Betty Arvidson said she has never had a day when she didn’t want to go to work, but now she is turning the page and embracing her next chapter – living her best life in retirement.
Arvidson, chief financial officer at RiverView Health, retired Friday, Feb. 20 after nearly 14 years with the organization. Her connection to the organization began even earlier, however, when she was asked to serve on the board of directors and was approved by the RiverView Healthcare Association in January 2007.
“While on the board, I became very interested in healthcare, and while attending the MHA (Minnesota Hospital Association) Trustee Conferences, I gravitated toward the finance tracts,” she said. “When Bill Bennet (former CFO) made the decision to retire, I applied for the position and was hired. My first day was April 16, 2012.”
Arvidson’s position and team look a lot different today than back in her early days.
“CEO Ross Matlack hired me and my first assignment was to create a ‘revenue cycle’ which now includes Finance, Patient Access, Patient Financial Services, HIM (Health Information Management), and Supply Chain. The first task in that journey was to create a Patient Access Department, as they were not a unified group. I am proud to say we have a stellar Revenue Cycle Team and are situated nicely for the future. I leave knowing the revenue cycle is in great hands.’’Epic changes
Just three months after she stepped into the role, RiverView implemented Epic, an electronic health record system – “which has been an epic journey,” she reported. The transition brought challenges, including system build errors that required ongoing attention.
The work to correct those errors has been continuous since the 2012 rollout. While Arvidson acknowledges there is still work to be done, she said the system is in a “much better place” today than when it first launched.
From a financial standpoint, Arvidson has navigated significant changes during her tenure. In 2011, shortly before she was hired, the federal government implemented a 2% Medicare sequestration cut for Critical Access Hospitals like RiverView. The change reduced cost-based reimbursement from 101% of allowable costs to 99%.
“Top that with the increase in Medicare Advantage replacing traditional Medicare; it has all taken its toll on Critical Access Hospitals,” she stated. “Payors in general have not made our jobs any easier.
“When I started, we had 1 full-time equivalent prior authorization representative. Now we have 4.6 FTEs all driven by payor requirements. We are currently working with a third party to review all of our paid claims to determine how much we were underpaid based on our contracts and then recoup as much as we can. We have to fight very hard for every penny we are paid.”
Happy for the highlights
Despite the financial pressures, Arvidson said her time at RiverView has been deeply rewarding.
“I have loved working for RiverView and making sure to the best of my ability that we are able to provide quality care in a new hospital to the residents of our community and the surrounding area with a great team of coworkers.”
Looking back, Arvidson points to several highlights, including being a part of the process in the construction and opening of RiverView’s new hospital in 2020. Another high point was the organization’s 2013 implementation of the federal 340B Drug Pricing Program, which requires pharmaceutical manufacturers to sell outpatient drugs at discounted prices to eligible safety-net providers, including CAHs like RiverView.
“I am also very proud that we have built a culture where we are able to recruit and retain quality staff to provide excellent care to our patients,” she said.
