Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Andy Zukowski, Chief Financial Officer at ECU Health

Transcript

Andy Zukowski, Chief Financial Officer at ECU Health · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  The most important health care decisions don't happen
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  in isolation.
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  They happen when leaders come together.
• 0:08
  Becker's sixteenth annual meeting brings together more than
• 0:11
  3,500
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  hospital and health system executives this April in
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  Chicago.
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  With 800 speakers from Ascension,
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  Cleveland Clinic, CommonSpirit and more, the conversations get
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  real. Leaders will share how their scenario planning
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  for policy shifts, breaking through value based care
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  barriers, and building clinical teams that translate
• 0:37
  event
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  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 Madeline Ashley with Becker CFO and
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  Revenue Cycle podcast, and I'm excited to have
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  Andy Zukowski,
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  CFO of ECU Health in Greenville, North Carolina,
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  on the podcast with me. Andy, it's great
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  to have you back, and happy New Year.
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  Happy New Year to you as well, Madeline.
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  So excited to chat again with you today.
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  But before we kick things off for maybe
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  some of our listeners who haven't had a
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  chance to catch one of our older episodes,
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  do you mind just sharing a little bit
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  about yourself,
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  and more about ECU Health?
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  Absolutely. I'd be happy to.
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  So I serve as the chief financial officer
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  for ECU Health in the Brody School of
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  Medicine at East Carolina
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  University.
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  We are a rural academic safety net health
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  system serving well over a million residents in
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  29 counties across Eastern North Carolina.
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  Wonderful.
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  Thank you so much for that little, intro
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  there. So, Andy, you know, I know we've
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  talked about just everything going on in the
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  industry. Every time we talk, there's something new
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  happening. But as we enter the new year,
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  2026,
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  what financial trends or shifts are you keeping,
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  a watchful eye on, and and why are
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  you following these so closely?
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  Yeah.
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  Cost of care is an essential metric to
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  watch as we ensure financial sustainability,
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  especially as we transform
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  models of care
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  within this environment of significant pressure,
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  for as it relates to reimbursements
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  going down.
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  And specifically from a rural health and safety
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  net provider perspective,
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  you know, this time of significant uncertainty due,
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  we have Medicaid rate challenges within the state
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  of North Carolina along with the federal policy
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  changes.
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  Specifically, the state faces a shortfall in their
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  budget to fund
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  a 10% provider based payment rate reduction.
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  And so while this is separate from the
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  federal cuts, it could accelerate projections
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  projected reductions from the one big beautiful bill
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  starting in October
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  2027.
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  Mhmm. So these two policy changes combined will
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  make delivering rural healthcare more difficult and requires
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  us to prepare now by rethinking these traditional
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  models of care,
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  as it relates to rural health access and
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  the cost of care.
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  At the same time, we're focused on partnering
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  with the state, federal lawmakers to find solutions,
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  including opening the first
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  rural emergency hospital in the state of North
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  Carolina
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  to ensure that rural communities have access to
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  quality care they deserve.
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  So it's important to note as we're focused
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  on all this, we're committed, deeply committed to
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  being the solution to this problem,
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  but to focus on and not limit to
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  collaboration
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  with everybody, all the decision makers
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  as we look at the rural health realities
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  across Eastern North Carolina.
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  Mhmm. And we're also seeing a lot of
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  movement just in terms of, like, the the
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  world transformation
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  funds and and kind of how are you
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  and your team keeping keeping up with all
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  of that there?
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  So we're actively engaged and involved,
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  in
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  in understanding
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  what that will look like. It's gonna be
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  really critical that the rural health funds get
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  to the rural health care providers,
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  and so that's what we're most focused on
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  at this point.
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  Yeah.
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  Any lessons learned for you just over the
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  like, since the last time we talked even,
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  you know, again, so much change going on.
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  I'm sure this is helping many,
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  system leaders, you know, grow,
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  in their roles. How about you? How are
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  you feeling?
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  Yeah. I think the, you know, the one
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  lesson learned that I'm thinking about
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  carrying from last year to this year is
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  really to maintain focus
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  on continue to focus on our people and
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  our patients and more importantly, in support of
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  that, our multiyear strategic agenda.
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  Yeah. It's critical for us to successfully
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  lead and navigate through,
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  this this level of uncertainty and change that's
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  going on.
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  Mhmm.
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  Could you kinda switch gears a little bit
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  and talk more about some of the smart
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  growth that you're seeing at ECU,
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  this year, maybe in the in 2027?
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  Yeah. I think in terms of smart growth,
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  it all starts with for us access
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  Yeah. And,
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  the total patient experience.
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  Critically important to drive growth for us to
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  to achieve many of the growth objectives that
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  we have to serve additional patients.
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  Mhmm.
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  Could you dive a little deeper into some
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  some of those objectives?
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  Can you clarify that, Madeline, and start? Of
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  course. No. Yeah. Just just in terms of
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  I know you touched on that that's type
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  of smart growth. I mean, maybe in your
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  opinion, what would be
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  the best thing for ECU Health over the
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  next even two to two to three years?
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  Some projects maybe down the line, anything that
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  you could just dive a little deeper into.
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  Yeah. So, you know, we're we're investing in,
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  physical capacity. So we have within one of
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  our facilities, we'll be finishing off two floors
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  that we had shelved years ago.
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  And so that will allow us to grow
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  key service lines of growth. In addition to
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  that,
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  inventory surgery expansion
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  as well as other investments
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  to create capacity and access for patients.
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  At the same time, we're investing in technology
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  to improve
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  as it relates to that front end experience,
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  to get access timely access to our physicians
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  Mhmm. As well as as we think about
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  the patient experience,
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  starting with the financial
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  the front end experience to register from the
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  financial experience to the clinical experience and beyond
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  to ensure that we have,
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  really met the needs of our patients entirely.
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  Yeah. And, you know, kind of on the
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  same vein of lessons learned,
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  what are some leadership mindsets
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  that you think will be most important for
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  CFOs as they navigate
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  industry challenges and uncertainties this year?
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  Yeah. From my perspective, growth mindset is critical
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  along with continued focus on fundamentals. This is
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  all just to ensure that we can link
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  through change
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  and not get distracted by,
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  the news of the day or the issue
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  at hand. It's critical that we think long
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  term
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  and at the same time, focus on those
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  fundamentals.
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  Definitely.
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  Well, Andy, as always, it has been such
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  a pleasure getting to speak with you, and
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  I truly look forward to connecting with you
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  again down the line.
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  Absolutely, Madeline. Thank you so much. Thank you.