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Find out how to achieve recognition as an Adopter of best practices and earn your patients' trust when it comes to financial matters.
Improve your revenue cycle performance through standard metrics, peer comparison, and successful practices.
Mr. Brennan is the National Chair of HFMA during the 2018–2019 term, beginning June 1, 2018.
He is a principal of SunStone Consulting, Harrisburg, Pa., and assists clients throughout the country with reimbursement, regulatory, revenue integrity, and strategic solutions. Previously he served as executive vice president of finance and CFO of Geisinger Health System, a $7 billion physician-led, integrated health services organization that has as its main components an array of health services providers, including hospitals, a physician group practice, a number of health insurance companies, and a medical school. Before his tenure with Geisinger Health System he served as a CFO with other large health systems and tertiary care hospitals.
An HFMA member since 1981 and a Fellow since 1992, Mr. Brennan has served three years as a National Director, one year as Secretary-Treasurer, and one year as Chair-Elect. He was an active member of HFMA's Large System CFO Council, the Value Projects, and previously served on the Principles & Practices Board and the Patient Transparency Task Force, and was a board member of the Metropolitan Philadelphia Chapter.
Mr. Brennan holds an MBA in healthcare administration and a Bachelor of Science in business administration, both from LaSalle University. He has been a CPA since 1979 and is a member of the AICPA and the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Mr. Allen is the National Chair-Elect of HFMA during the 2018-19 term, beginning June 1, 2018.
Mr. Allen is CFO at OSF Healthcare in Peoria, Ill., and served as a Director on HFMA's National Board of Directors from 2012-15.
A member of HFMA since 1993, Mr. Allen has served the Association as chair of the Board of Examiners and as a member of the National Advisory Council and HFMA task forces for the Value Project, Healthcare Reform, and MAP App. Mr. Allen has served the McMahon-Illini Chapter as program chair, president elect, and president. He has received the Follmer Bronze, Reeves Silver, and Muncie Gold merit awards.
Mr. Allen holds an accounting degree from Illinois State University and a master's degree in healthcare administration from the University of Minnesota.
Ms. Galindez is the Secretary/Treasurer of HFMA during the 2018-2019 term, beginning June 1, 2018.
She is an associate vice president, value-based care, for Conifer Health Systems in Frisco, Texas.
A member of HFMA since 2002, Ms. Galindez has served the National Association as a member of the National Advisory Council, and she served at the Chapter level as the South Texas Chapter president and as chair and member of various committees for the Gulf Coast, First Illinois, and South Texas Chapters. She has received HFMA's Medal of Honor, and the Follmer Bronze, Reeves Silver, and Muncie Gold merit awards.
Ms. Galindez has worked for nearly 20 years to help healthcare systems improve the health of their revenue cycle and aid in their transition to value-based reimbursement. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance from Florida Atlantic University and a Master of Health Administration from George Washington University.
Mr. Fifer is President and CEO of HFMA.
Prior to assuming this position in 2012, Mr. Fifer spent 11 years as vice president of hospital finance at Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, Mich. He also spent time with McLaren Health Care Corporation, Flint, Mich., as vice president of finance and with Ingham Regional Medical Center, Lansing, Mich., as senior vice president of finance and CFO. Mr. Fifer started his career with nine years at Ernst & Young, also in Michigan.
An HFMA member since 1983, Mr. Fifer has served as Chair of the Board of Directors, two terms as a board member, and as a chapter president.
Mr. Fifer received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Saginaw Valley State University. He is an active community volunteer and runner. Mr. Fifer and his wife, Katie, have three children: Sarah, Tom, and Joe-Joe.
Ms. Coleman is a voluntary Director of HFMA during the 2016-2019 term, beginning June 1, 2016.
She is the executive vice president and CFO for Excellus BlueCross BlueShield and its parent corporation, The Lifetime Healthcare Companies.
A member of HFMA since 1993, Ms. Coleman is a 30-year veteran of the healthcare industry. She was CFO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Rhode Island before joining The Lifetime Healthcare Companies in 2011. Before Rhode Island, she was at UnitedHealthcare, Cigna, and a hospital in California.
Ms. Coleman holds a Bachelor of Science in accounting and is pursuing an Executive MBA from the University of Rochester's Simon Business School.
Mr. Crane is a voluntary Director of HFMA during the 2016-2019 term, beginning on June 1, 2016.
He graduated from Oregon State University in 1985 and immediately began working as a Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement consultant to hospitals and home health agencies. He earned his CPA designation in 1989 and moved into financial management of hospitals and health systems.
Mr. Crane is CFO and vice president of Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. Previously he served as CFO at Salem Health and worked at Oregon Health & Science University. In 2010 he earned a Master of Healthcare Administration from the University of Minnesota.
Mr. Crane has served on several boards throughout his career. He is a member of HFMA’s Chapter Advancement Team. He was the president of the Oregon Chapter of HFMA and served six years on this board. He is currently on the board of Apprise Health Insights, a part of the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems. He was a director on the board of the Oregon Trail Chapter of the American Red Cross and served on the economic development corporation board for Marion and Polk counties in Oregon.
Mr. Crane lives in West Salem, Ore., with his wife, children, and pets. He enjoys making wine, skiing, and scuba diving.
Mr. Dahlen is a voluntary Director of HFMA during the 2017-20 term, beginning June 1, 2017.
Mr. Dahlen is CFO of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and a member of HFMA since 1985. Mr. Dahlen has served the Association on the Large System CFO Council and as president of the North Dakota Chapter. Mr. Dahlen joined one of the predecessor organizations that now form Banner Health as an internal auditor in 1983 and progressed through various roles in financial planning, facility operations, and corporate finance. He was named vice president of finance for Banner in 2000, senior vice president in 2006, and CFO in 2009. Prior to joining the Banner organization, he was an auditor for McGladrey Pullen.
Mr. Dahlen received his Bachelor of Science in accounting from the University of North Dakota and an MBA from Minnesota State University. He is board chairman of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and involved in many community service organizations.
Mr. Heffernan is a voluntary Director of HFMA during the 2018-21 term, beginning June 1, 2018.
He is senior vice president of finance and treasurer for Massachusetts General Physicians Organization in Boston. Mr. Heffernan is responsible for all financial functions and co-chairs system-wide committees for analytics, trend management, and health benefit redesign. He is a member of the MGPO executive team and a member of the Partners senior financial management team.
Jim was president of the Massachusetts/Rhode Island Chapter and has served on the Board of Examiners and National Advisory Council. He has received the Follmer Bronze, Reeves Silver and Muncie Gold merit awards. He holds a B.A. in Chemistry from Boston University and an MBA from the Sloan Program at Cornell University Graduate School.
Ms. Price is a voluntary Director of HFMA during the 2018-21 term, beginning June 1, 2018.
She is CEO of HCA Parallon Shared Services in Houston. She leads an executive management team including COOs, CFO, CIO, HIM, HR, directors of education, compliance, payor and regulatory compliance, credentialing, and client relations with 3,000 employees at 26 facilities. She leads the efforts to elevate patient and physician experience including improving quality outcomes, service level agreements, and client satisfaction. She oversees the development of strategic direction for the revenue cycle process.
Ms. Price was a president of the Gulf Coast Chapter and has served as Chair of the Board of Examiners. She has received the Follmer Bronze, Reeves Silver and Muncie Gold merit awards. Ms. Price holds a B.B.A. in accounting.
Ms. Reichle is a voluntary Director of HFMA during the 2016-19 term, beginning June 1, 2016.
She is CFO and senior vice president of Lansing, Mich.-based Sparrow Health System. A member of HFMA since 1995, Ms. Reichle has served the Association as a member of the National Advisory Council and the Principles & Practices Board.
Ms. Reichle holds a bachelor's degree from the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University and a master's degree from the Richard DeVos Graduate School of Management at Northwood University.
Mr. Scher is a voluntary Director of HFMA during the 2017-20 term, beginning on June 1, 2017.
Marc B. Scher, is partner-in-charge of KPMG's US and Global Audit Healthcare Practice based in Orange County, Calif.
A member of HFMA since 1987, Mr. Scher has served the Association as chair of the Principles & Practices Board. He also was past editor of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Audit and Accounting Guide for Health Care Organizations.
Mr. Scher has worked with a wide range of major health systems, long-term care providers, hospitals, biotech companies, health plans, purchasing cooperatives, and research organizations. Several of his additional roles at KPMG LLP include SEC reviewing partner, a national instructor for healthcare professional development courses, and a member of the Global Healthcare Center of Excellence.
Mr. Scher holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting and information systems from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He is a licensed CPA in California, Illinois, and New York.
Ms. Taylor is a voluntary Director of HFMA during the 2018-21 term, beginning June 1, 2018.
She is corporate vice president, information technology and CIO for Baptist Health South Florida in Coral Gables, Fla. Ms. Taylor oversees a $210 million operating budget, $50 million capital budget, and 600 technology professionals. She directs clinical, business, technical, and analytics subject matter expert teams to ensure successful execution of complex IT projects to meet the organization's strategic objectives.
Ms. Taylor was president of the Florida Chapter and has received the Follmer Bronze Award. She holds a B.A. from Boston College and an MBA from Florida International University.
Mr. Williams is a voluntary Director of HFMA during the 2017-20 term, beginning on June 1, 2017.
He is a partner with BKD LLP and is the healthcare industry leader for BKD Oklahoma.
A member of HFMA since 2005, Mr. Williams has served the Association as the Region 9 regional executive and as secretary, vice president, president elect, and president of the Oklahoma Chapter. He has appeared regularly as a speaker at events hosted by his Oklahoma and other chapters.
Mr. Williams is a member of Leadership Tulsa Class 42, and was named to Tulsa Business Journal's 2014 Men of Distinction and the 40 Under 40 Class of 2010. He received the 2011 Trailblazer Award from the OSCPA. Mr. Williams holds a degree in accounting from of The University of Tulsa.
Two senior leaders at R1 talk about the advantages of working with an innovative revenue cycle partner that offers technology-enabled revenue cycle and patient experience services.
Two senior leaders at Grant Thornton talk about the advantages of robotic process automation to improve office efficiency, reduce costs, and mitigate risk.
A senior leader of VitalWare talks about the need to create a comprehensive pricing strategy for consumers and how to get started.
Two of HealthTrust’s senior leaders talk about strategies for optimizing the hospital workforce to improve productivity and reduce waste.
Patient financial engagement is more challenging than ever – and more critical. With patient responsibility as a percentage of revenue on the rise, providers have seen their billing-related costs and accounts receivable levels increase. If increasing collection yield and reducing costs are a priority for your organization, the metrics outlined in this presentation will provide the framework you need to understand what’s working and what’s not, in order to guide your overall patient financial engagement initiatives and optimize results.
No two patients are the same. Each has a very personal healthcare experience, and each has distinct financial needs and preferences that have an impact on how, when and if they chose to pay their healthcare bill. It’s no longer effective to apply static billing techniques to solve the complex challenge of collecting balances from patients. The need to tailor financial conversations and payment options to individual needs and preferences is critical. This presentation provides 10 recommendations that will not only help you improve payment performance through a more tailored approach, but take control of rising collection costs.
This white paper, written by Apex Vice President of Solutions and Services, Carrie Romandine, discusses the importance of patient segmentation and messaging specifically related to the patient revenue cycle. Applying strategic messaging that is tailored to each patient type will not only better educate consumers on payment options specific to their billing needs, but it will maximize the amount collected before sending to collections. Further, targeted messaging should be applied across all points of patient interaction (i.e. point of service, customer service, patient statements) and analyzed regularly for maximized results.
This white paper, written by Apex President Patrick Maurer, discusses methods to increase patient adoption of online payments. Providers are now seeking ways to incrementally collect more payments due from patients as well as speeding up the rate of collections. This white paper shows why patient-centric approaches to online payment portals are important complements to traditional provider-centric approaches.
Increased electronic engagement between healthcare providers and patients provides significant opportunities for improving revenue cycle metrics and encouraging patients to access EHRs. This article, written by Apex Founder and CEO Brian Kueppers, explores a number of strategies to create synergy between patient billing, online payment portals and electronic health record (EHR) software to realize a high ROI in speed to payment, patient satisfaction and portal adoption for meaningful use.
Faced with a rising tide of bad debt, a large Southeastern healthcare system was seeing a sharp decline in net patient revenues. The need to improve collections was dire. By integrating critical tools and processes, the health system was able to increase online payments and improve its financial position. Taking a holistic approach increased overall collection yield by 10% while costs came down because the number of statements sent to patients fell by 10%, which equated to a $1.3M annualized improvement in patient cash over a six-month period. This case study explains how.
With the ICD10 deadline quickly approaching and daily responsibilities not slowing down, final preparations for October 1 require strategic prioritization and laser focus.
Read how Gwinnett Medical Center provides clear connections to financial information, offers multiple payment options for patients, and gives onsite staff the ability to collect payments at multiple points throughout the care process.
Read how Orlando Health was able to perform deeper dives into claims data to help the health system see claim rejections more quickly–even on the front end–and reduce A/R days.
To maintain fiscal fitness and boost patient satisfaction and loyalty, healthcare providers need visibility into when and how much they will be paid–by whom–and the ability to better navigate obstacles to payment. They need payment clarity. This whitepaper illuminates this concept that is winning fans at forward-thinking hospitals.
Financial services staff are always looking for ways to improve the verification, billing and collections processes, and Munson Healthcare is no different. Read about how they streamlined the billing process to produce cleaner bills on the front end and helped financial services staff collect more than $1 million in additional upfront annual revenue in one year.
Effective revenue cycle management can be a challenge for any hospital, but for smaller providers it is even tougher. Read how Wallace Thomson identified unreimbursed procedures, streamlined claims management, and improved its ability to determine charity eligibility.
Before launching an energy-efficiency initiative, it’s important to build a solid business case and understand the funding options and potential incentives that are available. Healthcare leaders should consider taking the steps outlined in the whitepaper to ease the process of gaining approval, piloting, implementing, and supporting sustainability projects. You will find that investing in sustainability and energy efficiency helps hospitals add cash to their bottom line. Discover how hospitals and health systems have various options for funding energy-efficient and renewable-energy initiatives, depending on their current financial structure and strategy.
Health care is a dynamic mergers and acquisitions market with numerous hospitals and health systems contemplating or pursuing formal arrangements with other entities. These relationships often pose a strategic benefit, such as enhancing competencies across the continuum, facilitating economies of scale, or giving the participants a competitive advantage in a crowded market. Underpinning any profitable acquisition is a robust capital planning strategy that ensures an organization reserves sufficient funds and efficiently onboards partners that advance the enterprise mission and values.
The success of healthcare mergers, acquisitions, and other affiliations is predicated in part on available capital, and the need for and sources of funding are considerations present throughout the partnering process, from choosing a partner to evaluating an arrangement’s capital needs to selecting an integration model to finding the right money source to finance the deal. This whitepaper offers several strategies that health system leaders have used to assess and manage capital needs for their growing networks.
Announcements from several commercial payers and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) early in 2015 around increased efforts to form value-based contracts with providers seemed to point to an impending rise in risk-based contracting. Rather than wait for disruption from the outside in, health care providers are now making inroads on collaborating with payers on various risk-based contracting models to increase the value of health care from within.
Yuma Regional Medical Center (YRMC) is a not-for-profit hospital serving a population of roughly 200,000 in Yuma and the surrounding communities. Before becoming a ZirMed client, Yuma was attempting to manually monitor hundreds of thousands of charges which led to significant charge capture leakage. Learn how Yuma & ZirMed worked together to address underlying collections issues at the front end, thus increasing Yuma’s overall bottom line.
Kindred Hospital Rehabilitation Services works with partners to audit the market and the facility’s role in that market to identify opportunities for improvement. This approach leads to successes; Kindred’s clinical rehab and management expertise complements our partners’ strengths. Every facility and challenge is unique, and requires a full objective analysis.
As the critical link between patient care and reimbursement, health information enables more complete and accurate revenue capture. This 5-Minute White Paper Briefing shares how to achieve cost-effective revenue integrity by your optimizing HIM systems.
Speedier cash flow starts with better CDI and coding. This 5-Minute White Paper Briefing explains how providers can improve vital measures of technical and business performance to accelerate cash flow.
Qualified coders are getting harder to come by, and even the most seasoned professional can struggle with the complexity of ICD-10. This 5-Minute White Paper Briefing explains how partnerships can help improve coding and other key RCM operations potentially at a cost savings.
The point of managing your revenue cycle isn’t just to improve revenue and cash flow. It’s to do those things effectively by consistently following best practices— while spending as little time, money, and energy on them as possible.
How Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford increased payments received within 45 days by 20% and reduced paper submission claims by 70% by using ZirMed solutions.
The reasons claims are denied are so varied that managing denials can feel like chasing a thousand different tails. This situation is not surprising given that a hypothetical denial rate of just 5 percent translates to tens of thousands of denied claims per year for large hospitals—where real‐world denial rates often range from 12 to 22 percent. Read about how predictive modeling can detect meaningful correlations across claims denials data.
Emergency Mobile Health Care (EMHC) was founded to be and remains an exclusively locally owned and operated emergency medical service organization; today EMHC serves a population of more than a million people in and around Memphis, answering 75,000 calls each year.
Since the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) introduction, CMS has paid more than $100 million in bonus payments to participants. However, these bonuses ended in 2015; providers who successfully meet the reporting requirements in 2016 will avoid the 2% negative payment adjustment in 2018, so now is the time to act! Included in this whitepaper are implications of increasing patient responsibility, collections best practices, and collections and internal control solutions.
Getting paid what your physician deserves—that’s the goal of every biller. Yet even for the best billers, achieving that success can be elusive when denials stand in the way of success, presenting challenges at every turn. Denials aren’t going away, but you can learn techniques to manage and even prevent them.Join practice management expert Elizabeth W. Woodcock, MBA, FACMPE, CPC, to: Discover methods to translate denial data into business intelligence to improve your bottom line, determine staff productivity benchmarks for billers, and recognize common mistakes in denial management.
Physician practices must improve organizational efficiency to compete in this era of reduced reimbursement and escalating administrative costs.
Many healthcare organizations are pursuing next-generation health information systems solutions. Learn more about Navigant's work with University of Michigan Health System.
The proper implementation of healthcare information technology systems is crucial to an organization’s financial health.
As value-based payment models evolve, providers are challenged to maintain superior clinical outcomes while controlling costs.
Read more about factors contributing to the changes in the post-acute marketplace and what it means for manufacturers, physicians, clinicians, patients, and post-acute facilities as they anticipate the transition to the second curve.
HSG helped the physicians and executives of St. Claire Regional in Morehead, Kentucky, define their shared vision for how the group would evolve over the next decade. As well as, develop the strategic and operational priorities which refocused and accelerated the group’s evolution.
The client was a nine-hospital health system with 14 clinics serving communities in a multi-state market with very limited access to care, poor economic conditions, high unemployment, and a heavy Medicare/Medicaid/uninsured payer mix. In most of these communities, the system was the sole source of care. Though the clinics were of substantial size (they employed 98 physicians) and comprised of multiple specialists, the physicians functioned as individuals and the practices lacked any real group culture.
Clinical integration can be expensive, but it doesn’t have to be, as this four-step road map for developing a CIN proves. Does it have to cost millions to initiate a clinical integration strategy? Contrary to popular belief, we have clients who have generated substantial shared savings and a significant ROI over time, without massive investments. Yes, some financial capital is required for resources the CIN providers can’t bring to the table themselves. But the size of that investment can be miniscule relative to the value it produces: improved outcomes and documentation for payers.
Today’s concerns about physician compensation are the result of the changing healthcare environment. The transition to value is slow, but finally becoming a reality. Proactive hospitals want to ensure that provider incentives are properly aligned with ever-increasing value-based demands. This report focuses on the three big questions HSG receives about adding value to physician compensation; Why are organizations redesigning their provider compensation plans? What elements and parameters must be part of successful compensation plans? How are organizations implementing compensation changes?
Revenue Cycle Management has become an even more complex issue with declining reimbursements, implementation of Electronic Health Records, evolving local carrier determinations (LCD), and payer credentialing [The emphasis on healthcare fraud, abuse and compliance has increased the importance of accuracy of data reporting and claims filing). The efficiency of a medical practice’s billing operations has critical impact on the financial performance. In many cases, patient billings are the primary revenue source that pays staff salaries, provider compensation and overhead operating cost. Inefficiencies or inaccurate billing will contribute to operating losses.
This publication identifies and outlines the necessary characteristics of a fully-functioning clinically integrated network (CIN). What it doesn’t do is detail how hospitals and providers can participate in the value-based care environment during the development process. One common misconception is that the CIN can’t do anything significant until it has obtained the FTC’s “clinically integrated” stamp of approval. While the network must satisfy the FTC’s definition of clinical integration before single signature contracting for FFS rates and contracts can legally start, hospitals and providers can enjoy three key benefits during the development process.
Nearly half of all Medicare beneficiaries treated in the hospital will need post-acute care services after discharge. For these patients, a stay in an inpatient rehabilitation facility, skilled nursing facility or other post-acute care setting comes between hospital and home.
With the proper process, tools, and feedback mechanisms in place, budgeting can be a valuable exercise for organizations while helping hold organizational leaders accountable. Having a proper monthly variance review process is one of the most critical factors in creating a more efficient and accurate budget. Monthly variance reporting puts parameters around what is to be expected during the upcoming budget entry process.
Managing the cost of patient care is the top strategic priority of most hospital CFOs today. As healthcare shifts to more data-driven decision making, having clear visibility into key volume, cost and profitability measures across clinical service lines is becoming increasingly important for both long-range and tactical planning activities. In turn, the cost accounting function in healthcare provider organizations is becoming an increasingly important and strategic function. This whitepaper includes five strategies for efficient and accurate cost accounting and service line analytics and keys to overcoming the associated challenges.
TRENDSETTER
This article takes an in-depth look at how one company is enabling more efficient procure-to-pay processes to streamline healthcare organizations’ financial operations.
This article takes an in-depth look at how one organization is preventing chronic care readmissions through in-home monitoring, patient education, and counseling.
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Drive down costs while improving quality in a reform environment.