Health system CFOs have historically been known for number crunching and being good stewards of a given organization's portfolio of assets. While these are still core responsibilities for modern CFOs, their roles are becoming increasingly involved in strategy and transformation.
"My role over the last few years has evolved to more of a strategist and a catalyst," Vincent Tammaro, CFO and vice president for health sciences at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, told Becker's.
From a strategic standpoint, more CFOs are seeing their roles evolve, with a greater emphasis on innovation and technology.
"As we continue to grow, my role has evolved to focus on investments we will need to make in terms of our workforce, facilities, technology, areas of growth and alternative revenue streams," Mr. Tammaro said.
Specialty pharmacy has become a significant alternative revenue source for OSU Wexner Medical Center — a seven-hospital system — as well as home care, hospital-at-home and durable medical equipment services.
"These are all nontraditional big health system services that are becoming a large part of our overall revenue stream as part of our diversification strategy," Mr. Tammaro said. "It's providing world-class care to the patients we serve; it's just not happening inside the four walls of the hospital anymore. It's making its way into the community and into patients' homes."
More CFOs are also taking a leading role in health system strategy, becoming catalysts for change and shaping their organizations' trajectories. In today's healthcare landscape, much of that boils down to how health systems are leveraging new technology.
"Some of the technology around remote patient monitoring and remote therapy monitoring are great examples of how we're engaging with patients in different ways, how we're addressing gaps in care and the transition of care for our patients," Mr. Tammaro said. "Many of the academic medical centers continue to be fee for service, but we have to start evolving to value-based care delivery models and align payment models to reward the outcomes and metrics that we all agree to."
With the COVID-19 pandemic moving into the rearview mirror, hospital executives have shifted their focus to how they can continue to grow. The investments needed to capture growth opportunities are top of mind for CFOs.
With this in mind, Mr. Tammaro said he now speaks with at least one digital healthcare innovation company a week.
"Margins are tight, there's pressure from payers, there's widespread workforce shortages and not enough talent coming into the industry. This is where technology comes in," he said. "There's huge opportunities to scale, support patient care, automate clinical workflows and address gaps and transitions in patient care."
Consumers are craving personalized and easy access to providers on their smartphones, and technology is likely to accelerate healthcare further into its "shopping era." As consumerism in healthcare continues to rise, so too will competition between providers. Those that do not keep up with current technology and trends are likely to fall behind.
The pace of technological advancements in healthcare has been rapid in recent years, and artificial intelligence in particular is taking the industry by storm. AI holds particular promise for arduous and time-consuming administrative tasks such as navigating coding, billing and prior authorization processes.
"As an example, there's no reason why we shouldn't be using AI to do prior auths," Mr. Tammaro said. "Today we have a team of about 80 to 100 people across the system doing this. We still need those 80 to 100 people, but we should focus them on other, higher value parts of the business as opposed to following up on a prior auth that adds no value. That just allows us to keep the revenue we already had; it's not incremental revenue."
New technologies, treatment options and AI models are picking up steam, and providers have a significant opportunity to improve how patients experience and access care.
"Today's healthcare system is very fragmented and confusing for a patient to navigate, but with technology we have a tremendous opportunity to really improve that experience," Mr. Tammaro said. "I truly believe these are exciting times in healthcare, and we have a tremendous opportunity to transform how we engage our patients and how they experience their care."