Finance Department Teams Honored

St. Luke’s University Health Network’s (SLUHN) Cost Accounting and Financial Management & Analysis (FM&A) teams were awarded the 2023 Strata LEAP (Lead, Excel, Achieve and Progress) Award. This award distinguishes exceptional healthcare systems that utilize StrataJazz, EPSi, or Strata’s Advisory Services team to deliver top-notch results in financial analytics, business intelligence and financial decision support. 

Although SLUHN has been using this software for several years, this is the first time that the team has applied for the award. In 2023 Strata received the most LEAP award applications than any other year in the company’s history, triple the number of applications Strata has seen in previous years. Strata is utilized by over 800 health networks.

Six winners were chosen including SLUHN for its use of the software for financial decision support. “We were the only winner in decision-support,” said Christopher Boyle, Network Manager, Cost Accounting.

The Cost Accounting and FM&A teams consist of eight members who are responsible for developing, reporting, and analyzing financial data for 19 St. Luke’s entities. The entities include all 13 hospitals, four physician groups (approximating 285 practices) as well as Home Health and Ambulatory Services. This team is ranked in the top decile of all healthcare systems as evaluated by the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) – StrataJazz L7 Cost Accounting Maturity Model measuring data accuracy and costing capabilities.

Of the many advances implemented, the recent achievements that warranted this award include:

• Extensive use of financial analytics related to service line, proforma and ad hoc reporting requests delivered in a timely and accurate manner.
• Complex cost allocation of nursing and technologist salaries utilizing EPIC time records in Labor and Delivery units.
• Identification of unique patient populations combined with corresponding cost allocation for inpatient consults and rebates utilizing sophisticated decision support system capabilities.
• Further expansion of reportable data covering additional network entities.

“Our teams are further committed to the continued expansion of costing and financial reporting capabilities as the St. Luke’s Network grows and new advancements are made available in the realm of financial decision support,” said Tara Koehnlein, Vice President, Finance.

“This achievement would not be possible without the steadfast support and talent that each and every one on our teams brings to them,” Boyle said. “Each of the achievements that was listed in our application was the collective work of the FM&A team providing the vital education and support to improve our deliverables as well as the execution of the costing team to make these enhancements a reality.”

The awards were presented at a virtual conference this fall.