Chairman calls for advanced standards - Healthcare Financial Management Association's David H. LeMoine - includes his biography, and HFMA's mission statement

Healthcare Financial Management, June, 1990 by Howard J. Anderson

HFMA's new chairman offers straightforward advice to his fellow healthcare financial managers: Pay attention to the details and pay attention to the business of doing business.

"Financial managers have to know the details in order to give direction, manage, and review the people who work for them," said David H. LeMoine, FHFMA, CPA. "All of the excellent financial managers who I've known have had a firm knowledge of the details."

LeMoine serves as senior vice president, audit services, at Daughters of Charity National Health System in St. Louis, Mo., the nation's largest not-for-profit healthcare system.

The bottom line

The new Chairman said chief financial officers (CFOS) must understand the details involved in all phases of finance, including business office issues, financial statement preparation, investment strategy, and contract review. And all financial managers, according to LeMoine, need to keep in mind that their primary responsibility is to maintain the bottom line.

The CFO takes the assumptions that planners come up with and runs the numbers to see if a proposal makes sense," he said. The CFO's job should be to make sure that the financial statements are accurate and reliable, so that when the leaders of the organization want to make a change in directions, they can be sure they are not making a decision based on bad financial information."

LeMoine also believes that CFOs should play an integral part in reviewing all proposed contracts.

Any contract, managed care or otherwise, that is written by any healthcare organization should be reviewed by the CFO," he said. They all have financial implications.

"Over the years, most of the problems I have seen with contracts have been caused by the lack of a thorough review by a CFO."

Patient accounting is key

Unsuccessful CFOs often lack an in-depth understanding of the patient accounting process, according to LeMoine. "They have a high-lighted knowledge of it, but they don't understand all of the nitty gritty details of paper flow, or all of the hundreds of different small problems that the people in the business office can run into when processing accounts,' he said.

A patient accounts manager may tell a CFO that the accounts receivable days are going up for specific reasons. The explanation, even though insufficient, may sound good to the CFO if he or she doesn't know enough details to discern that the patient accounting staff isn't doing its job."

LeMoine said patient accounts managers must be closely involved in the work of their staffs. A good patient accounts manager looks through the accounts on a day to day basis." He said managers should develop a team approach, set specific goals, monitor performance, and reward people for doing a job well. Setting higher standards

The new Chairman selected the theme Advancing the Standard" for the Association's 1990-91 membership year to call attention to the need for individuals and organizations to set and achieve higher standards for performance. The theme also will be the focus of the HFMA National Convention/ANI.

"HFMA has always set the standards for healthcare financial managers. In the new decade, we need to advance those standards," he said.

LeMoine is spearheading an effort to improve the Association's services to its members.

For example, a task force has been formed to review the certification program, which enables members to demonstrate their expertise by earning the designation Fellow of HFMA (FHFMA) or Certified Manager of Patient Accounts (CMPA). "We need to try to improve the certification process so that more people will become interested in it,' he said.

The task force will examine the certification programs operated by other associations, analyze HFMA's exam process, and review the coaching support provided to members.

Another task force will review HFMA's current standards for quality assurance for education, policy analysis and comment letters, databases, and other National and chapter activities. This group will take a look at what we are doing and how we can do it better," LeMoine said.

A third task force will consider the advocacy role of the National office and chapters. The group will recommend an appropriate advocacy role for chapters and the level of support needed from the National office.

In addition to the three task forces, a new council on research and data services will review database activities and assist staff in establishing research protocols, priorities for research and studies, and commentary on data collection.

We want to make sure that the information the Association is providing is accurate and reliable," LeMoine said. "We want to advance the standard for financial information."

Focus on mission statement

My top priority as chairman is carrying out HFMA's mission statement,' LeMoine said. "We need to concentrate on providing outstanding education, continuing to communicate information on a timely basis, influencing public policy in financial areas, and establishing financial management principles." The new Chairman is particularly pleased that one of his top priorities as a Board member - planning the updating of the National office's computer system-will culminate with the installation of a new system during his year as Chairman. LeMoine also sees the recent formation of forums for CFOs and patient financial services managers as another key step in helping members "improve their performance and, as a result, advance their standards."