WI HFMA Future Planning Meeting/ LTC

​As the presidential year of Kevin Boren comes to an end, the realization sets in of what large shoes I have to fill next year as I assume the office of President for the Wisconsin Chapter of HFMA. Kevin was like Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders in few ways. Not so much the hair of Donald or age of Bernie but because he had some crazy big ambitions and plans for 2015/2016, but what sets Kevin apart from those two is that Kevin has accomplished almost everything he set out to do in 2015/2016. Below are seven of the eighteen strategies that Kevin and the rest of the board of directors and volunteers have made were:

1. H20 (Healthcare TED-like talks) – Fall conference’s introduction of H20 talks became the highest rates session. Even beating the likes of Barry Alvarez (Wisconsin’s past football coach and current AD).
2. Website – HFMA introduced our long desired new website that makes it not only easier to find information but also to update information.
3. Certification YouTube Training Videos – Leslie Claas and Alan Mendenhall (with the help of a few other HFMA chapters) released E-learning opportunities to study to become CHFP certified.
4. Early Careerist – HFMA Wisconsin formed an early careerist task force and began exploring how we can relate to the next generation of HFMA members.
5. Build partnership with HFMA Minnesota - HFMA Wisconsin will host a joint event in Duluth, MN on May 5th, 2016. We also discussed evaluating if we can get MN chapter included in Mega event for future years.
6. Evaluate the potential use of a Membership Directory App -  Evaluate the possible use of a web app for the chapter. Would be helpful if it could eliminate the need for a directory, help members access website content more easily, connect members socially (though with appropriate limits), and help leaders know about events and happenings.
7. Year 2016 HFMA Region 7 Event - This event will be held on July 17-19th, 2016 in Lake Geneva, WI.

These strategies will allow HFMA Wisconsin to continue to be the indispensable resource for healthcare financial professional for years to come as stated in our mission. Thank you, Kevin, for your leadership.
 
The last few days (week of April 20th) myself and several of our officers have had the pleasure of traveling to Fort Lauderdale for HFMA national’s Leadership Training Conference to continue our strategic planning that occurred in March with all incoming and departing board members. In 2016/2017, we have decided to slow down our crazy ambitious strategies and monitor those that we put in place. In 2016/2017 we have decided on three keep strategies with a few sub-strategies:

1. It’s about the Members- Three strategies have come to make it about the Members.
   1. Mentorship Program – HFMA Wisconsin wants to help our early careerist or those new to healthcare to have a support system to help individuals grow in healthcare. HFMA Wisconsin will begin to offer mentorship programs that should be rolled out by September of 2016. This will include a bonus to our new mentors of a free conference if your Mentee attends the conference with you. So we need HFMA Wisconsin’s help – We need mentors to step up and help the next generation of financial leadership of healthcare. A volunteer signup will soon be online at www.hfmawisconsin.com. Please consider volunteering to help our future.  
   2. Intentional Networking – HFMA Wisconsin is going to roll out "intentional" networking events to help those that are new to HFMA events to meet additional peers to use as resources in the future.
   3. Volunteer Experience: HFMA Wisconsin is a volunteer organization that could always use an extra hand. We have several open options for those that want to volunteer including a data analyst volunteer to help us monitor our changes, membership app volunteer, and E-Communications Coordinator. Please email me at shawn@americollect.com if you are interested in volunteering for one of these positions.
2. Communications – HFMA Wisconsin has to coordinate our communications to control the quantity of communications that are distributed to each member and make them more meaningful when we communicate to members. We will be working on a bi-weekly email to combine multiple communications from events@hfmawisconsin.com. We will also start tracking and measuring our success of our communications and drive content by those that the membership would prefer.
3. Healthcare Finance 101 - HFMA Wisconsin members have been asking for 101 educational opportunities that are easy to access and convenient. HFMA Wisconsin will be testing education direct to providers at their facilities that will focus on Language of Healthcare, Healthcare Financial Puzzle, Need to Know Compliance, and Hot Topics in Healthcare.

 
We are excited to see how these strategies help HFMA Wisconsin members in 2016/2017. We are also excited to monitor previous year's strategies as well. HFMA Wisconsin board always appreciates hearing from our members on how we can improve the membership experience. Please consider volunteering to help us initiate these strategy changes. Just email events@hfmawisconsin.com for more information. Please join us at the Wisconsin Annual Conference, May 26th & 27th, 2016 at Elkhart Lake, WI. 

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National HFMA LTC was held in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. From left to right: Matt Streeter, Dave Cartier, Pam Ott, Shawn Gretz, Steve Backus and Rebecca Havlicek.