1 ADVANCE for Executive Insight

CFO Perspective
Productivity Improvements
and Your Bottom Line
Read how one hospital is catapulting itself into the future while
maintaining a healthy financial picture. By Tim C. Lessing
Tim C. Lessing is senior vice
president and CFO of St.
Tammany Parish Hospital,
Covington, LA.
As a 220-bed, not-for-profit community
hospital with 1,600 associates providing
the broadest range of inpatient and outpatient
services in the region, St. Tammany Parish
Hospital (STPH) maintains the balance between
quality, cost and customer satisfaction, and remains
one the most profitable hospitals in the
region. Our success can be directly attributed to
leadership strategies to improve productivity of
physicians, staff and systems while improving
the bottom line.
Profitable Results
The year 2011 was one of the most financially
successful years in STPH history. STPH ended
the year with a 10.8% Earnings Before Interest,
Depreciation And Amortization (EBIDA), improved
days in Accounts Receivable (AR) to 50
and Days Cash on Hand (DCOH) at 201 days.
STPH also had a very successful refunding of
bonds and indebtedness, resulting in a $6.3M net
savings in interest expense. And supply expense
decreased by a net of 3.5%, while overall ex-
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24 ADVANCE for Executive Insight