Devra Shapiro joined IPC The Hospitalist Company as CFO in 1998. She’s been there nearly every step of the way as the company has grown to employ 1,300 people in 19 states and generate $251.2 million in annual revenue. “Everything having to do with the financials of the company, I’ve built,” said Shapiro, who has more than 30 years of experience in the financial field. “And we’ve built a national company that operates very efficiently.” Hospitalists focus on a patient’s hospital care from time of admission to discharge, said IPC’s website. These doctors work with primary care physicians and other referring physicians to drive the delivery system and manage the entire inpatient episode of care. Hospitalist medicine increases quality of care and reduces healthcare costs, said the company. It also provides patients the comfort and security of having a physician on-site to oversee care, answer questions and assure smooth coordination of all hospital services. IPC, founded in 1995, has more than 600 physicians, serves 400 facilities nationwide, and logged more than 2.7 million patient visits in 2008. “Devra has been instrumental in guiding IPC to become the nation’s leading hospitalist company,” said Dr. Adam Singer, CEO of IPC. “Her expertise, knowledge, and guidance played a key role in bringing the company public in 2007, and she continues to contribute to the company’s successful financial performance.” Shapiro helped take the company public in a difficult market (Jan. 2008), resulting in a $94 million initial public offering, and a follow-on round in July 2008 of $74 million. Right before going public, she negotiated a $40 million line of credit with very favorable terms. IPC has a strong balance sheet with the IPO and banking relationship and has a $30 million line of credit that remains untapped, said Shapiro. And she has been instrumental in helping the company acquire 40-50 physician practices nationwide. In fact, on October 2 IPC announced it completed the acquisition of a physician group practice in New Jersey. The company acquired another practice in Tampa, Fla. in August. Prior to working with IPC, Shapiro was CFO of Solution Point in Nashville, Tenn., CFO for HemaCare Corporation in the Los Angeles area, controller of a hospital chain, and worked with the Arthur Andersen accounting firm for 11 years. Outside of working as CFO for IPC, Shapiro said she’s proud of serving on the board of directors of a NYSE company called LTC, Inc., a healthcare real estate investment trust (REIT) in Westlake Village. “What it does is give you a different set of experiences,” said Shapiro. “You’re around CEOs and other professionals of other public companies, which gives you another way to look at things.”