Experts say healthcare organizations face more than 60 major regulatory deadlines over the next ten years. The 2010 Healthcare Financial Management Association's (HFMA) ANI Healthcare Finance Conference, to be held June 20-23, 2010 in Las Vegas, promises to address a host of them.
According to HFMA officials, this year's conference should help attendees prepare for Medicare payment changes, the ICD-10 transition, and other reforms. Featured speakers will include political columnist George Will, who will give a keynote titled "Politics, Policy and the Healthcare Debate," and Bill Frist MD, former Senate Majority Leader, who will discuss healthcare reform.
Lisa Goldstein, senior vice president and healthcare team leader for Moody’s Investors Service will address regulatory issues in a session on the forces affecting the financial health of hospitals.
Post-healthcare reform, the longer-term impacts from healthcare reform and the shorter-term impact from Medicare reductions should be on the radar screen for healthcare finance professionals, Goldstein warned in a recent interview with HFMA.
Another issue on the radar screen is tax exemption. Healthcare reform continues to shine a spotlight on not-for-profit hospitals’ financial performance and the way in which tax-exempt status is justified, Goldstein said.
Millions of dollars are at stake for healthcare information technology adoption starting next year under the 2009 American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.
Jonathan B. Perlin, MD, president of clinical services and chief medical officer of the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) and former chief executive of the Veterans Health Administration will offer an ANI session focusing on how providers can align technology and clinical processes to reduce cost and improve quality.
"Ultimately, information is the currency of accountability—it’s the currency for providing higher-value and for proving it," Perlin said in an interview with HFMA. "The result will be safer, more effective, more efficient, and, I would argue, more compassionate healthcare."
ANI will also offer an intermediate-level session on the evolution of Medicare. The session, to be led by Stuart Guterman, assistant vice president and director of the Program on Payment System Reform at The Commonwealth Fund, should provide attendees with skills to recognize how Medicare’s financial challenges are changing the federal government's approach to payment.
The session should also educate attendees on how to identify the payment innovations the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission believes will best control cost and improve quality, as well as how to assess the effect of payment changes on providers.