About Us

MPN Advantage

A division of Comprehensive Medical Reporting services (CMRS)

MPN Advantage is a subsidiary of Comprehensive Medical Reporting Services (CMRS). CMRS began serving the workers’ compensation medical community in 2004, providing a variety of support services to physicians, attorneys and adjusters. In 2005 when the California Department of Workers’ Compensation implemented the Medical Provider Network (MPN), it became clear that the road to credentialing for providers would be ever-changing.

In 2011, as a natural progression and application of aggregated knowledge and experience, learning the complexities of the MPN system was a logical evolution to better support our clients and the workers’ compensation medical community in California and MPN Advantage was conceived. After months of research the first MPN Directory was published in 2012. Since that time MPN Advantage has gone on to produce the MPN Directory annually, which is researched and revised throughout the year in accordance with the quarterly published DWC approved list of MPN in California. In addition to the MPN Directory, clients that are treating patients with industrially related injuries are offered assistance with application to MPN and HCN nationwide.

With the constantly evolving rules from DWC regarding MPN and HCN, the MPN Advantage expert staff takes great pride in the ability to navigate and keep abreast of these changes. All MPN advantage staff are fortunate to have positive working relationships with MPN managers and credentialing department supervisors and staff with hundreds of networks nationwide to assist in credentialing your practice along the way.

In 2018, MPN Advantage began offering all clients PPO and HMO credentialing assistance. Additionally, MPN Advantage expanded nationwide, offering Health Care Network (HCN) and MPN credentialing services to medical offices throughout the United States. Since that time,

MPN Advantage has gained education in IPA credentialing and has officially added this specialty credentialing to the menu of services provided for client business success. MPN Advantage has expanded educational efforts outside of workers’ compensation, and takes pride in ensuring up-to-date information for clients in current credentialing requirements for all entities including, but not limited to workers’ compensation, PPO, HMO, USDOL, Medicare and IPA networks.

MPN Advantage holds the roadmap to future credentialing success!

Meet Our Team

April Samaniego

April Samaniego, Director of Client Services and Senior Credentialing Specialist, has worked in the medical field in San Diego County for over three decades. April arrived in California from Oklahoma as a Military Spouse supporting her husband’s career, but of her own rite served as the Family Ombudsman to his command serving over 500 families at a time. April was the liaison between the command and the families, communicating directly with the Captain, and senior staff while supporting families during times of crisis. Through this experience, April worked tirelessly to assist families with financial and medical issues, dealt with legal issues, and helped new moms and those relocating to or from the area with resources. April acted as a confidante and sounding board for those under her tutelage who were experiencing personal issues. In this capacity she worked closely with the Red Cross, Operation Homefront, Fleet and Family Services, and Navy Relief to name a few ALL while working full time, and raising 3 boys. These experiences excellently transitioned to her work as Director of Workers’ Compensation at a well-respected Orthopaedic Surgery and Pain Management medical group in the heart of San Diego. During her tenure in this position, she worked directly with adjusters and attorneys on claims issues and authorizations and was a top notch med legal historian. She joined Comprehensive Medical Reporting Services (CMRS) in 2006 taking on a variety of workers’ comp supporting roles. In 2012, April supported the creation of MPN Advantage and has shaped it into an esteemed and efficient HMO/PPO, Workers’ Compensation, Medicare/Medi-Cal, Covered CA, and US Department of Labor (USDOL) credentialing point of contact for clients throughout California, and nationwide. Due to her skill and hard work, April has become a vital and dynamic leader in the Workers’ Compensation field. April has completed multiple CEU courses in QME report writing, Recognizing Pain Medicine issues, and Utilization Review practices, and welcomes continuing opportunities for knowledge and growth. April brings her southern charm and her depth and breadth of experience with medical credentialing to support your business. Reach out to April today to see how MPN Advantage can help your practice thrive!

Mindy Vance

Mindy Vance, Senior Credentialing Specialist, has been a valuable member of the workers’ compensation community in San Diego since 2002. She began her career working with physicians, attorneys, and workers’ compensation adjusters as a workers’ compensation coordinator and office manager in a thriving Orthopedic practice. In 2015 Mindy joined Comprehensive Medical Reporting Services (CMRS) providing a variety of reporting and support services to multiple medical offices and providers throughout California. At CMRS, Mindy was an immediate value-add to the office climate, and her impeccable work ethic was noted by MPN Advantage and Mindy was soon brought onboard the MPN Advantage team. Mindy currently manages the credentialing and contracts for nearly 100 providers at multiple practices throughout California. She is a specialist in ancillary provider credentialing and has fantastic working relationships with many networks, which she leverages for improved outcomes for her clients

Kelly Woodland

Kelly Woodland, MPH, is a Senior Credentialing Specialist for MPN Advantage. She has over a decade of experience in the workers’ compensation and credentialing field and was one of the first employees of MPN Advantage. Kelly’s many years in the field began upon completion of a dual Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Community Health at California State University, Chico. She went on to become a patient medical and med-legal historian in a clinical setting for a San Diego based Pain Management and Orthopaedic surgery office and did patient claim record review in her off time. Concurrently, Kelly returned to San Diego State University to receive her Master of Public Health in Behavioral Health Interventions in 2007. She worked in HIV prevention in international military clinics for 8 years with the US Department of Defense and the US Department of the Navy before returning to the workers’ compensation field when she joined MPN Advantage in 2015. Since that time, Kelly has continued to hone her skills in contract rate and reimbursement negotiations, research and discovery of new and existing medical provider networks and learning about the workers’ compensation systems in states outside of California. Kelly loves the client interfacing aspects of credentialing work and looks forward to serving you and your business for greater reimbursement success!

Sharon Brown

Sharon Brown is a Senior Credentialing Specialist for MPN Advantage. She completed her Bachelor of Science in Marriage, Family, & Human Development from Brigham Young University and quickly began a decade’s long career in patient medical care advocacy. Prior to her work with MPN Advantage, Sharon served as a fiduciary assistant, working with the fiduciary in acting on behalf of medically sensitive clients’ interests with a duty to preserve good faith and trust. She took a natural turn into working with MPN Advantage over two years ago and brings her wealth of knowledge on navigating the Medicare and Medi-Cal systems to better serve your practice. She has worked in tracking provider networks in each state nationwide, and has also worked in IPA research, HMO/PPO insurances, Workers Compensation and existing contract rate negotiations. Sharon is a fantastic communicator who is fluent in American Sign Language and has a natural ability to connect with people and serve them for better outcomes. She looks forward to bringing this talent to your practice!

Renita Bryant

Renita Bryant has worked in the healthcare industry for over 30 years. She brought her wealth of knowledge and talent to MPN Advantage in 2021, and specializes in contracting with PPO, HMO,EPO, and IPA networks, and works flawlessly with consultants. Renita’s goal has always been to provide the best quality of service to her clients and their employees. She strives to build long lasting relationships with her clients so that they have confidence that when an issue or concern arises, she will always go the extra mile in finding the best solution and resolution for their practice. Renita’s number one goal is to strive to make sure our MPN Advantage clients feel they are important and are of value to us.

Laura Ayers

Laura Ayers, Credentialing Assistant, joined MPN Advantage in 2021. Laura is highly detail oriented and has a passion for client-centered solutions. Laura has a long history as a healthcare administrative professional, and is very accustomed to working with physicians and administrators in high-stress conditions to meet targeted practice goals and deadlines. In addition to her healthcare administration background, Laura has extensive billing and coding experience and has also working extensively in benefits verification and pre-authorizations with commercial insurance, HMO, and vision insurance. In addition to her work with MPN Advantage, Laura is working toward obtaining her Certified Administrative Professional to become a Certified Provider Credentialing Specialist. Laura is always working to meet her clients’ needs and can’t wait to meet you and assist your practice with your credentialing and reimbursement goals.

Angela Lovett

Angela Lovett is a Credentialing Assistant with MPN Advantage. Angela has two years of experience in the workers’ compensation field, and came to MPN Advantage with extensive medical billing experience. Angela’s background has given dimension to our services, and having a billing specialist on our team has given our workplace a touchstone for any outstanding questions or clarifications that our clients may have. Angela has a passion for helping others, and brings warmth and humor to each of her client accounts. She is dedicated to her work and values the learning and new experiences that have come while working with MPN Advantage.

Chirsty Carson

Chirsty Carson joined the MPN Advantage team in 2022 as a Credentialing Assistant. She has over a decade of work in multiple facets of the healthcare industry, and brings her varied experience for the benefit of MPN Advantage clients. Chirsty has worked as a medical assistant, has managed practices and medical offices, and has a wealth of experience in medical coding and billing. From working one-on-one with patients alongside physicians in the clinical setting, to working with insurance networks for proper patient billing and payments as an office manager, Chirsty has a depth and breadth of medical background knowledge and nuance. She brings this expertise with her to best serve MPNA clients’ credentialing needs.

Tracie Mitchell

Tracie Mitchell, Credentialing Specialist, has over 10 years of experience in the healthcare field. She has worked most recently with Aetna, CCN and First Health networks. Tracie brings expertise in claims processing and provider relations. Detail oriented, Tracie has worked in provider relations as a liaison between providers offices and networks ensuring that all provider contracting data is accurate. She is an expert at extracting CAQH data for contracting, and has extensive customer relations experience. Tracie is excited to work with our clients for networking success.

Jordan DeBoard and Kristen Samaniego

Jordan DeBoard and Kristen Samaniego are the amazing administrative support staff here at MPN Advantage. Jordan works tirelessly with each MPN Advantage team member in tracking all of the MPN/HMO/PPO that our clients are included on, creates and disseminates the monthly reporting, and brings a light attitude to all that she does. Kristen has become indispensable in her ability to transform information into useful reporting, keeps our client rosters updated, and generally helps keep all of us organized. The rest of the office wouldn’t run smoothly without these two!

Let's Work Together

MPN Advantage, a service of CMRS, was created when our clients experienced difficulty navigating the complexities of the workers’ compensation Medical Provider Network (MPN) system.

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