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CEO's Corner

Get to know the CEO of Mercury Healthcare
With more than 30 years of industry experience,  Maria K Todd, MHA PhD is Chief Executive Officer of Mercury Healthcare, a global provider network headquartered in Denver, Colorado.  Maria is a former HMO contracting coordinator and has been a consultant to thousands of U.S. hospitals and several international hospitals and government ministries on medical tourism business development and payer-provider contract negotiations. She is the author of The Managed Care Contracting Handbook 2nd Edition, (2009, Productivity Press) and eight other industry professional books and is a frequent expert speaker in the U.S. and on international health administration, association and university lecture circuits.

Dr. Todd has practical experience as well. “I was personally responsible for the managed care contracting of hundreds of different hospitals and health systems over the course of 30 years,” she said. “In that time as a contracts manager, as a hospital and medical group business office manager, Executive director of an independent practice association (IPA), IPA and PHO developer, an outsourced managed care contracting liaison and subsequently as president of a company that has developed better contract language analysis software for the hospital industry.

Todd's experience to lead this organization doesn't stop there. She has worked in hospitals on the clinical side as well, both in the emergency/casualty setting as an emergency medical technician (EMT) and as a surgical scrub. She understands the management and environment of the hospital inside and out. She also understands the special character of working with physicians and surgeons from her days working as in surgery. "It is a different world beghind the swinging doors of the operating theatre" one she describes as "having its own social heirarchy, culture and rhythem."  Not suprisingly, Todd is also certified in Healthcare Disaster Management Recovery by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). 

Her Twitter microblog, (AskMariaTodd™), has been ranked 9th worldwide on OrganizedWisdom® for Top Health Executive Contributors.  One unique component of OrganizedWisdom® is its Expert Contributor Community where every expert must be invited or nominated for inclusion. OrganizedWisdom® is used by top doctors and health professionals to remain up-to-date on industry devlopments by key opinion leaders. Each expert earns a WisdomScore™ determined by the company's Physician Review Board and an algorithm which incorporates an analysis of their online influence, credentials, certifications, content, achievements and ongoing contributions. Maria was also recognized on OrganizedWisdom® as 22nd in the world on the Leaderboard of Top Expert Contributors. The OrganizedWisdom® site identifies top health experts who share authoritative resources about health insurance industry topics on a global scale.

Dr. Todd also serves as the President of the Council on the Integration of Healthcare a voluntary non-profit association foused on the development  of globally integrated healthcare and medical tourism, and is a member of America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), The American Association of Integrated Health Delivery Systems (AAIHDS), the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) and several other industry professional associations. She serves on the Board of Directors of many non-profit associations in the healthcare sector and is an advisor to several government ministries worldwide.  "I guess I'm a little different compared to the typical medical tourism nonprofit association president sor medical tourism facilitators" she chuckles.

 Visit Dr Todd's personal website on managed care, US Healthcare reform, hospital reimbursement and revenue cycle resources at AskMariaTodd™,  a division of Mercury Healthcare Advisory Group.

Recently Published, Peer-Reviewed Articles by Dr. Maria Todd

19 Jul 2010 -- Mercury Healthcare CEO's response selected as "Best Answer" about Medical Tourism Growth and Market Size in Venture Capital and Finance Question on Linked In. Read the question and Todd's answer here.

11 June 2010 -- Maria K Todd MHA PhD, CEO of Mercury Healthcare Advisory Group, looks at the planning and hosting of the  “fam” tours that a hospital should be prepared to conduct for medical tourism facilitators. (Read Part 1 in IMTJ)

25 June 2010 -  Maria K Todd MHA PhD, CEO of Mercury Healthcare Advisory Group, looks at the planning and hosting of the  “fam” tours that a hospital should be prepared to conduct for medical tourism facilitators (Read Part 2 in IMTJ)

10 Feb 2010 - Maria K Todd, MHA PhD, CEO of Mercury Healthcare Advisory Group, discusses "Shaping and Managing Your Medical Tourism Offerings". (Read the article in IMTJ)

07 January 2008 --  "Understanding the realities of medical tourism benefit introduction to health insurance plans in the U.S.", a strategic White Paper for hospitals, medical and dental providers who seek to expand their medical tourism business through insured patients from the USA.