Becker's Hospital Review

17 CFO / FINANCE CFOs bored with constant spreadsheet jockeying, survey says By Andrew Cass M ore than 80 percent of CFOs believe they suffer from the most intensive daily manual work compared to other roles in the C-suite, according to a DataRa- ils survey released in April. DataRails, a financial planning and analysis platform for Excel users, surveyed 200 CFOs of businesses of up to 500 em- ployees in the U.S. and United Kingdom, according to an April 14 news release. Five details: 1. Seventy percent of CFOs said they rely on Excel for financial budgeting and forecasting, but only 18 percent considered themselves experts; 30 percent called their skills advanced. 2. The survey found that 41 per- cent of financial planning and analysis processes are manual. Skilled financial analysts spend 10 hours a week on spread- sheet work; that includes many hours of work for the CFOs themselves. 3. Thirty-one percent of CFOs said constant spreadsheet work left them bored. 4. Forty-eight percent said man- ual processes reduce the time spent with family and friends. 5. Forty-seven percent said the manual processes impair their ability to participate in strategic decision-making. n and hiring bonuses. at's not a sustainable solution," Mr. Kissinger said. "e sustainable solution for hospital chains like Providence is to change their business model to focus less on profit and more on providing care, and that starts with hiring more caregivers and making the work more manageable so more people will enter and stay in the field." Other healthcare unions such as the Illinois Nurses Association signaled their full support for sign-on bonuses to boost critical staffing levels, but say these types of incentives may be sustainable for health systems because they ar- en't necessarily spending more to fund them. "INA understands and supports hospitals that offer signing bonuses to attract nurses if these are used as part of a comprehensive and fair compensation strategy that treats nurses with respect and dignity," an INA spokesperson said. "All too oen, we have found that these bonuses replace compensation and benefits that could be used for senior nurses who have worked several years for institutions that have not treated them well, especially during the last two years." It's a sentiment shared by Mr. Kissinger, who says nurses and physicians may be offered ma- jor sign-on bonuses, increased pay and benefits like child care subsidies, but support positions won't be offered nearly as much, if at all. "At Providence hospitals, we've secured bet- ter wages for many workers in certified and licensed positions, but Providence has so far refused our proposals to increase pay for low- er-paid workers such as housekeepers, nursing assistants, transporters and kitchen staff," Mr. Kissinger said. Reducing or sunsetting other expenses Dr. Fitzpatrick of Kaufman Hall said the focus is now on creating a robust pipeline of staff, whether it's professional staff, technical staff or entry-level staff. One example of how organi- zations are doing this is through partnerships with higher education to train students and then move them to employment. Ms. Samaris said some places are also creating simulation labs that imitate a real hospital setting for com- munity colleges to train their students. Another example is through "shadow traveler" programs, or internal travel nursing, Ms. Sa- maris said. is gives nurses the opportunity to travel within the system for slightly higher pay, rather than forcing them to move to an exter- nal agency. Pittsburgh-based UPMC is among the organizations using this approach. Ms. Samaris added that hospitals are enacting strategies to lower costs in other areas. is includes optimizing staffing in the areas that need it most, analyzing where there is a du- plication of services and creating partnerships with other organizations to offer services, like behavioral health or home health. At Northwell Health, Ms. Cusack said that in re- sponse to wage pressures and other COVID-19 costs, the health system has reduced discre- tionary spending and placed a great focus on increasing product standardization and other operating efficiencies. Northwell is also reduc- ing costs through the remote-work shi. "With the growth of the hybrid work environ- ment, we can reduce our administrative real estate portfolio to further counterbalance the expense pressure from wage growth," Ms. Cu- sack said. Mr. Gaasch cited examples of where the health system is using its motto to save costs to offset this labor pressure, such as leveraging Centura Health's size and scale where possible; auto- mating processes where possible; considering centralization of services as appropriate; ensur- ing overhead functions operate as efficiently as possible; and reviewing work-from-home poli- cies and corresponding real estate costs. He said Centura Health is also reducing pre- mium pay categories that the health system has been heavily reliant on through the pandemic. "e pandemic has slowed as far as the number of COVID-19 patients we're treating, so we're starting to look at premium pay categories that we instituted and how can we start to ratchet those down, in a corresponding timeline with the number of COVID patients decreasing and regaining our footing on staffing," he ex- plained. He said Centura Health is also considering its supply chain and is trying to standardize where possible on products and use across the health system. Is there a hard stop for how high labor expenses can grow? Overall, Mr. Gaasch said he doesn't have a set ceiling on how high labor costs can grow, because paying clinicians is vital to remain competitive. Ms. Cusack agreed that there's not a "hard stop" on how high labor expenses rise, saying that the health system must "ensure we have the appropriate staffing levels in the various clinical functional areas in response to the vol- ume of patients that we care for every day." Dr. Fitzpatrick agreed, saying: "ere really is no hard stop. … is is a continually evolving situation. … I think the solutions will continue to evolve as well." n

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