No margin, no mission. This refrain is heard often among the stewards of healthcare organizations. As costs rise, payment stagnates, and demand increases, provider organizations increasingly struggle to provide the services their communities need.
For many years, the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) has worked to define, realize, and advance the financial management of health care by assisting members and others to improve the business performance of healthcare organizations. In short, HFMA helps providers maintain their margin so they can fulfill their critically important mission.
HFMA recognizes that the challenges of providing health care in today’s world require solutions that transcend the boundaries that exist between stakeholder groups such as providers, payers, employers, government, and consumers. And solutions also require reaching across boundaries within healthcare organizations, linking groups such as physicians, nursing, administration, finance, and information technology.
HFMA’s Leadership is designed to showcase instances in which providers have successfully bridged traditional gaps to achieve success as businesses and as caring organizations. The articles in this publication show how leaders from different organizational segments joined in innovative ways to provide superb patient care in a cost-effective way. We are especially proud of the accomplishments recorded here by Joe Fifer, HFMA’s 2006-2007 Chairman, at Spectrum Health.
We hope these examples provide you with ideas and inspiration to make a difference in health care.
Mary Beth Briscoe, FHFMA, CPA
Chief Financial Officer, University Hospital,
UAB Health System, Birmingham, Ala.
2007-2008 Chairman, HFMA
Richard L. Clarke, DHA, FHFMA
President and CEO, HFMA