. In an unexpected turn of events employees who pledged the Adaptis walkers received a generous match to their pledge donation of the total contribution up to a pre-designated cap.

Sharon Gorman, Adaptis Vice President of Human Resources and Corporate Administration, applauded the employee-driven outreach efforts. “Adaptis employees are proud of their role in the healthcare industry and the opportunity to help others. We enjoy participating in community service and fund-raising activities with coworkers, friends and family to further support underserved populations and address health-related issues. We appreciate being part of an organization that cares and supports these personally rewarding activities.”