Revenue Cycle Optimization is proud to present this special edition of Conversations with the Marketplace. This Conversation goes into the C-Suite and features two transformational leaders who are redefining financial viability, staff satisfaction, and patient experience in rural hospitals.

Meet the Leaders

Brooke Bollman — Chief Executive Officer, Salem Memorial District Hospital

Rafael Olivares — Controller, Starr County Memorial Hospital

These passionate, entrepreneurial leaders are shaping the future of rural healthcare by combining accountability, data-driven decision-making, and a patient-centric mindset.

What you’ll gain from this Conversation

- Real-world insights into the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of rural hospital leadership

- Learn from leaders who have demonstrated resilience and innovation in resource-constrained environments

- Actionable steps to improve financial viability without sacrificing staff morale or patient care

- Discover proven approaches to balancing culture, communication, and performance

- A blueprint for building a culture of accountability, ownership, and continuous improvement

- How to leverage data and information to drive quality and efficiency

- Strategies to cast a wide net for advice and counsel to inform decisive action

- Practical, take-away advice you can apply immediately

Questions?

If you have questions or topics for a future Conversation, please contact:

Paul Stout — [email protected]

Sam Knox — [email protected]

John Behn — [email protected]

Conversations with the MarketPlace presents a conversation with Marcy M. Lash

Vice President and Municipal Credit Analyst - T. Rowe Price Associates. One of the benefits of working with hospitals from across the country is meeting passionate people who are committed to providing the best advice, counsel, and strategies to healthcare organizations to ensure their financial viability. Marcy Lash is such a person.

Marcy has been a Vice President and municipal credit analyst at T. Rowe Price since 1998, focusing exclusively on not-for-profit hospitals and hospital systems. She is currently responsible for $4.8 billion in assets under management comprised of 150 separate health care credits across the ratings spectrum.

During this conversation, Marcy shares her industry insights, details issues faced by hospitals in light of the pandemic, and provides suggestions to improve financial viability.

Topics covered include:

• The importance of building a long-term relationship, based on trust, with both the hospital or system

• Examples of best practice relationships and how she’s worked with the CFO, or lead financial executive, and other members of the hospital’s team

• Important expectations in communications with a hospital approaching or during a financial crisis

• Core information and data requirements that should be provided to the investor community

• Win-Win strategies that hospitals can employ to get them through the difficult issues they face

• The importance of a well-thought-out “story” and hospital strategy for resolving the financial crisis

If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]. Marcy can be contacted at [email protected].

Conversations with the Marketplace presents a conversation with Rob Yolland, Senior Vice President and Research Analyst with Franklin Templeton Investments. One of the benefits of working with hospitals from across the country is meeting passionate people who are committed to providing the best advice, counsel, and strategies to healthcare organizations to ensure their financial viability. Rob Yolland is such a person.

Rob has been with Franklin Templeton since 1989. His responsibilities include the analysis and on-going surveillance of hospital-related transactions. He is currently a member of the San Francisco Municipal Bond Club, California Society of Municipal Analysts, and National Federation of Municipal Analysts. He served as Chairman of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts in 2008.

During this conversation, Rob shares his industry insights, details issues faced by hospitals in light of the pandemic, and provides suggestions to improve financial viability.

Topics covered include:

• Thoughts about having direct, regular, and open channels of communication with the hospitals

• Recommendations surrounding the content of that communication

• Importance of hospital executives to make an effort to share their plans and financial strategies

• Best methods to communicate with bond investors in the case of unusual material events that may negatively affect a health system credit

• The roles of different players in working out and resolving financial crisis issues for hospitals

If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]. Rob can be contacted at [email protected].

Conversations with the MarketPlace presents a conversation with David J. Kates,

Partner and Amy Cobb Curran, Partner with Chapman and Cutler LLP. One of the benefits of working with hospitals from across the country is meeting passionate people who are committed to providing the best advice, counsel, and strategies to healthcare organizations to ensure their financial viability. David and Amy are both such persons.

David is a partner and the Co-Practice Group Leader of Chapman's National Public and Health & Education Finance Department. His practice is focused on tax-exempt and taxable financings for nonprofit health care entities.

Amy is a member of the firm's National Public and Health & Education Finance Department and the Social Finance and Impact Investing cross-disciplinary team. Amy’s practice focuses on tax-exempt conduit financings for nonprofit hospitals, health care systems, senior living facilities, continuing care retirement communities, universities, and infrastructure projects.

During this conversation, David and Amy share their industry insights, details issues faced by hospitals in light of the pandemic, and provides suggestions to improve financial viability.

Topics covered include:

• Provides a broad overview of what laws govern the disclosure of information to investors

• Details the disclosure obligations that a hospital has in light of financial difficulties or challenges to operations due to events like COVID-19

• illustrates what constitutes “talking to the market”

• Provides detail on what a borrower should do when an investor calls

• Details the level of coordination necessary between communications with bondholders and rating agencies

• Identifies when a borrower should disclose information and the borrower’s disclosure obligations

If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]. David can be contacted at [email protected]. Amy can be reached at [email protected].

Conversations with the MarketPlace presents a conversation with Ian Hammel, Member with Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky, and Popeo, P.C. One of the benefits of working with hospitals from across the country is meeting passionate people who are committed to providing the best advice, counsel, and strategies to healthcare organizations to ensure their financial viability. Ian is such a person.

Ian is a member of the Mintz bankruptcy and restructuring team and maintains a national commercial restructuring practice. He represents indenture trustees, bondholders, noteholders, and other sophisticated creditors in bankruptcy, receivership, and other out-of-court and in-court matters. Ian has represented indenture trustees and bondholders in resolving acute care hospital bond defaults in 14 states, including a dozen acute care hospital bankruptcy matters.

During this conversation, Ian shares his industry insights, details issues faced by hospitals in light of the pandemic, and provides suggestions to improve financial viability.

Topics covered include:

• Explains the role of a legal advisor to healthcare organizations.

• Details the period when a legal advisor typically gets involved with a hospital credit

• Discusses the role a legal advisor plays in working with both the hospital and bondholders to achieve a satisfactory solution to their related set of issues

• Illustrates how an organization identifies and organizes the “right team” to address and resolve issues

• Reviews how a healthcare organization can assess the qualifications of their team

• Details the importance of creating trust with the bondholders

If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]. Ian can be contacted at [email protected].

Conversations with the MarketPlace presents a panel discussion with key professionals in bond and debt financings for non-profit hospitals (institutional investors, bond counsel, and a trustee bank), as well as work-out/bankruptcy legal counsel. The panel discussion will focus on the significant negative impacts of a financial crisis like COVID-19 or other financial downturns experienced by many hospitals’ in 2020, or possibly coming in 2021, and the process, key factors, and key decisions involved in directly addressing and successfully resolving a rate or other bond covenant technical or actual default. The purpose of the webinar is to help hospital leadership learn how to navigate these difficult and tricky waters best, should they be encountered. Panelists will provide their expert perspectives on the key issues, including transparency, communications, likely result, timing, and process. Formulating, presenting, and clarifying the “hospital story” will be an important component of the discussion. The interactive dialogue will allow participants to react to different scenarios and adjust their thoughts and internal and external plans accordingly.

The event is facilitated by:

Jim Gravel, Sr. CFO Warbird Consulting Partners (formerly from Catholic Health Partners of Cincinnati – Now Mercy Health System) – Emcee

Ron Long, Sr. CFO Warbird Consulting Partners (formerly the CFO of Texas Health Resources in Dallas) – Q&A Mgmt.

Our panel includes:

Gordon Gendler – UMB Bank

Ian Hammel – Mintz Levin

David J. Kates - Chapman and Cutler

Marcy Lash – T. Rowe Price

Rob Yolland – Franklin Templeton

This presentation is a unique event with perspectives from a panel of experts rarely seen in a group setting. It will provide much-needed advice and counsel to hospitals who might be struggling to avoid a technical or real default or cope with the lower net margin and EBIDTA, debt covenants, and other restrictions. The conversation is also designed to be a learning experience for both veteran and newer hospital financial leadership to deal with a financial crisis.

If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected].