An HFMA podcast episode wins top overall award, and hfm magazine earns a gold for general excellence

An episode of HFMA’s “Voices in Healthcare Finance” podcast and hfm magazine were honored June 27 at the SIIA 43rd Annual AM&P Network EXCEL Awards Gala in Washington, D.C. In total, HFMA took home seven awards.

The podcast episode, “How avoiding an awkward waiting room conversation can contribute to better health among transgender people,” earned the EXTRA! Award, the top honor bestowed by the AM&P Network EXCEL Awards. The podcast discussed the barriers to healthcare that transgender people face and how healthcare organizations can respond. The episode also won a Gold Award in the Other-Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives category.

HFMA’s Rick Gundling, senior vice president of content and professional practice guidance, said he was thrilled to learn of the EXTRA! Award: “HFMA was honored to win the EXCEL Awards’ overall top award and the evening’s special honor for an episode of its ‘Voices in Healthcare Finance’ podcast as well as a gold award for best journal and an array of other awards.  This is the second time we’ve received the overall top award in a major competition. It’s terrific that others see the high quality of HFMA’s work.”

Judges saw merit in the issues saying: “The cover portraits are extremely well done. The News Briefs section has valuable information and is clean with the image and chart/tables. Expert Reviewed offers strong content, helpful to the member readers. Overall, the publication does a nice job throughout of calling out important information and stats. Excellent.”

Several wins for hfm magazine

The Association’s member-magazine, hfm, earned the Gold EXCEL Award for overall journal excellence and a Bronze EXCEL Award for Design, where submitting three consecutive issues of a publication was required. Interestingly, two of the three cover stories among the Q4 issues also earned recognitions in the EXCEL competition as follows:

• Silver EXCEL Award for Feature Article “Healthcare’s cybersecurity stakes reach alarming levels” by Eric Reese, hfm managing editor, in November
• Bronze EXCEL Award for Feature Article “Inflation threatens post-pandemic rebound” by Nancy Mann Jackson, in October

The cover story of the third issue submitted (the winter issue), “Seeing green in the supply chain,” was written by Nick Hut, senior editor.

“I’m always extra-proud of these general excellence awards because it’s a team accomplishment,” said HFMA Director of Content Brad Dennison. “We take a lot of pride in the level of journalism we’re producing in hfm magazine, from the story ideas to the visually dynamic approach to presenting those stories. It’s gratifying the judges recognized the high level of work being done by HFMA’s editorial team.”

More about the award-winning podcast episode

“We’re very proud of our podcast offerings at HFMA, but the episode selected for this honor is particularly meaningful …,” said podcast host Erika Grotto, an HFMA senior editor, who accepted the award via a videotaped  speech. “This episode focused on barriers such as identity documents, things most of us wouldn’t think twice about. And the strategies proposed by my guest were simple and inexpensive — two terms you rarely hear in healthcare.”

The EXCEL judges said: “This is an incredibly timely topic that explores real life issues that are complex and important to discuss. This podcast has an insightful mix of content, is shared in a respectful manner and exemplifies what the EXTRA! Award is all about: timely, a supreme use of the medium, and powerful. So well-deserving of the EXTRA! selection this year.”

SIIA President Chris Mohr was quoted in the SIIA news release saying, “We firmly believe that embracing diverse viewpoints leads to the best outcomes. SIIA is dedicated to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion, and we commend the Healthcare Financial Management Association for their outstanding work in promoting these values.”

One additional winning HFMA submission

Leadership columnist Jill Geisler’s column “How inclusive leaders protect against ‘invisible work'” earned the Magazine Column Bronze EXCEL Award.