Annual Conference Day 4: Geeta Nayyar discusses information gaps and the promise and perils of technology
Applications of technology and the purveyance of information are key issues impacting the efficacy of the healthcare system, author and healthcare technology expert Geeta Nayyar, MD, MBA, explained during Thursday’s keynote session in Las Vegas. In a sit-down discussion with HFMA President and CEO Ann Jordan, Nayyar described working at the intersection of medicine and…
Annual Conference Day 1: HFMA, AHA leaders hold forth on the state of the healthcare industry
HFMA’s 2024 Annual Conference began Monday afternoon with HFMA’s Ann Jordan and the American Hospital Association’s Rick Pollack rallying attendees to address the profound challenges and opportunities facing the industry. To start, Jordan, HFMA’s president and CEO, highlighted the conference theme, “A New Frontier in Health.” Frontier is “an exciting and unsettling word that really…
Incoming HFMA Chair Marc Scher encourages healthcare finance professionals to be more innovative and strategic
Marc Scher, HFMA’s incoming National Chair, was touring the Colorado Snowsports Museum when he came across an exhibit dedicated to the 10th Mountain Division of the U.S. Army. The 10th was a strategic innovation for the Army, designed to address emerging wartime risks, and it created a significant competitive advantage for the United States during…
Ascension selects Saurabh Tripathi as new CFO
Ascension, a nonprofit Catholic health system based in St. Louis, Mo., recently announced that Saurabh Tripathi, MBA, has been tapped as its new CFO. Tripathi brings more than 25 years of executive experience to the position, including time as CFO and treasurer of Highmark Health, where he led growth initiatives and increased access to care.…
Decisive action is key to an ‘always forward’ mindset
It was a training camp that even the most elite athletes struggled to endure: Camp Hale, a WWII winter training ground in central Colorado. The valley floor alone sits at an elevation of 9,200 feet, while the elevation of the mountain ridges where the U.S. Army trained skiers in combat reached nearly 13,000 feet. It’s…
People: Atlantic General and BSMH announce CFO transitions
Atlantic General Hospital and Health System in Berlin, Md., has hired James Kanuch, CHFP, MBA, as vice president of finance and CFO. Kanuch, a member of HFMA’s Maryland Chapter, brings 30 years of financial and operational experience to the new role. Most recently, he served as senior vice president of finance at Allegheny Health Network…
HFMA members step into new leadership roles in healthcare finance
Several HFMA members have kicked off 2024 by taking on new healthcare finance leadership roles. Here’s an overview of some of the hirings announced during the first quarter of the year. John Ceelen is the new CFO at Bellin and Gundersen The recently merged Bellin and Gundersen Health System in Green Bay, Wis., has tapped…
Dennis Dahlen: Of Blackcats and the dark web: The value of HFMA in times of crisis
The repercussions from the large-scale cyberattack perpetrated by ALPHV Blackcat on Change Healthcare — a company that touches one out of three patient records — likely will be felt for months, the American Hospital Association (AHA) suggests. That’s why it was so important that HFMA take a lead role in getting answers for members and…
The federal policy response to the Change Healthcare cyberattack
Note: This information is excerpted from HFMA’s running coverage of the cyberattack that disabled operations at Change Healthcare. On March 10, HHS and the Department of Labor sent a letter encouraging commercial payers to do their part to help financially strained providers nearly three weeks after the cyberattack on Change Healthcare. “Larger payers in particular…
Remembering HFMA trailblazer Ronald Kovener
HFMA joins friends and family in remembering Ronald Kovener who died at the age of 92 on July 26, 2023, in Indianapolis. An accountant, he had been a member of HFMA since 1961 and served as National President from 1972 to 1973. Kovener reminisced about his HFMA experience in 2021 when the Association celebrated its…