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Live@ HFMA News
Modern Healthcare reports from the HFMA conference.

Obama should do something about 'medical monopoly'

July 14, 2009 | Basic Web Registration
Let us pray that President Barack Obama invokes the Sherman Antitrust Act to bust the medical monopoly. FULL STORY »

No single-payer system, no reform

July 14, 2009 | Basic Web Registration
Until a single-payer system exists to compete with private insurance and Medi-gap policies, no substantive reform is possible. FULL STORY »

What a difference a year makes at HFMA

 Melanie Evans By Melanie Evans | June 22, 2009 | Basic Web Registration
Since the last big gathering of the Healthcare Financial Management Association one year ago, so, so much has happened. Financial markets nearly collapsed and the nation’s recession painfully worsened. Healthcare reform, one campaign issue among many in the summer of 2008, emerged as a centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s effort to dent the U.S. budget deficit. FULL STORY »

Improvement requires top-to-bottom commitment

June 19, 2009 | Basic Web Registration
As long as we only involve so-called “experts” to effect change, and do not have the critical participation from every level to establish commitment of everyone to share what they “already know to be right,” we will not be able to establish quality and process improvement as the new culture of the organization. FULL STORY »

View Live@HFMA poll results

June 19, 2009 | Basic Web Registration
The economy has shed 6 million jobs since the U.S. recession began. Has your hospital or health system reported an increase in the number of uninsured patients in the past 12 months? (Sunday, June 14) FULL STORY »

Challenging insurer dictates is no simple task

June 18, 2009 | Basic Web Registration
As a director of managed care at a small, Midwest 90-bed integrated facility representing both the hospital and a group of physicians, I have tried to challenge payment policies and other managed-care dictates contractually with some degree of success FULL STORY »

Video News: Former HFMA chairman John McGuire on ANI's hot-button issues

 John McGuire
Executive vice president
Corporate finance
St. Anthony's Medical Center
St. Louis June 17, 2009 | Free Access
Modern Healthcare News Editor Paul Barr talks with John McGuire, former HFMA chairman and executive vice president of corporate finance for St. Anthony's Medical Center, St. Louis, about the buzz at this year's Healthcare Financial Management Association's Annual National Institute. FULL STORY »

Video News: Melanie Evans on Day Three of HFMA

 Melanie Evans
Reporter
Modern Healthcare June 17, 2009 | Free Access
Modern Healthcare reporter Melanie Evans provides a wrap-up of activities during the final day of the Healthcare Financial Management Association's Annual National Institute in Seattle. FULL STORY »

Video News: Duke's Scott Hawig on financial impact of consumer-driven health plans

 Scott Hawig
Divisional chief financial officer
PRMO, Duke University Health System June 17, 2009 | Free Access
Modern Healthcare reporter Melanie Evans talks with Scott Hawig, divisional chief financial officer for the patient revenue management organization of Duke University Health System, about consumer-directed health plans. FULL STORY »

Video News: Tenet's Rudy Braccili Jr. on the RAC program's effects on hospital revenue

 Rudy Braccili Jr.
Director
National Medicare & Medicaid Center
Tenet Healthcare Corp. June 17, 2009 | Free Access
Modern Healthcare reporter Melanie Evans talks with Rudy Braccili Jr., director of the national Medicare and Medicaid center for Tenet Healthcare Corp. subsidiary Conifer Health Solutions, about the Recovery Audit Contractor program during the Healthcare Financial Management Association's Annual National Institute. FULL STORY »

Catholic system official outlines shift in use of investment income

By Melanie Evans | June 17, 2009 | Basic Web Registration
Capital has grown “harder and harder to come by” in an increasingly competitive healthcare market, said Hector Boirie, chief capital management officer for the Sisters of Mercy Health System, as he explained how the large Catholic system will no longer rely on investment income to fund capital needs to attendees at the Healthcare Financial Management Association’s Annual National Institute in Seattle. FULL STORY »

HUD expected to announce option for refinancing debt

By Melanie Evans | June 17, 2009 | Basic Web Registration
Hospitals may soon have another outlet to refinance debt. The Department of Housing and Urban Development is expected to announce shortly that hospitals seeking to refinance debt may do so though the agency’s insured mortgage loans, which extend the government’s gilt-edged credit, an agency official told attendees in Seattle for the Healthcare Financial Management Association’s Annual National Institute. FULL STORY »

Article on HFMA presentation strikes a chord

June 17, 2009 | Basic Web Registration
In my law practice, I saw over and over how the health insurance systems took money out for profit that should have gone to make the lives and work of doctors and nurses better so that they could do a better job. FULL STORY »

Gains can be achieved using known quality measures, exec says

By Melanie Evans | June 17, 2009 | Basic Web Registration
Improving healthcare quality and eliminating wasteful spending requires that hospitals consistently care for patients using known quality measures, Gregory Poulson, senior vice president of Intermountain Healthcare, told the crowd gathered for the final keynote address at the Healthcare Financial Management Association’s Annual National Institute. FULL STORY »

CHW revamping financial data management, execs say

By Paul Barr | June 17, 2009 | Basic Web Registration
Catholic Healthcare West, San Francisco, is in the middle of a years-long revamp of its approach to collecting and managing patient financial data, according to a breakout presentation by two CHW executives at the Healthcare Financial Management Association’s Annual National Institute in Seattle. FULL STORY »

Ohio systems collaborate on joint community-benefit report

By Paul Barr | June 17, 2009 | Basic Web Registration
Officials for Columbus-based OhioHealth are working with executives of three other not-for-profit systems with hospitals in the Columbus region to create a joint community benefit report, said Craig Bjerke, vice president and corporate controller for OhioHealth, speaking at a breakout session of the Healthcare Financial Management Annual National Institute in Seattle. FULL STORY »

Video News: HFMA's Jacobson on economic turmoil, reform

 Catherine Jacobson
Chairwoman
HFMA June 16, 2009 | Free Access
Modern Healthcare reporter Melanie Evans talks with Healthcare Financial Management Association Chairwoman Catherine Jacobson about the challenges facing HFMA members this year. FULL STORY »

Video News: A day in the HFMA exhibit hall with David Burda

 David Burda
Editor
Modern Healthcare June 16, 2009 | Free Access
Modern Healthcare Editor David Burda discusses the trade show activity during the Healthcare Financial Management Association's Annual National Institute in Seattle, including attendee reaction to President Barack Obama's financial plans for healthcare reform. FULL STORY »

Video News: Paul Barr on Day Two of HFMA

 Paul Barr
News editor
Modern Healthcare June 16, 2009 | Free Access
Modern Healthcare News Editor Paul Barr discusses the activities of the second day of the Healthcare Financial Management Association's Annual National Institute in Seattle, as well as what is to come during the last day of the conference. FULL STORY »

Washington has healthcare industry in its sights, execs say

By Editor David Burda | June 16, 2009 | Basic Web Registration
If it’s hunting season for healthcare reform, hospitals are the deer. So said two executives with Stevens & Lee, a Reading, Pa.-based law firm. The executives addressed a standing-room-only crowd of about 350 people at their Washington Update session at the Healthcare Financial Management Association’s Annual National Institute in Seattle. FULL STORY »

Minn. payment reform initiatives touted as example

By Melanie Evans | June 16, 2009 | Basic Web Registration
Minnesota’s healthcare payment reform efforts, which experiment with bundled reimbursement and quality incentives, could serve as a bellwether for national efforts, Robert Chase, chairman of the Mayo Clinic’s contracting and payer relations department, told attendees in a breakout session on negotiating strategies with managed-care plans at the Healthcare Financial Management Association’s Annual National Institute. FULL STORY »

Structured approach can help with IT system purchase, CFO says

By Paul Barr | June 16, 2009 | Basic Web Registration
Even smaller hospitals can benefit from a structured approach to buying an information technology system, said Valerie Fetters, chief financial officer of Hillsdale (Mich.) Community Health Center, speaking at a breakout session of the Healthcare Financial Management Association’s Annual National Institute in Seattle. FULL STORY »

Healthcare providers urged to challenge insurers’ dictates

By Editor David Burda | June 16, 2009 | Basic Web Registration
Hospitals and other healthcare providers need to take the fight to the health insurance industry at both the local and national level if they want to avoid getting the short end of the healthcare reform stick, according to Jeffrey Gold, vice president of managed care and special counsel for the Hospital Association of New York State. FULL STORY »

See Modern Healthcare’s coverage of HFMA

June 16, 2009 | Basic Web Registration
Follow the news from the Healthcare Financial Management Association’s Annual National Institute this week in Seattle. Modern Healthcare’s team of reporters and editors each day brings you the highlights of events as well as newsmaker interviews. Click here to be connected to our coverage. FULL STORY »

Video News: HFMA's Richard Clarke on payment reform

 Richard Clarke
President and CEO
HFMA June 15, 2009 | Free Access
Modern Healthcare reporter Melanie Evans talks with Richard Clarke, president and CEO of the Healthcare Financial Management Association, about the HFMA's views on healthcare payment reform, as well as providers' preparedness for pending reform. FULL STORY »

Video News: Melanie Evans on Day One of HFMA

 Melanie Evans
Reporter
Modern Healthcare June 15, 2009 | Free Access
Modern Healthcare reporter Melanie Evans discusses the activities of the first official day of the Healthcare Financial Management Association's Annual National Institute in Seattle, as well as what is to come in the days that follow. FULL STORY »

Healthcare executives urged to rise to the occasion

By Editor David Burda | June 15, 2009 | Basic Web Registration
A healthy dose of gallows humor kicked off the Healthcare Financial Management Association’s Annual National Institute today in Seattle with several speakers rattling off the serious financial challenges facing the healthcare industry but calling on healthcare executives to face them with determination and a smile. FULL STORY »

Form 990 changes suggest new requirements, CHA exec says

By Melanie Evans | June 15, 2009 | Basic Web Registration
Hospitals reporting free medical care and other subsidized aid to the Internal Revenue Service starting in tax year 2009 seemingly must have formal charity-care policies and community needs assessments to do so, Julie Trocchio, the Catholic Health Association’s senior director of community benefit and continuing care, told hospital officials gathered in Seattle for the Healthcare Financial Management Association’s Annual National Institute. FULL STORY »

Expect payment changes to encourage collaboration, HFMA says

By Melanie Evans | June 15, 2009 | Basic Web Registration
To prepare for healthcare payment reform being debated by Congress and the White House, hospitals must focus on integration with physicians, improving quality and promoting prevention, the Healthcare Financial Management Association said in a white paper released on the opening day of its Annual National Institute in Seattle. FULL STORY »

Video News: Live@HFMA preview

 Melanie Evans June 14, 2009 | Free Access
Modern Healthcare reporter Melanie Evans gives readers a preview of the Healthcare Financial Management Association's Annual National Institute in Seattle. FULL STORY »

HCA rolling out emergency-room screening program

By Editor David Burda | June 14, 2009 | Basic Web Registration
HCA, the nation’s largest for-profit hospital chain, is rolling out a system-wide emergency-room screening program aimed at reducing the number of patients with non-emergent or non-urgent medical conditions seen at HCA facilities. FULL STORY »

HFMA takes strict stance on charity care

By Melanie Evans | June 14, 2009 | Basic Web Registration
As not-for-profit hospitals prepare for more detailed public disclosure of their charity care, the HFMA offered ideas on how hospitals might determine whether a patient’s unpaid account counts as charity care or bad debt. FULL STORY »

Making a comeback: Credit continues to loosen

By Melanie Evans | June 14, 2009 | Basic Web Registration
The nation’s jarring credit shakeout has rapidly altered healthcare financing’s landscape for the majority of U.S. hospitals. Significant investors in the tax-exempt bond market disappeared during the past year, as did major players in healthcare finance. FULL STORY »

Richard Clarke: Strategies to anticipate Washington’s work

 Richard Clarke By Richard Clarke | June 14, 2009 | Basic Web Registration
The signs of healthcare payment reform seem to be everywhere. Federal healthcare reform seems more likely than at any time since the inception of Medicare. But where should provider organizations focus their attention? FULL STORY »

 

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