About AHG

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Re-thinking Health Care Costs

American HealthCare Group works with employers and individuals to maximize health care dollars. By utilizing our knowledge in the financial and health care industries, we are able to design and manage health benefit programs for employers that can save them, on average, 20% annually. This is including our costs.

Employee Benefits

The demand for this service has increased recently since more employers are realizing the need to take control of rising health care costs and finally taking action to protect the future of their business. Each company is different, so each benefit plan is different. To design this plan we take into account the demographics of your employee population, the overall health and the company culture regarding the importance of health. Our management program demands a closer look at where your dollars are being spent and reallocates them to where they should be spent. All the while, your employees are happier and healthier.

Individual Health Care Benefits

Concerned individuals can take control of their own health. With benefits such as financial guidance, medical reviews and wellness programs, individuals have more at their disposal than ever before. Letting American HealthCare Group lead you through these programs is easy with Pathways to SmartCare. Pathways to SmartCare is an affordable solution to managing this costly aspect of your life and aims to empower the individual to make smart choices regarding their health care dollars.

Physician Services

Part of American HealthCare Group's expertise relies on our knowledge of actual health care costs. Physician billing, benefits management and tax planning services help health care providers stay on top of the growing provider practice industry.

The People of American HealthCare Group, Inc.

Officers
Robert E. Hagan, Jr.	Joseph C. Maroon, MD
Departmental Contacts
Sarah D. Steranka	Erin Hart (Hagan)	Liz Hagan Kanche	Lynn Datsko Hagan
Mary Hagan Double	Pat Bricklemyer	Adelle Stewart

Robert E. Hagan, Jr.
President and CEO, American HealthCare Group, Inc.
bhagan@american-healthcare.net

Robert Hagan has over 35 years experience in the healthcare industry specializing in the areas of self-funding of employers’ health benefits programs and providing business process services to hospitals, physicians, healthcare facilities and outpatient services providers. He concentrates in the areas of health benefit plan design, reinsurance, claims administration and provider network pricing and access. All matters regarding the financing of healthcare programs are included in those areas of concentration.

He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, majoring in accountancy. Following his undergraduate education he received his Certified Public Accountant licensure while employed with Ernst & Young in the Pittsburgh, PA office. In 1973 he established the accounting firm of Hagan Accounting Group, specializing in the financial, tax and management system needs of healthcare providers and facilities, including physicians, hospitals, outpatient services and ambulatory service centers. To address the needs of the marketplace regarding the efficient and effective delivery of healthcare services to the population of the United States, he organized the business enterprise American HealthCare Group, Inc. in 1996.

As CEO and President of American HealthCare Group, he directed the development of a regional PPO Network, the formation of a stop-loss reinsurance company, the organization of a third-party administrator and the resources to analyze, plan and design health benefits plans. In addition, he designed and built a Medical Management organization to provide health, wellness and prevention services to individuals and groups.

He currently oversees all Administrative Management services and products being presented to businesses, governmental units and individuals by American HealthCare Group. Accompanied by Joseph C. Maroon, M.D., who oversees the Medical Management services and products of American HealthCare Group, the company has experienced rapid growth in recent years as employers have sought solutions to the tremendous rise in healthcare expenditures and a decrease in the quality of care.

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Joseph C. Maroon, MD
Chief Medical Officer, American HealthCare Group, Inc.

Heindl Scholar
Clinical Professor of Neurological Surgery
Vice Chairman, CMI Division, Department of Neurological Surgery
Director, Tri-State Neurosurgical Associates

Joseph Charles Maroon was born in Wheeling, West Virginia on May 26, 1940. He was educated in the parochial schools in Bellaire, OH where his athletic abilities earned him an athletic scholarship to the University of Indiana in Bloomington, Indiana. As an undergraduate he was selected as a Scholastic All American in Football in Indiana. Following his undergraduate education, he obtained his medical and neurosurgical training at Indiana University, Georgetown University, Oxford University in England and a microsurgical Fellowship at the University of Vermont under R.M. Peardon Donaghy.

He began his practice at the University of Pittsburgh in 1972 and was promoted to Professor and Director of Neurosurgery at the University of Pittsburgh-Presbyterian University Hospital. In 1984, he joined Allegheny General Hospital as Chairman of Neurosurgery and in 1995 assumed the additional role as Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Allegheny General Hospital/Medical College of Pennsylvania. In 1999 he was recruited back to the University of Pittsburgh where he was appointed Vice Chairman and Professor of the Department of Neurological Surgery and also designated the Dennis and Rose Heindl Scholar in Neurosciences. He has been the team neurosurgeon for the Pittsburgh Steelers Football Club for the past 20 years and has developed innovated programs for the management of athletes with cerebral concussions. ImPACT© (Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing) was developed by Doctor Maroon and his colleague, neuropsychologist Mark Lovell, Ph.D. It is the first computerized evaluation system used that may help determine concussion severity as well as if and when it is safe for an athlete to return to contact sports. This program has now been adopted by the NFL, NHL, some teams in the NBA and over 200 high schools and colleges throughout the United States. His research into brain tumors and diseases of the spine has led to many innovative techniques for diagnosing and treating these disorders.

He has operated on over 1,000 pituitary tumors and now uses an endoscopic/microscopic approach. In 1986, he was honored by his peers when they elected him President of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, the largest society of neurosurgeons in North America. He has since been honored for his contributions in neurosurgery by the national neurosurgical societies of many foreign countries including Japan, Korea, Thailand, Egypt, Brazil and Lebanon.

His publications number more than 230 and he is on the editorial board of five medical journals. He has authored or co-authored 40 book chapters and edited 3 books. He is on three neurological journal editorial boards and has introduced microsurgical and percutaneous techniques for the minimally invasive treatment of herniated lumbar discs.

In 2002, he was nominated a Health Care Hero Lifetime Achievement Award finalist by the Pittsburgh Business Times and was listed as one of "America's Best Neurosurgeons" in the publication of America's Best Doctors.

Despite his busy professional schedule, Doctor Maroon has maintained his athletic interest by competing in over 50 triathlon events including Ironman triathlons (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run) in Hawaii (1993), Canada (1995), New Zealand (1997) and Europe (2000). In 1999 he, along with Joe Montana and Kareem Abdul-Jabaar were inducted into the Lou Holtz Upper Ohio Valley Hall of Fame for his athletic accomplishments and contributions to sports medicine.

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Departmental Contacts

Sarah Doyle Steranka

Medical Management Services, American HealthCare Group, Inc.

ssteranka@american-healthcare.net

Ms. Steranka comes to American HealthCare Group with over 10 years of management consulting experience in the health care industry. Specializing in organizational and benefit analysis, Ms. Steranka has enabled health care and corporate administrators to realize operational efficiencies and cost savings through implementation of policy and procedures, staffing solutions and health plan design.

As a Medical Management Specialist at American HealthCare Group she works with employers and their employees to ensure the health care they are paying for is received at the highest quality and the lowest possible cost. To this end, she coordinates a multi-specialist panel of clinical and financial providers utilizing proven, cost effective tools of Disease Management, Care Management,Utilization Management and Risk Management.

In addition to her Medical Management responsibilities, Ms. Steranka supports the Health and Wellness staff and initiatives. This includes coordinating dozens of flu shot events throughout the fall season covering the tri-state area and wellness client services

Sarah is a graduate of The Pennsylvania State University, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Health Services Administration. She has post-graduate level study in Health and Regional Planning, Demographic Analysis, and Human Resource Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Liz Hagan Kanche

Wellness Program Manager, American HealthCare Group, Inc

lizhkanche@american-healthcare.net

Liz earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Business from Mercyhurst College. She began her career in the health care industry at Hamot Medical Center, working in the business development department. In 2002, she relocated to Pittsburgh to work with American HealthCare Group, Inc.

Since then she has been instrumental in developing the Pathways to SmartCare wellness program for employers and individuals. As the manager of our wellness program, Liz assists proactive employers that want to implement our strategic wellness programming into their health benefits plans. She works directly with our network of health and wellness providers to deliver population specific wellness programs to our clients.

Recently, Liz joined the board of the Pittsburgh Human Resources Association and acted as the conference chairperson for their annual event in 2007.

Erin Hart (Hagan)

Health Benefit Services Manager, American HealthCare Group, Inc.

ehart@american-healthcare.net

Erin received a Bachelor of Arts in English from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa. She has been working at American HealthCare Group since1994 and has been active in the Pittsburgh health care industry for over 14 years.

Erin currently acts as an account executive within the health care benefit services market. She provides health and wellness services, manages Third Party Administrators, case management, stop loss, PPO network and disease management vendor relationships.

She has extensive expertise in practice management and development. This includes contracting and credentialing with hospitals and insurance companies, negotiating managed care contracts and determining fee schedules for practices.

Ms. Hart has developed a preferred provider network of physicians and wellness providers. In this capacity, she works closely with physicians to expand participation in the network, oversees the creation of credentialing standards and develops business service opportunities.

On the wellness end of the health care spectrum, Erin has recently created the Farm to Table nutrition program and annual local food conference. Farm to Table brings together the food producers of Western Pennsylvania and local consumers to bridge the gap that exists between eating healthy food and supporting local economy.

Lynn Datsko Hagan

Financial Operations and Human Resource Manager, American HealthCare Group, Inc.

lhagan@american-healthcare.net

Lynn has been with American HealthCare Group for the last ten years managing the operations of many facets of the business. She is an expert in financial record keeping and employee benefits management. Ms. Hagan also contributes to medical benefits analysis services and management of medical practices, working with employers to coordinate payment of benefits and financial analysis of their group benefits.

Lynn also offers her expertise in finance to our physician billing services, organizing several client accounts and their patients' coverage awards.

Mary Hagan Double

Marketing Manager, American HealthCare Group, Inc.

mdouble@american-healthcare.net

Ms. Double became an employee of American HealthCare Group in 2001, working in administrative support for all components of the business. Later she took on the responsibility of managing our PPO network of health care professionals, covering daily operations as well as provider and insurance contract communication.

Ms. Double is also the driving force in keeping our image fresh in the Pittsburgh market. Combining her creativity and her broad understanding of the operational aspects at American HealthCare Group, Inc., Mary took on the challenge of branding our products and services into a comprehensive package that can easily be communicated to our clientèle. Today, she manages the creation of marketing materials, publication advertisements, direct email communication and website and weblog maintenance.