Welcome to the First Illinois Chapter HFMA Website!

The First Illinois HFMA chapter is proud to recognize one our members, Catherine Jacobson, as the HFMA National Chair for 2009-2010. Please extend your support to Cathy as she guides the organization through these interesting times. I am proud to serve as your chapter president during Cathy’s year as National Chair. Cathy’s National HFMA theme is “Making it Count”. She wants us all to recognize the impact that we have within our own organizations. Ultimately, whatever your role is in the chapter or in the complex world of healthcare finance, we are impacting the lives of patients.  

On behalf of the officers and Board of Directors of your chapter, I’d like to welcome you to the new chapter year. I’d also like to extend the hand of fellowship that has been a hallmark of our chapter’s rich history for over 60 years. We plan to build on this rich history through innovative educational and networking opportunities. These opportunities will be designed to enhance member satisfaction, and more importantly, create more significant opportunities to get involved with your chapter. 

An ancient proverb offers the blessing “May you live in interesting times”. We are certainly blessed to live in very interesting times. On a national level our industry is beginning to experience significant reform initiatives. These changes will impact every decision our organizations will make going forward. As a chapter, we need to respond to these changes by providing timely education in the most efficient manner. The current economic and investment landscape will require our organizations to increase their discipline regarding the stewardship of resources. As a chapter, we recognize this and will be exploring new ways to improve the value proposition and overall membership experience. 

For the current year, our chapter’s theme is “Just Ask”. I’ve selected this phrase to capture the initiative of the members and the response from the chapter board, officers and committees. There are many ways to “Just Ask”. If you want to become more involved, just ask an officer or committee chair “How can I help?” If you want to advance your career through certification, you may ask, “Why not” or perhaps, “Who can help me?” If you need to find out about a program or event, just ask “Where can I learn more?” You can also visit our chapter website (www.firstillinoishfma.org), or read our award winning newsletter (First Illinois Speaks). If there is a new educational or networking program or format you’d like to suggest, just ask, “How can we get this done?” The chapter has a great depth of character and resources, and I am confident that by asking the right questions and working together, we will “get it done”. 

In order to support the national theme, “Making it Count, and our chapter theme, “Just Ask”, our chapter platform will be EARN: 

Education

We will provide quality education, in a timely fashion, in the most efficient, economical and accessible fashion. 

Advancement

We will provide access to the resources for personal advancement through certification and developing a leadership succession plan within the chapter structure. We will create opportunities for the chapter to advance by active management of internal benchmarks (Davis Chapter Management System and Chapter Balanced Score Card initiatives), as well as identifying opportunities for recognition through the HFMA Chapter Awards process. We will also advance the profession of health care finance by demonstrating the value of membership to the health care organizations we all serve. 

Resources

We will be an indispensible resource for our members through our innovative programs, mentoring opportunities and our member communications including the appropriate use of technology for all of our communications and announcements. 

Networking

We will enhance the membership experience through networking opportunities. We will accomplish this through our live education programs and fun social events. We will enhance these opportunities by collaborating with other organizations and create additional value for the constituencies of our diverse membership through a resource guide. 
 

If you are interested in “Making it Count”, “Just Ask” how we can EARN!

Best Regards,
Mike