4 New Year's resolutions for hospital CFOs
Andrew Quirk, senior vice president and national director of Skanska’s Healthcare Center for Excellence, works with hospital CFOs and CEOs on a daily basis on what they can do to keep their organizations’ finances in shape. In the spirit of starting the new year off on the right foot, he offers these resolutions for hospital CFOs.
1. Invest. In 2014, hospital CFOs shouldn’t just focus on saving money. They also need to invest it. According to Quirk, hospitals need to go beyond efforts to stop just saving cash. They need to look at investment opportunities at every level of daily operations. “Every decision that is put on the table has to be looked at in terms of ROI,” said Quirk. Not only should healthcare systems be looking at return-on-investment when planning new construction or upgrading existing facilities, it should be a culture. “You should physically walk around your facility and look at every square foot,” said Quirk. “It really gets some things churning.” Walking around lets financial teams see everything from staffing to how space is being used.
2. Conserve. One of the quickest and simplest ways for hospitals to save money, Quirk said, is using less energy. “The interest is shifting to energy,” Quirk said. Sustainability is no longer just a buzzword in healthcare, he said. “It’s just part of the culture.”
3. Challenge the status quo. Traditional ways of dealing with financial problems have been embedded in the board rooms of hospitals, but it’s time those stagnant processes are challenged. There’s an incredible opportunity for CFOs to wipe the slate clean and start over with the decision-making process, Quirk said. “We should be challenging everything we’ve done in the past.”
4. Take risks. Taking risks can pay huge dividends but can also exploit a hospital’s weaknesses, so make the risks you take calculated moves, said Quirk. “You need to make changes that show results.” Taking a risk such as designing and building something completely different than the healthcare industry has seen could pay off. Putting healthcare systems in retail space is also a risk that could lead to serious financial gains.
