This session provides an overview of key concepts in healthcare finance, focusing on helping board members understand the essential elements of hospital financial statements and core financial metrics. The presentation will highlight how hospitals are reimbursed for the services they provide, the major categories of cost unique to healthcare organizations, and the financial information most critical for effective board oversight.
Registration Pricing
Member: $75
Non-Member: $125
Registration includes unlimited connections per registered facility.
Who should watch:
Hospital and health system board members, trustees of rural and community hospitals, executive leadership teams, chief executive officers, chief financial officers, finance committee members, revenue cycle leaders, compliance and risk management professionals, governance professionals and board liaisons, and policy makers involved in health care finance, reimbursement, and strategic planning.
Learning Objectives:
- Describe the primary sources of hospital revenue and reimbursement methodologies, including Medicare, Medicaid, commercial insurance, and value-based payment models.
- Interpret key components of hospital financial statements, including the balance sheet, revenue cycle metrics, and indicators of financial performance.
- Identify financial metrics commonly used to assess organizational health, such as operating margin, days cash on hand, accounts receivable, and debt-related measures.
- Explain the unique financial challenges facing healthcare organizations, including reimbursement pressures, uncompensated care, patient liability, capital investment needs, and Medicare Advantage trends.
- Recognize the board’s role in financial oversight, including evaluating financial performance, understanding variances, supporting long-term financial planning, and ensuring organizational sustainability.
Continuing Education:
American College of Healthcare Executives
By attending the 2026 Introduction to Hospital Finance Webinar, offered by Texas Healthcare Trustees, participants may earn up to 1.0 ACHE Qualified Education Hours toward initial certification or recertification of the Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE) designation.
Certified Healthcare Trustees and Leaders Education
The Texas Healthcare Trustees designates this continuing certified healthcare trustee and leader education activity for up to 1.0 contact hours. For more information about the CHTL program, please contact THT at 512-465-1015.
Speakers
Deborah Whitley, CPA, Partner, Healthcare, FORVIS, Waco
Deborah is a partner in FORVIS. She has over 20 years of experience working in the health care industry with a concentration in reimbursement consulting for hospitals, both acute care and critical access, rural health clinics and nursing homes.
Deborah has been involved in many of the operational implications of the regulatory changes and how they impact hospital facilities and beneficiaries. Deborah has spent much of her time working to help rural and community hospitals improve their overall Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement. Some of the special reimbursement areas she works with are electronic health record funding, disproportionate share payments, volume adjustments, departmental financial projections, special coding, billing and pricing processes and reviews in both inpatient and outpatient areas of hospitals.
She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants, Texas Organization of Rural and Community Hospitals, Texas Association for Hospital Financial Administration and Texas Hospital Association.
Deborah is a graduate from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas with a B.B.A. degree in accounting in 1985.