Like many financial healthcare leaders, Jim Heilsberg, CFO of Clarkston, Wash.-based Tri-State Memorial Hospital and Medical Campus, navigates the challenging landscape of rural healthcare while maintaining the balance between growth and financial constraints.
In August 2023, the hospital opened a $34 million inpatient wing, which was funded through a combination of debt, cash on hand and $8 million raised from the local community over a four-month period.
Mr. Heilsberg told Becker's that the hospital is now focused on several key initiatives, including raising anywhere from $16 million to $24 million for a surgery remodel to improve surgery throughput capacity for instrument processing and patient flow.
Unlike larger hospital systems, however, Tri-State Memorial is an independent, critical-access hospital and lacks the benefit of system capital resources.
Along with funding project costs, Mr. Heilsberg pointed to rising labor costs as a financial concern for healthcare in 2025, which he said accounts for more than 60% of hospital expenses, with many key clinical areas increased by 20%.
Mr. Heilsberg suggested that certain hospitals, particularly those relying on fee-for-service models, may have no choice but to cut costs and reduce services later, which are strategies that can also come with limitations.
To help manage future needs, Tri-State is looking at the establishment of a residency program to bring more rural physicians to the area, but funding for the initiative is currently a challenge.
"Funding for residency is a challenge boh for intial and ongoing costs," he said. "We have the need … for physicians in the future, it's well documented. As an industry, we're struggling to figure out, how do we pay for those ongoing costs?"
Looking to the future of hospital financial leadership, Mr. Heilsberg said that while CFOs need to be involved and get out from behind the desk, the role must also maintain a balance of financial logic amid the growing pressure to manage the overall organization.
"The challenge for the CFO is to not look past the logic," he said. "You've got to let people know what the truth is."