CFOs Grapple with Physician Shortages and Hardball Payer Tactics

The HealthLeaders CFO Exchange brought on a fiery discussion on payers and physician shortages. How are CFOs coping?

From the growing complexities of managing hospital finances amid a turbulent landscape, never ending physician shortages in specialty care, and shifting payer strategies, there is no shortage of challenges for CFOs.

To talk strategy and find solutions to these challenges, dozens of finance leaders from across the country recently met in Virginia for our HealthLeaders CFO Exchange. During the event, attendees laid out all of their most pressing pain points on the table.

Physician Shortages

CFOs discussed one of the biggest challenges facing their health system’s clinical enterprise: gaps in specialty care. CFOs lamented over the struggles of recruiting for specialty roles in genetics, anesthesia, and the shortage of specialty care physicians. The challenge is it takes a long time to be trained in specialized care, and it’s time that health systems just can’t afford, more specialty care physicians are needed now.

“Our forecast is growing so fast we need 100 to 150 primary care physicians in the next five years, ” said Allen Butcher, CFO of St Joseph's / Candler Hospital in Georgia.

The discussion highlighted pain points such as CFOs not being able to replace retiring geneticists or anesthesiologists, and the shortage of treatment centers. One CFO even mentioned how their health system’s anesthesiology department was over budget by two million dollars.

CFOs advised each other to look at other groups that are certified to do anesthesia, for example, an intensivist can sometimes do the “low stakes” cases. They also suggested using locums to fill in the gaps for specialty care.

Another challenge for CFOs is the aging physician population.

Danielle Willis, CFO of LCMC Lakeview Hospital in Louisiana brought up that this issue is where care model changes are having an impact on physicians.

CFOs need to ask themselves: how do you make your physicians part of the organization? How can they be more involved in decision making and how can that affect retention and recruitment?

Payer Strategy

Another big topic at the conference was payer strategy—a multifaceted challenge with implications for health system revenue and operations that is ongoing. With the healthcare payment landscape continuously evolving, CFOs are grappling with shifts from fee-for-service to value-based care models, but payers are playing hardball, especially with denials.

These changes show the need for a realignment of financial strategies to ensure not only sustainability, but profitability.

Payer strategies, including changes in reimbursement rates and the increasing prevalence of value-based contracts, are requiring CFOs to adopt more sophisticated financial models. Value-based care necessitates comprehensive data analytics and performance metrics to track outcomes and adjust strategies accordingly, but the struggle to facilitate this strategy with payers is tough.

CFOs discussed the need for change to come from the legislative level so that payers are not dominating and squeezing the life out of the health systems. Consider monthly check-ins with payers to ensure both parties are aligned on their goals.

The discussion concluded with a strong emphasis on the importance of adaptability and proactive management in navigating the complex financial landscape of healthcare. As CFOs continue to tackle physician shortages and evolving payer strategies, the need for strategic foresight and innovative solutions will be crucial in sustaining hospital operations and ensuring quality patient care.

The HealthLeaders Exchange is an exclusive, executive community for sharing ideas, solutions, and insights.

 Please join the community at our LinkedIn page. To inquire about attending a HealthLeaders Exchange event and becoming a member, email us at exchange@healthleadersmedia.com