The panel, moderated by Bob Herman, editor with Becker’s Hospital Review, included Ben Dunford, former CFO of Texas Regional Medical Center at Sunnyvale; Joseph Guarracino, MBA, senior vice president and CFO of The Brooklyn Hospital Center; Dennis Hesch, executive vice president and CFO of The Carle Foundation in Urbana, Ill.; and Adam Lynch, senior director of shared services development for the Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council.
Mr. Guarracino focuses on leaving nothing on the table, he said, especially when it comes to supply chain. “We’ve saved millions on competition for business in the hospital” during request for proposal processes, he said.
CFOs may find value in engaging nonfinancial leaders in finding cost savings opportunities, according to Mr. Dunford. “There’s tremendous leverage going to clinical directors,” he said, as they have a different perspective on operations than finance leaders and can find areas ripe for cost savings that CFOs may overlook.
Hospitals can also achieve cost savings and become more efficient by better utilizing their clinicians. “We’re talking to members about making sure clinical staff is performing at the top of their license” and making sure clinicians are seeing patients in a way that can be reimbursed, Mr. Lynch said.
No matter the initiative, the CFOs stressed that rigor and consistency are keys to success. “We’ve built a system of rigor,” Mr. Hesch said. Everyone involved in a cost-saving project at Carle knows what they are responsible for, report monthly on their progress and is held accountable for their results.
At The Brooklyn Hospital Center, Mr. Guarracino continually checks in on projects as well to make sure the process hasn’t eroded over time. “You can do something good today, but you won’t be an institution unless you do it every day,” he said, calling it “aggravating” when cost-saving processes are put in place but fall away over time.
