Leadership Team
Executive Management
Mike Freytag
Founding Partner, Managing Principal
During his career Mr. Freytag has gained operational, financial, managerial, revenue cycle, and accounts receivable experience at home health, hospice, and durable medical equipment providers throughout the country. Serving in numerous interim management roles, Mr. Freytag has worked with these providers to increase revenue, improve operations, and ensure accurate reimbursement. Mr. Freytag’s management experience includes serving as Executive Director, Vice President of Operations for a homecare agency, and Patient Accounts Director for a durable medical equipment provider.
Favorite part of my job: Watching the talent of our BlackTree family continue to exceed the partners expectations
One word to describe Mike: Living
Favorite Sports Team: 2016 National Champion Villanova Wildcats
Favorite book: Five People You Meet in Heaven
A fun fact people don’t know about me: I completed my first triathlon in Wildwood, NJ in summer 2019.
Favorite quote: “Only thing we have to fear is fear itself”
Todd Montigney
Founding Partner, Managing Principal
Throughout his years, Mr. Montigney has acquired expansive knowledge of accounts receivable, financial, operational, and management experience in hospitals, health systems, home health, hospice, long term care, and DME facilities. Through his efforts clients have seen an increase in reimbursement, improvements in operations, increase in staff productivity, and reductions in A/R days and bad debt. Mr. Montigney has performed several interim management engagements which have led to a stabilization and improvement of business operations. He has also led several revenue data mining engagements across a variety of provider types that resulted in recovery amounts of over $75 million in reimbursement.
Favorite part of my job: Working with new people
One word to describe Todd: Reliable
Favorite Sports Team: Philadelphia Phillies
Favorite movie: Field of Dreams
A fun fact people don’t know about me: I am a certified journeyman electrician
Favorite quote: “If you take care of the small things, the big things take care of themselves”
Nick Seabrook
Founding Partner, Managing Principal
Mr. Seabrook’s operations expertise has helped agencies improve profitability and reimbursement. Specifically, he has provided extensive revenue cycle consulting throughout his career, focused on improving daily operations of many providers. He has worked with agencies of all sizes throughout the country. In addition to traditional revenue cycle consulting, Mr. Seabrook has served as an interim director of patient accounts, interim finance manager and interim Chief Financial Officer.
Favorite part of my job: Making a difference for our employees and clients
One word to describe Nick: Facilitator
Favorite Sports Team: Philadelphia Eagles and Villanova Wildcats
Favorite book: Harry Potter
A fun fact people don’t know about me: I was there in person to watch the Philadelphia Eagles win the Super Bowl in 2018 and also my alma mater Villanova Wildcats win the college basketball national championship in 2016 and 2018.
Favorite quote: “Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary”
Fran Smith
Founding Partner, Managing Principal
Fran Smith is a highly skilled homecare executive with diverse experience in the homecare arena. This serves as the foundation of his expertise in both financial and operational aspects of the homecare business. Mr. Smith has assisted agencies ranging from small not-for-profit community providers to large publicly traded chains.
Education: Penn State University, Bachelor of Science in Accounting
Favorite part of my job: Helping our clients navigate the constantly changing landscape of the homecare and hospice industries
One word to describe Fran: Committed
Favorite Sports Team: Philadelphia Eagles
Favorite book: Red Storm Rising
A fun fact people don’t know about me:I have traveled to Ireland 10 times including a trip where I proposed to my wife
Favorite quote: “Excellence is not a skill. It is an attitude.“
Fran is married to Lynette with two wonderful children Xavier and Madeline and resides in Phoenixville, PA. They contribute to many causes such as Bryn Mawr NICU, American Heart Association, and MS society. Fran commits his free time to his family when he is not working
Jess Stover
Principal
Ms. Stover’s work has focused on revenue cycle work and operational assessments with emphasis on project management and leadership surrounding accounts receivable reductions, revenue cycle redesigns, system implementation direction, compliance reviews, and audits for home health and hospice agencies. Ms. Stover has worked extensively within the revenue cycle departments in home health and hospice organizations across the country in leadership roles including director of revenue cycle and project manager for system implementation.
Favorite part of my job: Supporting and developing the consulting team. My biggest accomplishment is seeing them grow in their roles and serve as strong and instrumental contributors with their clients.
One word to describe Jess: Confident
Favorite Sports Team: Penn State Nittany Lions football
Favorite book: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
A fun fact people don’t know about me: I almost majored in dance when I was scouting out colleges in high school. I even went as far as auditioning and getting accepted into a program, but turned it down to go to Penn State (which did not have a dance program at the time, surprisingly). From there, I ended up exploring other avenues and ended up in the Health Policy & Administration major at PSU and never looked back!
Favorite quote: “You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”
Operations Leadership Team
Maria Benn
Coding & OASIS Program Director
Education: Drexel University, Master’s of Public Health. University of Richmond, Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Spanish
Favorite part of my job: Collaborating closely with the coding team to grow into a department that provides 1) exceptional quality and customer service to our clients and 2) supports each other internally.
One word to describe Maria: Thorough
Favorite Sports Team: Duke Blue Devils
Favorite book: Harry Potter series
A fun fact people don’t know about me: I lived in Costa Rica for a year after college and taught English as a Second Language.
Favorite quote: “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”
Maria is married to Josh with a little boy, Levi. They reside in Conshohocken, PA. In their free time, they love to go on hikes with their Australian Cattle dog, volunteer at Philabundance Soup Kitchen and travel to visit friends and family.
Charles Breznicky
Clinical Consulting Director
Education: La Salle University, Nursing Administration MBA
Favorite part of my job: Working with various clients to improve their clinical operations, especially developing QAPI programs
Favorite book: Anything by Neil Gaiman
Favorite sports team: Philadelphia Flyers
A fun fact people don’t know about me: I learned to ski when I was 30 by watching a friend, my second time on skis I got lost … on a black diamond … in Park City, UT
Favorite quote: “Nothing really great happens in your comfort zone” Michael Hyatt
Charlie Breznicky Jr. is a Registered Nurse with over 15 years of experience. His prior experience includes serving as a field nurse, Performance Improvement Specialist, Clinical Manager and Health Information Systems Manager. He is a Clinical Director with BlackTree Healthcare Consulting and has assisted agencies in developing QAPI Programs as well as prepare for recent changes to the Home Health industry such as the Home Health Conditions of Participation and the Patient Driven Groupings Model.
Brian Harris
Consulting Director
Education: Gettysburg College, Bachelor of Science in Economics
Favorite part of my job: Developing the BlackTree team and watching them grow as industry leaders.
One word to describe Brian: Dedicated
Favorite Sports Team: Philadelphia Phillies
Favorite book: Long Shots – an inside look at the 2016 NCAA champion Villanova Wildcats
A fun fact people don’t know about me: I have watched a baseball game at the home stadium of 28 of the 30 MLB teams.
Favorite quote: “Anything of great value in life is not given, it is earned.”
Erin Masterson
Consulting Director
Education: Penn State University, Bachelor of Science in Finance
Favorite part of my job: The people. I am part of a team that challenges and supports me on a daily basis and I have the pleasure to lead an amazing group of professionals.
One word to describe Erin: Passionate
Favorite Sports Team: Penn State Nittany Lions
Favorite book: Outlander series
A fun fact people don’t know about me: I’ve walked inside a glacier
Favorite quote: “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt
In addition to her role at BlackTree, Erin has served as an Interim Revenue Cycle Director, Interim Revenue Cycle Manager and various interim supervisor and back office roles. She is passionate about promoting industry education both internally within BlackTree and to the healthcare community. She has spoken at several state association and vendor conferences and is involved with several committees that promote further education and healthcare innovations.
Anthony Smith
Consulting Director
Education: Penn State University, Bachelor of Science in Finance
Favorite part of my job: Collaborating with industry leaders and BlackTree team members provide quality services for our clients.
One word to describe Anthony: Dependable
Favorite Sports Team: Penn State football
Favorite book: Leaders Eat Last
A fun fact people don’t know about me: I am an Eagle Scout.
Favorite quote: “You only fail when you stop trying.”
Mr. Smith specializes in project management and leadership surrounding accounts receivable reductions, revenue cycle redesign, system implementation direction, compliance reviews, and audits for home health, hospice, private duty, ABA, and therapy agencies. In addition to his project work, Mr. Smith has held a variety of leadership roles including director of revenue cycle and project manager for several system implementations.
Dave Saling
Consulting Director
Education: Penn State University, Bachelor of Science in Finance
Favorite part of my job: Working with clients to help them recognize the ROI from our services.
One word to describe Dave: Organized
Favorite Sports Team: Philadelphia Eagles
Favorite book: Brave New World
A fun fact people don’t know about me: BBQ’ing is a hobby/passion of mine. I once smoked over 30 pounds of pork in one cook.
Favorite quote: “Without action, the best intentions in the world are nothing more than that: intentions.” -Jordan Belfort
Matt Miller
Senior Director of Business Development
Education: University of Mount Union, Bachelor of Arts in Psychology
Favorite part of my job: Working with the BlackTree team to build solutions for our clients.
One word to describe Matt: Optimistic
Favorite Sports Team: Cleveland Browns
Favorite book: Leaders Eat Last
A fun fact people don’t know about me: I threw the shot put over 58 feet.
Favorite quote: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Matt has spent the last two decades working in the home care industry, with experience in Operational Management, Business Development, National Sales and Strategic Solutions. His primary expertise is team development, process improvement and relationship management.
Alex Freeman
Director of Business Development
Favorite part of my job: Helping others accomplish the most out of their day through strategic processes and approaches.
One word to describe Alex: Jovial
Favorite Sports Team: Alabama Crimson Tide
Favorite book: Eat That Frog! by Brian Tracy
A fun fact people don’t know about me: I jumped out of airplanes for a living.
Favorite quote: “Disrupt the negative thoughts that limit your success.”
Prior to his post-acute career he was serving in the United States Army with the 82nd Airborne Division, where he was deployed overseas to Iraq in 2007.
Alex is married to his wonderful wife, Shea and they currently reside in sweet home (Oxford) Alabama. In his downtime he enjoys traveling the world with his wife and is grateful for all of the veterans and active duty service members.