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.
David W. Johnson: Pizza, productivity and the impact of inflation on healthcare finance
The skyrocketing inflation of healthcare costs over the past decades has considerably reduced the value of healthcare in our country, and waste is largely at the root of the problem. A focus on eliminating healthcare waste is logically needed to foster a better, more productive life for all Americans,
Healthcare organizations need a better way to measure ROI of health equity investments
Healthcare organizations’ investments in health equity can deliver a meaningful ROI, but identifying the financial benefits of such investments requires an expanded framework for analysis beyond criteria used in a standard ROI analysis.
How healthy food incentives can help solve our nation’s problem with unhealthy eating
To help patients dealing with a lack of access to healthy foods, providers should consider partnering with an organization that can help them provide these patients with the means for purchasing healthy food using technology such as swipe cards or mobile e-vouchers, The ability to track such purchases can allow a provider to more effectively work with these patients to address dietary issues, says Sam Jonas of Snap2Save, a developer of this approach.
Why evaluating skilled nursing options is important in an evolving post-acute landscape
The post-acute landscape is changing quickly, and skilled nursing facilities SNFs are changing with it. Health systems have numerous options to engage in this evolving landscape, and numerous factors to consider in determining the best option.
Bruce Haupt: How the revenue cycle can help patients make healthy choices
The revenue cycle should be designed to give patients choices that help make healthcare more affordable for them, says Bruce Haupt, president and CEO of ClearBalance Healthcare. By clearly communicating those choices, organizations can promote improved health by encouraging patients to seek care they might otherwise have deferred.
How a workforce marketplace ecosystem can reduce traveler nurse dependence and stabilize a hospital’s labor cost model
High labor costs are threatening the viability of many hospitals and health systems. A workforce ecosystem approach, after Uber’s “gig worker” approach, can help ensure organizations have access to a stable, cost-effective workforce, with reduced reliance on costly alternatives such as over-reliance on trave nurse.
The metrics that matter in today’s physician enterprise
Advanced practice providers now represent about two-fifths of the physician enterprise workforce. New metrics are required to reflect this and other transformative changes within the physician enterprise.
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.
Improved access and quality of care are keys to solving the nation’s mental illness crisis
If we are to meaningfully address our nation’s crisis in mental health, we need to start by treating mental illness the same way we treat physical ailments, says Thomas Young, MD, a Board-certified physician and long-time vocal advocate for improving mental health in the United States.