New director to assume helm of compliance for St. Francis Health

INDIANAPOLIS – Becky Merkel has been appointed Administrative Director of Compliance and Privacy for Franciscan St. Francis Health. She will begin her duties later this month.

In that role, she will supervise the hospital’s computer incident reporting systems and upgrades, the Compliance and Privacy programs, and ensure adherence to the state and federal laws, rules and regulations, as well as hospital policies regarding corporate compliance, confidentiality and the use and disclosure of protected health information.

Merkel most previously served as compliance/privacy office and director for health information management at Bluffton Regional Medical Center. She also worked as a coding consultant for YPRO Corp. in Corydon; and director of the Health Information Management Department for Saint Joseph Hospital and Health Care Center in Chicago.

Certified in Healthcare Compliance and a Registered Health Information Administrator, she earned a bachelor’s degree in health information management at the Indiana University School of Informatics.

Merkel succeeds Douglas Gioe, who recently retired from Franciscan St. Francis after serving more than 22 years.