BESLER’s SVP of Client Engagement, Randi Deckard, recently attended the 2024 HFMA ANI. She shares her observations below.
Looking back in the rear view mirror and the scorching Vegas heat, here are a few reflections from the 2024 HFMA Annual Institute.
The healthcare industry is working towards making healthcare more accessible and affordable (cost and waste reductions) without sacrificing quality. And at this year’s ANI, there were a lot of themes to help drive towards this goal:
- AI
The future is here and the healthcare industry is thinking about governance and how to best implement it without sacrificing quality or delivery experience for patients and caregivers.
From voice agents, clinical helpers, denials management and beyond, there are many opportunities to be more efficient and productive.
With labor costs at an all-time high and small margins, many providers are looking to the best way they can utilize AI to help with sustainability plans for their communities and the patients they serve.
- Patient Engagement and Experience
Many providers are focused on improving quality scores, engaging with their patients where they are (think omnichannel) and ways they can improve the patient experience.
From simplifying registration, pre-authorization or billing and payment process, experience is a differentiator and those not focusing on this will lose market share.
- Payor Mix – Medicare Advantage (MA) is on the Rise
MA is now the dominant form of Medicare with an estimated 54% share by 2025.It will drive an additional $88 billion to the program compared to traditional Medicare. The big question everyone is asking is will traditional Medicare still be relied upon to set rates?
- Value Based Care (VBC) vs. Fee for Service (FFS) Model
Adopting value-based contracts requires more operational resources and enhanced cooperation with the finance department. Things to consider are care coordination, reducing waste, maintaining quality and growing patient base. Strategic modeling is required to be able to make this leap and have a sustainable model.
- Cybersecurity
The number of cybersecurity attacks in healthcare continues to increase and this year the Change Healthcare incident rocked the healthcare industry to its core. There were a lot of discussions on how to prevent it, and it all starts with educating everyone frequently as your employees are your best defense.
There were so many more amazing sessions from thought leaders in the healthcare finance space, but I choose these 5 themes because I saw more than one session on these topics.
And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention being in person is always a great way to build and reinforce relationships with customers, partners and peers. I enjoyed kicking off ANI poolside with providers, peers, and partners, as well as an evening of TopGolf, and many coffee chats thanks to having 3 Starbucks locations onsite.
If you attended, I hope your personal and professional business objectives were achieved. If you were unable to attend and are in need of of education, don’t forget to check out our webinar lineup. BESLER has you covered.
If we didn’t have a chance to connect at the event and you’re interested in chatting, please contact me, Randi Deckard, to schedule a time to chat.
