James Dudley founded Parathon in 1995, marking a culmination of his lifetime of finance, healthcare, and software development expertise. James began his career in the securities industry as an executive at Merrill Lynch and an independent trader on the Chicago Board of Options. During this time, he developed mathematical and statistical algorithms to price and analyze derivative financial securities. In 1992, James turned his endeavors towards the healthcare industry. Recognizing the need for more sophisticated, software-driven solutions in the outdated paper-based claims clearing process, James started one of the sector’s first electronic claims clearing companies. He developed instrumental standards and formats for the electronic claims clearing process, and successfully completed the first real-time electronic claims status and eligibility inquiries in healthcare. He then went on to develop capitation administration software that allowed provider groups to administer large-scale capitated health care in the HMO era. The highly complex reimbursement “calc” engines in this software laid the foundation for what is now Parathon. Following the demise of the HMO model in the early 2000’s, James reimagined the company to focus on revenue cycle management, specifically contract management. He spearheaded the development of Parathon’s proprietary Parallel Database® (PDB®), which remains the only revenue cycle management software capable of managing a provider’s entire revenue cycle independent of its electronic medical record system. James is passionate about Parathon’s vision to empower hospitals with the tools and data needed to level the playing field in a sector where health insurance companies otherwise dominate and control the contracting and reimbursement process. James holds a Master of Economics degree from the University of Wisconsin and a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Marquette University, where he was a member of the 1977 NCAA Championship basketball team, the only national championship in the school’s history.
As President of Parathon by JDA eHealth Systems, Chandler Barron is responsible for leading Parathon’s team of skilled nurses, certified coders, experienced analysts and software developers to provide hospitals and health systems the tools and processes that help them collect all the revenue they have earned. He is an accomplished speaker and media commentator on health care revenue cycle and financial trends. Barron joined Parathon in 2022 as EVP, Business Development and since his appointment as President in 2024, Barron has applied his more than 30 years of health care experience to drive strategic growth by providing more hospitals and health systems across the country with Parathon’s proprietary and patented revenue cycle management and payer contract management solution. Barron is also focusing the company’s efforts to help provider organizations increase revenue and streamline operations using its unique Parallel Database®. Barron holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Union University and completed postgraduate work at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management.
Craig Lyon is Senior Vice President and co-owner of Parathon, where he consults with management and supports the company’s services and functions for key clients as well as prospective customers. Craig met co-founder James Dudley during the HMO revolution of the 1990s when they combined their extensive knowledge in healthcare technology to develop a Capitation Administration software system which enabled provider organizations to manage HMO risk contracts, including Membership and Provider maintenance, Capitation, Referrals, and Claims Management. That initiative yielded the industry’s most comprehensive and robust claims adjudication system that today is capable of accurately adjudicating all provider healthcare claims produced throughout the United States. Craig’s executive leadership and healthcare technology expertise helped guide Parathon’s functional evolution from the HMO era to the current fee-for-service delivery model and facilitated a long and fruitful collaboration with a large IDN, which launched Parathon’s emergence as a premier hospital revenue cycle vendor. Craig’s long and distinguished career in information technology includes a two-year engagement with Franklin National Bank in New York, followed by 11 years at the investment firm Smith Barney. He then joined an actuarial consulting firm as Vice President of Development, where he managed the design and implementation of a computer system to adjudicate claims for self-insured health benefit plans of large corporate customers and insurance companies. After eight years, he moved to Erisco, Inc. via acquisition, and continued to support the installation of large health care claims management systems. It was after moving to the Chicago area, and a two-year stretch with a hospital bill auditing company, that Craig co-founded Parathon. Craig remains dedicated to supporting Parathon’s leading health care technology. A mathematics graduate of the University at Buffalo and an avid baseball fan, Craig is the father of three successful adult children.
Steven Golub is Chief Technology Officer at Parathon, where he leads a dedicated team of technology experts who have developed innovative software tools to help hospitals evaluate contract proposals prior to execution and accurately determine and recover reimbursement from payers after contracts are signed and in force. Golub initially joined Parathon in 2023 as Director of Information Technology. Prior to Parathon, he was an independent technology consultant and worked at Chicago law firm Funkhouser Vegosen Liebman & Dunn, where he specialized in managing all technical assets including hardware, software, security and networking infrastructure to drive operational efficiency and cost savings. His top priorities at Parathon are data security and product development and his work has been critical to transforming Parathon into a 100% virtual company. Golub has vast experience in building cloud infrastructure and securing data against security vulnerabilities and ransomware attacks. Rejected claims often result in large bills to patients, so Golub and his team consistently monitor and correct customers’ claims when insurers reject them. Knowing minor errors can result in reduced revenue for customers and big bills for insured patients, he is committed to working with his team to hold insurers accountable to their contracts. Golub, who attended Northern Illinois University, spends his spare time with his family, where his three sons keep him busy.
Theresa “Terri” Johnsen, formerly Vice President of Client Operations, is serving as Chief Client Officer for Parathon. Johnsen, who worked as a registered nurse for more than 15 years at several hospitals, is an expert in managed care and revenue cycle management. She is responsible for all customer-facing interactions, including contract management, denial management, revenue recovery and customer relationship management. Johnsen and her team are critical to the process of contract modeling which helps hospitals understand how either a current or proposed contract with a payer will perform, depending on innumerable variables. Using Parathon’s proprietary and patented revenue cycle management and payer contract management solution, Johnsen and her team provide assistance to hospitals and physician groups as they negotiate upcoming payer contracts and help them determine patient accounts that should be scrutinized for failure to align with contract terms. Johnsen also serves as Chair of Parathon’s Functionality Committee, which helps the technology team determine what software or functionality to prioritize to increase customer revenue and improve their experience. Johnsen received a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Michigan State University in East Lansing and a master’s degree in health services administration from the College of St. Francis in Joliet, Ill. A native of Michigan, she now resides in Tennessee with her husband.
William Armbrecht is Vice President of technology and Web Development for Parathon where he manages teams of database administrators and web developers. In 1996, Bill was the fifth employee to join the Parathon team as a programmer. He has nearly 40 years of experience in computer system design and development with more than 30 of those years in health care. Bill has been integral in designing Parathon software aimed at helping hospitals overcome the Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) shortcomings of their legacy Electronic Medical Records (EMR) systems. He has also been integral in programming Parathon functionality that helps providers understand their contracts at the operational level, forecasting financials, reserves, and trends in their revenue and expenses. Bill and his team have developed advanced functionality to help providers manage their denials proactively, which is essential to receiving timely reimbursement. Bill has also been instrumental in developing the innovative Parallel Database® (PDB), a proprietary technology engineered to deliver critical RCM functionality not attainable by legacy EMRs. Prior to joining Parathon, Bill spent eight years with a Chicago-based pharmacy chain where he was a developer working on the integration of UPC bar codes in drug distribution and retail and performed market basket analysis for the company. Bill holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science with a minor in business administration from Concordia University in River Forest, Ill. He and his wife of 40 years have three children and are active in their church community where Bill sings in the choir. Bill is proud to say he walked the Chicago Marathon in 2021 to raise money for World Vision, a charity that helps people in Africa access clean water.
Neil Dudley joined Parathon shortly after its founding in 1991, and now serves as the company’s Vice President of Transaction Processing Services. Leveraging his early passion and dedication to computer programing, Neil became a key engineer in developing claims clearing and related processing applications for Parathon. With over 30 years of experience, Neil has acquired industry-leading expertise in the standards and mechanics of claims and remittance electronic processing between healthcare trading partners. Because claims and remittance advices are central to Revenue Cycle Management, Neil’s expertise has been critical to Parathon’s success. He is highly motivated by the tangible financial results that his work produces in ensuring hospitals collect 100% of what they have earned for the services they provide. Neil studied at the University of Wisconsin before joining Parathon. He has enjoyed being a part of Parathon’s successful history and remains committed to and excited for Parathon’s future. In addition to his professional commitments, Neil is also committed to his community and was instrumental in implementing a Thanksgiving dinner program for homeless people in Chicago, the city he and his family call home.
Bill Owens is Vice President of Software development for Parathon. He joined the company in 2002, prior to the EMR revolution, as a developer of data interfaces for legacy hospital systems. Since then, Bill has become an industry-leading expert in such interfaces, having devoted the past 22 years to understanding data complexities of leading hospital information systems. As these systems have evolved into EMR centric processors, Bill has helped hospitals control and maximize efficiencies of their Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) functionality. He has been Parathon’s principal engineer developing the innovative Parallel Database® (PDB), a proprietary technology designed to deliver critical RCM functionality not attainable by legacy EMR systems. Bill also leads Parathon’s initiatives to modernize its technology stack and stay at the forefront of technological advances in the industry. Most recently, he led Parathon’s initiative to upgrade critical data management technologies into to the Python programming language. A lifelong Chicagoan, Owens is a graduate of College of DuPage and enjoys cycling, woodworking, and spending time with his wife and three children.
Audrey Paige Sauer has served as Parathon’s In-House Counsel since 2020, managing the company’s various operational, business, and healthcare law needs. Audrey Paige specializes in drafting and negotiating contracts with the company’s customers and vendors. She enjoys how Parathon’s individualized RCM business model allows her to work directly with customers to facilitate mutually rewarding relationships and tailor agreements to meet each hospital’s unique revenue cycle needs. Audrey Paige graduated cum laude from William & Mary Law School, where she gained clinical practice experience in family law and research experience in patent law, earned membership to the prestigious William & Mary Law Review, published multiple scholarly works, and was awarded the law school’s Gambrell Professionalism Award. Prior experience in litigation discovery and as a student writer for the Illinois State Bar Association inspired Audrey Paige to pursue a legal career. Audrey Paige is a member of the Phi Delta Phi International Legal Honor Society. She is admitted to the bar in both Florida and Virginia.
Ken Krieger is Regional Vice President of Sales. Krieger came to Parathon in 2023 after more than 25 years as a sales executive for several health care technology companies. Most recently, Krieger was Director of Enterprise Sales for Whitespace Health, a health care analytics company and prior to that he held sales positions at Coronis Health and Meduit. Krieger is an active member of the American Association of Healthcare Administration Management (AAHAM) and the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA). He holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh where he resides with his family. In his spare time, Krieger is active in service with his church and community.
Bridgett Bromann has been the Director of Denials and Medical Appeals for Parathon since 2011, where she leads a team of Nurses and Insurance Collectors specializing in authorization and medical necessity denials. With two decades of experience managing thousands of claim denials, Bridgett is an expert in orchestrating all facets of the appeal process. Hospital providers, including some of the country’s largest health systems, rely on Bridgett’s team to manage denials they are unable to address due to volume overload, clinical complexity, or challenges navigating third-party payer obstacles. She has proficiency in overturning and resolving RAC Audits, DRG Downgrades, Level of Care/Length of Stay, Authorization, Medical Necessity and many other denials both technical and clinical in nature across all commercial and governmental payers. Additionally, she and her team are active in helping Parathon’s hospital customers by auditing patient charts and providing feedback to assist their physicians/clinicians better document care to avoid denials and code claims appropriately. Bridgett is a leader and mentor for her team and also responsible for setting goals, analyzing inventory trends, auditing client invoices, monitoring budgets and training. Bridgett spends much of her spare time gardening, hummingbird watching and supporting her teenage son’s travel baseball schedule along with her stepdaughter and husband.
With more than 30 years of healthcare administration experience, Ruth Chinski is Director of Third-Party-Payer (TPP) contract management at Parathon. For the past 10 years she has led a team of healthcare, finance, and technology experts who are highly experienced in understanding the detailed complexities of the contractual relationship between healthcare providers and TPPs. Ruth’s team is responsible for programming TPP contracts into Parathon’s proprietary software as well as managing price transparency regulations and price transparency regulatory filings for Parathon customers. In addition, she oversees cataloging contract language and reimbursement calculations for all TPP contracts to maintain Parathon’s comprehensive national library of such contracts. Ruth also oversees Parathon’s contract modeling and price sensitivity analysis processes to ensure hospitals are on an even playing field with TPPs. Prior to joining Parathon in 2014, Ruth was Senior Director of Claim Solutions & Investigation for MultiPlan in Naperville, Ill, where she managed a team dedicated to investigation, evaluation and root cause analysis for health care and workers’ comp claims for MultiPlan’s largest national PPO network and vendor/leased networks. After attending Governor State University in University Park, Ill., Ruth started her career at United Healthcare, where she worked for almost a decade as a client account administrator. In her spare time, she enjoys building custom furniture with her boyfriend and spending time with her dog.
Jenna Joyce is Parathon’s Director of Human Resources, where she spearheads talent recruitment for the company and is highly skilled at finding, evaluating, and hiring industry experts. In response to the systemic changes caused by the national shift to a remote work model in recent years, Jenna has been instrumental in refactoring Parathon’s approach to employee sourcing and retention. She also oversees all facets of the critical employee/company relationship including benefits administration. Jenna holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and Management from Southern New Hampshire University and a certificate in human resources management from Cornell University. A lifelong dancer and former cheerleader for the Chicago Rush arena football team, she lives in St. Charles, Il., with her husband, two small children, and two Golden doodles.