From the Chairman and President - 2001-2002 Annual Report

Healthcare Financial Management, Oct, 2002

Dear Colleagues:

HFMA is proud to report that during a tough economic year for the United States, our Association remains strong and continues the effective pursuit of our vision to bean indispensable professional resource for healthcare financial professionals and to Lead. at the Speed of Light.

HFMA joined the nation in mourning the staggering loss of life resulting from the September 11 terrorist attacks. HFMA lost member Ian Gray in this national tragedy. Our sympathy goes out to his family, and to others who lost loved ones. And we extend our support and encouragement to all our members who continue to play a meaningful role as our country recovers. We also would like to acknowledge Mark Cross, HFMA's Montana Chapter president, who extended a challenge to HFMA chapters to meet or exceed the Montana Chapter's $1,000 donation to the American Red Cross to benefit the families of the victims. We applaud the Montana Chapter for its generous and compassionate lead on this effort, which resulted in more than $21,000 in donations to various disaster relief organizations.

The 2001-02 year also was marked by HFMA's many initiatives to improve our nation's healthcare system. For example, the PATIENT FRIENDLY BILLING [SM] project, spearheaded by HFMA with support from the American Hospital Association, Medical Group Management Association, and many others, concluded its first year of striving to simplify patients' hospital bills. Results of the year's efforts include comprehensive research and assessment of the state of the industry, national media coverage of the initiative, in-depth reports, and case studies on patient friendly billing practices. A brochure highlighting the progress of this work was disseminated in 2001, and an updated brochure was provided in early Summer For more information, visit the project's Web site at www.patientfriendlybDling.org. The site has experienced nearly 25,000 page views and 14,000 visitors since its inception in November 2001.

Significant accounting and reporting failures also marked this year. HFMA followed the events related to Enron, World Coin and other accounting and reporting problems to inform our members about how these issues impact healthcare organizations. Earlier in the year, HFMA contributed to an invitation-only meeting about improvements to disclosure practices. The goal of this Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board project is to develop an "ideal" disclosure system and methods that will allow industry stakeholders to coordinate their efforts. HFMA and its Principles and Practices (P&P) Board are actively participating in this and other initiatives to establish cost-effective and efficient disclosure practices. P&P Board Statement No. 18 continues to provide a basis for disclosure practices in the healthcare industry. This statement is available from the "Principles and Practices Board" section of HFMA's online Resource Center.

HFMA also continued its active support of the Coalition to Protect America's Health Care, a group formed to shape the nation's healthcare debate by developing broad-based support and raising funds for a major media campaign. The first phase of the Coalition's national multi-media campaign focused on relief from the Medicare and Medicaid spending cuts. The second phase seeks to ensure that Americans understand that hospitals are facing a serious shortage of workers and how that shortage might affect them.

Staying on top of Medicare issues remained a key priority for HFMA. This past year, HFMA assembled a group of PFS Forum members to help the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services with its Info Express project. Info Express is a web-based information system being developed to track paid, denied, and suspended Medicare claims, as well as other eligibility information. The PFS Forum focus group is providing input into the functional requirements for this system. HFMA continues to address key Medicare operational issues through the Medicare Technical Advisory Group (MTAG), which is an informal advisory group cofounded by HFMA.

HFMA staff and volunteers continue to provide input to HHS, Congress, and other policy leaders on critical issues that affect the financial management of healthcare organizations. For example, HFMA submitted comments to the HHS Advisory Committee on Regulatory Reform. To ensure that HFMA's comments best reflected the views of its membership, HFMA conducted an on-line survey to gauge opinions on the areas they most wanted to see reformed. HFMA also helped shape the industry through participation in coalition letters on such important topics as Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payment, health coverage for immigrant children, and patient safety.

Information on HFMA's positions and activities is available at http://www.hfma.org/resource/HFMA_positions_activities/index.htm

To remain flexible and ensure the effectiveness of HFMA's governance structure, a Task Force on Organization, Governance, and Structure convened to examine all aspects of HFMA's national and regional governance structures. Several recommendations for improvement were made and approved by members in the Spring. For more information on these changes, please refer to http://www.hfma.org/gov.