2023 HFMA Annual Conference, Gaylord Opryland, Nashville
June 25-28, 2023
The HFMA Annual Conference is the premier event in healthcare finance, drawing more than 3,000 participants from across the nation and offering 4 strategy-focused general sessions, more than 70 educational sessions, and 7 content tracks over 4 days. Follow the event and join the conversation #HFMAAnnual.
We ask who was going and why. Here is what they had to say.
Ryne Natzke, Chief Revenue Officer, TrustCommerce a Sphere Company
Twitter: @SphereCommerce
I’m looking forward to attending HFMA to connect with clients, partners, and peers and having good conversations that address the various financial headwinds impacting the industry. Providers are facing shrinking margins and many patients are struggling to pay for their ever-increasing portion of healthcare costs. To support their patients’ needs and ensure the organization’s financial health, providers must embrace technologies that offer patients greater price transparency, proactive self-service cost estimates and payment flexibilities.
Melissa Hensley, CPXP, Head of Healthcare, East Region, Qualtrics
LinkedIn: Melissa Hensley, CPXP
Find them at booth #939 and join them for a a night out on Broadway.
“We all know billing is a big pain point for patients, just as revenue cycle management continues to challenge healthcare leaders who are balancing the need for collections with high burnout and turnover among staff. We have the opportunity to better support and guide patients through what is often already an emotional experience, enabling RCM staff to lead with empathy and communicate data-informed decisions to ensure patients’ financial experiences build loyalty rather than dissatisfaction. It’s my first time to HFMA this year, and I’m excited to witness the collaboration among healthcare leaders and to speak with other HFMA attendees about how we can turn billing experiences into moments that build positive emotional connections with patients, families and staff that last. If you’ll be in Nashville for HFMA, join us June 26 for a night out on Broadway at one of Nashville’s most iconic bars, Ole Red.”
Peyman Zand, Chief Strategy Officer, CereCore
Twitter: @CereCore
As a longtime member of HFMA and active in both national and local chapters, I really look forward to these conferences. Our company works with hundreds of hospitals across the country in managing their IT operations and helping make our clients more efficient in what they do so they can provide the best care to patients. At the conference, colleagues are showcasing ideas and strategies to do just that with technology, process improvement, strong relationships among leaders and partners and much more. Being part of these conversations is essential to the success of our work with clients and why we value attending HFMA conferences.
Patrick Murphy MBA, FHFMA, General Manager, TruBridge
Twitter: @trubridge
LinkedIn: J. Patrick Murphy MBA, FHFMA
What goes better with country music than a couple thousand of HFMA’s best and brightest healthcare financial leaders and conference attendees? I am counting down the days until #HFMAAnnual where Nashville will be filled with thousands of HFMA conference attendees and revenue cycle leaders! From cutting edge industry trends to practical strategies and connecting with colleagues, I look forward to hearing about how AI is showing up in our industry today and reimagining the future of healthcare financial management tomorrow. Can’t wait to see you there!
Mark Van Sumeren, General Manager, LogicSource
Twitter: @LogicSource
LinkedIn: Mark Van Sumeren
I am attending the HFMA Annual Convention 2023 to uncover new strategies being deployed by healthcare leaders to protect margins and cashflow, especially in this challenging financial environment. I am particularly interested in learning how leaders craft effective budgets during inflationary periods. How do they keep up and stay in the black? Beyond hearing about innovative financial ideas, I always look forward to networking with other healthcare finance professionals at the HFMA Annual Convention. My goal is to bring back new strategies and tactics to improve the financial performance of our healthcare clients. I want to validate that I haven’t missed a good idea!
Wes Cronkite, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer, CPSI
Twitter: @cpsiehr
LinkedIn: Wes Cronkite
I’m excited to attend HFMA’s Annual Conference to hear how members and the industry are planning on integrating all the available new technology and intelligence into the revenue cycle. Revenue cycle is typically considered a very human-driven aspect of healthcare. I’m curious to hear how the implementation of AI and other automation is going for both large and small healthcare providers, and what adoption techniques have worked best. And I won’t mind some great music and reconnecting with friends along the way.
Jeff Becker, MBA, Vice President, Portfolio Marketing, FinThrive
Twitter: @Fin_Thrive
The team at FinThrive is looking forward to convening with our industry friends in Music City for the Super Bowl of the RCM world, HFMA Annual. This year our team is laser-focused on embracing disruption within the healthcare ecosystem, and we’re doing that by releasing our 2023 research findings, which includes a peer-reviewed revenue management technology adoption model co-designed with more than 100 health systems. This unique data engine will allow hospitals and health systems across the country to gauge their progress in all areas of the revenue cycle technology adoption resulting financial performance against their peers. By aligning RCM modernization strategies with these emerging industry best practices, healthcare financial leaders are in position to accelerate financial recovery, while challenging the status quo and making healthcare cost-effective for all parties.
Kimberly Hartsfield, EVP of Growth Enablement, VisiQuate
Twitter: @VisiQuate
We are hearing from senior leaders across many health systems that even though margins have returned back to near zero (who ever thought that would be an improvement!), that staffing levels are still a real struggle. Finding appropriate, experienced personnel to handle the daily workload in a revenue cycle department is near impossible. Hospitals are looking to adopt technology to help with time consuming tasks like denials management that directly impact the bottom line more than ever before.
Brittany Cunningham, DNP, MSN, RN, CSSBB, Vice President for the Episodes of Care Office Population Health, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Twitter: @VUMChealth
HFMA brings together the best experts and innovators in health care finance to address perhaps the most pressing issues in our industry: cost. Payers, providers, employers and patients are feeling the squeeze of current economic pressures and as new solutions, like value-based care, begin to take hold many are working to determine how to adapt to them. I’m looking forward to sharing what Vanderbilt Health is doing to solve this issue with Tennessee employers and hearing from other leaders and organizations on ways they’re making care more cost effective.
C.J. Stimson, MD, JD, Chief Medical Officer for Employee Health Plans, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Senior Vice President of Value Transformation, Population Health, Assistant Professor of Urology
Twitter: @VUMChealth
Providing high-quality health care that is also affordable in today’s world is a tall order. With health care costs continuing to rise, the everyday worker is wondering how they’re going to afford the copay after their doctor’s visit. Meanwhile their employer is wondering if they can continue to pay high premiums and offer employer-sponsored care. We need new solutions, new ways of thinking and new financial models that can adapt to changing economic and environmental factors. I’m excited to learn from other health care leaders at HFMA about how they’re paving a new and sustainable path forward to make care more affordable for everyone.
Amanda DeMano, Senior Vice President, Strategic Partnerships, AVIA
Twitter: @HealthAVIA
LinkedIn: Amanda DeMano
I’m attending HFMA to talk with CFOs and their leadership teams about the financial and operational opportunity and impact of digital on their organizations. Where we used to see CIOs and Innovation leaders as the primary decision-makers on digital initiatives, the broader C-suite now recognizes that digital is the next frontier for performance improvement across clinical care, operations, and patient experience. I’d love to learn how CFOs are playing a role with their peers to evaluate and prioritize digital opportunities to improve health system performance (read: margin) in these difficult financial times. On behalf of AVIA’s 56 health system members and clients, I’m also excited to engage with innovative solution companies that are offering new products and services that create significant value for health systems.
Noel Felipe, SVP & Revenue Cycle Practice Leader, Firstsource
Twitter: @Firstsource
One thing I expect we’ll discuss at HFMA is that technology for making healthcare cost effective applies outside clinical settings. Revenue cycle management, patient registration, enrolling eligible patients in appropriate coverage, all of those processes can be streamlined so providers have much greater financial flexibility to invest in patient care. The question is why healthcare organizations spend time and money in functions that many companies outside our industry have largely automated. I’ll be listening for perspectives.
Dawn Crump, MA, CHC, LSSBB, Sr. Director of Revenue Integrity Solutions, MRO
Twitter: @MROCorp
LinkedIn: Dawn Crump, MA, CHC, LSSBB
As a long-term HFMA member, attending national and regional events always provides me with the opportunity to gather updated knowledge and incorporate that knowledge into my efforts supporting our provider partners. I’m super excited for the great line up of educational sessions and interacting with my peers in the industry. HFMA is always informative and fun – especially in a place like Nashville, TN!
Dave Szandzik, Vice President RCM Consulting, Acclara
LinkedIn: Dave Szandzik
I’m looking forward to hearing more about the challenges organizations face with denials and any solutions that are working for them. I expect to see the application of artificial intelligence and RPA to detect identification and resolution in revenue cycle workflows. And finally, I’m honored to present at the year’s HFMA Annual Conference alongside our partners from Monument Health to discuss the importance of revenue cycle/physician partnerships to address clinical denials in hospitals and health systems.