Advancing the standard - Healthcare Financial Management Association theme for 1990 - column

Healthcare Financial Management, June, 1990 by David Hartley LeMoine

I have been involved in HFMA for 18 years, the last six on the national level. Over this period, there have been many changes in HFMA and in the healthcare industry. Today, there is much discussion about the changes ahead in the 1990s. Many Of my predecessors as HFMA Chairman have addressed the subject of change-change in society, in the profession, in health care, in managing. We need to understand the future and the changes in life and the profession that it brings. Change is assured. HFMA has come a long way. The 1984-85 theme "We Are HFMA' created a new image for HFMA and cast it forward to face new challenges, to face change. Each year, HFMA has become more of a player in the financial management of health care, improving its education and certification programs, influencing policy decisions, establishing and interpreting financial management principles and practices, and expanding the Annual National Institute to a truly national convention. Focus on the business of doing business

We need to be concerned about the future and understand change. But we also must focus on the immediate business of doing business. HFMA is successful, but now we have an obligation to advance our standards. I selected the theme Advancing the Standard' for the year ahead because I believe HFMA, its chapters, and individual members need to broaden their roles in the financial management of health care, to advance their standards, to become real experts in managing the business of health care.

In my year as Chairman, let's get "back to the present.' Let's thoroughly assess what we are doing so we can be successful in the decade ahead. Getting back to the basics of financial management

We will advance the standards of the health care business by getting back to the basics.

We must do a better job of collecting receivables, maximizing reimbursement, and improving the bottom line.

And by improving its educational programs and the certification process, HFMA can help its members do their jobs better.

Aggressive management will make the difference.

Future columns will address how HFMA, its chapters, and individual members can advance their standards in the year ahead. I can assure you that HFMA'S mission statement will be the starting point. In my year as Chairman, I plan to stress fulfillment of the first point in HFMA'S values statement: "We believe that service to members is our highest priority."

At the end of my year as Chairman, I want to be able to say to myself, We served the members; I was a members' Chairman."'

Thank you for allowing me to be your Chairman. Best wishes in 1990-91.