Dive Brief:
- Thanks in part to healthcare reform, the role of hospital CFOs has expanded to new functions, and increasingly calls for CFOs to engage collaboratively with physicians; this is especially true given the industry's move to value-based payments.
- CFOs are also being asked to do more in the supply chain arena, looking at options from a cost management and budgeting perspective, particularly when it comes to identifying waste and driving changes that create savings.
- One example is Intermountain Healthcare's CFO, Bert Zimmerli, who helped the system change to a self-distribution model, generating over $250 million in savings over the past five years, according to Healthcare Finance News.
Dive Insight:
While having the CFO in his or her professional silo may be the way things are traditionally done, experiences like Intermountain's strongly suggest that CFO involvement in operations -- with their enterprise-wide view of the health system or hospital -- is a very smart move. And it's probably an inevitable one, too. As systems become accountable for value-based care, which includes having a sophisticated view of expenses in care, a skilled financial eye will be irreplaceable.