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…
People: Atlantic General and BSMH announce CFO transitions
Atlantic General Hospital and Health System in Berlin, Md., has hired James Kanuch, CHFP, MBA, as vice president of finance and CFO. Kanuch, a member of HFMA’s Maryland Chapter, brings 30 years of financial and operational experience to the new role. Most recently, he served as senior vice president of finance at Allegheny Health Network…
Jill Geisler: Being positive and solving problems are not mutually exclusive
We want our leaders to be positive forces for good. But what happens when they prefer to deal with only the positive aspects of the job and avoid the negative? An hfm reader recently suggested this scenario might be worth exploring in a column. Indeed, it is. The reader described working with two nonprofit leaders…
Dennis Dahlen: It’s time to reflect
From Nashville to Arizona, Pennsylvania to Puerto Rico, the past year gave me a unique opportunity to see HFMA in action at the chapter level and to partner with HFMA’s National team to position the Association for even greater things ahead. I’ve been blessed to share my year as National Chair with HFMA President and…
Tennessee Chapter hosts a unique March Madness watch party
For HFMA’s Tennessee Chapter, the NCAA Tournament is cause for a special event. “Our March Madness watch party is purely an entertainment and networking event,” said Chase Wunder, director of business development at Wakefield & Associates in Knoxville, Tenn., and current Tennessee Chapter president. “It allows folks to sneak out of work a little early…
Why the Medicare physician fee schedule is sheer madness
Amid the complexities of U.S. healthcare, there is probably no construct that’s more byzantine than the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) — the program’s elaborate system of paying physicians and other clinicians (including nurse practitioners, physician assistants and clinical psychologists) for more than 10,000 medical services.a In 2022, the schedule drove about $71.2 billion in…