Wyoming Chapter proves simplicity yields success
Philanthropic projects are as much a part of HFMA chapter events as professional education. Through such projects, chapter members volunteer much-needed services and donate thousands of dollars to improve the health and well-being of their communities. And it doesn’t always take a major lift to pull off a philanthropy project that makes a difference. In…
Jill Geisler: Leadership is the best antidote to office politics
I ’m accustomed to hearing people refer to office politics when talking about challenges at work. It’s a negative descriptor, one that implies success is determined by game-playing. Such games may involve deception, information hoarding, power plays, sucking up, passive aggression, opportunistic coalitions, backstabbing and hidden agendas. People see or suspect that others are doing…
Kristina Bouyea and Cynthia Low Johnson earn women of the year laurels
Two HFMA members were recently named women of the year by the Northern California Chapter. The awards, which comprise two categories and are selected by an independent, non-HFMA review committee, were presented May 10 at the Chapter’s 11th Annual Women’s Conference. The Emerging Leader: Woman of the Year Award was presented to Kristina Bouyea, government…
Marc Scher: Successful innovation calls for an ‘always forward’ approach
During one of my favorite presentations at HFMA’s Annual Conference, healthcare entrepreneur and best-selling author Suneel Gupta described Betty Crocker’s unexpectedly bumpy path to launching an instant cake mix. Betty Crocker believed instant cake mixes were destined to become a best-selling product. Leaders had done the research, and they put a lot of marketing behind…
Julie Lautt: Success in healthcare finance leadership is about setting ambitious goals
Julie Lautt, CFO of Avera Health, has successfully led her team in achieving ambitious goals, overcoming challenges such as healthcare finance policies and the COVID-19 pandemic, and emphasizing the importance of teams and innovation in promoting cost-effectiveness in healthcare.
David Johnson: 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…