Oakland, California-based HFS Consultants joins Wipfli

Wipfli LLP (Wipfli), one of the top 20 accounting and consulting firms in the United States, announced that leading health care consulting firm HFS Consultants (HFS), along with their marketing division The Placemaking Group, have joined the firm effective August 1. The combined firm will provide a broad range of audit, tax, marketing and consulting services to health care organizations.

As part of this combination, more than 70 HFS professionals, including five shareholders, have joined more than 1,500 professionals at Wipfli.

Rick Dreher, managing partner of Wipfli LLP, said, “The combination with HFS Consultants presents Wipfli with opportunities to expand our physical presence in the western United States and to provide an even greater breadth and depth of services and resources to our clients in the ever-changing health care industry."

“Both HFS Consultants and Wipfli are well established and respected service providers  in the health care industry with similar cultures and approaches to exceptional client service,” said Rich Gianello, chief executive officer of HFS Consultants. “Together we will drive even greater value for our clients.”

HFS, a firm headquartered in Oakland, California, provides health care consulting services to hundreds of hospitals and other health care facilities around the country. The firm’s services include a broad range of services related to financial, strategic, clinical and management operations. Founded in 1991, HFS has three full-service offices in Oakland, Fresno and Santa Ana, California.

The firm’s national health care practice has over 100 professionals who are dedicated to serving integrated delivery systems, large community hospitals, critical access and rural hospitals, physician practices, long-term care organizations, dental practices and health plans. The health care practice’s professionals provide a range of services to health care entities including audit and tax, finance, operations, human resources, information technology and reimbursement.