Hospital CFO is president-elect of state board

Maintaining a secure financial base for Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County is the No. 1 priority for MHSC Chief Financial Officer Tami Love.

Giving her MHSC team, as well as other hospitals around the state, the tools to carry out that mission is important. The Wyoming Chapter of the Healthcare Financial Management Association (WHFMA) is one way to help achieve that goal.

In fact, Love was elected in March as president-elect of the WHFMA and began her term with a Volunteer Leadership Meeting from June 24-25 in Nashville, Tenn. Regional executives, presidents and presidents-elect from all regions and chapters met to discuss roles and responsibilities; succession and strategic planning; and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force for the chapters.

Darcy Robertson, CFO at North Big Horn Hospital District in Lovell, was elected president; and Kayla Gross, Patient Access Services Operations Director for Banner Health, secretary/treasurer.

Other board members include Amy Canaday, Senior National Account Manager with Frost-Arnett; Shaun Johnson, owner with Dingus, Zarecor & Associates; and Hakeem Arogundade of Gillette. Jim Cussins, CFO at Memorial Hospital of Converse County in Douglas, is Immediate Past President. Barry Burkhart, CFO of the Wyoming Hospital Association in Cheyenne, is a non-voting member and is the WHA liaison.

As president-elect, Love said she will use this year to support Robertson in chapter operations in anticipation of taking on the role of president in 2024-25. She will assist in selection of committee members for chapter committees, coordinate chapter planning and goal-setting processes, and conduct program planning for membership meetings throughout the year.

"I bring to the board over 20-plus years of healthcare finance experience," Love said. "As a member of the Wyoming board, I'm able to share that experience. The chapter is a valuable resource because it allows everyone to share their experiences, both positive and negative, with other finance professionals across the state.

"HFMA supports healthcare financial professionals with tools and resources needed to sustain the future of the individual healthcare organizations," Love said. "At the state level, the Wyoming chapter offers online and virtual education and networking opportunities to discuss the challenges we are all facing in the healthcare industry."

Robertson said she looks forward to working with Love and the entire board in the coming year, and that Love rounds out a "great team."

"It's always beneficial to have different perspectives brought to the HFMA table from hospitals of different sizes and scopes," she said. "We bounce ideas off of each other and plan together for HFMA activities throughout the year. 

"Tami and I both are very passionate and absolutely enjoy being CFOs and serving our hospital teams in this capacity," Robertson said. "When we attend the HFMA events, we learn so much. We discuss all the CFO roundtable events and feedback ... with our colleagues throughout the state.  If there is anything we can put in place that would benefit our HFMA chapter, that is certainly what we want to do."

For more on this and all Sweetwater Memorial has to offer, go to sweetwatermemorial.com.