Leadership Team

Prakash Patel, M.D., Chief Executive Officer - A senior healthcare leader, Prakash brings over 15 years of broad healthcare experience in specialty healthcare, healthcare operations, product development, alliances, acquisitions and strategic planning to his new position. He most recently served as AMQ's Chief Operating and Chief Clinical Officer, responsible for driving overall value and operating capabilities for the organization including for the payer, provider, facility and manufacturer around quality, cost-of-care initiatives, and clinical programs. Prior to joining Access MediQuip, Prakash was the Chief Corporate Development Officer for Magellan Health Services where he was instrumental in the acquisitions of ICORE and First Health Services, ran operations for NIA, and strengthened their focus on specialty healthcare management. Prakash holds a doctor of medicine degree, Alpha Omega Alpha (AΩA), from Cornell University Medical College, in New York, and a B.S. Magna cum Laude from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. He completed three years of an orthopedic surgery residency at the University of Pittsburgh and completed finance, marketing and accounting classes at the University of Connecticut’s MBA program.

Bill Cramer, Founder & Vice Chairman - Bill Cramer co-founded Access MediQuip in September 1997 and developed the business model that serves as the foundation for the company's current portfolio of strategic medical device solutions. In addition to directing the company's strategic growth, Bill serves as Vice Chairman of the board, and in this role, advocates for enhanced patient care through legislative initiatives such as improving reimbursement rates for implantable devices. Bill has over 20 years of healthcare industry tenure, including experience developing hospital-based acute and chronic pain programs and representing a variety of manufacturers in implantable device sales prior to founding Access MediQuip. Bill received his B.S.B.A. in marketing from Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Steve DaRe, Chief Financial Officer - Steve is responsible for managing and fully integrating Finance, Accounting, Revenue Management, Underwriting, Pricing, and Medical Economics. In addition, he manages the cross-functional Office of Planning and Performance Management that leads initiatives to invest in growth, increase efficiency and expand scalability. Steve brings over 20 years of specialty and managed healthcare finance and operations experience. Prior to joining our team, he served as senior vice president of Finance at APS Healthcare, a disease management and specialty managed care company where he oversaw financial operations. He was the CFO of American Psych Systems, a behavioral health management company that was a predecessor company to APS. He was responsible for the Finance, Claims, HR, IT and Legal organizations. He also served as a divisional CFO at Magellan Health Services where he had overall financial responsibility for the $500 million public sector division as well as acquisition integration activities for the Merit Behavioral and CMG Health purchases. Previously Steve served as a director of financial planning and analysis at Principal Healthcare. He holds an MBA from Loyola College and a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Baltimore.

Jon Buffa, EVP Client Services & Network - Jon is responsible for meeting the needs of Access MediQuip's clients, including specifically health care payers and providers across the country. Prior to joining Access MediQuip, Jon served as vice president of network account management and product development for National Imaging Associates (NIA), which is owned by Magellan Health Services, where he was responsible for building strategic partnerships with NIA clients and providing direction on the development and implementation of new products. He also served as an executive at CareCore National, a specialty management company, where he had overall responsibility for client management and network development in the radiology benefit management division. Previously Jon served as director of vendor management at Oxford Health Plans, where he was responsible for outsourced specialty management relationships. He holds an MBA in health care administration from Baruch College/Mount Sinai School of Medicine and a bachelor's degree in economics from Binghamton University.