February, 11 , 2010

The recession caused a nationwide shift in priorities last year, so it's not surprising that after watching their once buoyant financials plummet, healthcare CFOs would also reshuffle their priorities. The result: Quality was moved down as a priority in favor of physician recruitment and cost reduction, according to the HealthLeaders Media Industry Survey 2010.Results reveal that the dual-track economic and healthcare reform rollercoaster has CFOs rethinking what's important.

This year's report shows that several of the 2009 priorities slipped quite a bit. Reimbursement moved to the sixth slot, dropping three positions and 4 points, with just 24% of respondents seeing it as a top priority versus 31% the previous year. Meanwhile, revenue cycle spiraled down from fourth place to ninth place, with only 14% of financial leaders ranking it as a top priority versus 20% in last year's report.

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