wild horse hammer of the high desert

Robert Hammer is a healthcare revenue cycle analytics manager and native Utahan who loves almost all animals, including a couple of humans.

Robert and his adoring wife (his best friend and easily the best thing that ever happened to him) make their home in Syracuse, Utah.  Mrs. Robert Hammer (she just loves it when he calls her that) is an avid eventing and endurance rider.  Her handsome Arabian, Legend, her Belgian mix, Tala, and her Cedar Mountains Mustang, Odin, also believe she is the best thing that ever happened to them.

While Robert’s true literary passion is writing third-person autobiographical sketches, he has authored several professional articles and newspaper op-eds.  Professionally, his ground-breaking “Estimated Payment Ability” algorithm for allocating charitable care was detailed in a peer-reviewed article published in the March 2006 edition of HFM, the Healthcare Financial Management Association’s monthly journal.  You may also remember him as the creator of the “3-Rs” approach to revenue cycle outcomes analysis (No?  Well, maybe a friend can loan you the Winter 2007 edition of AAHAM’s quarterly journal).  He once began a meeting with his colleagues by stating, "Some of you may have heard whispers about the Nobel Committee creating a new category for revenue cycle analytics.  Let me just say that no one has contacted me directly about that."  It was worth a shot, but the rumor never gained traction.  Non-professionally, the Salt Lake Tribune has published several of his essays on various social and political topics over the years.

People who know Rob will be amazed that he made it this far without mentioning that his younger days included a state high school bodybuilding championship and being named honor graduate in Marine Corps Infantry Training School.  Now several years into his second half-century, he still clings desperately to the belief that these musty accomplishments mean something.  Just smile and nod approvingly (or knowingly), for his sake.  He also seems to think having a Jeep, camera, GPS device and adventurous spirit qualifies him to create a website like this one.  Whatever. At bottom, this website is simply a manifestation of one of Robert’s core guiding dicta: Act like you know what you’re doing, and hope for the best.

One final note: we cannot confirm the rumor that the Pulitzer Prize Administration might establish a new category for internet tour guides devoted to increasing public awareness of American mustangs and the little-known areas they inhabit.  Please stop asking.

"Keep your wheels beneath your heels, and your eyes on the horizon."