Tom Eckert
Thomas B. Eckert is Corporate Director of Patient Financial services for Palmetto Health in Columbia SC. Tom has over 15 years experience in large health care facilities including multi hospital CBOs and teaching facilities. Prior to arriving at Palmetto Health in 2001, Tom’s experience has been in Florida primarily at Sarasota Memorial Healthcare and Baptist HealthCare in Pensacola Florida.

Tom is a graduate of Florida State University. Tom has been an active Member of HFMA and AAHAM (American Association for Healthcare Administrative Management) since 1986 holding several leadership positions as officer, director, and committee chairs. He obtained his AAHAM (formally AGPAM) certification as a Certified Patient Account Manager in 1988. Tom has published articles in HFMA SunSpots and the AAHAM magazines Connections and The Journal. He has served on the State Uniform Billing Committee in both Florida and South Carolina. Tom and his wife Debbie have one 14 yr old son Sean-Thomas.

Job Description

Ray High
As Vice President of Customer Improvement, Ray is responsible for maintaining and cultivating new executive relationships as the centralized customer point-of-contact for MedAssets to ensure contractual obligations are delivered. Ray works directly with integrated delivery networks, supporting their efforts in margin enhancement through the coordination and utilization of the MedAssets business units.

Prior to joining MedAssets (Shared Services Healthcare) in 1997, Ray spent seven years working in the acute setting, both as an Assistant Director of Materials Management and as a Director of Continuous Quality Improvement. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Master of Health Administration, both from the University of South Carolina. Along with his wife and three children, Ray resides in Sumter, South Carolina.

Job Description

Ken Scheller
Ken Scheller is the Information Technology Manager for Administrative Applications at Palmetto Health. He has been in this position for the past 16 years. Ken oversees the following areas: Financial Applications, Patient Accounts, Document Imaging and Charge Description Master. Before coming to Palmetto Health, he provided IT services in the Food Distribution Industry for 10 years.

Ken received his undergraduate degree at Limestone College. He has been a member of HFMA for eight years. He and his wife, Pam, have two children—a 10-year-old daughter, Kendal, and a 7-year-old son, Clayton. He currently lives in Cayce, SC.

Job Description

Debbie Hunt FHFMA
Deborah Hunt, FHFMA is Patient Accounts Director at Palmetto Health Alliance in Columbia, SC. She has been in employed in healthcare since 1981, and has held Director level positions in either Reimbursement or Patient Financial Services for that entire period. Prior to entering Healthcare Debbie worked as a Collections Manager in the trucking industry.

Debbie is a graduate of the University of South Carolina and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance/Accounting. She is a recipient of the YWCA's Twin Tribute to Women and Industry. Debbie is an Advanced Member of HFMA and has received the Follmer Bronze Award, the Reeves Silver Award, and the Muncie Gold Award, as well as the Rex W. Gause Award for the Most Active Certified Member, and the Ruth H. Nicholson Award for Most Active Member. She is a certified member of HFMA holding certifications in the areas of Patient Financial Services and Managed Care. Debbie has served in numerous leadership positions within the SC Chapter including those of Chapter President, President-Elect, Treasurer and as Chairperson of various SCHFMA committees.
Debbie and her husband Curley reside in Sumter, SC.

Job Description

Roger Sipe
Roger Sipe is the Assistant Vice President of Business Services at Lexington Medical Center. He has more than 15 years of healthcare experience working in a variety of positions in both large hospital systems and small rural hospitals. Throughout his career, Roger has been exposed to all aspects of the Revenue Cycle, including Patient Access, Financial Counseling, “In-house” Medicaid Programs, Account Receivable resolution (Hospital, Physician Practice, Rural Health Clinics, Skilled Nursing Facility, Ambulatory Surgery Centers, and Durable Medical Equipment), Customer Service, “In-house” Collections, Charge-Master Management/Oversight and Managed Care Contracting. Roger has also served in the role of Director of Patient Financial Services at Lexington Medical Center. He has been part of the Lexington Medical Center team for over seven (7) years. Roger has a Master’s Degree in Health Administration from The University of SC and a Bachelor’s Degree from The Citadel.

Roger has been an active member of HFMA since 1997 and has received the Follmer Bronze and Reeves Silver Awards.

Roger and his wife, Elizabeth, reside in Columbia SC and have three children: Peyton (8 years old), Addison (five years old) and Britton (21 months old).

Richard L. Childs, FHFMA
Rick currently is the Corporate Director - Patient Financial Services & Administrative Access Unit for Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta, Georgia. He received a Bachelors degree in Finance from Auburn University. Rick has been a member of HFMA since 1986. Piedmont Healthcare is a 4 facility system: Piedmont Hospital, Piedmont Fayette Hospital and Piedmont Mountainside Hospital and Piedmont Newnan Hospital. He has been at Piedmont for 10 years. He has over 20 years experience in Receivables Management.

Rick Received his CMPA (now CHFP) in 1983 and FHFMA in 1999. He has received the Follmar Bronze, Reeves Silver and Muncie Gold Merit Awards and the Medal of Honor from HFMA. He has served as a Board Member (In SC and GA), Program Chair, Treasurer, Secretary, president-elect and President of the Georgia Chapter for the 2006-07 year. Rick served for three years at the National level on the PFS Forums Advisory Council and in 2003-04 served as the Chairperson of the National PFS Advisory Council and a member of the NAC (National Advisory Council). He is the Current Regional Executive for Region V. He has presented for several local HFMA Chapters as and twice presented at HFMA’s Annual National Institute (ANI).

Michelle Pagel - 2009
Michelle Pagel is Product Manager at Benefitfocus for the company’s flagship product, eEnrollment, an internet based benefit enrollment solution. Benefitfocus is the leader in software and services for the healthcare benefits market and is headquartered in Daniel Island, South Carolina. Prior to joining Benefitfocus, Michelle was the HIPAA Team Product Manager at CashRetriever Systems, Inc., headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama and also worked in International Product Management at AOL-Time Warner in Dulles, Virginia.

Michelle received her undergraduate degree in International Political Science from Vanderbilt University and her MBA, with a focus in Information Systems Management, from George Washington University. She has been a member of HFMA since 2002, becoming actively engaged in 2005 when she co-chaired the HFMA Region V Dixie Institute in Charleston, South Carolina.

Michelle served as Program Chair from 2005 to 2007.

Directors Job Description

Diane Story - 2009
Diane Story is the Director of Revenue Cycle Improvement for Roper St Francis Healthcare in Charleston, SC. In this role, she is responsible for the Non-Government Team, Customer Service, and Self Pay Accounts Receivables within Patient Financial Services. Additionally, she is responsible for identifying, analyzing and implementing projects that directly impact cash collections, process improvement, cost reduction and/or revenue generation. Prior to joining Roper St Francis Healthcare, Diane was a consultant with Ernst & Young and IDX, as well as Director of Eastern Business Service Centers for Olsten Health Services.

Diane has Bachelor of Science and Masters degrees in Health Administration from the University of New Hampshire.

Steve Gunter - 2009
Stephen W. Gunter is President and Owner of Accounts Receivable Collections, Inc., ARCI, and it’s sister company, The Billing Dept. The companies specialize in receivables management and consulting, as well as insurance and collections outsourcing. The companies are based in Lexington, SC.

Prior to forming ARCI in 1993, he held senior management positions with several Fortune 500 corporations.

Steve served as President of the South Carolina Collectors Association from 1998-2000. He also served as National Director from 2001-2003. Prior to being elected to the Presidency, he was the Chairman of the Education Committee from 1996-1998 and Chairman of the Legislative Committee from 1998-2000. He also served on the American Collectors Association International National Membership Committee and the ACA Hospital Service Program.

Additionally, he has served as Public Relations and Newsletter Chairman for six years and has served two terms on the SCHFMA Board. He has also earned the Follmer Bronze Award and the Reeves Silver Award.
Steve holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of South Carolina and has earned a Fellow and Scholars degree from the American Collectors Association, International. He also earned a Certified Collectors Certificate after completing an extensive study of the issues impacting receivables management.

He is a member of the Lexington Rotary Club, Greenwood Chamber of Commerce and a Board Member of the Lexington County Gamecock Club. Steve lives in Lexington. He has two children Ashley who attends USC and Bill who works for ARCI.

Richard Stokes - 2010
Richard Stokes, CPA is currently the Chief Financial Officer of Clarendon Health System. He has a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of South Carolina.

Richard has been a member of HFMA for eleven years and also holds HFMA certification in Accounting and Finance, Patient Financial Services, Managed Care and Physician Practice Management.

Additionally, Richard has the unique opportunity to serve as a board member of the Regional Medical Center in Orangeburg, South Carolina.

Richard and his wife Lynn, and daughter Rachel, reside in Orangeburg, SC.

Melanie Parks - 2010
Melanie Parks has been employed with Self Regional Healthcare for 14 years. During which time, she has held several positions all within Patient Financial Services. Melanie is currently the Director of the PFS and is responsible for Billing, Insurance Collections, Customer Service, Self Pay Collections, Cash Posting, and Payment Verification.

Melanie has been a South Carolina chapter member since 2003. She was a participant in the South Carolina Hospital Association Management Academy and Leadership Greenwood. Melanie and her husband Terry reside in Ware Shoals. They are members of New Spring Church in Anderson, South Carolina.

Jennifer Winchester - 2010
Jennifer Winchester is the Director of Managed Care and Patient Access at Lexington Medical Center. She is responsible for Contract Negotiations, Contract Compliance, Patient Registration and Customer Service. She has been at Lexington Medical Center since 2005 and was previously the Director of Payer Relations for Spectrum Health Continuing Care located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Jennifer has a Bachelor of Science degree from Western Michigan University in Biomedical Science/Chemistry.

Jennifer has been a member of HFMA since 2002. She, her husband, Rob, and her children, Carson and Kate, currently reside in Lexington, SC.

Bob Minus - 2011
Bob Minus, CHFP, is the Senior Account Manager for CAB Collections in Charleston. Bob started with CAB in 1999 with considerable healthcare finance experience, including State of SC Medicaid Auditor, CFO of Fairfield Memorial Hospital, Business Manager of a large physician practice, and Receivables Manager for Hill-Rom. His duties at CAB include new sales and servicing existing clients.
He is also active in his church and various community volunteer positions that have included committee chairman, coach, president, United Way and Habitat for Humanity volunteer.
He graduated from Clemson University with a degree in Financial Management.
Bob and his wife, Lou, have 2 daughters. Allison is a recent Clemson grad, and Austin is a current Clemson student.

Ronnie Hyatt
Ronnie Hyatt has been a long-standing member of HFMA since 1977. He began his healthcare career at Mary Black Memorial Hospital (later Mary Black Health System, LLC) in 1976, and spent 21 years at that system, in roles of Senior Accountant, Director of Materials Management, Controller, Vice President-Finance, and Chief Financial Officer. After being employed at Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System in the Financial Services Division for 3 years, Ronnie joined Bon Secours St. Francis Health System in 2001, and serves as its Senior Vice President-Chief Financial Officer.

Ronnie served as Chairman for the Planning Committee for the 2008 SCHFMA Winter Institute, for the first year of its move to Greenville, SC from Hilton Head. The Institute was a huge success, with more than 130 in attendance, and it is planned for two more years in Greenville, based on that success.

On June 1, 2008 Ronnie joined the SC HFMA Board of Directors for the 2008-2009 Chapter year. Additionally, he accepted the role of Chairman of the Membership Committee, and has begun work with his committee to retain and grow membership over this Chapter year!

Ray McCulloch
Ray McCulloch has been the Controller for Bon Secours St. Francis Health in Greenville, SC since 2004. Ray has responsibility for the General Accounting Area including Financial Statement preparation and analysis, Payroll, Accounts Payable, Reimbursement and Chargemaster functions. Additional areas of responsibility include the Central Billing Office and the Home Health and Hospice Billing Office. Ray has been active in the Healthcare Industry for the past 32 years working with several hospitals in either the Controller or Chief Financial Officer position.

Ray is a graduate of the University of Tennessee and holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration with a major in Accounting. Additionally, Ray is licensed as a CPA in the State of Tennessee. Ray achieved certification as a Fellow in HFMA in 2007 and has received the Follmer Bronze Award.

Tommy Cockrell - Ex-Officio Member

Tommy Cockrell is employed by the South Carolina Hospital Association as Chief Operating Officer. Prior to joining SCHA in December 1992, Tommy was employed with Kershaw County Memorial Hospital for 21 years, most recently as Chief Financial Officer.

Tommy received a BS in Accounting from the University of South Carolina and a MA in Business from Webster University. Tommy also holds the designations of Fellow (FHFMA) with certifications in Finance, Patient Accounting, and Managed Care by the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA). Tommy also serves as an adjunct faculty member for Webster University and the University Of South Carolina.

An active member of HFMA, Tommy served the South Carolina Chapter as President in 1988-89. Previous positions with the South Carolina Chapter include President-Elect, two terms as Treasurer and Chairman of numerous committees. In addition to South Carolina Chapter activities, Tommy served Region V of HFMA as Chapter Liaison Representative and at the national level as a member of the National Nominating Committee. Tommy and his wife, Ruth, are the parents of Kelley, a Certified Public Accountant and Cory, a graduate at the College of Charleston. Tommy and his family are active members of Antioch Baptist Church. In his spare time, Tommy enjoys all sports, classic cars, and enjoying his 3 grandchildren.