"Follow your passion, be a constant learner and a professional 'sponge' with colleagues who can provide insights into other aspects of the business."
From changing reimbursement levels to the evolving CFO role, hospital and health system financial leaders are dealing with a number of challenges.
Regarding the numerous issues CFOs are facing, financial leaders from hospitals and systems across the nation shared the following pieces of advice with Becker's Hospital Review over the past month.
1. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Stanford Health Care CFO Daniel Morissette shared his thoughts on the shifting CFO role and what's holding some financial leaders back. "Broad, customer-focused perspective is important for the assessment and implementation of a successful strategy," he said. "Learning the customer's preference requires active engagement in the issues facing the health system. Many CFOs do not take the time or effort to be a significant strategic business partner, and as a result are not called upon for broader strategic roles."
2. Mr. Morissette shared advice on how hospital and health system CFOs can go beyond the typical CFO duties. He said, "Follow your passion, be a constant learner and a professional 'sponge' with colleagues who can provide insights into other aspects of the business."
3. Regarding CFOs interested in becoming more strategic and getting involved in other aspects of the business, Mr. Morissette advised them to "partner with other leaders on a routine basis and additional opportunities will be forthcoming."
4. Dothan, Ala.-based Flowers Hospital CFO Talana Bell shared advice on running a hospital's finance team. She said, "First, surround yourself with excellent people who share the same passion you have for high quality. This not only applies to the financial team but the administrative 'strategy' team. The CEO, CFO, CNO, COO, etc., should all be on the same page working toward the same goals of providing the highest quality care to our patients."
5. Ms. Bell provided advice for CFOs in their personal lives as well. "Take time for yourself. Don't keep your 'nose to the grindstone' day after day. It isn't healthy and it certainly does not 'help' your organization," she said.
6. Jeff Taylor, CFO of St. Luke's Health System, a nonprofit system based in Boise, Idaho, shared best practices for running a health system's finance team. He said, "I think it amounts to instilling a culture of discipline in all that we do, whether that's timely reporting of information, providing operational leaders and physicians with information upon which they can act or hiring the right people."
7. Mr. Taylor also shared his advice on navigating in the shifting reimbursement climate. "Public policy decisions will undoubtedly have a profound financial impact on the health sector going forward. That said, history has shown us that provider systems that are focused on transcending the traditional fee-for-service business model, developing a better product at the population level, and assuming an appropriate level of financial risk have performed very well in recent times and have effectively navigated declining reimbursement rates," he said.
8. Michael Burke, CFO of NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City, shared advice on the tools necessary for a successful finance team. "A best-of-class finance function has to have robust financial systems to be successful, including an integrated enterprise resource planning system to process all expense transaction and an integrated billing and electronic documentation system," he said.
9. Regarding retaining finance team staff, Seattle-based Swedish Health Services CFO Dan Harris said, "Keeping staff engaged and being able to support, train and give them opportunities is of course important and requires a great deal of effort. If you don't provide the effort, you will lose good people very quickly."
10. Mr. Harris also shared advice on what it takes to respond to the industry's emphasis on using fewer resources with patients. "Understanding how to make that happen is not just reducing staff or avoiding use of high-price implants; we need to work more closely than ever with clinicians to assure process redesign and viable options on supply items," he said.