The Exec: How CFO Whitney Bendel Takes on Collaboration and Risk

Curiosity, collaboration, and risk evaluation are key to this CFO’s strategy.

Whitney Bendel took over as CFO of Medical City Denton in August 2024. Now, roughly eight months into her role, she’s sharing what she is learning, working on, and looking out for as the financial overseer of a specialty advanced care center.

Medical City Denton is a 228-bed, acute care hospital with more than 900 employees and 1,100 physicians in Denton, Texas. In addition to being a Level II trauma center, the organization is also a primary stroke center and an accredited chest pain center offering advanced open-heart surgery.

Prior to this role, Bendel served as CFO for Medical City Lewisville, where she contributed to facility-wide enhancements. During her tenure there and at Medical City Dallas prior to that, she helped to build processes that tracked the organization's volume, revenue and financials in support of the campuses' growth agenda.

Collaboration

Collaboration with clinical teams is key for organizational success. For Bendel, this collaboration is vital to making informed financial decisions.

“I stay very close to my clinical leaders. It is important for me to hear what is happening on the front line to ensure we are addressing their needs while staying aligned in our goals,” Bendel says.

“We meet regularly at a senior team, a director and manager level to discuss productivity, staffing, and contract labor management. This allows me to understand how I can support them,” Bendel says.

 “We also have a multidisciplinary team of leaders that discusses throughput opportunities and length of stay to ensure we are getting our patients safely in and out of the hospital. The clinical leaders are also imperative when we increase capacity or add new service lines. We set up a task force to talk through many things including resources, equipment and supplies.

Challenges and Hurdles

One constant to Denton’s specialty care challenges is comprehensive coverage.

“I believe the organization as a whole is concerned about the premium tax credits set to expire in 2025 that will make health insurance more costly for those that have been able to access the marketplace plans and to be able to provide care for themselves and their family,” Bendel says. “That is the number one focus for HCA Healthcare and Medical City.”

As the country sees more medical debt, this will be a prominent issue for many health systems.

A recent report found that roughly 12% of U.S. adults (about 31 million) say they collectively borrowed an estimated $74 billion last year to pay for healthcare, either for themselves or a family member. Additionally, a majority of Americans, about 58%, say they are concerned they would experience medical debt if faced with any major health event.

Taking the Risk

Bendel shares that curiosity remains a vital component of her strategy as a finance leader.

“A mentor of mine told me to stay curious. When you are curious, you ask questions, and you find creative ways to solve problems. Or your curiosity could cause someone to think of a situation differently,” Bendel says. “So being curious is really important to understand the issues and think creatively at solutions."

Being curious goes hand-in-hand with exploring unconsidered options and creating pathways to take risks that can ultimately pay off for the health system.

“I am naturally conservative and more risk averse. However, experience has taught me that it is imperative to take risk in the right situations to continue to grow,” Bendel says.” If the business case supports the risk then go for it.