Columbus-based OhioHealth is an 18-hospital system with locations in urban, suburban, and rural areas. The health system recently reported that its operating income for the fiscal year ended June 30 was $303.7 million, on revenue of $5.7 billion.
Beckers spoke to CFO Michael Browning about the system and its future plans. This is one of his series of Q&As with his CFOs of healthcare systems. Beckers CEO/CFO roundtable event to be held in Chicago from November 13th to 16th.
Question: What are the health system’s top three strategic financial priorities for the coming year? How do these align with the organization’s overall mission and goals?
Michael Browning: Maintenance is our top priority. When it comes to capital investments, you need to identify the right ones and remove waste from your system. We always return to our Balanced Scorecard and our four focus points: Finance, Culture, Quality and Service. All of this combined makes it easy to see how finance lags behind other sectors. We aim to provide a customer experience that creates lifelong customers. You need to ensure that your customers’ needs are met. The patient always comes first.
Q: What are the biggest financial challenges facing health systems today, but what are the most promising economic opportunities?
MB: Technology and regulatory compliance [are the biggest challenges]. Challenges from market disruptors and competitors also require us to adjust our strategies. However, we see opportunities for growth, whether through acquisitions or organically, and we believe such growth will be 10% per year. We have a financial sustainability team that can be very helpful in managing expenses and increasing revenue. It’s not just growth, it’s proper growth.
Q: How does your system leverage technology and digital health platforms to enhance patient care, improve operational efficiency, and generate revenue?
MB: We use AI in our revenue cycle operations, and for us, AI is evolving. We focus on IT projects. One is at the new hospital in Pickerington, which will install 80-inch monitors in every patient room so that specialized health care providers can identify who is who each time they enter the room. We aim to roll this out across the healthcare system and think it will be a huge hit. We believe this will help close gaps in care and allow problems to be identified sooner.
Q: What partnerships, joint ventures, mergers or acquisitions is your system considering to strengthen its financial position or expand its service offerings?
MB: I already have some [M&A-related] This week’s meeting and today’s Tuesday. We are always willing to consider value-added transactions when the opportunity is appropriate, whether it be with another hospital or merging with another system. My point about mergers and acquisitions is that we’re just getting started.
Q: Given the unpredictability of events like a pandemic, what are you doing to ensure financial resilience and sustainability in the face of unexpected challenges?
MB: We value the resilience of our team members and employees. I think we talk about the unknown every day. We strive to resolve any future issues that may arise, especially regarding our employees. We’re looking at doing things now that will pay dividends in three to five years.
