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Three Crucial Mindset Shifts to Reach Peak Financial Healthcare Management

December 8, 2021

Article Summary


Each health system takes a unique approach to financial management. No matter the organization, Dan Unger, SVP and General Manager of Financial Transformation at Health Catalyst, says that effective financial management should promote better financial decision making across the system. And even though optimal financial management is critical to healthcare operations, organizations struggle to deal with its complexities. With challenges ranging from government-set funding to newly emerging competitors in the market, health systems need to optimize their approach to financial management. Unger suggests healthcare organizations adopt three mental shifts that lead to better financial management:

1. Identify a forward-thinking financial leader.

2. Collaborate with clinical and operational domains.

3. Implement activity-based costing.

医疗财务管理是一个宽泛的术语,对每个医疗系统都有不同的含义。Health Catalyst高级副总裁兼金融转型总经理Dan Unger表示,医疗保健财务管理很困难,因为它涉及产生收入、管理成本,并为未来的发展奠定基础。世界杯葡萄牙vs加纳即时走地从会计和财务规划到预算,财务管理的所有要素都有一个共同的焦点——帮助领导做出更好的财务决策。

Today, the financial complexities of a fragmented healthcare landscape, including government-set pricing and large insurers driving revenue, combined with a global pandemic, threaten health systems’ already-thin margins more than ever.

Three Mindset Shifts to Accelerate Healthcare Financial Management

According to Unger, organizations’ financial teams must shift their mindsets around healthcare financial management in three mission-critical ways:

#1: Identify a Forward-Thinking Financial Leader

First, organizations need a strong, forward-thinking financial leader who will act as a bridge, rather than a barrier, to clinical and operational leaders. A forward-thinking leader is willing to invest in the members of the finance team and financial management systems. Unger suggests dedicating technical resources to support the finance team so it can more easily distribute usabledata跨大型组织的团队成员。For example, with technical support, the data teams can build flexible, scalablereporting toolsthat are easy for non-data experts to read and use in decision making.

Forward-thinking financial leaders will push their finance teams beyond traditional job duties of generating the same reports every month, which often become outdated or irrelevant.

#2: Collaborate with Clinical and Operational Domains

With a visionary financial leader in place and the ability to distribute data, healthcare finance teams need to shift the way they see themselves. Rather than viewing their job as generating reports in spreadsheets, they should view themselves as collaborators with clinical and operational leaders. Additionally, members of the finance team should view their data as information that empowers clinical and operational leaders to make better decisions and optimize their domains.

For example, many hospitals fail to reach financial operating room (OR) goals because they don’t include clinical input. Lack of clinical input can lead to unrealistic goals that don’t consider day-to-day OR processes. However, with input from clinicians and front-line workers, the finance team can set and achieve realistic goals and effectivelyimprove processesby working together.

#3: Implement Activity-Based Costing

Activity-based costing(ABC)是一种成本计算方法,将成本分配到患者旅途的每个区域,提供了护理提供的总成本的准确、完整的画面。尽管有这些先进的功能,许多医疗保健组织拒绝向ABC过渡。然而,这种阻力需要停止,昂格尔说。有了从不同系统(例如,EMR、索赔和辅助系统)获得的大量数据,组织可以更好地充分利用ABC。为了在利润率不断下降的情况下生存下去(疫情加剧了这种情况),传统的成本计算方法,如收费成本计算,需要付出更多努力,而且只能提供成本估计。To accurately understand costs—now mission-critical for survival, according to Unger—organizations must use an ABC approach (e.g.,Health Catalyst PowerCosting™).

The Time for Better Healthcare Financial Management Is Now

As healthcare organizations of various shapes and sizes navigate the new landscape, they face endless decisions: How can we forecast and plan for an unknown future? Should we lease or buy our surgical center? How can we optimize ourrevenue cycleandreduce denials?

安格说,现在是采取行动的时候了。医疗保健组织拒绝采用先进、渐进的财务管理方法的时间越长,当前的财务威胁就越大。相反,如果组织采用上述三种财务思维转变,他们可以并将在棘手的财务环境中取得成功。

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