Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Sarah McGoldrick, Executive Director of Finance at Singing River Health System

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Sarah McGoldrick, Executive Director of Finance at Singing River Health System · 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 do they go
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  - to 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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  - This is Laura Dirdo with the Becker's Healthcare
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  - podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
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  - Sarah McGoldrick,
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  - executive director of finance at Singing River Health
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  - System. Sarah, it's a pleasure diving on the
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  - podcast today.
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  - Thank you. I'm excited to be here.
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  - Absolutely. You know, I'm looking forward to our
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  - conversation. I know, you know, it'll be interesting
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  - to hear what you're doing at Singing River
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  - as well as how you're looking at the
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  - future. But before we dive in, can you
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  - tell us a little bit more about yourself
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  - and your background?
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  - Absolutely. So like you said, my name is
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  - Sarah Goldrick, and I'm the executive director of
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  - finance at Singing River Health System, which is
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  - a three hospital health system on the Mississippi
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  - Gulf Coast,
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  - which is a very much a little hidden
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  - gem of the country. It's beautiful down here.
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  - We do about 700,000,000
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  - in net patient revenue per year.
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  - I oversee the revenue cycle,
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  - HIM, utilization review,
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  - decision support,
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  - and operational finance, like productivity, and all that.
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  - Originally so I started my career
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  - in the revenue cycle at Ochsner,
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  - and I was a denials
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  - analyst in that role. And then I moved
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  - into the operational finance side of the world,
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  - at Ochsner Baptist, which is their women's facility.
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  - And I had a really great experience,
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  - at that organization and then moved into this
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  - role almost five years ago now.
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  - Well, it's great to hear and and definitely
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  - exciting to have that type of background coming
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  - into the current space.
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  - So could you give us a state of
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  - the union of what you're doing at Sydney
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  - River?
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  - What have you been proud of this year
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  - so far, and what are you looking ahead
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  - to in the rest of 2026?
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  - Yeah. Absolutely. So
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  - the revenue cycle space, we, unfortunately,
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  - in my time at Singing River, we had
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  - our own downtime
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  - as well as we're,
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  - pretty much a change health care shop,
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  - in the revenue cycle. So,
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  - six months after our own downtime, we had
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  - to change downtime.
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  - So since then, we have undergone,
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  - a transition
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  - from pretty much every,
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  - rev cycle vendor.
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  - So it's been a pretty,
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  - rapid
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  - change over the last several years as we
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  - as we've set up a new clearinghouse, new
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  - RTE,
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  - new statements, which are wildly complicated. Never would
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  - have thought that there was that much,
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  - to detail involved with sending out a paper
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  - statement.
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  - But it's been,
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  - you know,
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  - a very
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  - busy last several years. And so this year,
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  - we've really had the opportunity to
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  - be forward facing and strategic of, like, what
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  - is this next period gonna look like for
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  - us?
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  - And we, like, probably a lot of other
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  - folks in the rev cycle
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  - space in general,
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  - have definitely
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  - been exploring the AI front and what we're
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  - gonna do in the AI space and making
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  - our workflows
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  - and lives
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  - simplified and eliminating clicks and unnecessary touches and
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  - and really working through automation and,
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  - trying to get things to where we can
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  - have it handled by AI agents,
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  - that might not need a frontline staff member
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  - touching it.
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  - Because, you know, we
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  - we have a lot of people who are
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  - retiring.
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  - And, also, obviously,
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  - the we are struggling with, like, getting and
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  - retaining staff, and and we do an overall
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  - pretty good job, but, you know, one of
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  - my frontline staff members came in my office
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  - and sat down and told me, she was
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  - like, you know, sometimes
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  - this job just feels soul sucking. And I
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  - was like, well, that is never how we
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  - want it to feel. But, also, like, their
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  - their work queues are, you know, 5,000 things
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  - in them, and they're having to go through
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  - and look and manually touch things and just
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  - click in and out. And so any sort
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  - of efficiencies that we can find to make
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  - the work more meaningful for our frontline teams
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  - is really what my big priority for this
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  - year is.
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  - That's great to hear. And, you know, and
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  - it's so important to have that type of
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  - culture and be able to understand, you know,
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  - what people are going through and, how you
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  - can support them in a meaningful way.
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  - And, you know, from that perspective,
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  - how what are some of the headwinds that
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  - you're keeping your eye on for,
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  - the future and and really preparing for as
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  - you look at how the landscape is changing
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  - and what's really gonna be most important for
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  - you?
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  - So I think a couple of the biggest
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  - headwinds that we're expecting
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  - payer can send out a policy
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  - thirty days before it becomes active. That's gonna
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  - have a 10% payment penalty for any inpatient
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  - claim. If you don't do x, y, and
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  - z,
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  - that's a you know, those types of changes
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  - are very difficult to keep up with and
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  - implement. And especially when you're talking about a
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  - big system
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  - to, like, put all of the pieces into
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  - place,
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  - to make those
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  - improvements
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  - is gonna take resources. It's gonna take time.
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  - It's gonna take money.
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  - And and
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  - the lack of collaboration between the payers and
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  - the health systems can be a really significant
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  - challenge at times. And,
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  - I know, like, a new
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  - trend in the industry with the payers is
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  - having the the five midnight rule for some
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  - of these Medicare Advantage Plans where they're,
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  - moving to paying an observation
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  - rate if it's under five midnights,
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  - which I think is
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  - absolutely wild that they can do that.
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  - And, you know, we are fighting those types
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  - of things. But, like, whenever the payers are
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  - coming out with these things so rapidly,
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  - we have
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  - a ton of payers to deal with on
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  - our end. So we can't it's not like
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  - we can keep up with every single
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  - change that the payers are doing.
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  - We just don't have the resources for that.
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  - You know, I've seen other places that are
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  - much bigger than us that they have dedicated
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  - resources for reviewing payer changes that are coming
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  - out.
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  - But a lot of what we find is
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  - on the back end after we start getting
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  - denied for it, and then we're scrambling to
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  - make a change. And so really just aligning
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  - our processes with
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  - these overall payer changes and being able to
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  - adapt quickly and also,
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  - protect our revenue at the end of the
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  - day because they're not doing it because they
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  - wanna pay us what we are owed.
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  - Absolutely. And that's such a great point to,
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  - you know, being able to know the contracts
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  - and understand what's going on on the back
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  - end to collect on what
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  - the contractor rate has been and and what
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  - you, to your point, are are being owed.
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  - And so you've got all of these moving
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  - parts and things kind of constantly shifting, and
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  - I know technology is part of that too.
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  - How do you keep the teams your teams
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  - focused on the most important things and making
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  - sure they're, you know, really chasing down those
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  - extra dollars? So,
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  - you're bringing that in and and, really able
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  - to continue to keep the the revenue cycle
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  - fun functioning efficiently and effectively.
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  - So I think the biggest thing really is
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  - being strategic with how we spend our resources.
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  - And,
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  - Stephanie Wells at Ochsner used to call her
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  - analytics team the secret sauce. And I think
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  - that that is something that I definitely
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  - took from her leadership is that, when I
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  - got to Singing River, I did establish an
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  - analytics a rep cycle analytics team.
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  - And with that, I I am able to
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  - really help drive the work by reviewing the
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  - metrics, making sure we're in line with, industry
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  - standards,
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  - monitoring on, you know, day to day and
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  - monthly basis depending on what the metric is
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  - to make sure that our guardrails are up.
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  - And if we, you know, if we go
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  - outside of what our guardrails are, that we
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  - have a chance to really jump in and
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  - address issues real time so we never get
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  - too far off the track.
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  - So I would say that the analytics team
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  - at my organization is is one of the
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  - key drivers to make sure we're able to
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  - stay successful
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  - and utilize our resources efficiently.
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  - That that makes a lot of sense, you
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  - know, and it is really interesting to hear.
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  - And and I helpful advice. I love that
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  - being able to have that secret sauce with
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  - your analytics team and always knowing, you know,
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  - what's going to be ahead and becoming proactive,
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  - on that front. And, you know, to that
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  - point, what are some of the areas you
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  - see as being opportunities for growth as well
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  - in the next two to three years?
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  - So I think that as far as opportunities
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  - for growth,
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  - I think that it is
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  - just the volume in health care is not
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  - gonna slow down anytime soon with the population
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  - and demographic shifts.
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  - So being able to keep up with that
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  - from the revenue cycle in business office with
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  - the,
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  - shifting workforce
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  - is going to be
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  - a a significant challenge, but also opportunity for
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  - growth, like, in the health care environment.
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  - You know, I do also think that health
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  - care
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  - is obviously shifting a lot with
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  - how we're approaching it. For example, like, with
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  - the GLP ones coming out, like, I think
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  - that there are a lot of changes from
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  - a traditional look.
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  - You know, at Singular River, we've seen a
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  - big shift in our bariatric
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  - surgery program
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  - with the introduction of GLP ones. And I
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  - think, you know, with the upcoming years, we'll
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  - see a lot more changes in our businesses
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  - like that that we're gonna have to adapt
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  - to a business model standpoint
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  - as,
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  - new drugs, new devices,
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  - new just shifts in how the clinical world
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  - is functioning,
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  - we're gonna have to, you know, keep up
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  - on the back end and on the finance
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  - side as well.
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  - Absolutely.
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  - I, you know, think it's so interesting to
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  - hear about how the workforce is changing across
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  - the board. I've heard that from a lot
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  - of leaders in thinking about
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  - how they're,
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  - looking ahead and trying to, you know, build
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  - the right pipeline and,
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  - recruiting the right folks as well as thinking
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  - smartly about how they're,
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  - going to be managing the programs in the
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  - future.
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  - Now when you all see so much change,
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  - what is your philosophy for being able to
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  - stay nimble and build those nimble teams ready
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  - to adapt and and,
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  - move forward in a smart and meaningful way?
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  - I think a couple of things on that
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  - one. I I do think that
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  - my team is exceptionally strong, my leadership team.
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  - I
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  - don't think that I could find a better
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  - group than what I have. They're extremely impressive.
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  - They're all very dedicated and exceptionally strong leaders
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  - that care a lot about their work and
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  - the outcomes and,
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  - and the people on their teams and the
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  - communities that we serve. And so I think
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  - that that's,
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  - one thing that you can't really train either.
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  - So I am very fortunate that I that,
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  - you know, I have this group of of
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  - leaders in my area.
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  - But with that, we're able to really,
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  - I think,
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  - build strong teams,
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  - with my lead and I I owe a
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  - lot to of that to my leadership team.
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  - So they're able to really build,
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  - a strong culture and strong teams at the
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  - front line that are able to, you know
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  - so really the environment of trust, I guess,
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  - long story short, is is a huge component
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  - with that.
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  - But, also,
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  - I think that
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  - we, as a team,
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  - see that health care is ever changing.
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  - It's going to keep changing.
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  - And so being adaptable
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  - and quick to
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  - being nimble,
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  - and focusing on the process improvement workflows and
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  - identifying
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  - areas of efficiencies where we can pick up
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  - and gain efficiencies,
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  - are all definitely
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  - things where we
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  - are very focused.
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  - Got it. That's helpful to understand, you know.
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  - Interesting,
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  - to
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  - know how you've been thinking through these dynamics
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  - and and really leading the team in a
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  - meaningful way. And then speaking of leadership,
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  - who's a leader that you really admire from
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  - any industry and why?
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  - So a a leader that I really admire
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  - from the industry is
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  - Warner Thomas. I you know, I've talked a
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  - lot about my time at Ochsner and, you
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  - know, the examples that I've had in leadership
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  - at Ochsner. I think that they did a
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  - fantastic job of really building a strong culture,
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  - that was very much driven by Warner.
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  - So I think that that's something that
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  - being able to
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  - really
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  - see in real time the impact that
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  - trust has with the team and
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  - and the dedication to leadership and development that
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  - Ochsner invested,
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  - you know, in an early careerist,
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  - I think
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  - was a a huge win and very
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  - it it definitely shaped how I am as
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  - a leader and and very much I'm appreciative
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  - of that.
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  - That's great to hear. I I know Warner
• 14:05
  - has been able to speak with us a
• 14:07
  - few different times, and it's always inspiring to
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  - hear what he has to say and truly
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  - empowering his teams to grow and develop and
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  - take chances and and really has a strong
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  - culture. So,
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  - very much excited,
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  - you know, for that experience you had with
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  - him, and it sounds like you're spreading it
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  - to your teams as well. Yep. Absolutely. It's
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  - it's been, really fun
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  - to build,
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  - the team that I have at Singing River.
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  - And like I said, I I just couldn't
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  - ask for a better team here either, and
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  - and I took a lot of the lessons
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  - that I learned at Ochsner and the resources
• 14:40
  - that they were able to provide. You know,
• 14:41
  - they did a lot of,
• 14:43
  - like, they brought in Brene Brown
• 14:45
  - and did a a leadership development course with
• 14:48
  - her and her trainings, which I thought was
• 14:50
  - you know, I learned a lot about trust
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  - through that and those types of things. Like,
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  - you can build a team that functions without
• 14:56
  - the without the softer skills,
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  - but without them, like, you're never gonna be
• 15:01
  - as high performing as you could be with
• 15:03
  - them, in my opinion.
• 15:07
  - I love it. Sarah, thank you so much
• 15:09
  - for joining us in the podcast today. This
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  - has been a really fun and inspiring conversation,
• 15:13
  - and I look forward to connecting with you
• 15:15
  - as well soon and and, really continuing this
• 15:18
  - conversation.
• 15:19
  - Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me,
• 15:21
  - and I really appreciate it.