Dianne Richardson

With four decades in the healthcare industry, Dianne Richardson is an expert in evaluating the clinical and business aspects of oncology practice operations, with special focus on the safe delivery of care.

In her role as Senior Consultant at The Oncology Group, Dianne reviews and presents recommendations for back office and infusion suite processes and patient flow. She performs chart audits for charge capture of physician and nursing documentation to support services billed, chemotherapy ordered versus treatment delivered, delivery of the correct number of units of each medication and time frame required for billing of each administration technique. She reviews EOBs versus charges billed and provides models for infusion suites to assure staffing levels are appropriate.

Dianne's multifaceted consulting expertise includes training and staff development for a range of healthcare professionals. She educates physicians on evaluation and management-level requirements and has developed a skills validation checklist for new nursing staff, including one for the chemotherapy administration process. She has also developed educational objectives for each cancer disease process, particularly for novice RN staff, and assists with leadership development for new nurses moving into management positions. To better serve patients, she has developed education tools as well as a pre-treatment chemotherapy class.

She assists practices in initiating chemotherapy admixture, advising on the use of laminar flow hood and evaluating adherence to OSHA guidelines and use of personal protective equipment when working with cytotoxic agents.

Dianne began her career as an Area Nurse Manager providing primary clinical support for a physician network covering multiple states and sites of service. She was also the primary educator for nursing staff on billing and coding. She went on to work for a network of oncology practices where, as Director of Clinical Operations, she provided clinical support for more than 2000 nurses and 500 laboratory personnel. She also developed and executed training on the business aspects of oncology care for pharmaceutical industry representatives, managers and business owners interested in a better understanding of 21st-century cancer care delivery system and reimbursement issues.

Currently a member of the National Oncology Nursing Society, Dianne is former president of the Channel Islands ONS Chapter and former president of the Dallas ONS Chapter. She won the Pearl Moore Excellence in Nursing Leadership Award and the Founder's Award from the Dallas ONS Chapter. She received her nursing diploma from Touro Infirmary School of Nursing in New Orleans, Louisiana.