David Weldon

Hospitals and healthcare centers are creating networks comprised of the collaborations of providers, physicians, payers and patients -- all toward the goal of increasing the patient experience while decreasing the cost to provide that care.

The leadership ranks are spreading as new job titles like CXO, CNIO and others are added to the top.

But there's a catch. How much any individual makes will be determined more by organizational success than individual performance.

When Healthcare Finance last year asked experts to name the top industry trends, they selected insurance exchanges, mergers and acquisitions, new payment models, and technology. Things don't look much different in 2015.

Most healthcare organizations offer benefit programs aimed at keeping workers in both good physical and mental health. But less common are healthcare employers that can prove those same programs actually save the organization money.

The relationship between a Chief Medical Officer and the Chief Financial Officer can become adversarial when external pressures are calling for change to healthcare's economic model. But a partnership between the two can become the foundation for moving forward in a challenging environment.

When assessing CFO candidates, hospitals today are seeking "true financial leaders" who can be strategic partners to the CEO. A CFO leader needn't be a visionary, but they do have to be a "vision enabler."

The ability to speak before any audience, to make that audience understand complex financial topics, and to win them over to your expertise and authority are critical for a CFO's success.

Healthcare has had a reputation for being one of the strongest industries for generating new jobs.

With the big push toward data collecting and using data to lower costs and improve patient care, healthcare organizations are finding themselves in need of data analysts.