Program Content: Healthcare finance professionals spend years mastering the technical craft: closing the books, building the models, knowing the cost report cold. But the leap from technician to executive isn’t about doing more of that work better. It’s about a fundamental shift in how you think, what you pay attention to, and what story you tell with the numbers in front of you. This 75-minute panel brings together three healthcare executives with deep CFO experience for an honest conversation about what actually happens inside the role: what CFOs care about that their teams miss, what they don’t care about that their teams obsess over, how they stay current in a rapidly changing industry, and how they made the leap themselves. The session is designed for the full range of HFMA Arkansas membership. Early careerists and aspiring CFOs will hear directly from leaders about the skills, habits, and mindset shifts that separate finance professionals who advance from those who plateau. Mid-career professionals in stable roles will gain insight into how senior leaders think about their work. Sitting VPs and CFOs will recognize the conversation and likely add to it during audience Q&A.
Program Content: This presentation will provide an overview of Arkansas’s Rural Health Transformation Program, a five-year statewide initiative designed to move rural healthcare beyond short-term stabilization toward long-term system redesign.
Program Content: As federal and state funding continues to play a critical role in healthcare operations—whether through large-scale transformation programs, targeted grants, or pass-through funding—organizations are facing a parallel reality: increased audit scrutiny, heightened compliance expectations, and greater financial exposure tied to noncompliance. For many, the question is no longer whether they will be audited—but whether their current practices can withstand the level of scrutiny being applied today. This session moves beyond a foundational overview to examine how Single Audits are influencing financial management, internal controls, and operational decision-making across healthcare organizations of all sizes.
Program Content: Move beyond revenue protection and into proactive growth by reframing payer contracting as a strategic financial lever. This session explores how overlooked contract terms, misaligned rate structures, and outdated negotiation strategies quietly suppress reimbursement — and how data-driven renegotiation can unlock meaningful incremental revenue.
Program Content: AI in Finance is an interactive, demo-led session designed to showcase how artificial intelligence is transforming core finance functions through practical, real-world use cases. Participants will explore high-impact applications across areas such as reporting, forecasting, and operational efficiency, with a focus on how these solutions are executed in practice.
Program Content: Provider credentialing is one of the most revenue-critical — and most misunderstood — functions in healthcare operations. This session delivers a practitioner-level overview of the full credentialing lifecycle, covering providerside fundamentals, payer enrollment and contracting essentials, and a look at how automation tools can reduce manual credentialing hours without requiring a large IT team. Built from real workflows deployed at a multi-provider Arkansas healthcare organization, attendees will leave with practical strategies they can apply immediately.
Program Content: Program Content: THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 2026 3:30 – 4:45 pm | General Session | Lake Hamilton Ballroom Data Driven, Value Focused: Leading a Modern Data Driven Healthcare Culture CPE Credits: 1.5 | CPE Type: Specialized Knowledge | Level: Basic | Prerequisites: None | Course SU2607 Brock Holman, Vice President – Finance Nick Zimmerman, Director – Business Intelligence & Analysis Baptist Health True financial sustainability and operational excellence require moving beyond traditional spreadsheet management and email based distribution methods by fostering an organization wide, data driven decision making mindset, augmented by culturally appropriate and reliable content. Many organizations strive to make this transition by investing in advanced analytics, but fail to realize the promised returns. The roadblock isn’t only the technology or the content it delivers. It’s also culture driven adoption and usage. “Data Driven, Value Focused: Leading a Modern Data Driven Healthcare Culture” is designed specifically for healthcare financial professionals ready to spearhead this transformation. Attendees will discover how balancing cultural alignment and technology dramatically increases adoption and ensures continuous ROI. Rather than focusing on complex technical architecture and tools, this presentation zeroes in on strategies required to bridge the data reliance gap. Participants will learn how to identify common barriers to data adoption and implement practical frameworks that build confidence and trust across less technical leaders. Furthermore, the session delivers actionable organizational strategies to dismantle operational silos, fostering seamless collaboration between finance, clinical, and business intelligence teams. Ultimately, this session provides a roadmap for transitioning from “gut feeling” decisions to operational rigor. Leaders will leave equipped with strategies to normalize data driven due diligence prior to decision making, turning data from an administrative burden into their most powerful tool for meaningful, value focused change.
Program Content: The financial management of a 340B program demands more than just compliance — it requires a clear-eyed understanding of how dollars move through the program, how those dollars are recorded, and how an evolving federal policy environment may reshape the program in the years ahead. Presented jointly by a pharmacist with deep experience in 340B program analytics and an accountant who specializes in 340B accounting and financial oversight, the session pairs operational insight with accounting expertise to give attendees a complete picture of 340B financial management.
Program Content: This presentation will cover the critical, interdependent relationship between inpatient clinical quality outcomes and hospital financial performance under CMS Value-Based Care programs. As healthcare systems navigate increasingly complex reimbursement models, the financial health of an organization is inextricably linked to bedside clinical execution. Led by an Infectious Diseases physician and health system VP of Quality and Safety, this session will look beyond the high-level theory of Value-Based Care to break down the mechanics of CMS quality programs—specifically focusing on the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) Program, the Hospital-Acquired Condition (HAC) Reduction Program, and the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP).
