HFMA 2018: President Gregory unveils value-based agenda

Giving his inaugural speech as president to the association’s annual conference, Mr Gregory said his theme had three dimensions. These are influencing the agenda; focusing on value to improve patient care; and professional development.

Under the first element the association will seek to influence the shape of the NHS long-term plan in England and the revamped financial architecture that will be one of the key enablers of the programme.

The next financial year will be one of transition for the financial regime, he said. This would include the maintenance of control totals, but ‘with a desire to move to a system that creates the right incentives for individual organisations whilst maintaining financial discipline’.

He added: ‘I think coming up with a workable solution will be challenging, but as a pragmatist I know we will make it work one way or another.’

The HFMA role will be to influence the thinking nationally to ensure the new system achieves the long-term plan objectives.

He added the association would continue work started under 2018 president Alex Gild to support the integration of health and social care. And though he works in the English system, he believed it was important to share and learn from experiences in the devolved nations.

The second dimension of his theme will focus on value. ‘Obtaining best value comes down to the intelligent use of data to make good decisions,’ he said.

‘In our resource constrained world, optimal or best value decisions will be made by combining our excellent costing information with the wealth of outcome and performance data we have at our disposal in an intelligent way.’

In 2019, the HFMA Healthcare Costing for Value Institute will focus on developing the use of value ideas across the whole healthcare system, he said. Measuring value across patient pathways created a common language with clinicians, leading to better use of resources and improved care for patients. The HFMA would also look at how patient-defined outcomes could support the delivery of value.

Mr Gregory, chief finance officer at Lancashire Care Foundation Trust, said the final dimension of his theme related to professional development. The HFMA has always been a key provider of continuing professional development and networking opportunities for finance professionals at all levels. He continued: ‘It is also a truism that the future leadership of the profession are our younger members and when I visit the branches during my year I would welcome opportunities to hear what our future leaders are thinking to help inform how the HFMA develops in the future.’