The Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) annual conference will take place from June 20 to June 23 in Nashville. Last year’s turnout was more than 4,000 people, including attendees and exhibitors. HFMA spokeswoman Karen Metropulos says she expects a similar turnout this year, and the association is actually ahead of registration at this time last year.
Attendees will have 71 sessions to choose from, focusing on how health care reform will affect company payment; improving quality of care while also driving down costs; physician integration to engage doctors in both care and business; RACs, with regard to take-backs; and strategies that will get better results even with limited resources.
This year’s conference presents four keynote speakers, including Ian Morrison on the future of the health care marketplace; George Will on the health care debate; Bill Frist, a former U.S. senator, who will discuss health care reform with regard to action; and Pat Summitt, the author of “Reach for the Summit.”
The association will also present the second annual High-Performance Award in Revenue Cycle to organizations that “that meet or exceed criteria for success in revenue cycle processes, financial performance, innovation, adoption of Patient-Friendly Billing principles and patient satisfaction,” according to the conference Web site.
Last year, the association presented 14 companies with the award. Awards are given out based on an “elaborate evaluation process,” Metropulos says. Winners will be announced at the beginning of this year’s show.
“[This year] there will be a lot of opportunities for attendees to learn from those award winners,” she says.
New to the conference are early-riser sessions, featured speaker sessions, which offer opportunities for more interaction with leaders, and a total of 27.5 CPEs available.
Metropulos advises attendees not to miss this year’s new featured speaker sessions, especially Scott Serota of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, who will discuss the private sector’s impact on health care reform.