• Cut through the mystery of "accounting speak" and feel confident in discussions of financial presentations, reports, and goals

• Use the ideas and language of financial management in your work as a physician leader 

• Understand the strategic questions that drive financial and operational choices for your organization 

• Sense the financial momentum of your organization and align your goals and actions with organizational priorities

• See how financial decisions in your area of responsibility connect to the financial results for the organization

This program is designed specifically for physicians based on our decades of experience working with and teaching physician leaders. This program is a great fit for physicians employed in health systems and those leading their own practices. The financial skills taught in this program are essential for department heads, service line leaders, medical directors, CMOs, chiefs of staff, practice partners, practice founders, and other physician leadership roles.

No prior financial expertise is assumed. This program is built for physicians who want to grow their business expertise, those considering further business education or an executive MBA, or those who have completed an MBA and want to refresh your understanding.

This program will include six online, live sessions with faculty and your physician colleagues. We will explore core financial concepts through interactive discussions, presentations, and exercises.

Session 1: Introduction to Financial Statements

These Skills at Work: You are joining your Medical Executive Committee and the packet for your first meeting contains a financial report on last year's financial performance. How will you understand this information and form helpful insight as a Physician Leader?"

In our first session, we will look at what financial statements are, why they are important, differences across for-profit and nonprofit healthcare organizations, and how these statements are used by healthcare leaders for decision-making.

Session 2: Understanding the Balance Sheet

These Skills at Work: Your organization has been growing, including the acquisition of a struggling health system in the region. You have a vision for expanding your clinic as well. How will you use your understanding of your organization's fixed assets, debt, and resources to decide if now is the right moment to raise the idea with your executive team?

We will explore key concepts of financial structure through examination of the balance sheet. We will investigate assets, liabilities, the role of fixed assets in healthcare and their impact on flexibility, and the use of debt.

Session 3: The Income Statement and Profitability

These Skills at Work: You are representing your service line in your organization's strategic planning work. There are new competitors in your region, an influx of private equity investment, and nursing shortages to address. How can you use income statements to identify operational strengths, issues, and opportunities for moving forward?

In the third session, we will turn our attention to the income statement and use this tool to understand revenue, expenses, profitability and financial performance, and the accumulation of assets (or debt) over time.

Session 4: Cash Flow Statement

These Skills at Work: Your practice has made a lot of changes recently: hiring new providers, expanding support staff, and updating equipment and facilities. It's exciting but the patient growth is slower than expected and payers are rejecting more claims and taking longer to pay. How do you assess the financial risks from all this change?

We will discuss the importance of cash flow in maintaining financial health, explore the difference between cash flow and profitability, and use the cash flow statement to assess organizational health.

Session 5: Introduction to Financial Ratios

These Skills at Work: You are stepping into the CMO role and preparing for your first strategic meeting with the executive team. Your CEO wants to review the strategy for ambulatory care. What changes do you focus on to ensure a sound bottom line?

Financial ratios are a core tool for assessing financial performance and changes in performance over time. We will explore key ratios to understand profitability, debt levels and risks, and organizational efficiency.

Session 6: Applying Financial Statements in Decision-Making

These Skills at Work: You lead a team of motivated, creative, and ambitious physicians who have a lot of ideas for clinical improvements and new initiatives. How do you engage your team in the financial tradeoffs about where to invest and when?

In our final session together, we will dive further into the conversations we have been having throughout the program about using financial information in key leadership decisions. We will integrate the program concepts to understand how your day to day decisions show up in the organizational financial results.

Optional: Mastery Assessment for Haslam College of Business Certificate

All participants will earn CMEs for your participation in the program. You may also choose to complete a final online assessment to earn a certificate from the Haslam College of Business. This digital certificate will indicate your mastery of the content in the program at the level expected of Haslam executive students.

This program will include one online session each week for six weeks. The sessions will be held in the evenings from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM ET.

You will have optional readings and applied exercises that you can complete between sessions. These activities should take approximately two to four additional hours per week. These activities are not required but they can greatly add to your learning. If you are interested in earning the Haslam College of Business Certificate as well, these activities will be important for most students to complete.

All participants will earn CMEs for your participation in the program.

You may also choose to complete a final online assessment to earn a certificate from the Haslam College of Business. This digital certificate will indicate your mastery of the content in the program at the level expected of Haslam executive students.

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of the Tennessee Medical Association and the University of Tennessee Haslam College of Business. The Tennessee Medical Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians. The Tennessee Medical Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 12 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

This Course: $3250

Series Bundle to Participate in Both Certificate Courses: $5525 (15% discount)

• Assess profit and loss (P&L) reports to identify operating issues and opportunities

• Sketch financial models for operating changes and new investments

• Compare the financial impact of alternative approaches using measures CFOs and other senior executives use to assess proposed ideas

• Identify and plan for financial risks and alternative scenarios

• Cut through the "accounting speak" and participate effectively in financial conversations with senior leaders about a proposed change or new initiative

• Understand the impact of investments and changes on the profit and loss reports

This program is designed specifically for physicians based on our decades of experience working with and teaching physician leaders. This program is a great fit for physicians employed in health systems and those leading their own practices. The financial skills taught in this program are essential for department heads, service line leaders, medical directors, CMOs, chiefs of staff, practice partners, practice founders, and other physician leadership roles.

Participants are expected to be comfortable with the financial concepts covered in the program "Finance for the Physician Leader." Participants can demonstrate this background by completing a short online assessment or by completing the "Finance for the Physician Leader" course. If you have any questions about the fit for this program, please reach out and we can talk with you about your background.

This program is a great fit for physicians who want to expand their business expertise, those considering further business education or an executive MBA, or those who have completed an MBA and want to refresh your understanding.

This program will include six online, live sessions with faculty and your physician colleagues. We will explore core financial concepts through interactive discussions, presentations, and exercises.

Session 1: Profit and Loss Statements at the Division-Level

These Skills at Work: You have been asked to take over leadership of the ambulatory surgery center your system added last year. Clinical metrics look strong but financial results are lagging goals. How do you quickly assess the revenue and expense performance for the center and identify your first-year priorities?

In our first session, we will look at the profit and loss (P&L) statement for healthcare business units. We will explore strategies for driving revenue and controlling costs for the business unit and understand the connection between the business unit P&L and the organization's performance.

Session 2: Introduction to Time Value of Money (TVM)

These Skills at Work: You are recruiting two star providers to your team. They each have investments they want made in the growth of the practice. The total investment for each idea looks about the same. How do you think through the risk and return of the different upfront investments required and the difference in time needed for growth?

We will explore the concepts of financial risk and return, why the timing of revenue and expense matter in assessing business options, and how this plays out in healthcare decision-making.

Session 3: Net Present Value (NPV) and Project Viability

These Skills at Work: You are leading a lean process improvement initiative for the surgical suite. Your team has identified a critical throughput bottleneck and pitched two options: a new robotic surgery system or reconfiguration of the OR spaces. Capital funding is competitive, so how will you decide which change to pitch and demonstrate the financial as well as clinical benefit of your preferred option?

In the third session, we will build on the idea of the time value of money to assess and compare the financial return of different operational and investment choices. This session gets to the heart of the "CFO perspective" on new ideas for operational improvements.

Session 4: Financial Forecasting and Pro Formas

These Skills at Work: You are considering a new role as the head of the oncology service line in a new health system. You've asked for and just received the financial forecast for the service line, outlining the goals you will be asked to hit. How will use that information to identify key assumptions, assess the reasonableness of the forecast, and argue for performance goals you believe in?

Physician leaders who are responsible for the profit and loss of a business unit need to make forward-looking financial arguments for operational changes and investments. In this session, we will look at how you make financial forecasts and integrate risks.

Session 5: Capstone Application

These Skills at Work: You have been building your practice for years and recently the competitive pressures have grown: private equity money has come into the market and risk-based payment models and partnerships are driving most of the growth. Your business manager has put together an investment and growth strategy for you to review. How will you assess the business choices, investments, risks, and returns?

We will integrate all the ideas we have explored so far in the program to assess and make decisions for a real-world healthcare scenario. We will explore how you use the tools together to inform decisions and explore the role of scenario planning as well.

Session 6: Communicating Financial Decisions

These Skills at Work: Your executive team has asked you to join the upcoming Board meeting to present on the remote medicine initiative you launched this year. What financial information will you share, how will you present it to effectively guide the conversation, and how will you prepare for questions?

Physician leaders need to see the opportunities and they need to be able to communicate the financial story to other executives and to their teams. We will focus our final session on how to present financial information in clear and effective ways, using language that works for your various stakeholders.

Optional: Mastery Assessment for Haslam College of Business Certificate

All participants will earn CMEs for your participation in the program. You may also choose to complete a final online assessment to earn a certificate from the Haslam College of Business. This digital certificate will indicate your mastery of the content in the program at the level expected of Haslam executive students.

This program will include one online session each week for six weeks. The sessions will be held in the evenings from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM ET.

You will have optional readings and applied exercises that you can complete between sessions. These activities should take approximately two to four additional hours per week. These activities are not required but they can greatly add to your learning. If you are interested in earning the Haslam College of Business Certificate as well, these activities will be important for most students to complete.

All participants will earn CMEs for your participation in the program.

You may also choose to complete a final online assessment to earn a certificate from the Haslam College of Business. This digital certificate will indicate your mastery of the content in the program at the level expected of Haslam executive students.

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of the Tennessee Medical Association and the University of Tennessee Haslam College of Business. The Tennessee Medical Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians. The Tennessee Medical Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 12 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

This Course: $3250

Series Bundle to Participate in Both Certificate Courses: $5525 (15% discount)