Brian DeFeo, vice president of financial operations at West Islip, N.Y.-based Good Samaritan University Hospital, has flagged “one of the biggest misconceptions in healthcare finance”: the path to improved margins is not through cutting expenses, but by improving operations.
Good Samaritan University Hospital is part of Rockville Centre, N.Y.-based Catholic Health.
“The future of healthcare finance is not cost cutting,” Mr. DeFeo said in a June 11 LinkedIn post. “It’s creating operational excellence that improves both patient outcomes and financial sustainability. The best CFOs are not simply financial stewards. They are operational leaders.”
Mr. DeFeo said when hospitals improve patient throughput, they will see decreased length of stay, increased capacity, decreased emergency department boarding, improved patient satisfaction, decreased staff burnout and revenue growth without adding beds.
In doing this, cost structure will also become more efficient.
“The result is that quality, patient experience, operational performance, and financial performance all move in the same direction,” the post said.
Catholic Health comprises six hospitals, multiple physician practices and multispecialty offices, imaging facilities, cancer institutes, ambulatory surgery centers, rehabilitation centers, home health services and hospice care. It has nearly 18,000 employees, according to its website.
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