Carol Seals
Chief Financial Officer
Indiana University Health Ball Memorial Hospital
Muncie, Ind.
You’ve recently been named CFO at IU Health Ball Memorial. Could you describe your background at the facility?
When I first started at Ball Memorial, I was in the risk management division. Corporate compliance was my focus. Then I moved into operations, with an emphasis on revenue cycle and even case management. I eventually moved back into the accounting area and general finance. When we became part of Indiana University Health, I was the lead in doing the due diligence from the local perspective. Once we became part of the IU system, where services and financials are integrated, we had to transfer accounting functions to Indianapolis. From August 2010 through March I’ve spent a lot of time working with different teams such as capital accounting, financial reporting, operations and tax. I got to know everyone in supply chain, information systems, accounting and other areas that report directly to the CFO.
Is there any particular area that you want to focus on as you begin your tenure as CFO?
As we move toward accountable care, we need a strategy for transition. We want to align with our physicians, we’re focusing on reducing the costs of care and we hope to have some capital changes. We’ve dealt with physician alignment recently. We’ve had employed primary care physicians, but we recently had a general surgery group join as employed providers. We’re partnering increasingly with specialty physicians. Many of them are coming to us. The changing healthcare environment makes alignment attractive to physicians.
Do you have any particular capital investment projects that you’re working on?
We opened a new south tower in March 2009. Once that was completed, we stepped back and have since reassessed what we might need. We have enjoyed a real financial turnaround at Ball Memorial. We lost $20 million in 2009, and last year we made a little over $3 million. Multiple factors led to that. We watched our expenses closely. Joining the IU Health system gave us more buying power in regard to supply chain and managed care contracts. We also put a big emphasis on improving physician relations. Our payer mix here in Muncie, Ind., is not the best. We have an aging population and higher unemployment than the national average, so it’s been a big challenge. The recession began sooner in Muncie because of the disappearance of automobile industry jobs. There has been an increase in bad debt and charity care.
Where do you turn for support and mentoring in your role?
There are approximately 20 hospitals in the IU Health system. We have quarterly CFO councils, where all the IU Health system CFOs get together and share information. That’s been great for me. Everyone is working together on strategic initiatives so my colleagues are excellent resources.