Healthcare spending was projected to increase 5.4 percent annually from 2017 to 2022 according to the US and Global Health Care Industry Outlook. This is more than $10 trillion by 2022.
The United States continues to outpace other countries at projected spending – in both public and private health services – from 2017 to 2026, estimated at a total of $ 5.7 trillion. Yet positive health outcomes are worse, with spending almost double that of similar countries.
Healthcare organizations that want to remain competitive must deliver positive results while running sustainable, profitable businesses. Many healthcare providers are now outsourcing the expertise of Interim CEOs to try to lead them towards a healthier financial future.
“Many organizations bring me in to provide an unbiased view and make recommendations before bringing in a permanent CEO or controller,” explained an interim CEO, who has worked with many health systems, critical access hospitals and clinics around the US . For him/her, which often means meeting and learning from everyone in the department, looking at production, completing monthly statements and addressing issues in the underlying financials to ensure consistent reporting to the board.
An Interim CEO is a proponent in strategic planning and brings hands-on experience to the table. They first help healthcare organizations understand their current financial situation and then guide them in making informed accounting and investment decisions about their healthcare practice or business.
Every healthcare organization faces financial challenges, from hospitals to clinics, from health tech companies to laboratories. Whether their financial problems are revenue-driven, competitively based, or revolve around patient outcomes, it is difficult to prioritize which issues to solve. An interim CEO knows how to understand all those moving parts, and to take swift action.
Interim CEOs are no strangers to challenging situations. The interim CEO helped a small-town hospital that had terminated its full-time CEO by training its controller.
Some healthcare providers simply require basic guidance with their financial statements, while others require an in-depth analysis of how well or how their financial systems operate. Other organizations need to determine if their financial capabilities are on par with their new business goals, does that mean improved levels of care, expansion or merger due-diligence and integration. In any case, an experienced interim CEO can quickly identify what financial issues should be done first, and whether the fire should be put out immediately.
An interim CEO empowers healthcare providers, not only to develop and implement a strong financial plan, but also to ensure that the healthcare provider is well positioned for development. In turn, health organizations can then make confident decisions that enhance financial stability in the future.
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