CFO’s Must Become The Pilots Of Healthcare

As hospitals strive to make the right investments in healthcare information technology, they often find themselves torn between two competing imperatives:

1. the need to limit the amount of money spent on IT or
2. the need TO spend money on IT (especially when it can help increase revenue)
   

Who’s in charge of leading your hospital through financial implications of the health care transition? How is this leader navigating the challenges? Is this person a team-player?

More often than not this leader is the CFO, and the past few years have presented major obstacles that have led to major shifts in responsibilities and goals for this position.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is decreasing healthcare reimbursements. Bottom line - CFO’s will be negatively impacted if they do not become aware of future challenges.

As organizations prepare for the implementation of ICD-10 this year, many healthcare CFOs are searching for creative strategies to mitigate anticipated decreases in Coder productivity, as well as ways to ramp up education and employ a larger hierarchy of staff members. But let’s face it, a strong denial management strategy is one of the most efficient solutions for minimizing the impact of productivity loss.

It's no secret that medical coding is about to get much more complicated.

So, ICD-10 is upon us, and healthcare providers may notice themselves reaching for the aspirin after considering the oncoming struggle to quickly implement systems, processes and training. Even the most optimistic observer considers ICD-10 to pose a myriad of formidable challenges, so it’s no surprise that as a healthcare CFO you have concerns about how the new coding regulation will affect your bottom line.

As more regulations affecting revenue cycle management continue to roll out, such as the implementation of ICD-10, the pressure and cost of maintaining effective internal teams is rising. As a result, healthcare CFOs have more reasons to panic about how to be a successful leader than ever before.  

4 Reasons To Update Your Revenue Cycle Management Solution

It’s no surprise that many providers’ revenue cycle management technology is years out of date and it’s likely you’re currently utilizing outdated systems that don’t entail the functionality for an increasingly complex billing landscape. As a result, you’re probably starting to feel (or maybe have been feeling for some time?) that your ability to accomplish the goals your job demands is suffering, inadequate or a total lost cause. And with so many CFOs and healthcare executive being forced to adopt an increasingly strategic approach, you may also be getting worried that your job security is waning. And you’d be correct to be concerned.

While never an easy endeavor, managing the financial department of a hospital or health system used to carry a certain level of predictability. Traditionally, CFOs carried the responsibilities of income and expense management, and of course many other peripheral duties. But, those job silos are quickly crumbling. Today, healthcare CFOs have a significantly more complex role with increased responsibilities as a result of health reform and a myriad of proliferating regulatory changes like ICD-10.

SO, what is it... 
Charity Care or Bad Debt?

I attend HFMA and AAHAM events ALL the time. One particular presentation I’ve seen quite a few times has stuck out to me because my company does both large and small self-pay receivable collections (patient responsibility after insurance) and bad debt collections. The woman who does the presentation is a friend of mine from a hospital in Philadelphia. She always does SO great at this presentation, I took notes and decided to make a spin-off to her presentation to share with those of you unable to get the chance to hear her speak.