Incoming HFMA Chair: Healthcare has no option to stand still

HFMA incoming Chair Kiran Batheja, FHFMA, will lean into his revenue cycle background and encourage members to be mission-driven leaders for patients in this tumultuous time. The story of how he became an influential leader in healthcare finance is a testament to his own resolve and sense of purpose — and to his belief that exemplary financial leadership in healthcare can make a difference in our communities.

Batheja’s father never quite got over his son’s decision not to pursue a career as a physician. His father, Narain L. Batheja, was himself a mission-oriented physician, and it was his dream to see his son follow in his footsteps. But Batheja felt a different calling: to make a difference through working in healthcare finance. And over the years, Batheja has validated his career choice — in a way he hopes would have made his father feel proud.

While fulfilling a high-school community-service requirement in the billing department of Phelps Memorial Hospital (now Phelps Hospital-Northwell Health) in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., his hometown, he got his first taste of the healthcare revenue cycle.

“They had just gone through a system conversion, and I walked into a file room stacked floor-to-ceiling with data mailers and patient statement mailers,” he said.

Batheja spent two weeks reviewing the statements to make sure the data and supporting documentation were available to substantiate each claim, all while learning about the new billing and charge capture systems. He quickly understood the need to connect the clinical and financial information in a compassionate way to better people’s lives, while ensuring the hospital’s reimbursement. He enjoyed the challenge and the chance to create an efficient and common-sense process. From there, he dove into workers’ compensation and no-fault claims.

“It was messy, hard, not-high-return stuff, but it had to get done,” he said.

But the billing department’s leaders could see a challenging undertaking resonated with Batheja. So as other tedious, hard-to-collect A/R opportunities arose, they said, “Give it to Kiran; let him try it.” And in his youthful exuberance, Batheja couldn’t help but be excited by the opportunities.

“I was a kid, so to me, it was fun,” Batheja said.

Once Batheja entered college, he quickly learned that the science classes he’d enrolled in did not excite him the way he thought they would, but the work he continued to do in the revenue cycle department of his local hospital — the hospital where his father was on the medical staff — fascinated him. He’d return over college breaks, take on challenging new projects, bring them to successful conclusions and establish sustainable workflows with continued benefit.

During his senior year, the director of finance offered to create a position for Batheja upon graduation. He then realized he could still have a career in healthcare, albeit on the finance side instead of the clinical side.

“That was a way I could still contribute,” he said.

A place for understanding psychology

But Batheja still needed to break the news of not going to medical school to his father, who initially thought the psychology classes he was taking had put him on the path toward becoming a psychologist.

“He didn’t understand that you could be a psych major and do so many other things with it,” he said. “My concentration was in small- and large-group dynamics and industrial and organizational psych; I use that knowledge every single day. Part of being a good leader is the ability to bring everyone together on the same page and work as a team, so you’re all moving forward together. My understanding of psychology has helped me connect my team to the mission of what we do and why we do it, which ultimately ensures patients get the care they need.”

At a time when the healthcare landscape is fraught with challenges, mission-oriented leadership will be crucial to engaging healthcare finance teams in the hard work ahead. The future of healthcare and healthcare finance depends on bold leadership and decisive action, Batheja said.

“It’s more than just intent. It’s about commitment,” he said. “It’s about coming outside of your comfort zone and embracing the challenges that exist.”

That’s why Batheja chose the theme “Lead Now” to define his year as HFMA Chair.

“This is the moment to act — to shape what’s next,” he said. “We don’t have the luxury or the option to stand still in the current environment, not when we’re facing reimbursement policy changes, labor shortages, capital access issues, evolving patient needs and a continually changing regulatory and political landscape. It will take vision, perseverance and courage, but we must act with heightened urgency, knowing our communities depend on us to meet the moment.”

Driven to make an impact

For as long as he can remember, Batheja has been drawn to community service. It’s an example set by his parents and grandparents, who were committed to making the communities they lived in stronger — sometimes one person at a time.

“My mother was the office manager for my father’s medical practice, and it used to drive her crazy when he was running behind,” Batheja said.

“But my dad believed in spending time getting to know his patients,” he said.  “He would say, ‘You spend the first half hour getting to know what’s going on in their life and what’s happening with them,’ because he recognized that many health issues aren’t necessarily physical or medical in nature.

“They stem from psychosocial factors: stress from losing a job or getting a divorce or caring for a family member who isn’t well,” he said. “My dad understood this. He wanted to get to know the whole patient so he could more effectively take care of their needs.”

Batheja’s father also understood that financial concerns can weigh heavily in patients’ decisions around care. He made sure patients knew they could come to him with their health concerns, even if they couldn’t afford to pay their bill.

“He believed if you do the right thing, the money will follow,” Batheja said.

Today, an endowment and scholarship honoring his father, the Narain L. Batheja, MD Memorial Scholarship Fund and the Batheja Family Endowment, enable local emergency services responders to receive specialized training and access to advanced, life-saving equipment.^a

“Real impact happens when we choose to lead,” Batheja said.

That’s also the reason he serves on the boards of his local YMCA, Family YMCA at Tarrytown, and Kendal on Hudson, a senior living community in Westchester County, N.Y., and volunteers for the area school district. It’s also why he has so much passion for his work in patient financial services, the area of revenue cycle most likely to interact one-on-one with patients.

A leadership opportunity years in the making

Batheja, who is director of patient registration and financial counseling for University Hospital in Newark, N.J., is one of the few revenue cycle directors ever to be named HFMA Chair.

Early in his career, he specialized in workers’ compensation and no-fault claims. Back then, Sleepy Hollow was known as North Tarrytown, and it was home to a General
Motors factory.

“We processed a tremendous amount of workers’ compensation claims,” he said. “I remember seeing stacks of paper — NYS C-4s [workers’ compensation forms]; itemized bills — and I had to pull the ER and radiology reports and such and attach them to the claim or it wouldn’t get paid. So I put together a little system for myself to make them easy to package and easy for the claim processor to review. I put everything right there at their fingertips, highlighted and tabbed so the adjuster could just process the claim for payment.”

The impact: “All of a sudden, cash from workers’ compensation and no-fault claims skyrocketed, and the aged receivables came down,” he said. “And everyone was like, ‘Wow, how’d you do it?’ I just paid attention to the details and put a process in place, and it ended up working out pretty well.”

From there, Batheja focused on Medicare, Medicaid and commercial claims, where his efforts also generated positive results.

“I got jazzed on the fact that I made a difference,” he said. “I brought some money into the hospital. I covered my salary. Maybe I helped pay for a nurse. Maybe I helped pay for somebody’s surgery that they couldn’t afford.”

It was another way of giving back. Word of mouth spread within healthcare revenue cycle circles regarding Batheja’s successes and his reputation as a team player.

---

---

The move to patient financial services

It wasn’t long before he was offered the position of director of patient financial services for Hudson Valley Hospital, now NewYork-Presbyterian Hudson Valley Hospital.

“I’ll never forget my boss at the time, Mark Webster, who gave me my first chance at a leadership role,” Batheja said. “We were out for drinks one evening, not long after I’d started working at the hospital. I asked him, ‘Why did you hire me? I’m still learning. I’m green.’ He goes, ‘I hired you for exactly that reason. Plenty of candidates came in, and when I asked a question, they gave me the answer I wanted to hear. You came in and said, ‘I don’t know the answer to that question, but I will get it for you, and I will make sure I do what it takes to make it right.’ I respected the fact that you were willing to say, ‘I don’t know, but I will figure it out.’”

The conversation reminded Batheja of the opportunities he’d been given at Phelps Hospital, where the patient financial services (PFS) director and CFO “both gave me the latitude to do things I never would have had the opportunity to do otherwise, like working with an IT vendor on the nitty-gritty details of a system conversion,” he said.

“The PFS director called me ‘Junior.’ He said to me, ‘Junior, I’m letting you do it because I know you can.’ And when I’d respond, ‘No, this is way more than I’m ready for,’ he’d simply say, ‘You’ve got it.’”

The start of volunteer work with HFMA

Unlike most members, Batheja’s volunteer service with HFMA began at the national level, as a member of the Patient Financial Services Forum Advisory Council. Batheja recalls how fortunate he was to associate with senior PFS leaders from across the country, while learning that many of the issues being dealt with were the same regardless of the geography, payer or computer system.

“I was just awestruck,” he said. “You know, you’re in these rooms with people who have been directors of patient accounts for 25 years, and they know so much. They’re a pretty impressive group of people. I wanted to be like them.”

Volunteer work at the chapter level

At the chapter level, Batheja’s local volunteer service began with the Hudson Valley New York Chapter (now the Empire New York Chapter).

Then, following his move to South Nassau Community Hospital (now Mount Sinai South Nassau) in Long Island, N.Y., he joined the Metropolitan New York Chapter, where he rose to the rank of chapter president. It’s something the Hudson Valley finance professionals he worked with early in his career still find humorous, saying, “You should have been on our chapter’s board!”

Today, his work with University Hospital in Newark puts him next door in New Jersey, although he has retained his membership with the Metropolitan New York Chapter.

Even in those early years of service, it was clear Batheja had the potential to lead at the national level.

“I said multiple years in a row, ‘Someday, Kiran needs to be chair of this organization,’ and it’s because he’s so member-focused,” said Joseph J. Fifer, FHFMA, CPA, past president and CEO of HFMA and a former HFMA Chair (2006-07). “There are a lot of people who are member-focused, and there are a lot of people who are chapter-focused, but there’s nobody more passionate about both than Kiran.”

---

---

A commitment to team building

Batheja brings a holistic understanding of revenue cycle to the role of Chair — not just of the patient access areas he leads, but of everything from billing to medical records to payment, said Gary Huck, CFO of University Hospital.

“He’s passionate about every piece of revenue cycle, and that’s part of what makes him so well-respected in our organization,” Huck said. “Leaders are always reaching out to him to find out how to get something through the system. He communicates well with physicians and the administrative staff for our clinics to explain how the state’s new charity care program works, and he gets the word out on a broad scale so that everyone understands the nuances. He’s the ultimate team player.”

He’s also someone who has the courage to speak up, especially when it comes to the role of HFMA chapters in the Association’s future, said Debora Kuchka-Craig, FHFMA, senior vice president of managed care, MedStar Health, and a former HFMA Chair who worked with Batheja on the “Chapters 2.0” initiative.

“He’s so passionate about preserving the ‘secret sauce’ of HFMA’s chapters at a time when the organization is also moving forward in new ways,” Kuchka-Craig said. “He’s a chapter guy at heart. He’s also a unifier. He’s very skilled at bringing people together around a common goal.”

---

---

The power of community

Batheja believes the strength and power of HFMA is its community of members. During HFMA’s Annual Conference, June 22-25, he’ll introduce his call to action for members: “Lead Now.”

“This is the moment to commit — to act — to shape what’s next in healthcare finance,” he said.

“Leadership is not about waiting for the perfect moment to come to you. Instead, leadership is about jumping in, stepping up with passion, maximizing the ability to gain knowledge and having the determination to make a difference,” he said.

At a time when the healthcare environment is rapidly changing, servant leaders bring a heighted urgency to the work of healthcare finance professionals in ensuring providers and their organizations can continue to meet their mission.

The theme “Lead Now” incorporates seven components:

• L for learn
• E for embrace (embracing the future, innovation and the challenges of the industry)
• A for aspire (thinking beyond conventional boundaries and directing your energy and efforts toward something bigger)
• D for deliver (taking bold steps to turn insights into impact)
• N for network (drawing from the collective strength of HFMA’s members)
• O for opportunity (turning potential into impact)
• W for will (committing to action)

As HFMA Chair, Batheja will call on members to go beyond their comfort zone and take the steps needed to lead their organizations and the industry through its most pressing challenges — including the federal, state and local government downsizing and cuts affecting HHS, Medicare and Medicaid and their likely impact on providers — toward a better future in healthcare.

“The relationships we build within HFMA — through shared experiences, challenges and triumphs — make us stronger, smarter and more resilient,” Batheja said. “Whether through networking, mentorship or collaborative learning, the bonds we’ve forged will help shape the industry’s future in a positive and meaningful way. The opportunity to lead is here now.”

Footnote

a. “How community gifts enhance care,” Westchester Magazine, Oct. 3, 2016.