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Steven Berger, FHFMA
About the Author

Steven Berger, FHFMA
Latest Work
HCA CFO, William Rutherford, says healthcare finance leaders should have a patient focus
To be able to consistently perform at the highest levels, health system CFOs must have a strong commitment to clear and specific guiding principles. So says William Rutherford, CPA, CFO and executive vice president of Nashville, Tennessee-based HCA Healthcare, the largest healthcare system (by gross and net revenues) in the United States. And for Rutherford,…
Voice of Experience: Richard Silveria says healthcare finance is rife with opportunities
What conclusion might a finance leader reach after four decades of experience in healthcare financial management? For Richard Silveria, CFO of Cape Cod Healthcare in Hyannis, Massachusetts, his 40 years of such experience have only strengthened his belief that opportunities to improve final outcomes are always at hand for hospitals and health systems. That belief…
Steven Berger: Reflections on ‘Voice of Experience’ words of wisdom, year 1
In this first anniversary of the “Voice of Experience” column, it is an appropriate time to revisit the suggestions and insights shared by the eight hospital/health systems healthcare executives who have been long-standing members of HFMA and were featured in hfm magazine. Significantly, among the five guiding principles each leader shared, three stand out, having…
Laurie Beyer: Routine rounding helps yield financial improvements
If you want to reach Laurie R. Beyer, MBA, CPA, executive vice president and CFO at GBMC HealthCare in Maryland, avoid any time between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. Tuesday through Friday. No matter what time of year it is, she will be unavailable to take your call during those times because she will be…
Dan Heckathorne: Healthcare CFOs need a guiding philosophy and a mantra
What are the qualities that make a successful healthcare CFO? Is it leadership skills? Financial acumen? General management skills? Teaching and/or mentoring skills? A commitment to continued learning to maintain or acquire new skills? Answers vary. But for Dan Heckathorne, CFO of San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital (SGMH) in Banning, California, success in the CFO role…
A clinical background can give a hospital CFO greater financial acumen
Stephen “Jan” Grigsby, FHFMA, MHA, vice president and CFO at Springhill Medical Center (SMC) in Mobile Alabama, is one of those rare senior finance executives who came to his position from a clinical background. And as his experience shows, such finance leaders are likely to have valuable lessons and perspectives to share with their peers…
Healthcare CFOs can benefit from also being strong financial analysts
Starting out in healthcare as a financial analyst is a somewhat unusual place to embark on the career path to becoming CFO of large academic medical center (AMC). But that’s the path that Wendy Fielding, MBA, a 30-year member of HFMA, took on her journey to becoming CFO and system vice president of finance at…
Wendy Fielding: Healthcare CFOs can benefit from having a financial analyst’s perspective
Wendy Fielding, MBA, a 30-year member of HFMA, and CFO and system vice president of finance at Dartmouth-Hitchcock in Lebanon, New Hampshire, values the lessons she learned from her early experience as a financial analyst in healthcare. And she applies those lessons learned as she helps her organization today realize its commitment to value-based care and improving access to care for its patients.
Terri Chinn: For hospital CFOs, success comes from understanding payer expectations
Terri Chinn, CPA, a 37-year member of HFMA, and vice president, finance, at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Grand Junction, Colorado, suggests success for her organization comes from its ability promote health in its service area. She has applied her lessons learned as a leader of both payer and provider organizations to financially manage a clinically integrated network, called Monument Health, with the purpose of improving quality and access while reducing cost for its beneficiaries.
Physicians and finance: Managing the differences is critical to building clinical value
To work together effectively, finance and clinical leaders must not only understand but also value and acknowledge the benefits to be gained from their different perspectives on what constitutes success.