Online community value is apparent amid the COVID-19 outbreak

HFMA members with industry-related questions or new challenges to discuss have 24/7 access to a community of industry peers.

Since HFMA launched its new online Community last June, we’ve seen steady growth in users, connections being made and quite a bit of knowledge sharing between members. But when the COVID-19 pandemic was announced, we saw the Community activity increase to a whole new level.

Finishing touches on a massive platform upgrade with enhanced user tools and email notifications were completed in February. In retrospect, it was just in time as it became apparent in March that we would all be grappling with how the new coronavirus affected healthcare and healthcare finance. Since then, members at all levels have been relying daily on the online Community to:

• Get answers to important questions
• Share observations
• Gain a better understanding of new policies and procedures as COVID-19 spread throughout the world

Our most active forum has been the Revenue Cycle Group where recent topics have ranged from telehealth and staff work-from-home policies, to handling changes in revenue cycle operations and specifics around special payments and CPT codes.

We’ve also seen quite a bit of activity in our Open Forum and CFO Forum, as well as the Payment and Reimbursement Forum. Recently, we launched the Rural Health Forum to help solve the unique issues faced by critical access and rural health providers.

Because of the need for resources during these unprecedented times, we also launched the group COVID-19 Crisis: Business Partners Helping Now. It is specifically for business partners to post messages, services and resources to help relieve some of the obstacles providers are facing during the coronavirus crisis.

HFMA has always had a strong community of members who are the backbone of our organization. And we now have a digital space to support and enhance these connections and to continue conversations beyond the in-person experience. If you have a burning question or are facing new challenges within your organization, you have access 24/7 to a community of industry peers.

Our desire is to get your questions answered, provide you with new professional connections and hopefully encourage you to contribute to discussions posted by your peers. Since we launched, it’s been inspiring to see how our online Community continues to expand, as well as observe how our members engage and support each other on diverse discussion topics, especially during these unprecedented times.

With your continued active participation, our HFMA Community will progress, grow and become a thriving online exchange. 

To join Community groups and start conversations, visit community.hfma.org.