Our Team

In addition to its leadership team, Amalgamated Medical Care Management’s clinical staff includes highly skilled Registered Nurses, Physicians and certified case managers. A well-trained and courteous team of Customer Service Representatives play an important role in supporting the roles of the company’s nurses and to assure that all inquiries are managed in a timely, efficient manner and with respect and care for each patient.

Deborah Largoza

President

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Bernard M. Bettencourt, Jr.

Corporate Medical Director

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Joel V. Brill, MD FACP

Medical Director

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Barbara Shaffer, RN, CCM

Executive Director, Case Management

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Barbara Wright

Director, Operations

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Deborah Largoza

President, Amalgamated Medical Care Management

Deborah Allwes Largoza is President of Amalgamated Medical Care Management. In this role, she oversees all aspects of the company’s clinical and business operations, including the delivery of its Utilization Management, Case Management, Physician Review, and Nurse Helpline/Health Information services. In addition, she leads the company’s strategic business planning and healthcare partnerships.

Deborah lends extensive clinical and business expertise to her role and direct experience in key service areas including utilization management, care management and population health management. She has held executive roles with leading healthcare organizations including: Vice President, Clinical Operation at Agilon Health; Vice President, Operations at Southcoast Health Network; Executive Director, Clinical Operations at Cape Code Health Network; Director, Bureau of Healthcare Safety and Quality at the Massachusetts Department of Health; and Executive Director, Healthcare, Population and Public Health with Scientific Technologies Corp.  Deborah is a veteran, having served as a Registered Nurse Officer in the US Army and the US Public Health Service.

She is a Registered Nurse (Massachusetts), and holds an MBA in Health Care Administration and a MPH in Epidemiology & Public Health from Johns Hopkins University. She earned her BSN in Nursing from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and BSc in Biochemistry from Gannon University. She is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, American Public Health Association and the American Nurses Association. She has held many prominent appointments having served on the Massachusetts Task Force on Essential Hospital Services, Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors Board of Directors, Massachusetts Emergency Medical Care Advisory Board as Chair, Massachusetts Medical Services Committee, Washington State Healthcare Workforce Development Committee, Washington State Key Health Indicators Committee, and Washington State Performance Management Committee. Additionally, she is a published author and past presenter at leading national and global medical conferences.

Bernard M. Bettencourt, Jr.

Corporate Medical Director, Amalgamated Medical Care Management

Bernard Bettencourt is the Medical Director at Amalgamated Medical Care Management. In this role, he has oversight of the medical management activities working closely with the utilization management, case management, independent review organization, nurse triage line, the call center and administrative staff at Amalgamated Medical Care Management.

Dr. Bettencourt has held several different medical leadership positions in both payer and provider organizations.  In these roles, his responsibilities include developing and implementing population health, care management and utilization review programs, coding, medical auditing and documentation improvement.  Additionally, he implemented a system-wide hospital based physician advisory services; value based contracting and other reimbursement models, and programs to provide clinical care for workers.

Some of his positions include: Managing Medical Director, UniCare; Chief Medical Officer, Utilization Management and Clinical Efficiency, Lahey Health; Medical Director, Lahey Accountable Care Unit; Physician Advisor, UniCare Health and Life Insurance Company; Chief of Health Services, National Security Agency; Senior Medical Advisor, United States Army Institute for Environmental Medicine; and Chief, Department of Emergency Medicine, Eisenhower Army Medical Center. Dr. Bettencourt has served as a Medical Corps Officer in the United States Army Medical Corps and the United States Public Health Service.

Dr. Bettencourt has completed the America’s Health Insurance Plans Foundation’s Executive Leadership Fellowship and was awarded the Certified Health Insurance Executive (“CHIE”) designation.  He also holds the CPE (Certified Physician Executive) designation through the Certifying Commission in Medical Management. Making him one of only handful of physicians nationally to have earned both of these designations.

He has completed residency training and has board certifications through the American Board of Emergency Medicine in Emergency Medicine and the American Board of Preventive Medicine in Occupational Medicine. Dr. Bettencourt is a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Medicine and the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. He also holds certifications in Medical Auditing, Coding, and a Certified Physician Advisor in Clinical Documentation Integrity and Improvement.

He has a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Central Florida; a Master of Public Health and Health Services Administration from the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences and a Doctor of Osteopathy, with honors, from Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine.

 

Joel V. Brill, MD FACP

Medical Director,
Amalgamated Medical Care Management

Joel V. Brill, MD FACP is an executive clinician with over 30 years of experience providing strategic leadership and medical oversight to large data-driven health organizations. He is skilled in strategy, development and implementation of innovative health programs, products and payment systems, with extensive experience in clinical practice, research, coverage, reimbursement, quality improvement, data analysis, and value-based care.

Dr. Brill is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology and has held management positions with several managed care companies. He was the Deputy Medical Director for the BFCC.NCC-QIO oversight project, serves on the Editorial Advisory Board for several journals, and was the co-founder of the AGA Center for GI Innovation and Technology.

Dr. Brill participates in the CPT Editorial Panel and the AMA RBRVS Update Committee (RUC). He has published extensively on episode and bundled payment methodologies, and has developed and submitted advanced payment models to the HHS Physician Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee for consideration under MACRA.

Dr. Brill is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Arizona, College of Medicine, and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Medicine at Midwestern University. He has lectured at the School of Health Management & Policy at the WP Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.

Dr. Brill received his undergraduate A.B. Biology at the University of California, Los Angeles, and graduated from the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science – Chicago Medical School. He completed his Internship and Residency in Internal Medicine at the UCLA – San Fernando Valley Program, and a fellowship in Gastroenterology at Los Angeles County – USC Medical Center. Dr. Brill completed the Management Program for Health Care Organizations at the UCLA School of Public Health.

Barbara Shaffer, RN, CCM

Executive Director, Case Management

Ms. Shaffer has 16 years of Managed Care Experience with over 25 years of clinical experience. She became the Director of Case Management at Amalgamated Medical Care Management in 2008. Prior to joining Amalgamated Medical Care Management, she served at Ullicare for four years and Cigna for six years as a lead Case Manager. Her other professional roles include that as an Assistant Nurse Manager for a 42-bed acute hospital unit and clinical liaison for an acute inpatient rehabilitation unit. Ms. Shaffer has been a Certified Case Manager for over 20 years. In 2013, she won the “Case Manager Leadership Award” from Dorland Health Platinum awards.

Barbara Wright

Director, Operations

Ms. Wright serves as Director of Operations/Implementation after serving as its Director of Call Center Representatives. She joined Amalgamated Medical Care Management in 1994 directly from her role as Manager of Customer Care Representatives at Private Health Care Systems. In her current position, Ms. Wright provides onsite support at the call center for computer, telephony and facility operations.  She brings extensive experience in healthcare management, process improvement and healthcare technology including telephony systems and Information Technology systems. Ms. Wright attended Southern NH University, pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Professional Studies, with a concentration in Computer Information Systems.