Navigating rural healthcare finances: Cost-based reimbursement strategies for success
We are sorry, but this event has already passed. You may review our list of archived webinars by clicking here or browse our upcoming events by clicking here
Navigating rural healthcare finances: Cost-based reimbursement strategies for success
9/10/2025 07:00 AM - 9/11/2025 12:30 PM (PT)
Event Location:
DoubleTree by Hilton Spokane City Center
322 N. Spokane Falls Court
Spokane, Washington 99201
Join us at an exclusive event for our valued rural healthcare clients.
You’ve been selected for an exclusive, invite-only event designed specifically for rural healthcare leaders like you. Join us in Spokane, Washington, September 10-11, 2025, for two days of valuable discussions, strategic insights and practical guidance tailored to the challenges and opportunities facing critical access hospitals and rural health clinics.
We understand the unique financial and operational complexities you navigate every day. That’s why this event is designed to give you the tools and strategies needed to maximize reimbursement, optimize operations and plan for long-term success — all while keeping your community at the heart of your mission.
What you can expect:
- Practical guidance from healthcare consulting specialists: Our team will walk you through key cost reporting strategies, financial planning approaches and industry trends that impact your bottom line.
- Actionable takeaways: Learn how to optimize reimbursement, streamline operations and prepare for what’s next.
- Connections that matter: Network with peers facing similar challenges and share best practices to support each other’s success.
Event details:
- Dates: Wednesday, September 10-Thursday, September 11, 2025
- Location: DoubleTree by Hilton Spokane City Center, 322 N. Spokane Falls Court, Spokane, WA 99201
- Registration cost: $350 (Register before August 1 for early-bird pricing of just $300.)
- Registration ends: August 22, 2025
- Parking fee: $15 per day (free for hotel guests)
- CPE credits available: 9
Don’t miss this opportunity to gain the knowledge and tools you need to strengthen your organization’s future.
Register today to secure your spot. Spaces are limited.
Register Now| Schedule | Session | Presenters | Description overview | Learning objectives | Room assignment | CPE | CPE field of study |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1, September 10, 2025 | |||||||
| 7:00 - 8:00 AM | Registration | Outside of Salon (Foyer) I, II, III | |||||
| 8:00 - 9:00 AM | Breakfast | Salon I | |||||
| 8:45 - 9:00 AM | Welcome | ||||||
| 9:00 - 10:00 AM | Getting familiar with Your Medicare cost report - Part 1 | Erik Prosser and Matt Falkner | This course is designed to educate healthcare professionals, particularly those in finance or reimbursement roles, on the process of completing their Medicare cost report, which is used to calculate the amount of reimbursement a critical access hospital receives from the Medicare program. | Understand the purpose and importance of the Medicare cost report, identify key worksheets and data sources within the report, accurately gather and analyze financial data to complete the report, navigate the cost report settlement process and recognize areas of risk and compliance concerns related to cost reporting. | Salon II, III | 1 | Accounting General |
| 10:00 - 10:15 AM | Break | Salon II, III | |||||
| 10:15 - 11:15 AM | Getting familiar with your Medicare cost report - Part 2 | Erik Prosser and Matt Falkner | This course is designed to educate healthcare professionals, particularly those in finance or reimbursement roles, on the process of completing their Medicare cost report, which is used to calculate the amount of reimbursement a critical access hospital receives from the Medicare program. | Understand the purpose and importance of the Medicare cost report, identify key worksheets and data sources within the report, accurately gather and analyze financial data to complete the report, navigate the cost report settlement process and recognize areas of risk and compliance concerns related to cost reporting. | Salon II, III | 1 | Accounting General |
| 11:15 - 11:30 AM | Break | Salon II, III | |||||
| 11:30 - 12:30 PM | Rural health clinic Medicare cost reporting | Meranda Adams and Jennifer Schmidt | This session will discuss items including RHC cost report objectives, components of reimbursement included and excluded from the RHC section of the cost report, and the RHC cost-per-visit calculation. The audience will better understand the documents and information needed to prepare an accurate RHC cost report and how that data can affect an RHC’s reimbursement. | 1. Understand the various worksheets of the Medicare cost report, the flow of information and where to find valuable data. 2. Review the three components of the Medicare cost report settlement, the calculation of those amounts and how the information provided to your cost report preparer can affect the final receivable/payable. 3. Learn best practices for tracking information during the year in order to ensure an accurate report. |
Salon II, III | 1 | Accounting General |
| 12:30 - 1:45 PM | Lunch | Salon I | |||||
| 1:45 - 2:45 PM | Getting strategic with your Medicare cost report - Part 1 | Eric Volk and Erik Prosser | This course is designed to educate healthcare professionals, particularly those in finance or reimbursement roles, on strategies for increasing reimbursement through the critical access hospital and RHC programs. | Identifying areas of the cost report that have the largest impact on reimbursement. | Salon II, III | 1 | Financial Management |
| 2:45 - 3:00 PM | Break | Salon II, III | |||||
| 3:00 - 4:00 PM | Getting strategic with your Medicare cost report - Part 2 | Katie Raebel | This course is designed to educate healthcare professionals, particularly those in finance or reimbursement roles, on strategies for increasing reimbursement through the critical access hospital and RHC programs. | Identifying areas of the cost report that have the largest impact on reimbursement | Salon II, III | 1 | |
| 4:00 - 4:45 PM | Building a legacy through campus and facility development | John Dao | Rural health clinics (RHCs) and critical access hospitals (CAHs) across the country are dealing with difficult capital and facility expenditure decisions every day. Many RHCs and CAHs need either a major renovation or complete replacement due to age. With ever-tightening reimbursement, hospitals of all sizes must do a better job at planning their capital and resource expenditures to remain profitable/viable. | In this presentation, you will learn how a disciplined and holistic approach to understanding market needs, service line growth/profitability potential, financial affordability, cost-based reimbursement and facility requirements can set your organization along a clearer path to sustainability and growth. In addition, you’ll learn about the latest in care model trends, creative resource/space sharing between departments and the latest in contemporary facility design trends for hospitals. | Salon II, III | 0.5 | Business Management |
| Day 2, September 11, 2025 | |||||||
| 7:00 - 8:00 AM | Breakfast | Salon I | |||||
| 8:00 - 9:00 AM | State of rural health update | Eric Volk and Katie Raebel | This session will provide a discussion and review of the results of a nationwide survey of more than 100 rural providers conducted by Wipfli. This is our third annual survey, and there will be much to discuss. | We will review major takeaways from the survey and provide benchmarking data to show where we’ve been, present current opportunities to optimize/improve reimbursement and discuss future strategies that rural healthcare facilities should consider remaining resilient and viable through uncertain times. | Salon II, III | 1 | Business Management |
| 9:00 - 9:15 AM | Break | Salon II, III | |||||
| 9:15 - 10:15 AM | Optimizing critical access hospital operations | Erik Prosser and Eric Volk | Rural hospitals often derive more than 50% of their revenue from the Medicare program. It’s important to understand what the CAH designation means to your hospital and how to optimize cost-based reimbursement. We will go over examples of how to improve your cost-based reimbursement while building a few tools along the way. | Learn about the nuances of cost-based reimbursement, how to calculate your own cost-based reimbursement by department and how to make this part of your monthly financial reporting. | Salon II, III | 1 | Financial Management |
| 10:15 - 10:30 AM | Break | Salon II, III | |||||
| 10:30 - 11:30 AM | Preparing for a Medicare desk review | Matt Falkner | This course is designed to equip healthcare professionals with the knowledge and skills necessary to effectively prepare for a Medicare cost report desk review. | Be able to understand the Medicare cost report desk review process and its importance. Identify common issues in cost reports and how to address them. Ensure the accuracy and completeness of cost report data. Maintain compliance with Medicare regulations. Respond effectively to desk review findings. | Salon II, III | 1 | Business Management |
| 11:30 - 12:15 PM | Rural health clinic strategies by state | Katie Raebel and Daniel Cristofano | Many rural health clinics understand Medicare regulations, but how familiar are you with state-specific RHC rules and how you might be able to optimize your RHC’s reimbursement from a Medicaid perspective? This session will cover state-by-state strategies for making the most of federal programs. | This session will cover strategies relating to the RHC PPS rate, a change in the scope of service requests, WRAP reporting, reconciliations of different places of service where RHC encounters could be provided and other concerns, depending on the state. | Salon II, III | 0.5 | Business Management |
Event Location:
DoubleTree by Hilton Spokane City Center
322 N. Spokane Falls Court
Spokane, Washington 99201
