We recently announced new research delving into the top issues facing today’s healthcare financial leaders. As you know, the pandemic took a toll on every corner of the healthcare provider market. The unprecedented loss—of life, of control, of staff, and of money—among U.S. healthcare providers is astounding.
In our latest white paper, we highlight some of the key findings from Sage Intacct’s Healthcare Finance Leadership Team Survey, which probed the innermost thoughts on how healthcare has changed during the pandemic–and will continue to change long after–of more than 200 financial healthcare executives and provides these leaders with practical guidance on they can do to adapt their organizations for future success as they emerge from the pandemic.
One of the most important findings is that now more than ever, healthcare finance leaders are feeling the pressure to do more than report on the status of their organizations—they are being counted on to navigate these tumultuous times and position their companies for future success. What does that mean? Understanding the true health of their organization, planning and budgeting effectively, and adapting their course in real-time to changing market needs and conditions.
Other key findings from the study include:
- The burdens of the pandemic—combined with an already stressed healthcare system—exacerbated challenges, and our respondents struggled with managing newly remote staff, finding new revenue sources amidst the loss of elective procedures, and keeping track of revenue and expenses in real time
- Pre-pandemic and pandemic-related pressures from inside and outside of the healthcare organization continue to cause significant frustrations for survey respondents—especially in real-time financial data for budgeting and forecasting
- While change is constant, the pandemic brought about accelerated innovations in areas that many of our healthcare leaders had not previously considered, including digital transformation and cloud technologies, among others
- The need for modern financial systems that help financial leaders work in an automated and efficient way—wherever they, and their teams, are located
In addition to the survey findings, we also took a closer look at how several of our customers are leading their healthcare organizations through the pandemic, and what lessons can be learned and leveraged from their examples. For instance, Eric Jensen, Director of Finance at Behavioral Health Resources, has decreased the amount of transactional work through automation and efficiency. He’s shifted 15% more of his time toward supporting the business. You can also read more about Eric and Behavioral Health Resources here. According to Eric, “We are much more efficient with our day-to-day bookkeeping tasks. I do very little transactional work anymore, and have shifted 15% more time toward supporting the business.”
Moving to the cloud happened to be a fortuitous pre-pandemic decision for Angie Bacon, Director of Finance and Accounting at Craig HomeCare. “We were lucky that we replaced [our accounting system] before the pandemic began, as our AP process was paper-based, manual, and required extensive in-person employee interaction that took days of hand-offs, approvals, and filing of paperwork,” according to Bacon. “The AP process is now completed quickly and electronically. Not only are we handling invoices much faster, but we’re able to do it seamlessly with our team working remotely.”
Ultimately, the need for real-time dashboards and reports that give visibility at a high level across their entire organization in a single platform–while also providing the ability to drill all the way down to the patient level–is what is needed going forward for healthcare financial leaders to keep pace with an ever-changing healthcare ecosystem, and truly understand the total cost of care.
Download our white paper, “Survey Says! Healthcare Changes, Yet Again” to review the full set of findings and receive practical guidance on what you can do to adapt your organization for future success.
