Roseville, Calif.-based Adventist Health is a 26-hospital system serving its home state, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii. The system has more than 400 clinics and 4,500 providers, with staff members totaling approximately 37,000 people.
Becker's connected with CFO John Beaman to hear current challenges and strategic initiatives for Adventist Health. This is one of a series of Q&As with healthcare system CFOs in the run-up to the Becker's CEO + CFO Roundtable event in Chicago Nov. 13-16.
Question: What are the top three strategic financial priorities for your health system in the next fiscal year? How do these align with the organization's overall mission and goals?
John Beaman: Rebuild operating margin by focusing on core disciplines; rebuild operating muscle around labor management, documentation/charge capture/collections, community/provider engagement, and growth.
Build new business/revenue models.
Align capital model to care model. For example, increase investments in ambulatory and outpatient settings, leverage alternative financing structures.
Q: What are the biggest financial challenges facing your health system today? On the other hand, what are the most promising financial opportunities?
JB: Challenges: Labor market costs outpacing reimbursement increases, market entrants focused on high-profit services, an unstable investment market.
Opportunities: Mutual desire to partner with other providers or companies to create integrated networks of care, disruption creating new opportunities for providers, automation to reduce cost of care.
Q: How is your system leveraging technology and digital health platforms to enhance patient care, improve operational efficiency and generate revenue?
JB: Technology is creating the ability to have a continual relationship with the people in our communities. It creates access to their information, empowerment for health and well-being, easier/quicker registration (less redo of forms as an example), and a platform for them to pay their bills.
Q: What partnerships, joint ventures, mergers or acquisitions is your system exploring to strengthen its financial position or expand service offerings?
JB: Current market disruption is providing an opportunity to have conversations with many providers who historically have been competitors or ambivalent about cooperation. We welcome these opportunities and continue to explore them in light of how they will benefit the people in the community and create long-term sustainable healthcare.
Q: Given the unpredictability of events like global pandemics, what are you doing to ensure financial resilience and sustainability in the face of unforeseen challenges?
JB: Balance sheet management, reduce fixed cost structure to create capacity to vary operating costs.