CFOs must constantly think about process integration. For example, they must ensure that their organizations have early warning systems in place to understand market changes, and to drive evolving strategies through the organization’s financial plan. Performance improvement will be vital for all healthcare organizations moving forward. Organizations will need to adjust performance targets based on new business realities and develop and implement strategies to reach those targets.
Becoming the agile leader
Consistent across all these timeframes is the need for CFOs to balance compliance and disruption, leveraging data in new ways to partner with organizational leaders to build new, sustainable plans. It is a role that requires courage, confidence, and boundless competence—CFOs must simultaneously be a source of inspiration and stability to the entire organization.
Effectively measuring and tracking results versus internal and external benchmarks is key, and having the right tools to collect and analyze clinical and operating data will be critical to helping organizations stay on track.
COVID-19 has accelerated many disruptive components of the internet economy that hospitals and health systems have yet to adopt. It is time for healthcare leaders to move faster, think more creatively, and be more agile in transforming their organizations.
By stepping forward with a renewed data-driven agility, healthcare CFOs can help their organizations, teams, and communities evolve into a post-COVID environment.
About the authors: Kermit S. Randa is chief executive officer of Kaufman Hall Software. Jason Sussman is managing director at Kaufman Hall.
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