Doing More With Less: How a Children's Hospital CFO Is Using Innovation to Grow

St. Christopher's Hospital for Children is leaning on embedded AI, operational rigor, and an expanded CFO role to restore clinical focus and financial stability.

At St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, progress isn't about flashy investments or over-reaching technology bets. It's about disciplined execution, operational integration, and using every available tool—including AI—to support clinicians, protect margins, and reinforce a mission that spans over 150 years.

CFO Edward Bleacher describes a strategy rooted in pragmatism, one that is leveraging vendor-driven innovation, rebuilding trust after organizational turbulence, and redefining what it means to lead finance in a modern pediatric health system.

Frontline Excellence Behind National Recognition

Bleacher described St. Christopher's inclusion in Newsweek's America's Best Children's Hospitals 2025 list as a meaningful validation of the organization's long-standing commitment to quality.

"St. Christopher's… has had a number of pediatric firsts," he says, calling it "an amazing, proud place of high-quality pediatric care."

He emphasized the system's sustained focus on nursing excellence—, including four Magnet designations, and a culture that is centered on "meeting high standards of care and really caring for children in the best way possible."

The recognition carries deeper significance given the hospital's turbulent recent history.

"It's one that … has been lost in translation over some time as the organization has struggled in its recent past, changing hands from a number of broader systems," he noted.

Today, the hospital is reestablishing itself as a mission-driven, nonprofit pediatric provider anchored in its community.

Ultimately, he credits the accolade to the frontline teams.

"I really think it's a testament to the great doctors and great nurses we have here that work every day at St. Chris," he says.

Pragmatic AI

Bleacher said his organization is taking a pragmatic, resource-conscious approach to AI adoption.

"We are [investing] … but less so given our limited resources," he says. "We do not have the resources at this time to dedicate a team of people for artificial intelligence adoption or development."

Instead, his health system relies on AI capabilities that are already embedded in major vendor platforms.

"Our large-scale vendors are embedding artificial intelligence in their capabilities, and therefore it's trickling down to us," he says.

Clinical documentation is one area where the impact is already clear. He highlighted ambient AI as "really useful," allowing clinicians to focus on patients rather than screens.

"The technology can pick up on the conversation, take that information right to the chart… and allow greater customer service by our clinicians," he says.

That shift "changes the dynamic of how it feels within an exam room" and therefore restores provider attention to families.

Like many health systems, St. Christopher's is also leveraging AI deeper in the revenue cycle. AI tools now help with items like automated coding, claim creation, and denial prevention, which are all critical for a pediatric hospital operating on thin margins.

"[These tools support] the process of avoiding… inappropriate denials, inappropriate downgrades or delays in cash," he says, going on to describe them as essential in "battling the trickiness of insurance companies."

Looking ahead, Bleacher sees AI as a promising tool for reclaiming clinical time. With EMR adoption increasing documentation burdens, AI could restore time for patient care.

"The use of AI gives some of that back to the providers and lets them do their job [of] focusing on the children," he said.

CFO Evolution

That focus on efficiency mirrors Bleacher's view of how the CFO role itself has evolved.

"Traditionally, CFOs were seen as the bookkeepers… very transactional," he says.

Today, the role demands a broader understanding of organizational operations and the root causes of change.

"Those partnerships lead us into a much deeper understanding of where the constraints are… and that's a lot more roll-up-your-sleeve than has been historically part of this role," he explains.

He noted that modern CFOs often operate in tandem with COOs, or, in some cases, take on hybrid CFO/COO responsibilities. This shift requires digging into operational processes to drive efficiency, productivity, and lean management.

"You've got to get into the management engineering process to understand where the opportunities are, where the barriers are," he says.

Bleacher also emphasized the growing involvement of finance leaders in strategic growth and partnerships.

"There's an active need to be in conversations about new business opportunities from a growth and partnering perspective… that weren't quite as aggressive in the past," he says.

He highlights that the next five years will see CFOs increasingly shaping both financial performance and strategic direction in children's health systems.