The article explores why the conversation around year-end cash performance needs to begin well before December. Drawing on Michael Berger’s 35+ years in hospital finance and revenue cycle leadership, it highlights practical areas hospitals can address now from A/R and denials to patient payment strategies, underpayments, documentation and other overlooked revenue opportunities to strengthen financial performance before the year-end window begins to close.

Healthcare organizations must carefully evaluate patient financing partners to ensure alignment with financial goals, operational needs, and patient experience priorities. In this executive perspective, Michael Berger shares the framework he used when selecting a patient financing partner.

Not all patient financing programs are created equal. This executive guide explores five critical questions CFOs and revenue cycle leaders should ask when evaluating financing partners, including financial trade-offs, patient experience considerations, operational impact, and long-term strategic alignment.

Artificial intelligence and agentic AI are reshaping revenue cycle management — but are healthcare organizations undervaluing the human judgment and experience that effective leadership still requires? This article explores both the opportunities and limitations of AI in healthcare finance.

Non-recourse financing sounds safer — but what are hospitals actually giving up in return?

Hospitals often assume improving patient satisfaction, strengthening NPS, and increasing collections can’t all happen at once. In reality, the right approach makes those outcomes more connected than they seem.

Credit scores are often used to assess risk—but in healthcare, they can also limit access to care. For many patients, the system creates a gap between what they need and what they can afford.

Small changes in how hospitals communicate patient balances can have an outsized impact on both collections and satisfaction.

For many patients, the financial experience doesn’t just follow care — it shapes whether they return at all.

Patients rarely say when medical bills are causing stress—but their behavior tells a different story. Hospitals that pay attention to those signals often see the impact in both experience and outco