Promote healthcare financial management as a profession - Vantage Point - Column

Healthcare Financial Management, Feb, 1992 by Joanne M. Judge

By the year 2005, job opportunities in nongovernment hospitals are projected to increase by 27 percent, to 5.9 million, according to a November 1991 Bureau of Labor Statistics report. These demographic changes suggest an important new responsibility for health-care financial managers.

The media and guidance and career counselors often publicize the need for clinical positions such as nurses and physical therapists. The untold story, however, concerns growing opportunities in healthcare financial management, mostly resulting from growth in medical group management, managed care, and long-term care.

Although opportunities may expand as healthcare providers and payers create new positions, people may not be available to fill them in the future. As our profession competes with others for workers in a rapidly diminishing labor market, today's healthcare financial managers must cultivate qualified and interested candidates for careers in healthcare financial management. Managers also have a responsibility to mentor those new to the Association. And HFMA has a mission to educate persons new to the healthcare field.

Student issues, recruitment, and retention of new members are some of the charges of HFMA'S New to the Field Matrix Committee, chaired by Stephen H. Dorsett, FHFMA, CMPA, CPA, chief financial officer, Warren Clinics, Inc., Tulsa, Okla. Working to ensure a future supply of healthcare financial managers, the committee has affirmed the importance of HFMA student members and urged the Association to seek opportunities to promote the profession on university campuses.

Nearly 20 chapters have implemented scholarship programs to encourage qualified individuals to study healthcare financial management. Some of the scholarships are named in memory of deceased members; most have firm geographic and educational performance criteria. Many other chapters expose students to the healthcare financial management profession through career seminars and presentations, and by participating in career nights and shadowing programs' that involve students in professionals' daily work.

I encourage more members to cultivate student interest in the profession by speaking on career opportunities to student groups and by becoming involved in chapter scholarships and other programs for students.

Persons employed in industries hit hard by the recession also are attracted to our profession because they see growth in the healthcare field. HFMA reaches out to those in transition from other industries through the New to the Field educational program, offered every six months. Registration records indicate that many professionals are entering healthcare finance from banking and public accounting. With their fresh perspective, persons from other industries often bring new ideas and different methods to the profession.

Experienced healthcare financial managers also have a responsibility to help new HFMA members and those new to the field. HFMA data indicate that many members who fail to renew are new members (two years or less), suggesting the importance of reaching out to them to determine their needs.

I encourage active members to become mentors to new members. A mentor's responsibilities may include introducing a new member to others at chapter meetings, informing a newcomer of HFMA chapter and National resources, and directing him or her to the right person in a network. Some chapters have formal mentor programs, and others plan to start them soon.

Opportunities in healthcare financial management are bright, but the labor pool is shrinking. To ensure a future supply of healthcare financial managers, members must take responsibility for promoting the profession to students and persons changing careers by getting involved in chapter student and mentoring programs.

Of course, these responsibilities require members to stay on top of the healthcare financial management profession and its broad spectrum of positions. The future of the profession rests with you.