Healthcare Financial Management Association and Kaufman Hall Partner to Launch New Financial Analytics Leadership Council

WASHINGTON, D.C., AND SKOKIE, Ill. – May 8, 2018 – The Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) and Kaufman Hall, a leading provider of strategic and financial consulting services and enterprise performance management and decision support software, announced today the creation of the Financial Analytics Leadership Council. The goal of the new council is to drive change in the healthcare industry’s approach to financial decision support, reflecting the increasingly important role of analytics in managing financial performance.  

Key findings from Kaufman Hall’s recent national survey of senior financial executives working in healthcare indicate a pressing need for guidance on how to develop stronger analytical systems and practices:

• 90 percent of respondents state that their organizations should do more to leverage financial and operational data to inform strategic decisions
• 70 percent have either cost measurement tools they describe as too simplistic or as sources of inaccurate data, or no tools in place at all
• 84 percent view peer financial benchmarking activity as important, yet just 56 percent are benchmarking their organizations’ performance against industry peers

“Senior healthcare executives know all too well the challenges of harnessing data for decision-making,” says HFMA President and CEO Joseph J. Fifer, FHFMA, CPA. “HFMA has identified a great partner in Kaufman Hall to help spearhead the effort to advance industry thinking and practices. Guidance provided by this council will be invaluable in meeting and overcoming the challenges that organizations are facing.”

Executives from several leading health systems have signed on to be part of the Financial Analytics Leadership Council steering committee that will work with HFMA and Kaufman Hall representatives to organize educational programming. Steering committee members include:

• Brady Boudreaux, Vice President Financial Analytics for Memorial Hermann Health System
• Martin D’Cruz, Vice President Managed Care for St. Vincent Health-Indianapolis, part of the Ascension Health network
• Damara Harper, Director of Business Intelligence & Decision Support for North Kansas City Hospital
• Rebecca McArthur, Corporate Director of Financial Systems Deployment for OhioHealth
• Dawn Short, Director of Financial Reporting & Decision Support for Sparrow Health System

“Never have financial analytics been more critical to the mission of healthcare,” says McArthur. “Making it a priority, participating in the discussion, and working toward best practices as an industry has become an imperative.”

An initial steering committee meeting will take place in conjunction with the HFMA Annual Conference in late June. From there, the council will outline a series of programs that will take place over the second half of 2018 and early 2019. Those interested in learning more about the Financial Analytics Leadership Council should contact Chuck Alsdurf, HFMA Director of Finance Policy and Operational Initiatives, at calsdurf@hfma.org.

Kaufman Hall is contributing its knowledge and experience, and will contribute funding to the initiative as part of the company’s ongoing commitment to helping healthcare providers advance their practices and optimize performance.

“We are very gratified that HFMA asked Kaufman Hall to help lead this important initiative,” says Jay Spence, Kaufman Hall Vice President of Healthcare Solutions. “Data and analytics underpin healthcare leaders’ ability to make critical strategic decisions that will help their organizations achieve and sustain high-value care delivery.”

About HFMA  

With more than 38,000 members, the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) is the nation's premier membership organization for healthcare finance leaders. HFMA builds and supports coalitions with other healthcare associations and industry groups to achieve consensus on solutions for the challenges the U.S. healthcare system faces today. Working with a broad cross-section of stakeholders, HFMA identifies gaps throughout the healthcare delivery system and bridges them through the establishment and sharing of knowledge and best practices. The Association helps healthcare stakeholders achieve optimal results by creating and providing education, analysis, and practical tools and solutions. Its mission is to lead the financial management of health care.

About Kaufman Hall

Kaufman Hall provides management consulting and software to help organizations realize sustained success amid changing market conditions. Since 1985, Kaufman Hall has been a trusted advisor to boards and executive management teams, helping them incorporate proven methods into their strategic planning and financial management processes, and quantify the financial impact of their plans and strategic decisions to consistently achieve their goals.

Kaufman Hall services use a rigorous, disciplined, and structured approach that is based on the principles of corporate finance. The breadth and integration of Kaufman Hall advisory services are unparalleled, encompassing strategy; financial and capital planning; cost transformation; treasury and capital markets management; and mergers, acquisitions, partnerships, and joint ventures.

Kaufman Hall software includes the Axiom Healthcare Suite, providing sophisticated, flexible performance management solutions that empower finance professionals to analyze results, model the future, and optimize organizational decision making. Solutions for long-range planning, budgeting and forecasting, performance reporting, capital planning, and cost accounting deliver decision support, reporting, and analytics within an integrated software platform. Kaufman Hall’s Peak Software empowers healthcare organizations with clinical benchmarks, data, and analytics to provide a higher quality of care for optimized performance and improved patient outcomes.