Practice Management Consulting
Jim Edwardson, CMPE
OWNER, CONSULTANT
Jim is a Certified Medical Practice Executive (CMPE) through the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), a distinction he has held since 1992. He attended college at Emporia State University in Kansas and later completed a certification in healthcare administration at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.
With over 38 years of experience in medical group practice management and healthcare administration across diverse specialties, Jim delivers strategic consulting nationwide. His expertise spans accounts receivable management and optimization, identification of ancillary revenue streams, credentialing, managed care contracting, practice management, medical billing, crisis response (including pandemics and natural disasters), interim executive leadership, and comprehensive practice analysis.
Dave Mukherjee
CONSULTANT
Dave is a practice administrator and operations leader with 20+ years’ experience focusing on physician practices including start-ups, strategy, operations, business development, financial consulting, compliance and client service with strong leadership, problem-solving, planning, team building and project management skills. Dave has worked with interventional pain management, oncology, neurology and primary care practices.
Dave is a member of the North Texas Chapter of Medical Group Management, National Chapter of Medical Group Management, and past steering committee lead for the Tarrant County Practice Administrator Group.
In addition, Dave’s interests include coursework in the psychology of leadership and mindfulness, workplace emotional intelligence, and management development of others. Dave is a graduate of Michigan State University, B.A., and Texas Christian University, M.B.A.
Jill De Franceschi
CONSULTANT, CLINICAL DEPARTMENT MANAGER
Jill brings over 25 years of healthcare experience to Vital Signs Physician Resources. She began her career mastering medical office administration while completing nursing school and serving as front office manager for a specialty group practice. As a Licensed Vocational Nurse, she gained extensive clinical expertise across gastroenterology, dermatology, and neurology.
In 2016, Jill earned her bachelor’s degree in healthcare management from American InterContinental University. She joined the VSPR team in 2017 as a Project Manager and has since partnered with numerous clients to enhance operational efficiency through staff training and the implementation of streamlined processes. Jill also leads the remote clinical team, supporting clients and their patients with chronic medical conditions by optimizing office workflow processes and managing care between office visits.
Accounting Department
Lonnie Faulkner, CPA
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
As Chief Financial Officer at VSPR, Lonnie brings over 35 years of strategic financial leadership and accounting expertise. Since joining the firm in 2008, he has helped clients strengthen their financial performance through insightful consulting and sound fiscal management.
Lonnie’s career spans public accounting with a Big Four firm and executive financial roles—CFO and Controller—for companies ranging from $15 million to $50 million in the healthcare, service, and manufacturing industries. His broad experience enables him to deliver practical, results-driven strategies tailored to each client’s needs.
A graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington, Lonnie holds a BBA in Accounting and an MBA in Finance. He has also served as a Lecturer at UTA, teaching principles, intermediate, and managerial accounting. Lonnie is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in the State of Texas.
Nhu N. Ha
CONTROLLER
Nhu has over 20 years of experience at the staff and management accounting levels as well as over six years as a pharmacy technician. Her career has been focused on small- to mid-size medical practices with revenues in the $1M – $20M range.
Nhu is a graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington and has a bachelor’s degree in accounting. She began her healthcare accounting career as a staff accountant and progressed quickly to the senior accountant level at a large single-specialty group practice in DFW. She joined VSPR in April 2016 as our controller. Nhu has been a full-cycle healthcare accountant for over 10 years along with serving as VSPR’s controller. She also provides accounting and financial consulting to new and current VSPR clients as needed.
Nina Linehan
ASST CONTROLLER
Nina has 25+ years of experience in healthcare accounting and human resources. Nina is a graduate of University of Phoenix and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting. She began her career working as an Administrative Assistant for a Radiology Group. She quickly moved up to the AP Payroll/HR Manager and then advanced to the Staff Accountant position. She joined Vital Signs Physician Recourses, VSPR in November 2017 as the Assistant Controller.
Her VSPR clients range from providing full financial accounting, entering payables, invoicing clients, bank reconciling, and producing P&L’s She also does monthly reporting and payroll processing for another client. Nina’s software experience includes Microsoft Office, ADP, Paychex, QuickBooks Enterprise, Desktop, & Online, Great Plains Wolfe Pack and Cyma Accounting software.
Billing Department
Theresa Ward, CPC
BILLING DEPARTMENT MANAGER
Theresa is a professional coder, certified by the American Academy of Professional Coders. With more than 30 years of experience in the medical field as a medical practice manager, she has a special focus on coding and billing. Theresa began her medical career as a receptionist in a large, multi-specialty clinic and then moved on to manage a dermatology office for 10 years.
Theresa has vast experience in these specialties: Urology, Pain Management, Ophthalmology, Internal Medicine, Physical Therapy, Occupational Health, Primary Care, General Surgery, Endocrinology, Neurology, Oncology, Home Visits, Infectious Disease, Pulmonology, Pediatrics, Infusion Therapy, Assisted Living, General and Cosmetic Dermatology (10 years), and OBGYN (11 years). In addition to eClinical Works, she has used the following EMR and Practice Management Software: Athena, Benchmark, Next Gen, Greenway, Centricity, Allscripts, Advanced MD, ModMed, Tebra/Kareo, Open Practice, Cerner, NexTech, R2, and Epic.
She has been a member of the VSPR team since 2015, furthering her experience and knowledge in the complete medical revenue cycle.
Kellye Taylor, CPC, CMCA
CERTIFIED BILLING/CODING SPECIALIST
Kellye Taylor is a valued member of our Billing Department. As a professional coder certified by the American Academy of Professional Coders and additionally certified in psychiatric billing, she brings over 25 years of experience to VSPR. In 2020, Kellye played a key role in helping grow the practice of a new mental health physician by setting up electronic claims, EFTs, and ERAs, and by training their billing staff.
Her extensive background spans GI, Pediatrics, Behavioral Health, and Internal Medicine, and she is proficient in multiple systems, including Athena, ECW, R2, EPIC, Healthpac, and ICA Notes. Kellye empowers our team with her deep knowledge and dedication, continually adding value to everything she does at VSPR.
Outside of work, Kellye channels her passion for creativity into teaching dance to 4- and 5-year-olds, inspiring young minds through movement and fun.
Kathy Layne
BILLING TEAM LEAD
Kathryn Layne is a dedicated, loyal professional with a strong work ethic, proven leadership skills, and an unwavering commitment to excellence. She has been an integral part of VSPR for several years and brings a total of 30 years of experience in the medical billing field.
Kathryn began her career as an admit clerk in the ER department at Mesquite Medical Center shortly after moving to Texas from California. This early experience gave her a valuable understanding of the importance of accurate, complete information to ensure proper billing. Over the years, she has developed broad expertise across payment posting, charge posting, claims filing, and accounts receivable.
Known for her reliability and service-oriented approach, Kathryn combines compassion with determination in every role she takes on. Her ability to quickly learn and adapt to any billing system is a significant asset to the company. Guided by a disciplined nature and a faith-driven outlook, she consistently builds trust and maintains integrity in all her professional relationships.
Amanda England Selvera
BILLING TEAM LEAD
Amanda Selvera is a dedicated Medical Assistant with over 20 years of experience across pediatric, primary care, specialty, and hospital-based settings. Since beginning her career in 2004, she has developed extensive expertise in both back and front office operations, prescription authorizations, vaccine inventory management, and temperature monitoring.
Her background includes supporting Pediatric, PCP, and Endocrinology practices, as well as providing billing services for Hospitalist, PCP, Cardiology, Oncology, Rheumatology, and Pulmonary specialties. Amanda is proficient in multiple EMR and billing platforms, including ECW, Care Voyant, Tebra, Centricity, and Greenway/Intergy.
With six years of dedicated billing experience prior to joining VSPR, Amanda brings a strong understanding of revenue cycle workflows, accuracy, and patient-centered administrative support. She is known for her reliability, adaptability, and commitment to high-quality care in every clinical and administrative role she serves.
Susanne Vaughan
PROJECT MANAGER
Susanne is a valued project coordinator at VSPR, with over 28 years of medical experience and industry knowledge. As a first stepping stone into the industry, Susanne worked as a phlebotomist and medical assistant, and then transitioned into medical management. Our team values her expertise and her ample ability to collaborate, find solutions, and manage all facets of billing and revenue cycle management. For the last 22 years, Susanne’s primary background was in one of the most effective techniques for Skin Cancer, Mohs Dermatology. With specialties in Internal medicine, ENT, Family Practice, Orthopedic Surgery, General Surgery, and more, we are confident in Susanne’s ability to catapult your practice into the future of medicine!”
Outside the office, Susanne is family-focused. Her passions include baseball and kayak fishing. Best of all, she is an animal lover through and through. With 4 fur babies, a few goats, and we can’t forget the chickens!
Credentialing Department
Darla Shelley
DIRECTOR OF CREDENTIALING
Darla has over 25 years of experience in the healthcare field, including experience in the clinical practice setting as an office manager as well as support, implementation, training, and software resource development with a healthcare practice management software company.
Darla has credentialing experiences with carriers on both the practice side and the software side in multiple states for Medicaid, Medicare, CAQH, and major carriers as well as large and small hospital affiliations.
Carolyn Miller
CREDENTIALING TEAM LEAD
Carolyn grew up in Emporia, Kansas. She attended Emporia State University and has been with VSPR since May of 2020.
Carolyn has over 35 years of experience in the medical field, 20 years of experience as a practice manager, and an owner of a medical billing company that bills for Surgical Assistants. Her experience spans several specialties including Family Practice, Orthopedics, Neurosurgery, and Urology.
As a practice manager Carolyn has had extensive experience with revenue cycle, accounts payable; human resources; EEOC compliance; OSHA, HIPAA, Medicare compliance, and managed care contracts. As a consultant, she performed medical practice assessments to provide optimal efficiency, productivity, and cost savings by review of managed care and vendor contracts, evaluation of staffing needs, internal controls, policies & procedures, as well as providing interim management services for various practices.
Karen Neill
CREDENTIALING SPECIALIST LEAD
Karen is a dedicated healthcare professional with over 16 years of experience in medical administration. She began her career in medical billing in 2009 and has since built extensive expertise in billing, accounts receivable, and credentialing across a variety of healthcare settings.
Karen spent five years specializing in hospice billing and eight years in orthopedic billing, accounts receivable, and credentialing—where she discovered her passion for credentialing. Since joining VSPR in 2021, she has continued to thrive in this field, earning a reputation for her precision, reliability, and deep understanding of healthcare administrative processes.
Her proactive approach and commitment to excellence make her a valued member of the VSPR team and a trusted resource for clients.
Outside of work, Karen enjoys camping, fishing, kayaking, and spending quality time with her family. Her three granddaughters are her pride and joy, and she cherishes every moment spent with them.