Healthcare CFOs prioritize cost control, data-driven decisions

Editor's Note

Survey results reveal healthcare finance leaders expect limited financial gains in 2025 and are shifting their focus to operational improvements and cost management rather than margin growth. DotMed reported the news February 24.

The article is based on a new report on a survey of over 100 healthcare finance professionals from Strata Decision Technology. According to DotMed, key findings include:

• 44% of respondents anticipate stable operating margins, 36% foresee an increase, and 14% expect a decline.
• Despite these modest forecasts, 96% expressed confidence in their teams’ ability to adapt to changing financial and market conditions.
• 56% of respondents cited managing strategic and performance improvement initiatives as their top focus, followed by measuring productivity, monitoring financial performance across service lines, and reducing costs.
• Labor-related expenses continue to be a pressure point, with 52% highlighting rising labor costs, 42% pointing to payer rate negotiations, and 30% citing difficulties in labor recruitment and retention.
• Data-driven decision-making is a key focus and a challenge, with most respondents relying on external data sources, such as regional demographic data (79%), procedure volumes (72%), and labor benchmarks (67%) and 91% expressing the view that data could be leveraged better.
• Nearly three quarters of respondents plan to invest in advanced analytic capabilities.