Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Staying Ahead of Change in Rural Healthcare Finance with Eric Price

Transcript

Staying Ahead of Change in Rural Healthcare Finance with Eric Price · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  - There's a small circle of people who truly
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  - understand what it takes to lead a health
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  - system right now. The decisions are enormous.
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  - The variables are constantly shifting, and the stakes
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  - of getting a call wrong don't stay contained.
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  - That's not a complaint. It's a structural reality.
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  - And it's why the most effective c suite
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  - leaders are deliberate about where they go to
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  - pressure test their thinking.
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  - Becker's fourteenth annual CEO and CFO roundtable
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  - brings together more than 1,500
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  - executive level attendees
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  - and nearly 400 speakers for four days built
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  - around growth, financial sustainability,
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  - workforce strategy, and the leadership questions that don't
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  - have easy answers.
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  - Join us November second through the fifth in
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  - Chicago.
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  - For the agenda and event details,
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  - visit beckershospitalreview.com
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  - and click on the events tab in the
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  - upper right.
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  - Hello, everyone. This is Scott King live from
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  - Becker's first ever rural health care leadership summit,
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  - joined by a very special guest, Eric Price,
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  - chief financial officer of Schoolcraft Memorial Hospital. Eric,
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  - how are you doing? Thanks so much for
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  - joining us. I'm doing good, Scott. Thank you
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  - for the opportunity to be here. Really nice
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  - to be part of this program. Of course.
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  - Thanks for being here and and for speaking
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  - at the conference as well. And, you know,
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  - before we dive into some some topics facing
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  - health care right now, just curious if you
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  - can tell us a little about your role
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  - in your organization.
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  - Yeah. So I'm a CFO in our independent
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  - rural, critical access hospital.
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  - We are a 12 bed facility, you know,
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  - small but mighty.
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  - One of our biggest things, we are diversified
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  - with the law of specialty care. We have
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  - two RHC,
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  - rural health clinics,
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  - and a pretty robust swim bed program and
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  - orthopedic and,
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  - physical therapy program.
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  - With everything going on in health care right
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  - now, what's currently commanding the most of your
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  - attention as a leader?
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  - The biggest thing
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  - in in this way since I first got
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  - in the industry, the biggest thing is just
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  - ensuring that we are being thoughtful
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  - and not reactionary
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  - to all the changes
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  - that are thrust upon us or that we
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  - choose to, participate in. How much discipline does
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  - that take? Because there's there's so much going
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  - on, and it seems like, you know, some
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  - some things are more dire than others. So
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  - how much discipline and, I guess, experience does
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  - that take where you can just kinda sit
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  - back and maybe analyze or think about things
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  - real bit other other than otherwise
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  - reacting quickly, like you said. Yeah. So I
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  - think, you know, I started my career back
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  - when we were starting the, fifty ten compliance
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  - and ICD 10, and all these things are
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  - happening.
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  - So I think for me,
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  - just knowing that the initial surge of information
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  - will usually
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  - resolve itself.
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  - In six to eight months, things kinda tend
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  - to settle down.
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  - I think we see it with
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  - let's talk about real health transformation or even
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  - eight, you know, eight house position one.
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  - There are things that are at play, and
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  - our biggest thing for me as a CFO
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  - is trying to navigate it in such a
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  - way that we're not chasing a a a
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  - initiative that may or may not
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  - be there in ten years. Yeah. It's that
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  - five year, ten year look. You know, where
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  - where are we gonna be in five years?
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  - Yes. These things are important,
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  - but we've gotta maintain that long term strategy.
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  - And I'm hoping to come back here in
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  - five years and have another follow-up podcast and
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  - say, hey. We weathered that storm, and now
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  - we're done with this new one. That'd be
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  - great to hear about.
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  - What recent decision or pivot required the most
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  - leadership conviction
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  - from you personally?
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  - The the biggest thing for us has been,
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  - the AI conversation.
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  - You know, AI has been into our technology
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  - for some time. Radiology and diagnostic equipments, comes
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  - to mind right off the bat.
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  - The biggest thing is for a rural community
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  - is ensuring that we are
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  - managing that blend of new technology
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  - to supplement
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  - and improve the work quality life of our
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  - of our team, but also in to a
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  - such a way that we're not
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  - jeopardizing
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  - our rural communities livelihood because all these people
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  - that that that they work for the hospital
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  - and it's a job that
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  - let's talk
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  - like, oh,
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  - referral management. Right? Referrals and prior authorizations.
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  - I'm hoping to get something in place that
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  - will improve the quality of life of my
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  - team, but not replace them. How does that
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  - process challenge your assumptions? And, you know, what
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  - does it change about
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  - your approach to decision making regarding talent or
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  - organizational readiness today?
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  - The biggest thing is ensuring that we stay
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  - ahead of some of these advancing technologies.
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  - You know, for our team,
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  - really, it's about being a lifetime learner. And
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  - that's probably a weird thing for a CFO
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  - to say, but I want to invest in
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  - both the technology and the understanding of that
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  - technology.
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  - You know, if we can improve our team's
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  - ability to
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  - react and understand and
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  - manage it. The more self managed the teams
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  - are,
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  - with their own kind of internal locus of
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  - control, the less we are impacted by these,
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  - you know, winds of change that come across.
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  - You You know, with the winds of change,
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  - as you put everything changing and reshaping health
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  - care right now,
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  - where do you think leaders need to be
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  - more decisive?
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  - I think the most decisive thing that we
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  - have been managing is
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  - ensuring
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  - that amongst all this change, so we don't
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  - lose sight on the patient
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  - quality care. And the fact that at the
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  - end of the day,
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  - especially in rural America, it it's our family
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  - members. It's our our mothers, our our neighbors,
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  - you know,
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  - people that we know, grew up with, and
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  - we'll see on the street at the grocery
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  - store in two weeks. So we've got to
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  - stay focused on patient care and not lose
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  - sight of
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  - quality
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  - and access.
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  - That's interesting. That's something that kinda kinda keeps
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  - coming up on doing these rural podcasts here
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  - is that you you kinda get immediate feedback
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  - in your community because you you see these
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  - people, you know, in in stores and and
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  - out and about. So, I guess, with the
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  - decisions you make, you have to be
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  - knowing you're gonna get some immediate feedback there.
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  - Yeah. And and that's part of it is,
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  - I think, in larger systems I I've worked
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  - in a larger system. You know, usually, it's
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  - the media or press or, you know, managing
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  - that narrative. But in rural communities,
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  - if you do something or good or bad,
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  - the community's gonna hear about it before you
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  - even leave the opposite. Right.
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  - Right. Being cognizant of the community
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  - and just being a a partner.
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  - Yeah. Absolutely. Serving the community. And the last
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  - thing I wanted to ask you, Eric, is
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  - uncertainty has become the new norm now in
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  - health care, what leadership habit or mindset has
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  - been most critical in keeping your organization and
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  - your people moving forward?
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  - Communication.
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  - We've gotta communicate.
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  - And I've I've miscommunicated things, and you learn
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  - from that.
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  - The biggest mindset for me as a leader,
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  - and I I'd encourage anyone, you know, especially
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  - the financial leaders, is
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  - steady steady as she goes. Just be steady.
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  - Make sure you're reacting and understanding the threats,
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  - but don't
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  - overcorrect.
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  - I think that
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  - sometimes,
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  - you know, maybe a a quarter shows up
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  - and you got a bad financial report or
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  - uncertainty comes down the pipeline,
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  - you've got to maintain a steady course and
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  - not get blown around by the by the
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  - winds of change. Yeah. And what are some
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  - things you do at your system to kinda
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  - hone in on communication? Is it certain kind
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  - of of meetings or messaging?
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  - I think it's dynamic. I you know, we're
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  - evolving how we communicate daily,
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  - like like a daily huddle, daily Yeah. Check
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  - ins. I know that we're working on a
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  - big dashboard project so that our our anyone
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  - in the leadership team can look at how
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  - we're doing operationally, financially. So it's not waiting
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  - for the CFO to put numbers out, you
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  - know,
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  - 45 after the events happened. We're trying to
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  - get more real time
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  - information
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  - so we're not chasing,
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  - you know, lagging indicators.
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  - And being ahead of the, you know, get
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  - ahead of the,
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  - so I'm an aviation fan. There's something called
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  - staying ahead of the aircraft. Don't get behind
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  - it. Staying ahead of the, the boat, the
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  - aircraft where it is, the the the change,
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  - and
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  - just kinda keep your pulse on what's going
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  - on, check-in with your team, ask me how
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  - you doing. And you gotta be visible to
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  - leader. This era of health care, especially the
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  - CFO,
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  - if you're sitting at your desk, you're not
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  - rounding on the med surg unit, checking in
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  - on your OR team,
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  - having conversations with physicians,
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  - you you may be a little behind the
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  - power curve already. So I'd encourage anyone out
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  - there just to
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  - especially on the administrative executive side, get to
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  - know your team
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  - and understand what's happening, where the work's being
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  - done, because
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  - I'm not able to manage this from a
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  - spreadsheet at my desk. I need to know
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  - what's going on so I can react effectively.
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  - Stay ahead of the aircraft. I like that.
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  - Stay ahead of it. Yep. Great analogy. Eric,
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  - thanks so much for being here on the
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  - podcast and for speaking at the Rural Health
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  - Care Leadership Summit. We appreciate it. K. Thank
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  - you so much.