Health system finance leaders are keeping an eye on the stock market, earnings reports and what the midterm elections could mean for healthcare.

Major healthcare stocks were edging slightly higher early trading Oct. 24 after a difficult end of the previous week following disappointing financial results in the sector.

Fall is typically a period of increased CFO turnover as hospitals and health systems begin searches for new executives for the beginning of the following year, but the pressures associated with high inflation, a projected recession and the continued effects…

Conifer Health Solutions, a subsidiary of Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare that offers revenue cycle management services, saw net operating revenues of $333 million in the third quarter of 2022 — up from $314 million over the same period last year, according…

Ten hospitals or health systems recently posted job listings seeking revenue cycle management expertise.

There are few easy ways to cut expenses. But in hospitals and health systems, there are quieter ways. 

Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare saw a 19 percent reduction in contract labor costs in the third quarter of 2022 compared to the second quarter, CFO Bill Rutherford said on an Oct. 21 earnings call with investors.  

More than half of hospitals and health systems are seeing margins hover above zero as expenses increase and revenue remains flat, according to an October report from Strata Decision Technology, a healthcare analytics company.

HHS can reduce inflation in the healthcare industry by strictly enforcing hospital price transparency requirements, Cynthia Fisher, founder of advocacy group Patients Right Advocate, wrote in an opinion for The Hill published Oct. 21. 

Many financial experts are projecting a recession next year, which would likely compound the economic challenges many hospitals and health systems face.