Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Revenue Cycle Innovation, AI and the Evolving Role of the CFO with Jeff Francis

Transcript

Revenue Cycle Innovation, AI and the Evolving Role of the CFO with Jeff Francis · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:02
  - The strategic agenda facing hospital and health system
• 0:04
  - leaders right now is not a short list.
• 0:07
  - Growth in a consolidating market, sustainable margins in
• 0:09
  - a reimbursement environment that rarely moves in your
• 0:12
  - favor,
• 0:12
  - a tech investment cycle that demands both urgency
• 0:15
  - and discipline,
• 0:16
  - and a workforce story that is still being
• 0:19
  - written.
• 0:20
  - Eker's fourteenth annual CEO CFO roundtable brings together
• 0:23
  - more than 1,500 executive level attendees and nearly
• 0:27
  - 400 speakers across four days of sessions that
• 0:30
  - are designed to help c suite leaders benchmark,
• 0:32
  - pressure test, and sharpen their priorities.
• 0:35
  - Not in the abstract, but against the real
• 0:37
  - decisions they'll face heading into the next year.
• 0:39
  - It's the kind of event you leave with
• 0:41
  - a clear sense of where you stand and
• 0:42
  - what comes next.
• 0:44
  - So join us November second through the fifth
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  - at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago, and come
• 0:49
  - ready to do the hard thinking.
• 0:50
  - Register on our events page at beckershospitalreview.com
• 0:54
  - by clicking on the events tab in the
• 0:56
  - upper right.
• 0:58
  - This is Madeline with the Becker CFO and
• 1:00
  - revenue cycle podcast. I'm excited to be joined
• 1:03
  - today by Jeff Francis, CFO of Nebraska Methodist
• 1:06
  - Health System. Jeff, thanks so much for joining
• 1:08
  - me. Thank you for having me on. So,
• 1:10
  - Jeff, before we kick things off, could you
• 1:12
  - share with our listeners just a little bit
• 1:14
  - about yourself,
• 1:15
  - more on your background in health care and
• 1:17
  - your current role, at Nebraska mess Methodist Health
• 1:19
  - System?
• 1:21
  - Yeah. Thanks.
• 1:22
  - Jeff Francis. I'm with the
• 1:24
  - CFO for the last ten years at Methodist.
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  - Have also had positions at Ministry Healthcare
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  - up in Milwaukee
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  - and Parkview Health in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
• 1:37
  - Amazing.
• 1:38
  - Could you share a little bit more just
• 1:39
  - about your system?
• 1:41
  - Yeah. Methodist, we're about 1,500,000,000
• 1:45
  - in net patient revenue,
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  - four hospitals,
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  - over 30,
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  - physician clinic locations.
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  - Mhmm. We also have a distribution
• 1:54
  - company
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  - as well as a nursing and allied health
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  - college.
• 1:59
  - Okay. That's amazing. So I'd love to dive
• 2:02
  - right in with you, Jeff. Obviously, right now,
• 2:04
  - there is so much going on in health
• 2:05
  - care.
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  - What would you say the biggest shifts you
• 2:08
  - are seeing are right now and maybe how
• 2:10
  - your team is working to adapt here?
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  - I would say the biggest shifts are coming
• 2:16
  - from
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  - the denials, the pushback that we're seeing from
• 2:20
  - the insurance companies, from the third party payers.
• 2:24
  - They're getting innovative.
• 2:26
  - They're coming up with new ways to,
• 2:29
  - really delay
• 2:30
  - payments or, if all possible, deny payments.
• 2:35
  - And so that's where we're focusing our efforts
• 2:38
  - in the revenue cycle.
• 2:39
  - Yeah. What are some solutions that you're trying
• 2:41
  - to implement there?
• 2:43
  - A lot of it we're trying to do
• 2:45
  - is around the mid cycle,
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  - rev cycle, specifically
• 2:50
  - around documentation
• 2:51
  - and coding.
• 2:52
  - We're seeing the biggest lift there, biggest return
• 2:56
  - on investment,
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  - because we can have it more accurate.
• 3:00
  - We can get it out sooner,
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  - and then hopefully overcome some of those delays.
• 3:06
  - Yeah. For sure. And then at Methodist, I'd
• 3:08
  - love to hear on the flip side here
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  - some really strong wins you're seeing maybe
• 3:13
  - through technology, workforce changes, any team structures. What
• 3:16
  - are what are some of those positive wins
• 3:17
  - looking like to you right now? Yeah. We
• 3:19
  - started having positive wins,
• 3:22
  - with AI back in 2019.
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  - We started doing some
• 3:26
  - claim status work.
• 3:28
  - We're now,
• 3:30
  - in the seventh year of that and it
• 3:33
  - would be very detrimental if
• 3:35
  - that software went away. So we continue to
• 3:38
  - utilize that,
• 3:40
  - save around 24 FTEs,
• 3:42
  - and then allowing those people to work at
• 3:45
  - the top of the license.
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  - So they're really working on the claims to
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  - improve that yield.
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  - Around the
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  - mid cycle,
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  - a lot of work this year around
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  - the clinical documentation
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  - improvement,
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  - getting the queries out to the physicians and
• 4:02
  - utilizing some AI to support that
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  - so that we can have that better documentation
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  - upfront.
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  - What are some ways from just the finance
• 4:10
  - seat that you decide where to best invest
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  - in technology right now? I mean, there's so
• 4:15
  - much coming at us,
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  - from all different areas. How do you, you
• 4:19
  - know, put that thinking cap on and go,
• 4:21
  - okay. Not these, but this.
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  - It really comes down to if they can
• 4:26
  - produce a business case.
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  - It can't be a nice to have or
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  - we just don't have that luxury. So
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  - where can we get a quicker return on
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  - that investment
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  - or be able to have it an immediate
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  - return?
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  - And that's where we are focusing our energy.
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  - Yeah. What would you say right now is
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  - the most difficult issue in revenue cycle that
• 4:49
  - no one's really seem to need to to
• 4:51
  - crack the code on?
• 4:53
  - Yeah. I'm sure it's for others. Definitely for
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  - us, it's that initial registration,
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  - whether it's in the clinic,
• 5:00
  - whether it's at the hospital,
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  - getting that insurance verification
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  - so that we can have
• 5:06
  - at least the start of the revenue cycle
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  - clean, but you're dealing with
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  - staff that are entry level, that are new
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  - to business,
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  - it may not be
• 5:19
  - second nature for them to be as focused
• 5:21
  - on the details. You know, this payer is
• 5:24
  - in network.
• 5:25
  - That payer is out of network.
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  - Again, all of those are ways to try
• 5:31
  - and have that making sure that we're getting
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  - paid
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  - or for the services we provided.
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  - Any secret sauces there to that that issue?
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  - No. I wish I had the secret sauce.
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  - It's just hard work. It's continuous effort from
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  - our leaders,
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  - reinforcing,
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  - training the new hires,
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  - doing everything that we can
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  - to do some automation
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  - around some of the prior authorization, but it's
• 5:58
  - still that
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  - insurance verification. It's asking that patient for that
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  - card
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  - every time they come in and we have
• 6:05
  - that interaction.
• 6:07
  - Yeah. Definitely an an issue that, as you
• 6:09
  - said, I'm sure will resonate with many leaders,
• 6:11
  - that are listening.
• 6:13
  - Could you share I know you maybe touched
• 6:15
  - on it a little bit at the beginning
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  - just in terms of, you know, your background
• 6:18
  - in health care, but how long have you
• 6:19
  - held CFO roles?
• 6:21
  - Amazingly, I became CFO the Thursday before the
• 6:25
  - Lehman Brothers collapsed
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  - back in 2008
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  - at Parkview Health.
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  - So I have seen a lot, over that
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  - time period and learned a lot that first
• 6:35
  - week that I became CFO.
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  - Very
• 6:39
  - rewarding,
• 6:41
  - love being able to teach people the business
• 6:44
  - side because we have wonderful clinicians everywhere we've
• 6:47
  - worked,
• 6:48
  - but the business side is sometimes
• 6:50
  - isn't quite,
• 6:52
  - as strong.
• 6:53
  - Yeah. And, you know, since as you mentioned,
• 6:56
  - since 2008, you've been in a finance CFO
• 6:58
  - role. For those that are sold kinda early
• 7:00
  - in their career, might be a little nervous
• 7:02
  - some of the things they're seeing out there
• 7:04
  - right now, what would you say is a
• 7:05
  - piece of advice you would give them?
• 7:08
  - I would encourage them to,
• 7:10
  - get a network of trusted
• 7:12
  - CFOs,
• 7:13
  - so that you can talk to them,
• 7:16
  - ask questions that they can relate to,
• 7:20
  - create that advisory board for yourself so that
• 7:22
  - you can be that much stronger leader for
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  - the organization.
• 7:27
  - How would you say that the role has
• 7:28
  - evolved over the years? We're seeing a lot
• 7:30
  - of CFOs even kind of transition to that
• 7:33
  - CEO, COO seat even,
• 7:35
  - you know, and it it does continue to
• 7:37
  - evolve from CF knows to, you know, a
• 7:40
  - lot more communication in in that seat. What
• 7:42
  - would you say you're seeing?
• 7:44
  - It's definitely moved to the strategic.
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  - It is, that forecast. It is looking out
• 7:51
  - much less the old controller role where you're
• 7:54
  - reporting last month's results.
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  - So, you know, the windshield is bigger than
• 7:59
  - the rear view mirror. And so really wanting
• 8:02
  - to focus,
• 8:04
  - where we're going as opposed to where we've
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  - been.
• 8:07
  - Yeah. No. That's some great insight there. And,
• 8:09
  - again, some wonderful advice too for some future
• 8:11
  - CFO leaders listening to the podcast. Jeff, it's
• 8:14
  - been such a pleasure having you on. I
• 8:16
  - truly appreciate you taking the time to connect
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  - with me, and I look forward to chatting
• 8:19
  - again soon. And I hope you're, staying cool.
• 8:21
  - I know we just discussed it's a little
• 8:23
  - hot out there.
• 8:24
  - Yep. Thank you. Yep. And hope everybody's having
• 8:26
  - a great summer. Awesome. Thank you.