Schedule

The Ranger motto is Rangers Lead the Way. Leadership is the core of every skill developed as a Ranger. But, leadership is not a position but rather an example set by every Ranger. Whether approaching the beaches of Normandy or the mountain ranges of Afghanistan, the world is made better when leadership is owned by each member of the team. Keni Thomas’ stories of Task Force Ranger are extraordinary examples of leadership. And, the stories are not about Generals, Colonels or Captains. For example, Private David Floyd was in charge of one person that day – himself. But his leadership and example saved lives.

In the pace of life, it is easy to lose perspective on our value to others. Make no mistake: Your presence is crucial! The individuals to the left and right are directly affected by the result of your actions. Each team is a puzzle with invaluable pieces. When you raise your hand or assume a task, you have put on the “uniform”. Duty follows that responsibility. Good is never enough because better is expected. Keni Thomas helps attendees see themselves in the light of extraordinary. It is a choice made by many each day to impact those around them. It is the ultimate definition of LEADING THE WAY…

You will learn: 

• Leadership: Training and planning will prepare the team for the mission. But, the mission’s execution is about leadership – every person at every level. General Garrison oversaw the entire package while Private David Floyd was responsible for himself, but each carried responsibility. “Leadership is not a position…it is the example you set!”
• Training: Training and testing are vital. Tough, realistic training demands that every team member constantly seeks to improve. Preparation will define your performance. “Train as You Fight Fight as You train”
• Planning: A defined plan is essential to success. Rangers are constantly defining and refining plans for various scenarios. Who, What, Where, How? Planning and revisiting helps avoid complacency and prepares the team to act. “Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail”

Healthcare financing and delivery have changed significantly due to shifts in coverage, technology, payment patterns, and U.S. healthcare policy. As costs rise, stakeholders are drifting out of alignment. More costs are being shifted to patients, disrupting providers’ usual approaches to revenue cycle. Hidden in this disruption is an opportunity and a call to action. Sending a paper bill in the mail on a mission of hope, after services have been provided, won’t work in the new patient-as-payer environment. Healthcare Revolution: The Patient is the New Payer outlines where the industry has traveled, the current state of revenue cycle, and what changes providers can expect as the healthcare market continues to evolve.

What you will learn:

• Closely examine patient as the payer through the eyes of a patient, and identify the challenges in transparency, consumerism and affordability

• Understand the evolution of the revenue cycle and articulate the barriers and opportunities in meeting the patient as the payer

• Explore what is next for the US healthcare market and discuss some necessary changes in the legislation, delivery and funding to meet the new patient payer marketplace

*BONUS – All session attendees will receive a free copy of Jonathan’s book, Healthcare Revolution: The Patient is the New Payer. Jonathan will also be available to sign copies of his book at the conclusion of his presentation

Content coming soon

Oak Street Health is not your typical doctor’s office. It is uniquely designed to provide a better primary health care experience to Medicare patients. Since 2012 they have built 24 centers beginning in Chicago and expanding across Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. Oak Street Health recently announced a branch in Philadelphia. Griffin Myers, MD, is the Chief Medical Officer Oak Street Health and one of its co-founders. He completed his residency at Harvard Medical School affiliates and had prior work experience at Boston Consulting Group. He will speak on how Oak Street Health created an innovative care delivery model that engages patients and is achieving savings under capitated payments.

You will learn: 

• Learn the motivation for developing a practice model aimed as serving some of the most complex patients
• Understand some of the management approaches to financial success with such a practice model
• Explore how payer partners have viewed the Oak Street Model
• (Optional) Compare the day to day differences for a physician practicing in such a fast growing organization to more stable practices.

What does it take to align Revenue Cycle Goals with Patient Satisfaction and Patient Care Objectives? It takes a lot of collaboration among disparate departments whose focus is both clinical and financial. Creating a standardized, centralized approach to eligibility, authorizations and medical necessity in conjunction with clinics providing high dollar patient care. The clinical practice components need to work in unison with a financial business unit, to fiscally clear costly procedures in order for each area to be successful. Using denial data as a driver, it is clear that the need is to prioritize eligibility, authorizations, and medical necessity, to enhance the total patient experience and achieve revenue goals.

This session will follow the parallel journeys of the leaders of Hematology Oncology/Pherisis departments and the Centralized Authorization Unit to show how each area interacted to identify best practices, obtain critical buy in, establish protocols, overcome obstacles and implement the processes that allowed both areas to cooperatively manage their business.

You will learn:

• Obstacles that can be avoided and/or managed
• Strategies for creating partnerships
• The benefits of standardization and centralization
• Nuances of communications
• Lessons learned and successes
• The impact on denials

The Connecticut landscape has been undergoing consolidation and major growth of two large nonprofit health systems, Hartford HealthCare and Yale New Haven Health. Each is comprised of multiple hospitals and a large physician group. We will hear from representatives from both regarding what has worked well and where they might, in hindsight approach something differently with a focus from Hartford HealthCare on the facility mergers and Yale New Haven Health on the physician practice merger with the addition of Lawrence Memorial and Westerly hospitals.

You will learn: 

• Appreciate the challenges faced while under State scrutiny of each deal
• Unforeseen roadblocks to integration and lessons learned

You will learn:

• Identifying various types of governmental and private auditors
• Current market trends related to both government and payer audits
• Challenges with managing audits enterprise wide
• Opportunities to data mine and know what payers and CMS are looking at
• Best practices for improving claim quality and reducing denials
• New Medicare initiatives to reduce appeals backlog
• Best practices for reducing audits and appealing denials 

The nonprofit healthcare industry in the United States is undergoing unprecedented changes due to healthcare reform, increased regulations and decreasing revenue streams which have led to bond ratings decreases for the industry. While consolidation has been trending for decades, we now have the majority of hospitals in systems and the minority of hospitals that are not in systems are all either thinking about it or actively working toward it. Catholic Medical Center, Monadnock Community Hospital and Huggins Hospital formed a parent, GraniteOne Health. This panel will discuss the history of multiple failed transactions as well as successful ones. The challenges and lessons learned from both failed and successful partnerships should inform those looking to integrate.

You will learn:

• Understand the timing and politics involved in the local landscape that is crucial to obtaining success
• Explore the important attributes of making the right match
• Command a better appreciation of the pros and cons of several structures of integration

Finance professionals are comfortable with their traditional role as resource stewards. Today’s healthcare industry, however, calls us to become stewards of lives and relationships as well. Whether seeding innovation, experimenting with new payment models, or forging new collaborative partnerships, we are met each day with the challenge to reimagine and transform what we know into what our patients and communities need and deserve. Success requires a commitment to being difference makers and to leveraging the Power of One to impact many. This presentation will explore these issues and encourage you to shoot for the “sweet spot”─that place where passion meets purpose.

You will learn: 

• Articulate the experiences that have shaped them into person or professional they are today.
• Explore the top challenges facing our industry and how that translates to their role and organization.
• Discuss healthcare finance professionals’ unique contribution to advancing the health of their communities through stewardship.
• Consider the opportunities within their organizations to collaborate with physicians, health plans, and/or community resources.
• Explain how the Power of One can be leveraged to influence and inspire others.
• Describe current HFMA initiatives designed to help finance professionals succeed in their efforts to make a difference in today’s healthcare industry.

Level of Presentation: All levels 

Many facilities do not realize that a strong revenue integrity team is essential to the day-to-day operations, part of the “bread and butter” of the organization.  Part of the landscape includes tight budgets and limited resources – team members being asked to do more every day.  This session will help those that do not have a formal team to develop a revenue integrity focused team, including strategies to validate charge capture, CDM updates, handling billing edits, and getting the Finance department and Clinical departments on the same page.  These strategies can be implemented with very little cost to the institution as you have tools already in your toolbox – they just need to be focused on the revenue integrity process.

You will learn:

• How to create a team from ground zero, refining reports and processes that already exist; including sample job descriptions, charge capture and chargemaster maintenance policies/procedures
• Processes for Managed care contracting, compliance and internal audit
• Tools for evaluating and reducing edits and denials
• Strategies to bridge the gap between clinical and financial teams while keeping them engaged in preventing revenue leakage

The 340B Drug Pricing Program provides significant benefits to the facilities that participate in the program, but also creates significant risks and has been recently subject to significant uncertainty regarding the future of the program. This session will provide an overview of the 340B Program, followed by information about recent developments in the 340B Program, current areas of uncertainty and compliance risks, and what to expect from the 340B Program in the coming year.

You will learn: 

• Gain a general understanding of the participation and compliance requirements of the 340B Drug Pricing Program
• Update on recent developments in federal 340B Program policy and guidance
• Discussion of where the 340B Program is going in the near future- and beyond

This presentation will examine the six magical steps that energize people to pursue their best performance. Winning teams are made of motivated people choosing to be incredible. There are two types of motivation- intrinsic motivation which comes from within a person and extrinsic motivation which comes from an external source. Many leaders rely on incentives, penalties and other extrinsic motivation…but incentives only go so far. The best leaders understand that to build a truly winning culture, you need to create intrinsic motivation. Inspiring those you lead or work with to do great things for the love of the work itself, rather than for a trophy at the end of the game, requires inspiring in others a zeal for greatness.

You will learn: 

• Learn the secret to inspiring intrinsic motivation
• Discover the key differences between effective leaders and ineffective leaders
• Practice practical strategies for creating a team who’s invested in each other and the company