Jill Geisler: How to make tough leadership decisions that are fair-minded and not morale busters
Leaders at all levels within organizations solve problems, plan strategy and react to threats or opportunities. When you are high on the org chart, the stakes are greater. Your actions affect the bottom line, your team members, your organizational culture — and your own reputation. Whether you are breaking exciting new ground or choosing a…
News Briefs: CMS proposes a modest increase to hospital inpatient payments for FY27
CMS projects an average Medicare inpatient payment increase of 2.4%, totaling $1.4 billion industrywide, when the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1. The update, described in a proposed rule for inpatient care and long-term care hospitals (LTCHs), is based on a 3.2% increase to the market basket and a 0.8% reduction via a mandatory economywide productivity adjustment.…
David Johnson: The biology of AI and its role in the survival of healthcare
There’s no denying my title for this column is absurd. AI is bloodless. It has no flesh and bone. Beneath the “skin” of large language models, predictive algorithms and other AI manifestations are endless streams of numeric codes. Unlike biological creatures that are born, reproduce and die, AI produces outputs that are inert and can…
People: Steve Glass moves to CFO position for U.S. cancer center
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) in New York City announced in March that Steve Glass had joined the organization as executive vice president and CFO. Glass came to MSK from Cleveland-based Medical Mutual Insurance Co., where he had served as president and CEO from 2022 to 2024. That appointment followed more than 20 years…
Health systems should bring strategy to materials management
Health systems too often view inventory management as a back-office task, relegated to counting boxes and reordering supplies. But that perception ignores the direct role inventory plays in the patient experience. Being able to deliver the right supplies to the right place at the right time supports safe care and helps clinicians do their jobs…
Susan Dentzer: CMS’s new health tech initiatives hold promise but raise questions
New initiatives under the aegis of CMS — billed as “Making Health Tech Great Again” — are aimed at speeding the technological transformation of healthcare, which is now facing a deluge of products and services powered by AI. But while the agency’s efforts may spur patients’ and providers’ use of some technologies, a key question…
CMS moves to curb MA plans’ unfair payment advantage
In April, CMS published its annual Medicare Advantage (MA) rate announcement for 2027.a For most years in recent memory, this would be a routine event, accompanied by no small amount of headshaking from the provider community. Hospitals and physicians would be perpetually perplexed at why CMS would give MA plans generous payment increases, while giving hospitals…
Why healthcare finance needs more collaboration — and less ego
When Matt Cox, FHFMA, CPA, talks about the future of healthcare finance, he rarely talks about himself. The new HFMA chair consistently redirects the conversation to teams, partnerships and shared solutions — an approach shaped by a career spent leading hospital turnarounds across the country. Today, Cox is executive vice president and CFO for Corewell…
HFMA First Illinois Chapter members help at local food bank
For 2½ hours, 27 members of HFMA’s First Illinois Chapter and their families volunteered at the Northern Illinois Food Bank in Geneva on Jan. 31. They packed 13,566 pounds of food (equal to 11,000 meals) for the organization’s Backpack Program, which provides food to supplement weekend meals for children. “We are incredibly grateful to the…
How a health system can reduce premium labor while building a sustainable workforce
Labor costs are the largest single expense for health systems, and reliance on overtime and contract labor can exacerbate these costs. By addressing premium labor, health systems gain opportunities for increasing staff satisfaction and quality patient care, as well as achieving financial sustainability. Premium labor costs have increased nationally, with contract labor more than doubling…