Free career training for AAPC members

Krista has extensive experience identifying revenue generation obstacles in collaboration with senior leaderships to implement best practices related to the Revenue Cycle. She has worked for 13 years in both hospital and insurance company settings, focusing on billing, auditing, contract management, software implementation, denial management, and payer variance adjudication. Krista recently spent 6 years working at an acute care hospital in Doha, Qatar where she assisted the facility in its implementation of the CPT coding system. She is currently a member of the South Denver local chapter in Colorado.

Melissa Kirshner has been involved in the healthcare world for over 30 years, with experience in billing, coding, auditing, education, practice management, and risk adjustment. She served as a founding member of the Novi, Michigan local chapter and currently serves as the chapter education officer. Kirshner is a passionate educator for both the AAPC Live Virtual Instructor team and her private CPC® students. She also served as the inaugural chairperson of the AAPC Documentation Advisory Committee.

Rhonda Buckholtz is a healthcare operations and compliance expert with over three decades of experience. She’s known for her deep knowledge of clinical documentation improvements and her passion for making healthcare more efficient. Buckholtz has led many initiatives to streamline processes and improve compliance standards across different healthcare systems. She’s also a great teacher, having led seminars, workshops, and training programs to educate healthcare professionals about the importance of accurate coding in patient care and billing. Buckholtz is the author of “Consolidation Gaps - Navigating the Layers in Leadership.” She’s also a certified Maxwell Leadership Certified Executive in coaching and speaking and serves as the 2025-2027 president of the National Advisory Board.

Ava Johnson is a seasoned coding instructor specializing in risk adjustment, multispecialty coding, and clinician education. She is a public speaker with a focus on enhancing various risk adjustment initiatives, career development, and leadership. Johnson is currently the Director of the Ambulatory Clinical Documentation Quality Improvement department at Mount Sinai Hospital in NYC where her primary responsibilities include oversight of the risk adjustment coding and documentation across the organization’s metropolitan and downstate New York areas.