15 insights from the 2023 Kodiak Healthcare Summit

Leaders on the front lines of healthcare finance, internal audit, revenue cycle, and reimbursement shared their insights at the 13th annual Healthcare Summit.

What makes the annual Kodiak Healthcare Summit unique among healthcare financial conferences? It’s the robust roster of senior-level healthcare finance leaders who voluntarily give their valuable time to speak to Healthcare Summit attendees at keynote addresses, breakout sessions, roundtable discussions, and all the networking breaks in between the official events printed in the program guide.

This article highlights some of the insights they shared with the nearly 600 on-site and virtual attendees at the 13th annual Healthcare Summit, held Sept. 17-21, 2023, in Nashville, Tennessee, at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel. Each insight, in order of the leaders’ appearance during Healthcare Summit, includes a link to an on-demand rebroadcast or highlights video, when available, of the session so you can hear even more of the front-line wisdom that they candidly shared.

Amber Schon

Director, Revenue Recognition, Geisinger Health, on making the invisible visible

“Large balances have a way of masking smaller issues. If you start digging into a particular payor or a particular plan, maybe you’re seeing $20 denials all the time and, as you dig in more, you’re seeing it seems to always be this particular procedure. So, you might work with your revenue cycle to give them those cases and that insight.”

From the “Understanding Change in Prior Period Adjustments” breakout session

Tim Balasia

Controller, Eskenazi Health, on the benefits of having confidence in your month-end close process

“We wanted to be proactive with the month-end close and ensure that we had all of the transactions fully understood, accurate, and timely. This gives the organization confidence that when we release the financials, we’re in compliance with the many partners that we have. Partners as in auditors, payors, and programs. Also, we have a significant number of federal and state grants. It’s nice to know that when we close the month-end, we can then simply move on to invoicing and get those dollars back.”

From the “Going on Offense: Mapping Success for the Year Ahead” keynote session

Aaron Stapp

System Vice President, Revenue Cycle, CommonSpirit Health, on using data to uncover the root causes of revenue cycle performance challenges

“Having actual claims data helps you determine whether your revenue cycle challenges are caused by external payor behaviors or internal performance issues or both.”

From the “Going on Offense: Mapping Success for the Year Ahead” keynote session

Joanne Alig

Senior Vice President, Public Policy, Wisconsin Hospital Association, on the usefulness of having data-based metrics for advocacy efforts

“From an advocacy perspective, what we really need is the ability to tell the story. We all know payors that aren’t paying or aren’t paying timely or aren’t paying correctly. And we really need the data to tell the story, to hone in on those key metrics. We envision using those metrics with regulators, maybe our insurance commissioner’s office, who may think that just because they haven’t gotten grievances from patients that there aren’t claim denials. We know that’s not true. Our hospitals and health systems are actually protecting their patients from that. We want to use the data with regulators, elected officials, and really just, again, continue to use it to try to get the rocks out of the road for our members.”

From the “Going on Offense: Mapping Success for the Year Ahead” keynote session

Mendy-Sue Drew

Assistant Vice President, Accounting Operations, Scripps Health, on the importance of working collaboratively with IT departments

“I can’t say enough how important it is to have IT’s commitment to what we do.”

From the “Unapplied Cash – Addressing Unique Finance, Revenue Cycle Process, and General Ledger Pain Points” breakout session

An on-demand rebroadcast of this breakout session is not available.

Susan Searcy

Executive Director, Revenue Integrity, UnityPoint Health, on the clinical and financial benefits of length-of-stay initiatives

“Sometimes length-of-stay initiatives get a bad rap from our clinical folks. They hear there’s a length-of-stay initiative, and they automatically think it’s the finance folks, and all they’re worried about is money. But what about the other patient? I have this patient up on three south, and they’re there, and I have five patients in the ED that are acutely ill, meet inpatient criteria, who are sitting in a bed in the ED and who deserve to have care on that floor.”

From the “Length of Stay Case Study: The Power of RCA Data” breakout session

Gary Simkus

Vice President, Finance Analytics and Systems, Universal Health Services, on effectively communicating net revenue results with senior leadership

“When we implemented RCA back in 2018, the president of my organization said, ‘Hey, I really need some insight on RCA. Print me off every single report.’ So, I did. I printed off every single canned report, got a binder, went to OfficeMax, grabbed one of those magnifying sheets so he could take it on the plane. He marked it up, gave it back to me. He’s like, ‘It’s not really telling me anything I need to know.’ I’m like, ‘I know I struck out.’ Let me go back to the table and redesign and put structure around how we explain net revenue.”

From the “Leveraging RCA Data to Deliver Actionable Net Revenue Insights” breakout session

Michael Tokash

Revenue Analysis Manager, Universal Health Services, on the importance of continuously monitoring trend data

“We like to look at data, trend it, and we like to measure it consistently.”

From the “Leveraging RCA Data to Deliver Actionable Net Revenue Insights” breakout session

Ben Hayhurst

Reimbursement Manager, on how preparing to transition to Kodiak RCA is like cleaning up before a big party

“When we took on RCA, we had a lot of cleanup that we had to do. So the good thing is when you have a big change like this, and you have CFO and VP buy-in for support, it allowed us a lot of agency to clean up a lot of stuff that hadn't been cleaned up before.”

From the “Leveraging RCA Data To Deliver Actionable Net Revenue Insights” breakout session

Susan Fisher

Senior Financial Analyst, PeaceHealth, on knowing where to focus your revenue cycle attention

“There is no point in evaluating self-pay accounts.”

From the “Peer Insights Into RCA Month-End Close Process” breakout session

An on-demand rebroadcast of this breakout session is not available.

Jennie Rhoads

Manager, Revenue Recognition, Geisinger Health, on the importance of having a single source of truth for net revenue

“When you get everyone on RCA, you have one source. You can tell the story much easier. And less information, the better for CFOs!”

From the “Peer Insights Into RCA Month-End Close Process” breakout session

An on-demand rebroadcast of this breakout session is not available.

Rick Carrico

Chief Financial Officer, Baptist Health, on the leap of faith CFOs need to make when they have a remote workforce

“All of the folks who are currently in place with me were on board prior to the pandemic. We’re 100% remote. You really have to literally give them the ball in athletic terms and trust that they’re going to do the right thing with it and rise to the occasion.”

From the “The Power of the CFO Team: A Modern-Day Playbook” keynote session

Amy Hatcher

Chief Financial Officer, Children’s Hospital and Medical Center, on an often-untapped source of insights to improve operational efficiency

“We’re looking at how we can do business differently. People who work here know how we can be more efficient.”

From the “The Power of the CFO Team: A Modern-Day Playbook” keynote session

Cecelia Moore

Chief Financial Officer, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, on the expanding role of the healthcare CFO

“The role of the chief financial officer is not just the basics but much more of a focus on deal-making and partnerships. When I think about the team I need around me every day, it’s can we build those business relationships, can we partner with other organizations, can we bring together physicians? And then focus on data analytics and do that deep dive you need to make sure the deal you’re thinking about or capital project you’re thinking about or investment you’re about to make is right for the organization, not only for now but also for the future.”

From the “The Power of the CFO Team: A Modern-Day Playbook” keynote session

James Porter

Vice President of Finance, ThedaCare, on taking an aggressive rather than passive approach to dealing with payor claim denials

“The battles with managed care are never going away. We’ve started to attack managed care. We’re one of the lowest-cost providers in the state of Wisconsin. But we’re also one of the highest-quality providers in the state of Wisconsin. There’s a disconnect in our reimbursement.”

From the “The Power of the CFO Team: A Modern-Day Playbook” keynote session

Fifteen unique healthcare finance leaders. Fifteen unique insights. One unique healthcare finance event.

That’s the annual Kodiak Healthcare Summit. The 14th annual Kodiak Healthcare Summit will be held back at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel Sept. 23-26, 2024.

When you arrive or log in next year, you’ll likely hear the insights from this year’s 15 unique healthcare finance leaders still echoing through the ballrooms, conference rooms, and virtual lobby. Until then, please visit our Healthcare Summit event page for more on the event.