Listen to our debrief of The Health Management Academy's Spring 2026 Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Forum. In our debrief, we shared what these executives discussed with their peers, including what CFOs are working on right now.
Below are key takeaways for what is top of mind for CFOs and what you need to know going into your next conversation with them:
Revenue Cycle Is Now a Competitive Weapon Health systems are going on offense against payers — building dedicated dispute resolution teams, elevating Chief Revenue Officers, and developing arbitration as a core competency. The message was clear: don't return to the table without rates well above Medicare.
Governance Means Learning to Say "No" The best-run systems aren't just prioritizing — they're building explicit mechanisms to reject misaligned initiatives early. OKR frameworks, intake gates, and consolidated committees are helping CFOs enforce discipline across capital, hiring, and strategy.
CFOs Must Become Policy Advocates — Now With Medicaid cuts, site-neutral expansion, and provider tax changes increasingly treated as base-case assumptions (not tail risks), CFOs need to get ahead of the narrative. The industry lost ground by assuming the moral high ground would speak for itself.
AI Is Everywhere Except the Bottom Line Investment is widespread, but ROI accountability structures don't yet exist. The path forward requires CFOs to own AI value creation directly, shift from point solutions to end-to-end workflow redesign, and resolve the workforce policy question before AI becomes inflationary rather than deflationary.
Partnerships Require Governance Parity Joint ventures with competitors and network affiliations are gaining traction, but only when governance is equal and dissolution is survivable from day one. Traditional M&A thinking no longer fits the strategic reality.