Max Hamburger, MD
Founder, Executive Chairman, and Chief Medical Officer
maxhamburger@unitedrheumatology.com
(631) 656-7199
Dr. Hamburger is the Founder and Executive Chairman of United Rheumatology and Managing Partner of Rheumatology Associates of Long Island (RALI) as well as the President of the New York State Rheumatology Society. He served as Chief of Rheumatology at St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center from 1988 until 2006, and has been Emeritus Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at SUNY Stony Brook since 1980. He has been the lead author or author of over 50 publications. He has been honored by the Arthritis Foundation for his service to the Long Island Community, receiving the Regina Quick Award for Medical Excellence.
Andrew Concoff, MD
Executive Vice President, Chief Value Medical Officer
aconcoff@unitedrheumatology.com
Dr. Concoff brings tremendous range to the creation of value-driven initiatives and care re-design in his new role as Executive Vice President, Chief Value Medical Officer for United Rheumatology. Dr. Concoff is one of the few doctors in the nation to have completed fellowships in both Rheumatology and Sports Medicine, each at the University of California, Los Angeles. He received a career development award (K23) from the NIH for his research on exercise for osteoarthritis of the knee. He went on to train in Clinical Research at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston. Dr. Concoff practiced a combination of Rheumatology and Sports Medicine at St. Jude Medical Center for the past 15 years, where he served as Medical Director for Outpatient Rehabilitation. At St. Jude, Dr. Concoff supervised over 50 physical therapists in generating evidence-based protocols and delivering data- and value-driven physical therapy. Dr. Concoff has been invited to deliver numerous national lectures on Sports Injuries Among Weekend Warriors, Rheumatic Disorders in Sports Ultrasound, Tendon Disorders, the Economics of Sports Ultrasound, among many others. He has taught the application of Musculoskeletal ultrasound to diagnostic and procedural applications in Rheumatology and Sports Medicine for many years. Dr. Concoff’s published research reflects his broad clinical focus, including contributing to numerous position papers for national medical societies, to a network meta-analysis of care for knee osteoarthritis, and to numerous health economic analyses in the Rheumatic Diseases. He has served as a Clinical Reviewer for the Institute of Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) evaluation of the effectiveness and value of medications for rheumatoid arthritis in 2017 and for the soon-to-be-released update. Dr. Concoff has served on the Medical Policy Committee for United Rheumatology for the past four years, where he currently serves as Chair of the Ultrasound Guideline Committee.
Patrick J. Murphy
Chief Financial Officer
pmurphy@unitedrheumatology.com
(860) 280-8238
Patrick Murphy has over two decades of experience in both healthcare and finance. As the CFO of CleanSlate Centers, he was instrumental in the early stages of developing a national network of outpatient treatment centers focused on individuals dealing with opiate addiction. During his tenure, he was involved in multiple rounds of equity and debt financing and various growth initiatives. Prior to CleanSlate Centers, Patrick held various executive-level roles at Women’s Health USA, a national company providing business and strategic services to physicians that specialize in women’s healthcare, and Evolution1, a provider of electronic payment and cloud computing solutions to companies administering reimbursement accounts.
Patrick joined UR in the summer of 2019, taking on the role of Chief Financial Officer.
James F. Albano
Interim President and CEO
jalbano@unitedrheumatology.com
(732) 687 1704
Jim Albano is a seasoned, strategic health care executive with extensive expertise in hospital and physician network strategies, reimbursement innovations, coupled with a strong background in health plan operations. Jim was responsible for catalyzing the transformation of health care delivery in New Jersey from pay for volume to pay for value, with a focus on primary care population health as Vice President, Network Management, Pharmacy Services and Healthcare Innovation Strategies for Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey from 2012 until 2015, introducing shared risk and shared savings arrangements which shifted accountability to the treating physician in a significant way. During his tenure with Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, he led all operations for Horizon’s largest customer, the New Jersey State Health Benefits Program.
In 2012, Jim became the public spokesperson for Horizon on population health, patient-centered medical homes, and accountable care relationships on television, print media and with New Jersey regulators and legislators. Jim also co-chaired Horizon’s efforts to commercialize the pay-for-value arrangements by creating tiered networks and new product designs featuring these concepts. Later in 2015, Jim took on a similar role at EmblemHealth, a New York City-based health plan which had already developed full risk relationships with key providers such as the Montefiore health system and Health Care Partners, a very large physician-led organization serving a significant number of Emblem members. Jim led the expansion of those programs to additional Emblem members. Jim left EmblemHealth in August of 2017 to pursue an independent consulting career. He joined UR in late 2018 to lead the development of UR’s payer program offerings and was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in April 2020.
Kelley Jewett
Senior Vice President, Recruitment Specialist, and Pharma Contracting
kjewett@unitedrheumatology.com
(215) 962 4211
Kelley joined UR in January 2018 bringing extensive leadership experience in both sales and marketing in the diagnostic and biopharmaceutical sector, most recently serving as the National Sales Director for Crescendo Bioscience, a molecular diagnostic laboratory focused on rheumatoid arthritis. Earlier, she worked for Janssen, a division of Johnson and Johnson, in a number of roles responsible for the growth of intravenous and injectable biologics in various autoimmune diseases.
After years of interacting with rheumatologists, she joined UR to lead our national team of member solutions representatives, and to work with our members to continue to advance the standard of care, strengthen the doctor-patient relationship, and manage the challenges of preserving an independent rheumatology practice.
Lynette Byrnes
Senior Vice President, Practice Management Services
lynette@unitedrheumatology.com
(631) 334 6296
In addition to her role as UR’s Senior Vice President of Practice Management Services, Lynette is also the COO of Rheumatology Associates of Long Island, an 11 physician, a six-facility practice that provides full ancillary services, clinical research, and in-office infusion services. Lynette has been managing medical practices in the healthcare industry for more than 30 years. She is a nationally recognized speaker on the topics of turn-key practice operations and enhancing revenue cycle management. She is an expert in optimizing clinical documentation workflow in the EMR, enabling data capture for analysis to improve the patient experience and healthcare outcomes.
Lynette is active in many organizations that support practice management development and patient advocacy. She is a founding and past board member of the National Organization of Rheumatology Managers (NORM) and currently serves as Education Committee Chair and Strategic Planning Committee member. She is a Past President for the NY Chapter of MGMA.
A member of the New York State Rheumatology Society (NYSRS), Lynette chairs the Practice Management Forum, developing and delivering educational content for National Physician and Administrator speaker programs.