Enterprisewide physician advisor programs are key to improving costs and revenue cycle performance
Making sure physicians understand the financial implications of how they document their care is critical to a health system’s financial sustainability.
Laurie Beyer: Routine rounding helps yield financial improvements
If you want to reach Laurie R. Beyer, MBA, CPA, executive vice president and CFO at GBMC HealthCare in Maryland, avoid any time between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. Tuesday through Friday. No matter what time of year it is, she will be unavailable to take your call during those times because she will be…
Joe Fifer: The courage to embrace change
During one of my first meetings with HFMA staff in 2012, I advised the assembled staffers that if they thought they’d be sitting next to the same people and doing the same things in a year’s time, they were probably mistaken. When I noticed people squirming in their seats, I hastened to add that I…
David Johnson: Academic medicine, where privilege compounds dysfunction
Academic medicine combines healthcare with higher education, the two U.S. economic sectors that have exhibited outsized cost growth over the past 50 years. The result is a stunning disconnection between academic medical center (AMC) business practices and the supply-demand dynamics reshaping healthcare delivery. Market, technological and regulatory forces are pushing the healthcare industry to deliver…
Jill Geisler cautions healthcare finance leaders to beware of blind spots and biases
You’re a good leader. You work hard, care deeply and want your people to succeed. You take part in trainings and programs to elevate your skills and the culture you lead. You read columns like this to pick up management tips. And you don’t stop reading when you get to the uncomfortable message of this…
Dennis Laraway joins Cleveland Clinic as CFO
Dennis L. Laraway, MBA, officially joined Cleveland Clinic as CFO on March 13. An experienced financial leader, Laraway has held CFO positions at several large integrated health systems, including Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston, Scott & White Healthcare in Temple, Texas, and St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix. Most recently, he served…
News Briefs: Financial and operational pressures continue for hospitals amid scattered positive signs
Recent financial data for the hospital industry illustrate continuing challenges even as some trends improve. Fitch Ratings released an analysis in early March that offers scant reason for optimism. Titled “Early NFP hospital medians show expected deterioration; will worsen,” it draws on data from hospitals with earlier 2022 financial year-ends. Those numbers show “materially weaker…
Robert Turner: Avoiding a bond covenant default takes aggressive action from a health system borrower
Not-for-profit hospitals and health systems have faced an increasingly difficult operating environment since inflation began to grow in mid-2021. Last year was particularly hard, beginning with a new wave of COVID-19 infections caused by the omicron variant, and followed by mounting expenses, staffing shortages, rising interest rates and investment losses. As a result, Kaufman Hall…
South Texas Chapter event exceeds expectations
HFMA’s South Texas Chapter hosted a women’s leadership conference on Jan. 20 in Austin, Texas. The theme was Empower, Encourage, Elevate, and it was the first event of its kind for the Chapter. Things went so well that they’re already planning to do it again next year. Trying something different Amy Raymond, vice president of…
Joe Fifer: The courage to reframe healthcare to encompass ‘health’
Whether you’ve worked in this field for a day or a decade, when someone asks you what business you’re in, the answer is easy: Healthcare. And your meaning is clear. Imagine if you had answered, “health,” instead. Suddenly, that word raises more questions than it answers. Does the health business refer to fitness or nutrition,…