Hospital CFOs are the Chief Financial Officers of a hospital organization, and as such, work with the hospital CEO and other members of the executive team to provide proactive, sound guidance regarding financial trends within the facility, as well as management of the hospital’s assets and investments.
Hospital CFOs also work with patient care executives and department heads to execute financial plans and to monitor progress toward the hospital’s overall financial goals. Additional responsibilities of a hospital CFO may include:
– Draft a strategic financial plan
– Manage the hospital budget and oversee internal controls
– Ensure that financial statements and productivity reports are completed
– Maintain effective revenue cycle processes
– Keep up-to-date on the latest federal, state, and managed-care payment methods including billing requirements, payment calculations, and compliance guidelines
Hospital CFO Educational Requirements
A hospital CFO is one of the most important finance jobs in the healthcare industry, and, like CFOs of other large corporations, generally require a bachelor’s degree or higher in accounting or a related field. Most hospitals prefer a Master’s degree in Accounting or a Master’s in Business Administration. Generally speaking, experience is required; however, the amount of experience required varies from hospital to hospital. Most hospitals require an absolute minimum of five years of experience in hospital financial management.
In addition to educational requirements, many hospitals prefer the prospective CFO to be a Licensed Certified Public Accountant. The CPA is granted by the Board of Accountancy for the State in which you intend to practice.
How Much do Hospital CFOs Make?
The salary of any position can vary widely depending on a number of factors. However, the Bureau of Labor Statistics published this fact sheet that gives a national median annual income of Financial Managers such as CFOs of about $103,910 as of 2010. The top 10% earn more than $166,400 while the bottom 10% earn less than $57,000.
The above is merely an average of hospital CFO salaries across the nation. According to a news article published in a Connecticut newspaper, the Chief Financial Officer of Lawrence + Memorial Hospital was paid $431,702 in 2013. By contrast, according to a post on tech blog GeekWire.com, the Chief Financial Officer of Microsoft earns a base salary of $570,000 annually in addition to a whopping $6.5 million in Microsoft stock. She can also potentially receive a cash bonus based on future performance.
Nationally, hospital CFO positions aren’t expected to grow very much over the next decade, despite the rapidly growing demand of medical services caused by an aging baby boomer generation. With a 9 percent rate of job growth annually, an estimated 46,300 openings for hospital CFOs will be created between 2010 and 2020 throughout the United States.
Responsible for overseeing a hospital’s overall financial goals, hospital CFOs are highly educated, highly experienced professionals, and it shouldn’t be surprising that they are well compensated for their contribution to a hospital’s management.
