Walmart Health’s demise is emblematic of the nation’s primary care conundrum
Walmart’s announcement on April 30 that it was pulling the plug on Walmart Health stunned the healthcare ecosystem.a Few saw it coming. Launched amid much fanfare in 2019, Walmart Health has operated 51 health centers in five states, with a robust virtual care platform. Walmart’s news release noted that “the challenging reimbursement environment and escalating…
The vital relationship between MDs and clinical documentation integrity
High-quality clinical documentation is vital for creating a complete picture of a patient’s health and medical history. Accurate records of diagnoses, medications, tests, treatments and other elements of a patient’s care are crucial in creating the most effective care plan leading to positive outcomes. The quality of a physician’s clinical documentation can also impact payer…
Change is inevitable: What are you doing about it?
Strategies evolve. Operations evolve. Leadership concepts evolve. That’s the circle of life in the healthcare industry. Ongoing changes can affect what healthcare leaders focus on from one year to the next. That idea might well be encapsulated in the differences between what the CFOs featured in this column in FY2022-23 cited as their suggested guiding…
Lessons learned from the Change experience
As is now well known, Change Healthcare, a 2022 acquisition by UnitedHealth Group (UHG), was hacked this past February. For nine days, hackers were able to gain access to and maneuver through Change Healthcare’s files at will before it became clear that the system had been compromised. According to a report from the Congressional Research…
2024 Success Awards recognize outstanding HFMA chapter achievements
Just over 500 chapter and regional volunteers attended HFMA’s 2024 Leadership Training Conference, which took place April 21-23 in Orlando, Fla. Attendees participated in role-specific training sessions, exchanged ideas with colleagues from around the country and developed chapter plans for the upcoming fiscal year. General session speakers included HFMA President and CEO Ann Jordan, National…
Ascension selects Saurabh Tripathi as new CFO
Ascension, a nonprofit Catholic health system based in St. Louis, Mo., recently announced that Saurabh Tripathi, MBA, has been tapped as its new CFO. Tripathi brings more than 25 years of executive experience to the position, including time as CFO and treasurer of Highmark Health, where he led growth initiatives and increased access to care.…
Decisive action is key to an ‘always forward’ mindset
It was a training camp that even the most elite athletes struggled to endure: Camp Hale, a WWII winter training ground in central Colorado. The valley floor alone sits at an elevation of 9,200 feet, while the elevation of the mountain ridges where the U.S. Army trained skiers in combat reached nearly 13,000 feet. It’s…
Jill Geisler: How to give feedback to your boss
It was a wonderful event. The executive who promoted me and other women into management when it was still a rarity (this was the early ‘80s) was receiving an award for his efforts. In his acceptance, he told the audience, “You’re honoring me for being selfish. I want only the best people on my team,…
Engaging in operating rule development and adoption amidst the era of healthcare automation
Over the past two decades, the healthcare industry has collaborated to accelerate automation, alleviate administrative burdens and lower the cost of conducting common business transactions. Although much work remains to be done to streamline healthcare administration, the industry’s approach to developing and implementing operating rules to improve revenue cycle automation, independent of standards development, is…
David Johnson: Site-neutral payment and the battle for healthcare’s soul
In a remarkable and surprising show of bipartisanship, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act on Dec. 11, 2023, by an overwhelming 320-71 vote. Avoiding hyperbole, the act lives up to its name. It seeks to equalize Medicare payment for the same drugs administered in the same way, whether in…