Expert Details
Certified Legal Nurse Consultant and Expert Witness
ID: 740963
Illinois, USA
Prior to establishing this consulting practice, Expert held a series of progressively senior clinical leadership roles across home health and hospice organizations, including Regional Clinical Director overseeing more than 300 clinical staff across statewide locations, and Director of Clinical Services roles responsible for regulatory compliance with national accrediting bodies and CMS standards, quality improvement program leadership, billing and coding oversight, and chief compliance officer duties including internal investigations of privacy, fraud, and abuse violations. Expert has also served as a hospice administrator and director of nursing, managing interdisciplinary clinical teams and ensuring survey readiness across multiple accreditation frameworks, and has extensive direct clinical experience as a hospice and palliative care registered nurse managing complex, high-acuity patient caseloads.
In addition to his clinical and compliance consulting work, he has worked since 2001 as a freelance content developer, serving as an author, editor, and subject matter expert on topics including healthcare regulatory compliance, geriatric populations, and chronic disease management.
Expert holds an Associate's degree in Registered Nursing from Lansing Community College and a Bachelor's degree in Communication, Journalism, and Related Programs from Eastern Michigan University. He holds certifications as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant and previously as a Certified Hospice and Palliative Care Nurse, and was recognized as a "Top Nurse: Legal Nurse Consultant" by a national nursing publication in 2024.
Education
| Year | Degree | Subject | Institution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year: 2010 | Degree: ADN | Subject: Nursing | Institution: Lansing Community College |
| Year: 2001 | Degree: BA | Subject: Journalism and Mass Communications | Institution: Eastern Michigan University |
Work History
| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
|---|---|---|---|
| Years: 2024 to Present | Employer: Undisclosed | Title: Certified Legal Nurse Consultant | Department: |
Responsibilities:Expert legal consultant for prosecution, defense and medical insurance stakeholders regarding matters of evidence-based practice standards, medical malpractice, liability, personal injury, catastrophic care, and worker's compensation. Provide a variety of services included but not limited to medical record analysis, root-cause analysis, settlement and trial preparation, interrogatories/discovery process. Expert witness testimony provided concerning elder abuse and neglect, Medicare fraud, long-term care and catastrophic care related health care delivery. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2001 to Present | Employer: Undisclosed | Title: Author | Department: |
Responsibilities:Author, editor, photographer and project manager for a variety of publishing platforms. Well versed in business to business and consumer content production of engaging and informative information. Subject matter expert for the following topics: Healthcare Regulatory Compliance, Geriatric Populations, Chronic Disease Management, General Health and Wellness, Spirituality, Horticulture and Animal Behavior. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2025 to 2026 | Employer: 21st Century Healthcare Consultants | Title: Healthcare Compliance Consultant | Department: Clinical |
Responsibilities:Clinical compliance consultant for private duty Personal Assistance Services (PAS), Skilled Home Health and Hospice service lines for healthcare entrepreneurs seeking Medicare accreditation. Offer expert level operations guidance to start-up agencies providing care that meets state, CMS and accrediting body standards. Provide support to clients under active survey and assistance with writing remediation plans to address standards deficits. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2023 to 2025 | Employer: Brightstar Care of Michigan | Title: Regional Clinical Director (Statewide) | Department: Clinical Operations |
Responsibilities:Supervise more than 300 RNs, LPNs, and direct care workers caring for clients requiring post-acute care at home. Responsible for staff development, training, and competency evaluations per Joint Commission accreditation. Oversee operations at state-wide locations while identifying operational efficiencies in keeping with evidence-based care standards for chronic disease management and catastrophic injuries for patient across the lifespan. Audit and investigate electronic medical records for compliance violations. Develop policy and procedure guidelines as appropriate for complex care delivery. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2021 to 2023 | Employer: Heartland Home Care & Hospice | Title: Director of Clinical Services | Department: Clinical Operations |
Responsibilities:Supervised hospice Physician, NP, RNs, LPNs, CNAs, Chaplains, Medical Social Workers, Massage and Music Therapists, in addition to all business office support staff. Responsible for maintaining standards for Accreditation Commission for Healthcare (ACHC) and Centers for Medicare/Medicaid (CMS) regulatory compliance standards, using custom designed auditing tools. Responsible for collection, analysis and tracking of overall utilization of services. Developed and presented curriculum for staff development and vendor/community outreach partners. Maintained and updated policy and procedure manuals for clinical and interdisciplinary staff. Reviewed and corrected coding include CPT, HCPCS and ICD 10 codes for billing. Chief compliance officer with responsibility for internal investigation for any reported violations of privacy, fraud and abuse. Conducted agency wide annual risk assessment. Responsible for ongoing utilization review of all cost centers to ensure financial viability of the agency. Chaired quality improvement committee (QAPI) program, developed and implemented process improvement plans, some requiring external community involvement. Coached interdisciplinary team, to include physician and NP in clinical documentation improvement, related to eligibility requirements and industry standards for compliance. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2019 to 2021 | Employer: BrightStar Care of East Lansing | Title: Director of Home Health Operations | Department: Clinical Operations |
Responsibilities:Managed operations of skilled nursing and attendant care services company with census of more than 150 clients in greater Lansing, MI. Managed resource utilization for agency, requiring frequent auditing of clinical documentation. Coached RN, LPN, CNA, caregiver staff in clinical documentation improvement. Directed more than 90 staff in adherence to Joint Commission Accreditation standards, to include intravenous, ventilator dependent and catastrophically injured clients receiving care in the post-acute home setting. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2018 to 2019 | Employer: Michigan Premier Hospice Care (Now Corso Hospice of Michigan) | Title: Regional Hospice Administrator (Statewide) | Department: Executive Leadership |
Responsibilities:Managed more than 20 employees, including Physicians, NPs, RNs, LPNs, CNAs, Chaplains, Medical Social Workers, Massage and Music Therapists to ensure compliance with Community Health Accreditation Program (CHAP) and Centers for Medicare/Medicaid (CMS) industry compliance standards of practice. Responsible for regulatory oversight and quality of care by review of quality review dashboard monitoring for key outcome indicators. Monitored more than 50 patients, residing in Skilled Nursing Facilities, Assisted Living Facilities, Adult Foster Care Homes and private residences, adhering to compliance standards of various care delivery locations over 12 counties in mid and southeast Michigan. We'll versed in Quality Improvement Process as chair of QAPI committee with full responsibility for policies and procedures developed to improve patient outcomes through process improvement, as verified with interdisciplinary auditing using custom designed audit tools. Fully responsible for ongoing utilization review of all services provided to identify duplication of services, areas of risk for Medicare waste and overall financial viability for the agency. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2018 to 2018 | Employer: BrightStar Care of East Lansing | Title: Director of Nursing | Department: Clinical Operations |
Responsibilities:Managed more than 75 RNs, LPNs, CNAs and caregivers, delivering medical services to more than 80 clients. Oversaw all regulatory guidelines for maintenance of Joint Commission accreditation status. Coordinated high-acuity care intravenous infusion clients, managed documentation for clinical drug trials, maintained educational compliance for in-home chemotherapy. Developed evidence-based practice policies and procedures for ventilator, traumatic brain injured, dementia and terminally ill populations. Conducted clinical documentation audits to ensure compliance to standards. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2014 to 2018 | Employer: Hospice Advantage (Now Part of Compassus) | Title: Director of Clinical Services | Department: Clinical Operations |
Responsibilities:Managed more than 40 employees with an average daily census of home and facility-based hospice patients of more than 130. Monitored employee workflow (Physician, NP, RN, LPN, CNA, MSW, Complimentary Therapies). Conducted daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly utilization review for all modalities. Maintained Community Health Accreditation Program (CHAP) survey readiness and plan of corrective action, clinical documentation improvement coaching post survey. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2013 to 2014 | Employer: Great Lakes Caring Home Health and Hospice (Now Elara Nursing) | Title: Registered Nurse Case Manager | Department: Nursing/Clinical |
Responsibilities:Managed a caseload of more than 25 home care patients, including: grief counseling and bereavement support; plan of care development and implementation; chronic disease management, patient education; clinical supply auditing for cost effectiveness. Implemented pilot bridge program from home care to hospice. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2011 to 2013 | Employer: Hospice of Lansing & Stoneleigh Residence | Title: Registered Nurse Case Manager | Department: Nursing/Clinical |
Responsibilities:Managed emergency on-call, end-stage symptoms for patients in rural and urban home settings. Staffed in-patient hospice as RN for medically complex high-acuity patients. Implemented Personal Controlled Analgesic pumps. Participated in triage, intake and quality improvement (QAPI) chart audits for Accreditation Commission for Healthcare (ACHC) and Medicare (CMS) compliance. |
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Additional Experience
| Expert Witness Experience |
|---|
| Litigation experience encompasses elder abuse and neglect, Medicare fraud, long-term care standards, and catastrophic care-related health care delivery. He has supported cases across the full litigation lifecycle including medical record analysis, root-cause analysis, discovery, and trial preparation. |
Career Accomplishments
| Licenses / Certifications |
|---|
| • Registered Nurse in Michigan and Illinois • Certified Legal Nurse Consultant • Certified Accreditation Consultant • Certified Hospice and Palliative Care Nurse (2011 - 2018) |
Fields of Expertise
Post-Acute Medical Care, workers' compensation, personal injury claims, toxic tort, medical malpractice, medical standard of care, Expert Witness Testimony, life care planning, catastrophic injury, nursing home liability, Automobile Accident, Home health, Hospice and Palliative Care, orthopedics, Traumatic brain Injury