Hospital CFOs are required to have a greater skill set in today's healthcare environment. Rather than solely examining numbers, they are focused on all aspects of care as they help their organizations succeed.
Four panelists offered thoughts on the skill set required for this evolving role during the Becker's Hospital Review 7th Annual CEO + CFO Roundtable Nov. 13 in Chicago.
Here are four key insights they shared:
1. Douglas Watson, CFO of San Francisco-based Dignity Health's Arizona service area, on guiding other CFOs in his organization: "With the new skill set needed for the future, you have to think about their career. How do we give a new CFO or a director of finance aspiring to be a CFO exposure to operational, technology and management roles and experience? How do we give them a chance to work on an innovation project and not just be the person crunching numbers supporting it? You have to make time to help them grow into the type CFO we need in the future."
2. Michael Koziol, CFO of Holyoke (Mass.) Medical Center: As CFO, "you have to … be able to communicate and get along with others because in my role you have to be obviously a leader and communicate with others, and you also have to be a teacher."
3. Jim Dietsche, executive vice president and CFO of Green Bay, Wis.-based Bellin Health: CFOs "have to support the organization in taking risk ... If you're going to rely on the old way and avoid risk, you're not going to help your organization survive."
4. Chris Dunkerley, CFO of Trimedx, an Indianapolis-based provider of clinical asset management and clinical engineering services: "You have to be able to take what you see and drive change throughout the organization, and I do believe the [hospital] finance team is in a unique position to help drive change."
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