Recent Articles

May 2013

• CFO Thinks Out-of-the-Box to Add Millions to the Balance Sheet
• Defining the Role of Invested Assets Is Essential to Success
• Ask the Expert: Physician Compensation Committees
• Tool: Sample Revenue Cycle Governance Council Charter
• Tool: Sample Physician Preference Card for Surgical Procedures

April 2013

• P3 Delivery for Facility Assets: Benefits and Risks
• Ask the Expert: Public Bond Offering or Direct Placement?  
• Tool: Bon Secour’s Value-Oriented Payment Performance Dashboard

March 2013

• Before the Merger: Balance Sheet and Investment Considerations (March 2013)
• Ask the Expert: Merging Charity Care Policies with Acquired Physician Practices (March 2013)
• Ask the Expert: How to Break Into Healthcare Finance (March 2013)
• Tool: Criteria for Prioritizing Clinical Improvement Projects (March 2013) 

Article Archive

ACOs

• Accountable Care: New Model, New Risks (September 2012)

Accounting & Reporting

• ANI Presentation: Current Accounting and Reporting Developments (July 2012)

Bad Debt

• Now More Than Ever, Collections Need to Be Patient-Friendly  (June 2012)

Benchmarking, Metrics, and Forecasting   

• A Benchmarking Success Story from Baton Rouge (October 2008)
• Benchmarking Your Hospital-Owned Medical Practice Networks (October 2008)
• Benchmarking: How to Start Simply and Build on Your Success (September 2008)
• Calculating ROI of Clinics Targeting Low-Income Patients  (April 2012)
• Holding Health Spending to GDP+0 or Below Provides Path to Sustainability (February 2013)
• Metric: Conversion Rate (May 2010)
• Metric: Downstream Revenue (July 2010)
• Metric: Churn Rate (June 2010)
• Survey: Operating Margins Tied to Endowment Size (April 2011)
• Understanding the Dollars Tied to Readmissions: UMMMC's Approach (March 2011)

Budgeting

• The Evolution of Budgeting Toward Rolling Forecasting  (June 2012)
 

Capital Financing and Allocation

• Before Budget Time: 5 Questions to Review with Business Development/Marketing (May 2011)
• Montefiore's Balanced Portfolio of Capital Investments (February 2011)
• Monitoring Your Investments During Grim Financial Times (January 2009)
• Philanthropy: Will It Save Your Operating Budget (May 2009)
• Tool: Sample Investment Policy Statement (November 2011) 

Cost Containment

• Reducing Contract Labor Costs, Compliance Risks with Vendor-Neutral Arrangements  (March 2012)

Electronic Health Records

• EHR Implementation: Are You Ready? (May 2010)
• EHR Vulnerabilities (April 2010)
• Five Tips for a Successful EHR Implementation (December 2009)
• ROI on EMR: Elusive – or Illusive? (February 2010)
• Steer Clear of Five EHR Landmines (April 2011)
• System's IT Initiative Proceeds Despite Recession  (September 2009)
• Electronic Medical Records: Small Health System Breaks Through Big Barriers  (June 2009)

Facilities

• For Better or Worse? When Hospitals Acquire Real Estate Along with Physicians (October 2011)
• Operating Leases: Proposed Changes in Accounting Treatment (March 2011)
• Operating Leases: Industry Reaction to Proposed Changes in Accounting Treatment (April 2011)
• Operating Leases: Property Owners React to Hospital Requests for Leasing Changes (June 2011)
• Repurposing the Post-Occupancy Facility Evaluation (February 2011)

Healthcare Reform and Payment Pilots

• Guaranteeing Quality: Patient Warranties (February 2010)
• Healthcare Transformation: A Private Affair (January 2012)
• Physician Alignment Experts on Reform and Technology (November 2009)
• To Bundle Or Not To Bundle? (November 2011) 

Leadership, Ethics, & Communication

• A 5-Step Ethical Approach to Changing Retirement Benefits (January 2011)
• Changes CFOs Need to Make (April 2010)
• Creating a Workplace Financial Literacy Program (January 2011)
• Tool: Checklist-Topics to Cover in a Workplace Literacy Program (January 2011)
• Need to Finish On Time & On Budget: Offer to Shave Your Head (March 2011)
• Taking the Lead: When Tough Financial Times Demand Action and Accountability

Medicare Compliance, RAC, OIG

• Have You Done a Physican Contract Compliance Audit? (March 2009)
• Identifying Gray Zone Medical Necessity Cases—Before Auditors Do  (March 2012)

Physician Relationships

• A Clinician’s View of Hospital Economic Efficiency (February 2010)
• Choosing the Right Compensation Model for Physicians (October 2011)
• Tool: Medical Practice Clinical Productivity Evaluation (October 2011)
• Tool: Term Sheet for Initial Offer of Physician Employment (October 2011) 
• Co-Management Agreements: A Short-Term Arrangement for Long-Term Alignment (April 2009)
• Do Your Physician Recruitment Costs Measure Up? (August 2009)
• Dr. Ranawat Interview on Regulation and Incentives (February 2010)
• Financially Aligning with Physicians (July 2011)
• Tool: Physician Alignment & Integration Readiness Assessment (July 2011)
• Getting Physicians' Input on Compensation (July 2012)
• Integration Principles: Lessons from St. Jude (June 2009)
• Kadlec Health System's Four-Step Approach to Physician Integration (February 2013)
• Locum Tenens: There’s Nothing Temporary About This Staffing Shortage Solution (August 2009)
• Managing Employed Physicians Through Integrated Budgeting (February 2012)
• Maryland Hospital Hotline Enhances Physician Satisfaction (August 2009)
• On the Rise: Physician On-Call and Medical Direction Compensation (May 2011)
• Physician Employment: Hospitals Are Doing It, but Are They Doing It Right? (May 2009)
• Uniting Physicians at Iowa Health System (November 2012)
• Using a Site-Specific Action Plan to Improve Practice Performance  (May 2012)

Privacy, Security, & HIPAA

• HITECH Security Assessment (January 2011)

Productivity & Process Improvement

• Boosting Staff Productivity Quickly Returns Group Practice to Profitability (May 2009)
• Calculating the Financial Impact of Reducing LOS (June 2009)
• Patient Access and Flow Case Study: Margin Improvement and Capacity Enhancement (October 2009)
• Zeroing in on Patients with a High Risk for Potentially Preventable Admission

Quality Improvement

• Guaranteeing Quality: Patient Warranties (February 2010)
• Reducing Healthcare Costs by Preventing Hospitalization (November 2009)

Service Line Management

• LEAN Strategies Help Arizona Surgery Center (September 2009)
• Mitigating Outsourcing Challenges (October 2012)
• The Shift from Patient Acquisition to Patient Retention: A Split Decision  (March 2011)

Social Media

• Using Social Media to Accelerate Your Healthcare Finance Career (June 2012)

Strategic Partnerships, Mergers, and Acquisitions

• ANI Presentation: Exploring Strategic Alternatives in an Era of M&As and Private Equity  (September 2012)
• Arizona Surgery Center Has a Joint Venture that Makes Everyone Happy (September 2009)
• Considering Merger Alternatives (February 2010)
• Duke's CFO Provides Insight Into Duke/LifePoint Joint Venture (April 2011)
• Legal and Regulatory Snafus to Avoid During Mergers & Acquisitions (May 2011)
• Private Equity Firms Court Healthcare Organizations (November 2011)
• A Step-by-Step Approach to Due Diligence (Feb 2010)

Strategic Planning  

• ACOs: Look Before You Look (June 2011)
• Basic Tenets of Planning for Physician Practices (January 2012)
• How Behavioral Biases Can Lead to Reckless Financial Decisions (May 2011)
• Integrating Physician and Patient Financial Paths (February 2011)
• Labor Costs and Case Mix: Two Critical Focus Areas for CFOs (February 2012)
• NGHS' Reform Readiness Assessment a "Wake-Up Call" (January 2011)
• Podcast: Sustaining New Era Sustainability Through Integrated Planning (November 2012) 
• Two Post-Acute Strategies  

Supply Chain Strategy 

• Improving Operations, Reducing Costs through Healthcare Supply Chain Collaboration (November 2011)
• Reform Prioritizes Need for Supply Chain Improvements (March 2011)
• To Improve Your Finances, Turn to Supply Chain Best Practices from Other Industries (September 2011)
• Tool: Accountability Structure for Perioperative Supply Chain Initiative (June 2011)
• Tool: Sample Value Analysis Team Charters  (February 2011)

Technology

• The True Cost of Implementing Handhelds (September 2011)

Treasury & Cash Management

• Automated Payment System Optimizes Working Capital (September 2011)