Merlyn Knapp, MBA, FHFMA, FACHE

Merlyn Knapp possesses a unique blend of high-level healthcare financial and operational experience spanning more than three decades of work as a healthcare executive. He has frequently been recruited by public, private and non-profit healthcare systems to turn around faltering facilities across rural and suburban America. He is based in Dallas, Texas.

Knapp began his career in hospital administration in 1974. He has previously worked in interim and permanent positions in various capacities as a CEO, CFO, controller and physicians practice manager of large and small public, private, and nonprofit facilities around the country. A Certified Public Accountant, Knapp helped to draft Audit & Accounting Guide for Audits of Providers of Health Care Services (1986), the AICPA’s authoritative guide to healthcare accounting. He has been a keynote speaker for various programs and is a past Editorial Board member of the Journal of Healthcare Management. He holds a BA in accounting and finance from the University of Northern Iowa and an MBA from Rockhurst University.

Key Experience:

• • Led Indiana community hospital through Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization that included reducing staff by 30%, developing new programs to match community demographics, implementation of CPSI electronic health records system, and restructuring underutilized equipment leases, reversing six consecutive years of operating losses and adding more than $14 million to organization's book value in preparation for bankruptcy sale as a profitable ongoing business.

• • Negotiated and closed $8.5mm line of credit, achieved $2mm cash flow increase, and $600,000 annual reduction in accounts receivable days-in-revenue at South Carolina community hospital.

• • Achieved $2.5mm increase in EBITDA, $150,000 annual savings in labor costs, and restructured physicians contracts to match operational performance at Mississippi community hospital.

• • Designed and implemented modern accounting controls, achieved $1.2 million increase in annual accounts receivable collection, and $1.7 million annual net revenue increase due to implementation of variable-cost operational improvements at Oklahoma community hospital.

• • Achieved $1 million annual cash flow increase in just four months as interim CFO of Houston surgical hospital by designing and implementing competitive bid and revenue recovery procedures.

• • Led Louisiana hospital through reinstatement of expired hospital operating license, preventing multi-million dollar liability for False Claims Act violations, CMS fraud, restitution and other penalties.

• • Developed and launched business recovery plan for Washington hospital, reversing $3.5mm annual loss in just three months, including implementation of cardiovascular service generating 77% IRR, renegotiation of vendor contracts, productivity monitoring across multiple departments, and large increases in admissions.