How Industry Leaders Can Build Stronger Relationships at Healthcare Financial Management Conferences

When Industry Executives invest in healthcare financial management conferences, the goal is clear: connect with the financial leaders who influence health system decisions. Most assume that means CFOs.

CFOs sit at the top of the finance organization. They approve major investments and set enterprise direction. It feels logical to orient conference strategy around gaining their attention.

THMA research shows this assumption often limits results. While CFOs remain critical approvers, they are rarely the leaders who evaluate solutions or build ROI cases. That work happens earlier and is led by Vice Presidents of Finance (VPFs).

VPFs are the financial leaders Industry Executives are actually trying to reach at healthcare financial management conferences. They assess feasibility, influence operational budgets, and decide which solutions move forward long before a CFO is involved.

The Bottom Line:  A conference strategy built around CFO access alone starts too late.

Why Healthcare Financial Management Conferences Attract VPs of Finance First

THMA research shows that health system VPFs experience financial pressure earlier and more acutely than other finance leaders.

They are accountable for forecast accuracy in volatile environments, managing margin erosion driven by labor and reimbursement pressure, and responding when early performance gaps begin to compound. When financial models start to strain, the VPF is expected to act before issues escalate. This pressure creates urgency.

Healthcare financial management conferences intersect with that urgency. Not because they create demand, but because they concentrate perspective. VPFs use these settings to validate decisions already in motion, compare approaches under similar constraints, and understand where peers are finding relief. They are not exploring hypotheticals. They are pressure-testing active choices.

The Bottom Line:  VPFs show up to conferences as motivated evaluators, often with budget influence, not passive learners.

The Vice President of Finance as the Real Financial Operator Inside Health Systems

VPFs translate financial strategy into operational execution. They oversee forecasting, FP&A, and operational finance, often with responsibility that extends into revenue-adjacent functions. Their credibility is built on accuracy, discipline, and performance under pressure.

Because they operate closest to execution, VPFs develop a detailed understanding of where processes break down and where systems no longer support decision-making. This perspective shapes how initiatives are evaluated internally.

The Bottom Line:  VPFs determine whether an initiative can work inside the organization before leadership decides whether it should.

What THMA Research Reveals About How Finance Decisions Actually Begin

THMA research finds that finance decisions begin with operational evaluation, not executive approval. VPFs lead early discovery. They participate in demonstrations, compare alternatives, and test feasibility across workflows, data dependencies, staffing requirements, and implementation risk.

In practice, VPFs routinely spend 60 to 90 minutes in evaluation discussions. CFOs typically spend 15 to 30 minutes focused on strategic alignment after groundwork has been done. This is where momentum is built or lost.

The Bottom Line:  Early engagement with VPFs accelerates decision progress because evaluation starts where decisions actually begin.

Why CFO Access Rarely Signals Buying Momentum at Conferences

CFO access is valuable, but it is often misinterpreted. THMA research shows CFOs are heavily gatekept, with initial meetings often taking months to secure. When those meetings occur, evaluation is frequently delegated back to the VPF.

This is intentional. CFOs expect feasibility, ROI logic, and internal alignment to be validated before executive time is invested.

The Bottom Line:  CFO conversations convert only when a VPF has already validated feasibility and internal support.

Where Evaluation, Budget Authority, and Alignment Truly Sit

A common misconception is that VPFs lack buying power. THMA research shows many health system VPFs hold $100K to $500K in direct approval authority across finance, analytics, and automation initiatives that align with their remit. In these cases, decisions often move forward without CFO involvement.

When larger investments are required, VPFs build the business case CFOs rely on. They quantify impact through time savings, error reduction, cash acceleration, and risk mitigation.

The Bottom Line:  Many finance initiatives advance through VPF authority and advocacy, even when CFOs are final signatories.

Why Traditional Healthcare Financial Management Conferences Miss This Reality

Most healthcare financial management conferences are designed for scale. They optimize for attendance, exposure, and broad content coverage. What they rarely support is meaningful evaluation.

Conversations are brief and high-level. Operational context is limited. As a result, interest is generated, but momentum often fades once internal evaluation begins.

The Bottom Line:  Visibility without depth rarely translates into sustained progress.

How Conference Environment Determines the Quality of Financial Engagement

VPFs are not looking for pitches. They value insight, credibility, and peer validation. Trust is built in environments that support focused, relevant conversation and candid exchange.

That trust is difficult to establish in crowded exhibit halls or rushed networking sessions.

The Bottom Line:  The quality of the environment determines the quality of financial engagement.

The Value of Curated, Role-Specific Convenings for Finance Leaders

THMA convenings are intentionally designed around how health system leaders actually engage. Participation is curated by role to ensure relevance. Industry seats are limited to preserve balance. Agendas are driven by health system priorities, not sponsor messaging.

These settings allow VPFs to speak openly about pressure points, decision criteria, and internal dynamics. Industry Executives gain insight into how decisions are evaluated in practice.

The Bottom Line:  Curated environments surface real decision logic long before it appears in a deal cycle.

Rethinking Healthcare Financial Management Conference Strategy for Industry Executives

Healthcare finance is under sustained pressure. Capital is constrained. Every investment is scrutinized. For Industry Executives, conference strategy must reflect how health systems evaluate and advance decisions today, not how they appear on org charts.

The Bottom Line:  A VPF-first approach aligns healthcare financial management conference investment with reality.

A More Effective Path to Building Financial Relationships With Health Systems

Healthcare financial management conferences remain an important investment. The difference is how that investment is deployed. THMA’s Vice President of Finance Forum is designed to support peer-level engagement between health system finance leaders and a limited number of industry partners. It creates space for candid dialogue, practical insight, and relationship-building grounded in how health systems actually operate.

For Industry Executives focused on credibility and long-term engagement, progress starts by connecting with the leaders who shape decisions early.

The Bottom Line:  Strong financial relationships begin with the leaders who evaluate first.