About

Tyla (“Teela”) Blom brings more than 25 years of clinical and operational experience to the Avanza team. Over the course of her career, Tyla has been recognized for her operational acumen, collaboration skills, and strategic thinking. In an environment of declining reimbursement and increasing costs, Tyla works with each individual client to craft a plan that allows for the provision of excellent care while improving the bottom line.

Prior to joining Avanza, Tyla served as a regional ASC operations director for a large hospital corporation and has held several management and executive level positions for both physician owned and corporately managed ambulatory surgery facilities.

Tyla enjoys working with physician partners and staff members to identify areas for operational improvement and has been successful in reducing operational expenses through education, scheduling efficiencies, streamlining processes, and contract negotiations at all of her facilities.

Tyla earned her nursing degree from Clayton State College in Morrow, Georgia and her Masters in Business Administration from Western Governors University Texas. Tyla is also a Certified Administrator Surgery Center (CASC).

Mark Garvin has over 25 years of experience planning, developing, and operating ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) and managing ambulatory care partnerships. Mark retired from USPI in 2020 after 24 years of service in various leadership positions, including Chief Operating Officer. In this role, Mark managed one of the largest portfolios of ASCs in the country. He led the organization through 350-plus ASC transactions, including over 60 health system partnerships and equity joint ventures with over 8,000 physician partners.

Mark has also held leadership and board positions in national organizations including US Anesthesia Partners, Prospira PainCare, OrthoLink Physicians Corp., and Surgical Care Affiliates.

As Avanza’s Executive in Residence, Mark will work with clients on strategic and operational planning as they develop their ASC and ambulatory strategies.

Julie brings her impressive 24 years of healthcare experience to Avanza. She has worked as an ASC clinical director, surgical trauma/orthopedic coordinator, director of surgical services and most recently associate vice president of surgery/ambulatory services at a seven-hospital, 460-bed health system. Her areas of oversight included inpatient surgery, outpatient surgery, ambulatory surgery, pain management, anesthesia and endoscopy, with responsibilities in operations, financial management and performance improvement for surgical services.

Julie serves as an Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) accreditation mentor for ASC leaders. She is certified by Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) and holds both her CNOR and CSSM credentials. She has taken the intermediate Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) surveyor course and performs mock surveys for ASCs seeking accreditation with AAAHC, CMS and The Joint Commission.

Julie is an active member in AORN, for which she serves on its ASC Advisory Committee. She’s also an active member with the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association and the South Carolina Ambulatory Surgery Center Association and is a member of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society for nursing. She holds her MBA, MHA, and BSN from Capella University.

Lisa has been an RN for almost 40 years and in ambulatory care for the majority of those years. Lisa’s extensive operational development, management and consulting experience provides clients with expertise in facility administration, budget development, regulatory compliance, staff recruitment and retention, equipment procurement, policy and procedure development and implementation, and organizational interfacing. Lisa’s national ASC and hospital department development and management expertise affords clients, who are opening new Facilities, unparalleled success.

Lisa has developed numerous surgery centers working in concert with investors, corporations, hospitals, architects, builders and equipment manufactures/distributors through all phases of surgery center development and management.

Lisa has achieved CASC, the credential that connotes expertise in ASC administration. She is a current board officer of the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association, (ASCA) and past board member of the Colorado Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (CASCA), where she also served as president. Lisa also served multiple state and national committees to further the advancement of the ASC industry.

Lisa is involved in several non-profit organizations in her community and enjoys volunteering when possible.

Sarah Gamerman has worked closely with hospitals and free-standing, outpatient facilities, taking them from ground breaking through licensing, Medicare certification and accreditation. She helps clients develop policies and procedures to meet state and federal regulations. All of Sarah’s clients have passed initial surveys without issue.

Sarah is expert in hiring and mentoring administrators and center staff through the development and certification processes. Sarah also conducts operational audits and feasibility studies for hospitals and surgery centers.

Sarah regularly works alongside project architects and designers to ensure facility designs are compliant, cost effective, efficient and maximize patient care opportunities.

In addition to her work with clients, as a registered nurse, Sarah continues to provide clinical care to patients in both hospital and freestanding settings. Doing so continually reinforces her understanding of the challenges providers face today.

Sarah is a member of the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses.

Diane Farris brings more than 36 years of clinical, administrative and operational experience to Avanza. Diane is a AAAHC surveyor and fills several roles. As a surveyor for more than seven years, she performs AAAHC, deemed status AAAHC and advanced orthopedic certification surveys. She is also a surveyor mentor and serves as faculty. Diane’s knowledge includes all areas of ASC accreditation and regulatory compliance.

After becoming an RN in 1985, she was commissioned as an officer and served 20 years in the U.S. Air Force Nurse Corps. After retirement, she built and ran a large multi-specialty ambulatory surgery center. It was the first ASC to be operational on the Mississippi Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina.

Diane also started a small consulting company to assist new and existing ASCs looking to obtain and sustain AAAHC accreditation and CMS certification. Her regulatory, quality, risk management, infection control and governance expertise has helped several facilities to achieve accreditation with confidence.

Diane graduated from University of California, Santa Barbara, with a degree in physiology; California State Hayward, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in nursing; and Webster University, where she earned a Master of Arts in computer resources management.

Vicki Dekker brings more than 25 years of healthcare management experience to assisting Avanza’s clients with business office operations process. Her background includes extensive work with ambulatory surgery centers, outpatient academic facilities, private practices and other facility types.

Vicki has worked as a director of business office operations for an ASC management company; billing manager for neurosurgery, neurology, and ENT departments at an outpatient academic facility; and as a business office manager in a large neurology private practice.

She has demonstrated success in building and retaining high performance teams by hiring, developing and motivating skilled professionals. Vicki’s focus is on business office process improvements, with an emphasis on maximizing revenue cycle reimbursement with efficient processes.

Vicki has been named a great woman leader in the ASC industry by Becker’s ASC Review multiple times. She is an avid volunteer, donating her time to help a local soup kitchen and baking skills to help her church.

Trevin Hunt brings more than 30 years of clinical and operational experience to the Avanza team. This includes 25 years in the surgical services industry, including working in hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs), main operating rooms and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs).

Prior to joining Avanza, Trevin served as CEO/administrator of multiple health system/physician joint ventures. He has assisted with the development, design, construction and Medicare certification of multiple centers. In his surgery center roles, he was responsible for achieving and maintaining Medicare certification and AAAHC accreditation, along with coordinating activities with health system partners. Trevin has also worked with Epic (EHR), completing the build and implementation of Epic OpTime in the ASC setting.

In 2017, Trevin completed Rona Consulting Group’s Lean Operations Program and is a certified workshop leader. He has participated in workshops in hospital, clinic and ASC settings, helping incorporate lean concepts to improve workflow, reduce waste and improve patient satisfaction.

In addition to his healthcare experience, Trevin has worked as a consultant, with a focus on marketing and business development. He holds an MBA from the University of Phoenix and a nursing degree from Pacific Union College.

Cassy’s healthcare operational and clinical experience spans more than 20 years in hospital, ambulatory surgery centers and outpatient clinic environments. Operationally, her expertise includes strategic planning, financial performance management, corporate compliance, risk avoidance, quality assurance, contract negotiation, market forecasting, new service line creation, construction project management, physician relationships, credentialing, ambulatory and office-based facility development and administration.

Cassy is well-versed in state and federal healthcare regulations and has overseen multiple successful onsite accreditation surveys such as AAAHC, The Joint Commission, CLIA, CARF, NCQA, URAC and OSHA. In collaboration with physicians and senior leadership, she has developed patient care policies and procedures, standing orders, physician and employee educational programs, marketing plans, community partnerships, recruited and developed strong clinical teams and mentored organizational and clinical mid and senior leadership.

Operational and clinical leadership roles have included cardiovascular ambulatory surgery and office-based facility administrator, director of physician network management, corporate compliance officer, quality assurance manager, director of nursing, hospital house supervisor, human resources account manager and infection and safety control officer.

As a bedside nurse, Cassy gained knowledge and skills in, cardiology, emergency and critical care, orthopedics, physical rehabilitation, oncology, pre/post-surgical, population health, high-acuity case management, mental and behavioral health and home healthcare.

Cassy is an active member of the Healthcare Compliance Association and National Association for Healthcare Quality.

Toya Brown has practiced in surgery for 20 years and worked in the surgical arena for more than half of her career. As a surgical technologist and staff nurse, she worked in the surgical and post-surgical areas. Toya’s experience also includes quality improvement, infection control, project management, policy and procedure development, staff education, electronic medical record implementation and management of freestanding and hospital-based ambulatory surgery centers (ASC).

Toya’s most recent and administrative position was that of a CEO for a busy, hospital-owned multispecialty ASC. Her responsibilities included financial reporting, managing staff, credentialing, privileging, risk management, accreditation preparation, facility management, vendor contracts and supply chain.

Toya currently works for the Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC) as a surveyor in deemed and non-deemed ASCs, specialty certifications and office-based surgery centers.