Our company is led by nationally recognized Anesthesiolgists and Business Strategists.

			William Mazzei, MD, is Clinical Professor of Anesthesiology and Medical Director of Perioperative Services at the University of California, San Diego Medical Center. After completing his anesthesia residency and fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital, he became Clinical Director of Anesthesiology at UCSD and focused his research and educational efforts in the area of OR Management. He co-founded the Association of Anesthesia Clinical Directors in 1987 and directed their Workshop on OR Management for 10 years. Bill is nationally recognized as an expert in OR Management. Bill is a frequent lecturer and has published numerous articles on the subject of OR Management. He has performed evaluations of anesthesia or operating room services at over 50 sites in the US and maintains a benchmark database for perioperative processes.
			Tom Blasco, MD, MS. Dr. Blasco is a practicing board-certified anesthesiologist/intensivist at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in suburban Chicago, past Vice Chairman of Anesthesiology at Parkside Anesthesia, Chicago, Illinois, and current Medical Director at Illinois Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Surgery Center. Tom was instrumental in the development of several free standing physician owned outpatient surgery centers including Chicago Prostate Cancer Center and the Illinois Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Surgery Center and works extensively with anesthesia groups and hospital surgical departments to improve financial performance, operational efficiency and organizational effectiveness. Tom completed his anesthesia residency at Loyola Medical Center and received a Master of Science in Administrative Medicine from the University of Wisconsin. He has held academic positions at Northwestern University and the University of Chicago. Tom completed his Lean Healthcare Certification from Villanova University.
			David Young, MD. Dr. Young is board certified by the American Board of Anesthesia and the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. Young completed his OB/Gyn residency at the University of Virginia and his anesthesia residency at the University of California, San Diego. He is Medical Director of Pre Surgical Testing at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, Chicago, Illinois and is nationally recognized for his work in upgrading pre-surgical assessment practices. He remains a faculty member of the Department of Anesthesia at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Young received his Lean Healthcare Certification from the University of Michigan’s College of Engineering. Dr. Young maintains a full time clinical practice in addition to his consulting work.
			Jeff Peters, President, is an experienced healthcare business strategist. Jeff has extensive experience in addressing the operational, financial and political issues of large, complex academic and non-academic health care organizations. He has worked with numerous surgical and anesthesia departments and understands the complexities and importance of these services to the organization’s financial performance and reputation. Jeff has worked with and conducted turnarounds for over 30 academic hospitals, community hospitals, health systems and physician groups, nationwide. Jeff has over 25 years of experience working with physicians and hospitals and is a national speaker and author on hospital/physician relations and organizational issues.
			Nell Panten, RN, BSN, MSN, CNOR, Chief Nurse Executive. Nell Panten has over 30 years experience in perioperative clinical nursing and nursing leadership in both non-profit and for-profit healthcare systems. She has served as Director of Nursing for the Surgical Division in a major teaching institution in the Northeast and as CNO at a 458-bed trauma center in Maryland. Nell has experience in multiple process redesign efforts at teaching and non-teaching facilities. In addition, she has multiple years of experience in new construction and redesign of existing healthcare facilities. Her expertise includes perioperative leadership, mentoring, new program development, strategic planning, cost containment and transformational changes associated with quality improvement and safety initiatives. Nell was instrumental in developing service line leadership for Cardiovascular and Orthopedic Services associated with “Centers of Excellence” in multiple institutions. Nell is a member of the Association of PeriOperative Registered Nurses (AORN). She maintains membership in the Business Industry Consulting (BIC) and Leadership Specialty Assemblies through AORN. She is a member of the Association of Nurse Executives (AONE), National League for Nursing (NLN) and Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing where she is involved in clinical research surrounding evidence-based nursing in the PeriOperative arena. Nell completed her Lean Healthcare Certification from Villanova University.
			Lee Hedman, Senior Vice President. Lee Hedman is an experienced healthcare consultant specializing in hospital and physician practice management. In her role as Senior Vice President, Lee manages Surgical Directions’ complex perioperative and anesthesia services assessment and implementation engagements and runs the anesthesia practice revenue cycle consulting division. As part of the assessment and implementation team, Lee is responsible for managing Surgical Directions’ team of physicians and nurses as well as assisting in the identification of improvement opportunities and implementation of operating room best practice standards on each project. She has worked with over 25 anesthesia group practices nationwide on the evaluation and turnaround of internal and outsourced billing and collection processes; facilitation of anesthesia contract negotiations including development of service requirements, staffing recommendations, and revenue cycle metrics; billing vendor selection and tracking mechanisms and interim management of anesthesia billing practices. Lee has published articles on anesthesia revenue cycle management in Anesthesiology News, MGMA, HFMA and Group Practice Journal and has developed the “Anesthesia Best Practice Billing, Coding and More” reference guide for clients. She completed her Lean Healthcare Certification from the University of Michigan’s College of Engineering.
			Robert M. Dahl, Vice President. Bob Dahl has over 16 years of healthcare/hospital experience, including over 13 years of ambulatory service line development and P&L management. He has designed and implemented growth strategies across multiple healthcare platforms that have generated significant incremental volume and revenue for hospital systems. Bob’s consulting expertise lies in strategic planning, financial modeling, business development and facilitation of sales and marketing strategies for both inpatient and ambulatory services lines. Bob's unique background has provided added value for clients through operational and financial assessments of perioperative services lines; inventory management; and financial modeling for healthcare entities and service lines. Bob holds an MBA from Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. He received Lean Certification from Belmont University’s Graduate School of Business.
			Aron Klein, CPA, has successfully developed and filled the role as the first Surgical Services Business Manger at a major multi-specialty, 609-bed teaching hospital in Illinois. During his time as a business manager, Aron introduced a comprehensive inventory control system, which dramatically reduced the OR inventory in the first year. Aron also developed comprehensive business plans for two DaVinci Surgical systems, a minimally-invasive OR suite, and an intra-operative MRI. Aron also designed, built and implemented a redesigned chargemaster for Surgical Services maintaining net revenue neutrality by payer in compliance with the hospital’s 40 managed care contracts. Aron is a CPA and holds a Master’s degree in Healthcare Administration as well as a Bachelor’s in Business Administration with a major in Finance from the University of Iowa.