Karen Thompson has worked in the Nephrology field for over 30 years. With a passion for patient care and advocacy, her clinical career started in acute and chronic hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis as well as pre and post kidney and pancreas transplant. Karen specialized in healthcare and renal operations management for several decades, moving to the Value Based Care (VBC) arena in 2015 as the ESCO model Senior Program Manager for Fresenius Health Partners. Karen joined Kidney Care Specialists in 2021 and has worked to expand and strengthen the company’s footprint in the VBC marketplace supporting Kidney Care Specialists’ best-in-care approaches to patient care delivery. Kidney Care Specialists’ autonomous-consolidated practice model continues to grow in practice participation size, recognizing greatly improved efficiencies and savings for renal practices.
James Plum, CPB, CRC, with a career in billing and coding that spans over 25 years, leads our centralized billing operations through full cycle revenue management. Certified in both billing and risk adjustment coding through the AAPC, James finds the ever-changing revenue cycle to be both challenging and rewarding. James oversees all billing and coding staff and operations, provides ongoing education to providers, develops coding compliance policies, and monitors AR and payer trends.
Renee Akers has over 39 years of experience as a medical office professional. In April 2004, she joined a team of healthcare providers that has since evolved into Kidney Care Specialists. In August 2015, Renee transitioned into a combined role as a Credentialing Coordinator/Billing for Kidney Care Specialists and Regulatory Assistant for Northeast Clinical Research Center further enhancing her expertise in compliance, billing and AR as well as provider credentialing. Her attention to detail, reliability and strong organizational skills have prepared Renee for her current role where she works to ensure the financial integrity and operational excellence of the organization.