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,…
How investing in the workforce can improve a health system’s bottom line
The year 2022 will be remembered as one of the worst financial years on record for healthcare. It will also be recalled as the year when the anticipated workforce shortage moved from being just one of many strategic concerns for health system leaders to becoming their most critical and urgent challenge. The rapidity with which…
The impact of claims denials on the financial health of healthcare
While their hospitals and healthcare centers have long had to deal with claims denials, the number of denied claims continues to rise and payers are showing little inclination to help solve the problem, according to several roundtable participants.
Best practices for relieving unprecedented cost pressures facing healthcare providers
Due to labor cost increases, inflation, declining Medicare reimbursements and other reasons, health systems across the nation are feeling a new financial strain after the height of the pandemic.
Creating sound strategies to manage compensation and benefits regardless of where your employees reside
No doubt there are significant cultural and financial benefits to supporting continued remote and hybrid work in healthcare, particularly in billing/coding, call center, scheduling and administrative roles. Healthcare, however, faces specific challenges as they seek to demystify multi-state tax rules.