Category: Tower News

Tower MSA Partners Announces Strategic Investment from Ambler Brook to Accelerate Growth

April 2, 2025

Tower MSA Partners logo.

Delray Beach, FL and Boston, MA – (April 2, 2025) – Tower MSA Partners (“Tower”), a leading national provider of Medicare Secondary Payer (“MSP”) compliance technology and settlement services to self-insured enterprises, insurance carriers and third-party administrators, announced today that it received a significant growth investment from Ambler Brook.

Founded in 2011, Tower was launched with a vision to build a best-in-class integrated automation technology platform that simplifies MSP compliance, enhances the customer experience, and delivers measurable value to customers in a complex regulatory environment.  Tower provides MSP services to national and global enterprises across industries, including Industrial, Manufacturing, Travel, Transportation & Logistics, Healthcare, Hospitality and Retail.

“Ambler Brook’s investment will enable us to accelerate growth, invest further in providing a superior product that ensures full MSP compliance and delivers cost-effective claim settlements through the use of artificial intelligence and other automation technology and expands our team of clinical and compliance experts who provide an unmatched level of customer service,” said Kristine Dudley, Tower’s Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer.

“We are excited to partner with the Co-Founders of Tower and the entire management team in this next phase of growth and innovation for the business. We identified Tower as part of our effort to find founder-owned businesses at the intersection of several investment themes, including cost containment, providers of mission-critical compliance solutions and automation technology,” said Kearney Shanahan, Managing Partner of Ambler Brook.

“The team has built a best-in-class MSP compliance solution that delivers a clear value proposition, commands a very loyal customer base and is highly scalable as the Tower management team executes on a growth-focused value creation plan,” added Stephen Sahlman, Managing Partner of Ambler Brook.

Choate, Hall & Stewart LLP served as legal advisor to Ambler Brook. Harbor View Advisors served as financial advisor and Trenam served as legal advisor to Tower MSA on the transaction. Eagle Private Capital and Resolute Capital Partners provided debt financing and a minority equity co-investment alongside Ambler Brook. The investment closed in the fourth quarter of 2024.

About Tower MSA

Tower MSA Partners, LLC, a leading provider of Medicare Secondary Payer (“MSP”) compliance technology and services to the country’s largest self-insured enterprises, carriers and third-party administrators.  Tower’s services include Section 111 Mandatory Insurer Reporting, conditional payment resolution, and Medicare Set-Aside optimization and preparation. Led by a management team with decades of regulatory and legal expertise, Tower’s automation suite enables it to provide industry-leading compliance and regulatory solutions to facilitate fast, compliant, and cost-effective savings for its clients. To learn more about Tower MSA Partners, please visit Tower MSA Partners.

About Ambler Brook

Ambler Brook is a thesis-oriented investment firm focused on investing in founder-owned Healthcare and B2B businesses. The firm partners with founders and management teams to build market leading businesses through the implementation of bespoke value creation initiatives that accelerate organic and M&A growth over the long-term in lower middle market businesses. Ambler Brook invests in both services and technology businesses with <$15M of EBITDA. To learn more about Ambler Brook, please visit: Ambler Brook.

Media Contact:

Dan Anders
Chief Compliance Officer, Tower MSA Partners

888.331.4941
daniel.anders@towermsa.com

WCMSA Reporting and MSP Compliance for 2025: Premier Webinar

December 18, 2024

Topic: WCMSA Reporting & MSP Compliance for 2025
Date: Thursday, January 16
Time: 2 PM ET

Are you prepared for the upcoming changes in workers’ compensation settlements? Starting April 4, 2025, all settlements involving Medicare beneficiaries will require a WCMSA amount to be reported—even if it’s $0—through Section 111 reporting process.

Join Dan Anders, Tower’s Chief Compliance Officer, and Jesse Shade, Chief Technology Officer, for an engaging and insightful webinar designed to help you navigate these significant changes.

In this one hour session, you’ll learn:

  • The key criteria and timeline for WCMSA reporting.
  • How to handle the technical implementation and testing process.
  • What these changes mean for claims professionals, attorneys, and settling parties.
  • Insights into MSAs and Conditional Payments in 2025.
  • Updates on Medicare Secondary Payer compliance under the new administration.

Bring your questions! A live Q&A session will follow the presentation, and you can submit questions during registration.

Don’t Wait—Get a Head Start on 2025!

Click below to reserve your spot and get the insights you need to stay ahead.

[Register Now]

Get ready, get informed, and stay compliant—see you on January 16!

Tower MSA Partners Maintains 
SOC 2 Type II Compliance, Affirms Commitment to Highest Security Standards

September 18, 2024

Soc 2 Type II Compliance Badge

Tower MSA Partners is proud to announce the successful completion of our annual SOC 2 Type II compliance examination, performed by independent service auditor Insight Assurance. This milestone underscores our unwavering commitment to maintaining and enhancing the highest standards of data security and integrity, essential in today’s fast-evolving digital landscape.

Understanding SOC 2 Type II: A Comprehensive Audit of Non-Financial Reporting Controls

A SOC 2 Type II compliance examination is a rigorous assessment performed by an independent auditor to evaluate a service organization’s non-financial reporting controls over time. This involves testing the operational effectiveness of a company’s controls related to the applicable criteria for the security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and/or privacy trust services categories developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).

This year’s SOC 2 audit added the availability and processing integrity trust service categories (TSCs) to the previously examined security and confidentiality TSCs.   

Rita Wilson on Tower MSA Partners’ Commitment to Security

Rita Wilson, CEO of Tower MSA Partners, said, “Achieving the SOC 2 Type II attestation is not just about meeting a regulatory standard, but about affirming our commitment to protect our client’s data with the highest standards of security and confidentiality. This audit reflects the robustness of our internal controls and processes, and it reassures our clients and partners that we are dedicated to the highest levels of trust and integrity.”

From the onset, Tower has integrated technology-driven processes with stringent security measures to ensure the privacy and security of client data. The successful completion of the SOC 2 Type II examination is a testament to our team’s hard work and dedication to excellence.

Premier Webinar: Get Ready for Section 111 Reporting Penalties and WCMSA Reporting

May 3, 2024

Premier Webinar: Section 111 Reporting Penalties & WCMSA Reporting

CMS Announces Section 111 Mandatory Insurer Reporting Changes: Penalties and New WCMSA Requirements

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released several announcements regarding Section 111 Mandatory Insurer Reporting over recent months.  Some relate to Section 111 penalties and some to the new requirement to add Workers’ Compensation MSAs to Section 111 reporting.

Timely and accurate Section 111 reporting is essential if you want to avoid penalties. And WCMSA reporting will introduce new tasks for claims professionals and potentially affect how WC cases with Medicare beneficiary claimants are settled.

To help you and your organization prepare for these changes

Tower will hold a “Get Ready for Section 111 Reporting Penalties and WCMSA Reporting” webinar on May 22.

Please join Tower’s Chief Compliance Officer Dan Anders and Chief Technology Officer Jesse Shade for this valuable, instructional session. Scheduled for Wednesday, May 22, 2024, at 2 pm ET, the hour-long webinar will address:

  • Criteria and timeline for the implementation of Section 111 Reporting penalties.
  • Practices to mitigate and eliminate the potential for penalties.
  • How a Section 111 reporting audit can identify errors, blind spots and recommend corrective actions to your systems and processes.
  • Criteria and timeline for Workers Compensation MSA reporting.
  • Implication of WCMSA reporting for claims professionals, attorneys, and settling parties.

A Q&A session will follow the presentation, and you can provide questions ahead of time at registration. Please click the link below and register today!

Register Here

Tower MSA Partners Launches New Website and Celebrates 12th Anniversary

September 26, 2023

Tower MSA Partner graphic featuring woman in glasses and text reading A partner dedicated to settlement.

Tower MSA Partners recently marked our 12 years in business with the rollout of a new, streamlined website that emphasizes our focus on your settlements.  We facilitate claim closure by aggressively seeking savings and making Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) compliance and Medicare Set-Aside (MSA) prep better, faster and easier.

Working on the new site allowed us to reflect on our differentiators. We don’t try to be all things to all people.  We are singularly focused on MSP compliance, MSA preparation, and going above and beyond to serve our clients.  It’s you, our client partners, and your need to close claims and continually improve your workers’ comp programs that drives us.

This includes our built-for-this-industry MSP Automation Suite, which integrates Section 111 reporting with conditional payment resolution and MSA preparation processes.  Automation saves significant time, reduces errors and allows our client partners to focus on matters other than MSP compliance. And our annual SOC 2 Type II audit confirms the efficiency and effectiveness of our systems and processes.

As great as our tech is, however, at some point, it must give way to human expertise. It’s our legal and clinical specialists who apply their knowledge and experiences to remove barriers to settlement. Our clients appreciate our intuitive technology, but they love the personal service we provide.

As our name says, Tower is your partner. We actively listen to our clients’ goals and desires and make them our own.  Our specialists respond quickly to your questions with clear answers. We consult, advise and stay involved through claim closure and (when appropriate) approval from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

We know that an MSA allocation can determine if a claim can close and we fight for every dollar of savings while we maintain 100% compliance with CMS and state regulations. Tower will also assemble and lead a settlement team to work with injured workers and their attorneys to bring claims to closure.

As we celebrate our 12th anniversary and the launch of a new website, we thank our clients – our partners – for your trust and support.  Many of you have been with us for all 12 years.  We look forward to many more years of innovation and successful settlements.

Please visit our new website, still www.TowerMSA.com, and tell us what you think.

 

The Critical Care Nurses Give MSAs

May 11, 2023

Banner detailing The Critical Care Nurses Give MSAs and photo of Brittney O'Neal.

In the second installment of our quarterly series, “Tower Partners: People Behind the Settlements,” and in celebration of Nurses Week, we spotlight Brittney O’Neal, our Director of Clinical Operations. A nurse, Brittney oversees the team of nurses that produces our Medicare Set-asides (MSAs).

There are so many elements and areas of expertise needed to develop an MSA that is fair, reasonable and compliant.  Or, as we say: optimized. If Tower’s MSA operation was in the shape of a wheel, Brittney would be the hub.  Read on to learn more about her and how our MSAs are written to be effective settlement tools.

  1. What does your position as Director of Clinical Operations entail? And how does your role impact Tower’s clients?

I lead clinical operations which includes MSA writing, quality assurance and our Physician Follow-up service. We have a team of RNs who review the records and write MSA reports.  In so doing, they identify potential treatment and pharmacy problems and make intervention and mitigation strategies. As part of our quality assurance, I review MSA allocations for accuracy and make necessary corrections before they are delivered to our clients.  I also oversee our Physician Follow-up team, which is contacting treating physicians to resolve many of the problems we identified in writing the MSA.

Client communication is vitally important. I’m available to answer questions from clients and prospects and help them put together a plan of action to settle a claim.

  1. What led you to become a nurse? What experiences shaped your professional journey?

I actually started in the pharmacy field, wanting to become a pharmacist. However, one of my mentors told me that the industry was moving away from patient care and that I should look into more of the medical side.

  1. How did you get into MSP compliance and MSAs?

Honestly, by chance. I was a pharmacy technician looking for something different and was fortunate to land an interview with Tower MSA Partners. Kristine Dudley, Tower’s Chief Operating Officer, gave me an opportunity to turn a job into a career.

  1. How does being a nurse help you in your job at Tower?

Being a nurse enables you to better understand the medical material you are reading to in turn prepare an accurate allocation. It guides your approach to researching services and Medicare coverage and the ability to provide intervention strategies.

  1. What part of the job do you find the most rewarding?

I enjoy being able to help our teams and clients navigate the different aspects of this industry.  It’s great to be able to teach and share my knowledge while also learning from others. It is also rewarding to hear from clients who are grateful for the cost-saving measures our team accomplishes and the turn-around time of the reports.

  1. What are some of the things clients ask about most often?

Many questions include whether an MSA or Medical Cost Projection (MCP) is needed, CMS review thresholds, and the Amended Review process. Other questions deal with mitigation tactics to help with cost-saving measures.

  1. How do you facilitate the settlement of claims for Tower clients?

Everything Tower does is designed to facilitate claims settlement.  Carefully reviewing claims for cost drivers, like the wrong body part or duplicative or discontinued drugs. (That pharmacy background really came in handy!)  Turning around reports quickly and recommending and implementing clinical interventions to eliminate unnecessary costs.  Physician Follow-up ensures that treatment changes are properly recorded in medical records and that we have a signed physician statement so CMS can approve our MSA.

  1. Where did you attend school/degrees?

I earned an Associate of Arts degree from Palm Beach State College, then an Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) from HCI College, also in Palm Beach, Florida.

  1. What do you like best about working for Tower?

The close-knit family atmosphere. No matter what “title” one holds, we all understand the different levels of the workflow and are willing to assist in various areas when needed. Everyone is willing to share their knowledge so that other members can better understand the MSA/CMS process, along with other MSP matters, such as conditional payments and mandatory reporting.

  1. How do you think Tower sets itself apart from companies that sell the same/similar services?

I feel Tower MSA Partners sets itself apart from other companies by promptly being available for our clients to speak with and by having attorneys on staff for consultation. Another way is our free Physician Follow-up service and fast turn-around time on reports.

  1. Where did you grow up, and where do you live now?

I was Born in Long Island, NY, and moved to Palm Beach County, FL as a child.  Now we’re living in Saint Lucie County, FL.

  1. Tell us about your background and family.

Prior to joining this industry, I worked in retail and hospital pharmacy which assisted me with transitioning into the MSA world and going on to pursue my RN. My husband is a Firefighter/Paramedic, and we have three children (12, 9, and 5).

  1. What do you like to do on your time off?

On my off-time, I am a busy wife/mom running around to football practices/games and will soon start softball for my baby girl. I also enjoy weightlifting with my husband and family outings.

Thank you to Brittney and all our Tower nurses for your commitment to providing our clients with the highest level of service.  Happy Nurses Week!

Premier Webinar: Zeroing in on $0 MSAs

January 25, 2023

Details for Feb 15 webinar for Medicare Set-Aside (MSA's)

A $0 MSA remains an option in some workers’ compensation case settlements, although strict criteria must be met if CMS approval is necessary.  It is essential then for claims professionals to understand this criteria as steps taken early in claims handling can sometimes be the difference between a $0 and a fully funded MSA at the time of settlement.

Over his two decades in MSP compliance, Tower’s Chief Compliance Officer, Dan Anders, has successfully obtained CMS approval on hundreds of $0 MSAs.  Please join him for a Tower Premier Webinar on Feb. 15 at 2 PM ET.

In addition to $0 MSAs, Dan will also discuss using state statutes and regulations to limit MSA amounts.

The presentation covers the following:

  • Criteria for a CMS-approved $0 MSA
  • Alternative criteria for a Non-Submit $0 MSA
  • A step-by-step guide as to how to work with Tower to obtain a $0 MSA.
  • Use of state statutes and regulations to limit the MSA amount.

A Q&A session will follow the presentation, and you can provide questions you’d like us to cover when you register. Please click the link below and register today!

Please note that there is no CEU credit offered for this webinar.

Register Here

CIO Review Magazine Ranks Tower MSA Partners Among Top 10 Compliance Technology Services Companies

November 3, 2022

Pict of award congratulating Tower on its Technology

The honors keep coming. Earlier this year, Tower ranked in South Florida Business Journal’s Top 25 Women-Owned Business list and now there’s national recognition of our technology driven compliance services. CIO Review: The Enterprise Technology Magazine just listed us among its 10 Most Promising Technology Compliance Services Companies for 2022 and featured Tower in this article.

When our Co-founders Rita Wilson and Kristine Dudley looked at the Medicare Set-Aside (MSA) landscape back in 2010, they found it littered with paper and inefficient processes. Everything was manual. Few providers tried to mitigate costs. And MSAs took so long to produce that some settlements fell through.

After talking with prospective clients to determine their pain points, Rita and Kristie knew they needed to accelerate MSA production. They automated Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) compliance and MSA best practices into Tower’s MSP Automation Suite.

Because the suite easily integrates with any claims system and gathers data needed to prepare the MSA, it immediately reduced payers’ administrative burden. For the first time, clients also had 24/7 visibility into the entire claim. They could pull reports and check the status of an MSA anytime.

The suite also prompts for next steps and missing data to help keep claims moving. MSAs can be produced in days instead of weeks.

Tower’s MSP Automation Suite was designed so modules could be easily added to quickly adapt to changes from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. For example, when the agency announced plans to impose high penalties for inaccurate or slow Section 111 Mandatory Insurer reporting, Tower built a dashboard to steer compliance efforts to help clients avoid these future penalties.

The technology helps us mitigate MSA costs and immediately implement CMS changes. It also makes compliance more efficient for Tower’s clients and employees.  It frees our professionals to concentrate on clinical and legal interventions to reduce allocations and focus on our clients.

One of our clients said, “Tower MSA has been a great partner for us! I have been very impressed with their level of communication and availability to help answer questions. Their easy referral process and fast turnaround times are much appreciated.”

Naturally, we enjoy external validation from honors like the CIO Review recognition. But it’s a real honor to serve our client partners who are some of the most respected payer organizations in the industry.

We’re constantly looking for ways to improve, meet clients’ needs, and exceed their expectations. Please contact Rita Wilson, rita.wilson@towermsa.com with any questions, suggestions, or other ideas.

Premier Webinar: Care, Cost & Compliance Through MSA Professional Administration

October 25, 2022

details about Tower webinar about MSA Professional Administration

We rightly invest time to draft a Medicare Set-Aside (MSA) that accurately considers future medical care and, when appropriate, obtain approval of the allocation from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

However, we don’t always dedicate enough time to address the MSA’s post-settlement implications for the injured or ill employee. This is a mistake. The comfort level the injured employee has with how well the MSA will be funded, its administration, and what resources are available to them after the claim closes often leads to their agreement to settle.

Tower MSA Partners is pleased to present this premier webinar on Nov. 16 at 2 PM ET which will feature special guest presenter, Nicole Chappelle, Vice President of Settlement Solutions for Ametros and Dan Anders, Tower’s Chief Compliance Officer.

The presentation covers:

  • CMS rules and options around MSA administration and MSA funding
  • Self vs. professionally administered MSAs
  • A step-by-step guide to how MSA professional administration works
  • Incorporation of MSA professional administration into a settlement agreement and expectations post-settlement

A Q&A session will follow the presentation, and you can provide questions you’d like us to cover when you register. Please click the link below and register today!

Register Here

Tower MSA Partners’ WCI-TV Interviews Reveal How Workers’ Compensation Companies Use Claims Data

August 19, 2022

WCI TV logo for ads on Data analytics

The workers’ compensation industry has extolled the promises of data analytics and automation for years.

But how are organizations really using claims data?  What strategies have worked best? And what have they learned?  Several executives will share their experiences during WCI-TV interviews sponsored by Tower MSA Partners.

Guests include Dave Strange, the Yellow Corporation’s Workers’ Compensation Manager and Greg Hamlin, Senior Vice President, Resolution with Berkley Industrial Comp. Ametros CEO Porter Leslie and Alisa Hofman, Vice President of Workers’ Compensation and Medicare Practices for Arcadia will discuss the use of data during and after settlement.

In addition, Tower’s Chief Compliance Officer Dan Anders and Chief Operations Officer Kristine Dudley will share how the technology driven company uses data to streamline Medicare Secondary Payer compliance, protect clients from penalties, and optimize Medicare Set-Asides.

Tower has been the exclusive sponsor of WCI-TV since it first aired in 2015. WCI-TV airs throughout the convention center, in hotel guest rooms and shuttles, on You Tube and CI’s website. Tower’s interviews will also be shared on the company’s LinkedIn page.

 The 76th Annual WCI Conference will be held August 21-24 at the Orlando World Center Marriott. For more information, please see https://www.wci360.com/conference/.