Oregon Chapter creates an informational campaign for new Enterprise members

HFMA’s Oregon Chapter wants its new Enterprise members to enjoy the full value of membership in the Association. And the Chapter’s leaders have translated that desire into action through an active campaign aimed at demonstrating to the new members all the ways they can benefit from HFMA membership.

The campaign has been spearheaded by the Oregon Chapter’s current president, Kelly Smith, CHFP, director of revenue integrity for Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in Portland, and its FY18 president, Matt Navigato, CHFP, vice president of enterprise revenue cycle, OHSU.

Kelly Smith, CHFP, director of revenue integrity for Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in Portland, and its FY18 president, Matt Navigato, CHFP, vice president of enterprise revenue cycle, OHSU.

Among others who played a role in the effort is the FY20 Enterprise chair for the Chapter, Shanti Kall, CHFP, senior reimbursement analyst, financial reporting, Providence St. Joseph Health.

The campaign has included presentations to Enterprise members at OHSU and at Providence Health & Services, the part of multi-state Providence St. Joseph Health that serves Oregon. Video recordings of the presentations were produced for future outreach efforts.

Called “Oregon HFMA Live,” the video presentations are hosted by Jason Baker, the FY18 networking chair for the Oregon Chapter (and the certification committee chair for FY20). Baker is later joined by his then co-chair, John Esa (now networking committee chair), for a closing conversation on the networking opportunities that Enterprise members enjoy.

Baker’s first guest is Navigato, who provides insights into HFMA on a National level and the benefits that members can glean from the Oregon Chapter, in particular.

“This organization [HFMA] is trying to help us identify the best practice so that we can meet the challenges of healthcare today,” says Navigato, who was instrumental in bringing HFMA’s Enterprise membership to his organization.

Navigato extolls the collaborative approach of HFMA, in which organizations that otherwise might see themselves as competitors come together to find solutions for the financial challenges facing healthcare organizations in the United States. “We focus in on trying to build and support coalitions with other healthcare organizations, even here in the state, to ensure representation of the healthcare finance profession,” he says. “We work across broad sections of stakeholders, and that’s simply to improve the healthcare industry by identifying and bridging gaps also at the Chapter and the local level so we have best practices and standards there.”

Oregon’s FY19 president, Liana Hans, principal for Boost Healthcare Consulting in Alameda, Calif., then takes the stage to discuss the value of HFMA for Enterprise members. She notes that the new membership approach came about after leaders and others involved in HFMA realized that many people at their respective organizations could benefit from membership with HFMA but that it was cost-prohibitive to offer membership to hundreds of employees on an individual basis.

That’s where HFMA National stepped in, Hans says. “A few years ago, they started to roll out Enterprise membership . . . where an organization like OHSU or Providence Health & Services can sign up for membership and bring that access to everyone on their team.”

Hans tells the audience, “You are very lucky your organization has invested in this resource for
you and really made that effort to bring all of the benefits of HFMA to your organization.” She points the new members to the website and its “endless amount of education, all focused on the job we do.”

Next, Kelly Smith discusses how Enterprise members are able to earn certifications for free, while non-Enterprise members must pay up to $400 for the same certifications. She introduces six different certifications available to Enterprise members, each having relevance to different areas of an organization’s front-line staff and above.

“When you pass these certifications, you are signaling that ‘I am a professional,’ — that ‘I have this knowledge’ — so it’s a way to get recognized for that knowledge.” Smith says. “These are nationally recognized certifications. So they are a great way to add credentials to your name, beef up your resume, and a nice way to get to know more about the industry you work in.”

Shanti Kall then describes the benefits of Enterprise membership for early careerists, and highlights how volunteering to serve at the Chapter level can give these members opportunities to grow and learn new skills, such as public speaking.

Listen to the Oregon Chapter’s video presentation on YouTube. Go to youtube.com and search for “OHSU’s Enterprise Membership Value.”