Jeff Harrington, CFO of Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora, is sounding the alarm on the glaring challenges that pediatric healthcare currently faces.
Among the biggest challenges is potential Medicaid cuts. With roughly 50% of Children’s Hospital Colorado’s patients covered by Medicaid, Mr. Harrington told Becker’s during a “CFO+Revenue Cycle Podcast” episode, the hospital loses around $362 million annually in that line of business.
“One of the concerns is certainly what’s going to happen at a federal level if Medicaid cuts were to go into place,” he said. “That would have a large, negative impact on certainly our organization, but all children’s hospitals in general.”
Mr. Harrington said workforce is another major area of focus for Children’s Hospital Colorado. In 2022, the hospital saw a surge in respiratory syncytial virus cases, increasing its dependence on contract nurses. However, from 2023 to 2024, the hospital was able to reduce its premium labor by almost $90 million.
“I think at the time we had 286 contract nurses within our midst, and today we stand at 86,” he said. “We’ve done a lot of work trying to really transform our organization….”
Mr. Harrington credited the contract nursing reduction to a strong focus on increasing pay rate, increasing premium pay for seasonal commitment and recruiting contract nurses to join their team permanently.
Looking toward the future, Mr. Harrington said Children’s Hospital Colorado is focused on regional growth, systemwide innovation and academic partnerships to ensure sustainability in a changing healthcare environment. He also encouraged other healthcare CFOs to have a strong grasp of what’s going on in their organization, particularly in terms of staffing, and to be a strategic partner to the leadership team.
“The key is also making sure you understand your investment portfolio, how it agrees with your capital plan [and] how it doesn’t,” he said. “Being really diligent on cash flow, cash collection and … [making] sure that you are optimizing your revenue cycle. I don’t think there’s a way to cut your way to prosperity. Optimizing the revenue cycle is key in partnership with the rest of the organization, because everyone plays a key role in the revenue cycle.”
