Healthcare's money people plan their bets

About 5,000 of healthcare's money managers are descending on Las Vegas this weekend for the Healthcare Financial Management Association's 2014 National Institute.

The focus of the show is how to win in high-stakes healthcare, where the only sure bets are fewer inpatients, more cost-sharing for consumers and more financial risk for providers.

And for systems that have set up the infrastructure for new payment and delivery models, but haven't yet seen a significant return on investment, this is the year they need to decide whether to double down on that investment or stand.

The HFMA, which represents 40,000 financial professionals, opened the event showcasing a new report that looked at mergers in 2014. And what the group found is that they're less about trying to gain dominance in a market and more about gaining skills for value-based contracting.

Patient-friendly financial communications, a central theme at last year's conference, is also expected to dominate discussions—as is supply costs, how to account for them and how to keep them in check. And as more systems are pursuing a physician integration strategy, there will be sessions on how to employ more doctors without falling into a financial trap.

And when the sessions wrap up each evening, attendees will head to the exhibit hall where the vendor booths will give some clue on where the market is headed: whether it's new revenue-cycle management tools, patient-friendly financing programs or research on the state of value-based contracts.

And that's before the after-hours activities begin—which makes us wonder: Are CFOs conservative or just strategic with their bets?

Follow Beth Kutscher on Twitter: @MHbkutscher

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