Healthcare Finance for Operational Leaders

The 6-week virtual Healthcare Finance for Operational Leaders course is designed to give healthcare professionals a holistic understanding of the forces shaping healthcare finance. Participants will learn how healthcare systems are paid, strengthen their financial literacy, and gain practical tools and resources to make decisions that drive strong financial performance.

This program goes beyond theory – it’s built to increase financial literacy in practical, applicable ways, equipping leaders with frameworks, tools, and strategies they can immediately apply in their organizations. Participants will learn to analyze financial challenges, make more informed decisions, and access the right resources to support sustainable operations.

What sets this program apart is its focus on preparing leaders to step confidently into influence. By strengthening their financial acumen, healthcare professionals will be better positioned to shape conversations at the executive table, respond effectively to today’s financial pressures, and help guide their organizations toward long-term stability and growth.

The goal of the program is clear: to empower healthcare leaders with the financial expertise they need to not only solve immediate challenges but to become visionary leaders who drive meaningful impact and real outcomes for their organizations and communities.

Learning experience:

Comprehensive curriculum: Build the financial knowledge and practical skills healthcare leaders need. This program equips you with proven concepts, frameworks, and tools to make smarter decisions and future-proof your organization.

Expert instructor: Learn directly from an experienced healthcare executive who brings real-world insights from both rural and urban C-suite hospital, health system, and institute leadership.

Interactive live sessions: Engage in dynamic online sessions and expand your network by connecting with accomplished healthcare professionals from across the state.

Target audience: Healthcare professionals and leaders, public health professionals, and finance leaders, who are looking to expand their knowledge and expertise of healthcare finance.

This six-session program follows a deliberate progression. The first three sessions help participants understand how the financial machine works in healthcare, from financial statements and liquidity to reimbursement and revenue. The final three focus on how operational leaders run that machine by designing sustainable cost structures, anticipating future performance, and building a culture of accountability. Each session builds on the last, strengthening participants’ financial confidence and their ability to connect daily operational decisions with organizational performance.

By the end of the program, participants will be able to:

Interpret the financial story of a healthcare organization
Explain how the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement work together and distinguish profitability from liquidity.

Explain how healthcare organizations make money
Recognize how payment models, payer mix, documentation, access, throughput, case mix, and length of stay affect revenue, cash, and margin.

Connect operational decisions to financial outcomes
Identify the financial levers leaders control and evaluate how decisions involving staffing, workflow, capacity, supplies, and clinical variation influence performance.

Use financial and operational data to diagnose performance
Interpret budgets, variance reports, leading indicators, and cost-per-unit measures to identify what is changing, why it is changing, and where action is needed.

Anticipate future performance
Use forecasts, pro formas, break-even analysis, and scenarios to test assumptions and make informed decisions before committing resources.

Turn financial insight into action
Communicate financially credible recommendations, define meaningful measures and accountability, and lead operational improvement – with confidence.

Weekly sessions are online from 9:10 AM – 10:50 AM on Wednesdays.

February 17 – March 24, 2027

WSHA Member: $895 per person.
Non-Member: $995 per person.

Group discounts are available for 3+ attendees.

Program fee includes course materials and a certificate of completion.

A digital Certificate of Completion will be awarded to participants upon successful completion of the program. Successful completion of the program will be based on attendance of virtual sessions.

Upcoming info session.

Date: Thursday, October 15, 2026
Time: 11:30 am – 12:00 pm (live, virtual)
Click this link to register.

Hilary Whittington Kerber, CPA, MBA

Hilary Whittington Kerber is the founder and educator behind the Institute for Healthcare Finance, where she helps healthcare leaders understand how their everyday decisions shape access, team stability, financial performance, and the capacity to care for their communities. She believes finance is the shared language of healthcare leadership and is known for making complex financial concepts practical and approachable.

Hilary began her healthcare career with DZA, a public accounting and consulting firm specializing in critical access hospital reimbursement and audit work. She went on to spend nine years at Jefferson Healthcare, which grew into one of Washington’s largest critical access hospitals, serving as both Chief Financial Officer and Chief Administrative Officer.

Hilary later joined MultiCare as Chief Financial Officer of Pulse Heart Institute. Her scope expanded to include financial leadership across multiple MultiCare institutes before she moved into the role of President of Pulse, leading strategy and operations across its physician enterprise, ambulatory services, and hospital-based cardiovascular programs.

Hilary lives on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula with her husband and two young sons. She and her husband are private pilots, and some of their favorite adventures are spent introducing their boys to the forests, coastlines, and extraordinary beauty of the Northwest – from both the ground and the air.