How academic medical centers can foster greater alignment to advance strategic goals
The highly complex funds flow and diverse partnership structures of today’s academic medical centers (AMCs) make it difficult for leaders to align on important financial decisions. However, the evolution to value-based care and ongoing revenue challenges have inspired them to consider new approaches. As activity within AMCs continue to evolve, CFOs will play an important…
News Briefs: Year-end spending bill ensures no loss of funding for Medicaid DSH payments
Year-end spending bill ensures no loss of funding for Medicaid DSH payments. The continuing resolution (CR) to keep the federal government funded through mid-March includes key healthcare provisions. Passed Dec. 20 as essentially the last act of the 118th Congress, the CR ensured an $8 billion cut to Medicaid disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments did…
AI in healthcare: Boosting efficiency and addressing burnout
Most (90%) healthcare executives say that digital and AI transformation is a top priority, according to McKinsey research. While generative AI may have a number of uses across the healthcare system, its potential to enhance efficiency, effectiveness and alleviate burnout among healthcare professionals may be one of its most valuable uses for reshaping patient care.…
Direct-to-employer benefit design: A providers’ starter guide
Following a decade of experience in developing value-based care bundle programs, Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) has enjoyed success in direct contracting with employers that demonstrates the ripe market opportunity such contracting offers. Health systems that want to seize this opportunity can benefit from applying VUMC’s lessons learned during this process to their…
Premier’s ERP solution addresses unique needs of the healthcare industry
How do you help healthcare organizations navigate the biggest challenges in healthcare? Premier provides a truly healthcare-native, enterprise resource planning (ERP) cloud-based SaaS solution, integrating supply chain, contract management, financial reporting and human resources (HR) capabilities end-to-end. Unlike traditional ERPs built to support multiple industries, Premier’s solution addresses healthcare’s unique needs as follows. When issues…
Where do we go now? Action needed to address public dissatisfaction with U.S. healthcare
Healthcare providers are examining their approaches to understanding and responding to mounting discontent, including addressing access, affordability and elimination of friction, as part of their responsibility to get healthcare right.
New year, new roles for 4 HFMA members
Four HFMA members began 2025 in new healthcare leadership positions. Melinda Hancock is new CFO at Sentara Health Sentara Health has named Melinda Hancock, FHFMA, MBA, CPA, as the health system’s new executive vice president and CFO. Hancock, of Richmond, Va., joined Sentara in 2021 and most recently served as the system’s executive vice president…
First Illinois scores big with new event
HFMA’s First Illinois Chapter has provided more than $150,000 in scholarship funds to members and their children seeking higher education. The primary source of funding for the scholarships is the Chapter’s annual golf outing. When it came time to plan the 2024 event, however, they decided to switch things up a bit. What was different…
Jill Geisler: 10 ways to tell if you’re a successful leader
Wouldn’t you like to know — with certainty — that your team truly values the way you lead and manage? It can be hard to determine. Your organization may conduct engagement surveys, but even those might not give you a clear answer. Engagement scores can be affected by economic downturns or corporate changes beyond your…
Marc B. Scher: Embracing strategic leadership in the face of intense pressures
One theme I’m hearing coming out of the J.P. Morgan (JPM) Healthcare Conference and recent HFMA chapter conferences is strategic leadership. It’s a concept that Harvard Business Review describes as understanding yourself, your organization’s goals and the situation at hand, and bringing the appropriate expertise to bear to support success.a For healthcare finance leaders navigating…