Michael Allen serves as CFO of Winona (Minn.) Health, a non-profit health system with a 99-bed hospital and more than 1,100 employees, but his financial expertise has taken a new national role.
In May, the Healthcare Financial Management Association named Mr. Allen as one if its new board members for the 2012-2013 term, which began June 1. HFMA board members are financial leaders that help hospitals and health systems by providing resources and guidance to achieve great patient care coupled with financial strength.
Mr. Allen has also served as chairman of HFMA's National Board of Examiners and on the National Advisory Council. In 2004, he won the Muncie Gold Award, which honors HFMA members for their service to the financial association.
At Winona Health, Mr. Allen says he is determined to help increase their care in the Winona community and to improve the overall cost of care for the community while focusing on "operational performance improvements."Major initiatives to accomplish [those goals] include but are not limited to maturing our lean management system, physician recruiting, strategic partnerships, a community health and wellness focus, and systematizing the use of information and knowledge across the organization," he says.
As a small, independent healthcare provider, Mr. Allen says physician leadership and impactful service lines are vital to the system's fiscal stability. "Positive operating margins result from a sufficient supply of providers to see patients, the appropriate mix of services and effective operational management," Mr. Allen says. "Small independent healthcare systems are challenged with a short supply of physicians, particularly primary care, and the increasing sub-specialization of medicine that is hard to cover in a smaller community."
Before joining Winona Health — where he currently oversees the health system's revenue cycle, accounting, information systems, materials management, managed care and several other areas — Mr. Allen was CFO of Gibson Area Hospital in Gibson City, Ill., and has eight years of certified public accounting experience with various healthcare clients.
In May, the Healthcare Financial Management Association named Mr. Allen as one if its new board members for the 2012-2013 term, which began June 1. HFMA board members are financial leaders that help hospitals and health systems by providing resources and guidance to achieve great patient care coupled with financial strength.
Mr. Allen has also served as chairman of HFMA's National Board of Examiners and on the National Advisory Council. In 2004, he won the Muncie Gold Award, which honors HFMA members for their service to the financial association.At Winona Health, Mr. Allen says he is determined to help increase their care in the Winona community and to improve the overall cost of care for the community while focusing on "operational performance improvements."Major initiatives to accomplish [those goals] include but are not limited to maturing our lean management system, physician recruiting, strategic partnerships, a community health and wellness focus, and systematizing the use of information and knowledge across the organization," he says.
As a small, independent healthcare provider, Mr. Allen says physician leadership and impactful service lines are vital to the system's fiscal stability. "Positive operating margins result from a sufficient supply of providers to see patients, the appropriate mix of services and effective operational management," Mr. Allen says. "Small independent healthcare systems are challenged with a short supply of physicians, particularly primary care, and the increasing sub-specialization of medicine that is hard to cover in a smaller community."
Before joining Winona Health — where he currently oversees the health system's revenue cycle, accounting, information systems, materials management, managed care and several other areas — Mr. Allen was CFO of Gibson Area Hospital in Gibson City, Ill., and has eight years of certified public accounting experience with various healthcare clients.
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