Analytics might be the business world\u2019s newest buzzword, but MBS alum Randy Albert \u201910 has been driving innovation in the field for years.<\/p>\n
Albert is Associate Vice President of Finance and Analytics for Northern Light Health, a role which grew both from his knowledge and expertise and from the system\u2019s increasing demand for data and analysis. After being recruited to a manager-level position in financial planning, Albert\u2019s role expanded quickly to meet the organization\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I started, we were a team of three,\u201d says Albert, who joined Northern Light in 2016. \u201cBut as demands kept coming into my department, my team and responsibilities kept expanding. These demands were new for Northern Light Health, but we quickly rose to the challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Within a few months, Albert was promoted to a director-level role that grew to include not only financial planning and analysis, but also decision support.<\/p>\n
Financial planning and analysis involves the fundamental functions of finance, including forecasting and budgeting. Decision support, however, is a very healthcare-centric department, says Albert. It is focused on using data for different types of modeling, such as discovering why there is a cost difference to perform the same procedure at different facilities, or analyzing the variation in care given to patients with similar diagnoses.<\/p>\n
As the AVP of Finance and Analytics, Albert also oversees the business intelligence (BI) department, the performance management team, and the finance analytical support structure at each member hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201cBusiness intelligence is front and center of the health system,\u201d says Albert. \u201cOur team is helping to drive change in the organization through data visualization, in areas such as patient access and operational performance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Operational improvement is an area in which Albert is well-versed: two years ago, he was asked to co-lead Northern Light Health\u2019s Operational Excellence program aimed at facilitating change and driving integration throughout the organization.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the past couple of years, we\u2019ve really become an integrated health system,\u201d says Albert. \u201cOur software and electronic health records systems varied across our member hospitals, which was a barrier to seamlessly treating a patient from one care setting to another. We\u2019ve made a tremendous transformation by implementing our single electronic health record and other shared platforms, bringing great savings to the organization during a time when reimbursement for services has a downward trend.\u201d<\/p>\n
With such a proven ability for connection and communication, it\u2019s no wonder Albert, who graduated with a degree in finance, was first drawn to marketing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI applied to UMaine as an undecided student, so I started in the academic and career exploration program,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m personable, so after my first year I figured marketing was for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shortly after declaring his major, Albert was connected to MetLife through the UMaine Career Center, where he was hired into a financial role. As a non-traditional student, he balanced full-time work with his business classes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI found I had a knack for finance, so I shifted my studies away from marketing,\u201d he says. \u201cI got my financial planning license, and it all just kind of happened. I definitely didn\u2019t have a traditional path.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even in this happenstance financial career, Albert is still making use of his ability to connect people and ideas. In July 2019 he was appointed chair of the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) Financial Analytics Leadership Council, a role in which he\u2019s wasted no time bridging the geographic and thought gaps present in American healthcare.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe HFMA is a widely-known, industry-adopted body which lobbies for healthcare finance initiatives,\u201d explains Albert. \u201cThe group has different councils; the Financial Analytics Leadership Council is tasked with highlighting the struggles healthcare systems across the country face in order to improve financial and operational performance and patient care.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fact that these different healthcare systems are so siloed is a primary concern for Albert, and already he\u2019s implemented corrective measures.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I talk to others around the country, they have great ideas,\u201d he says, \u201cbut the crazy thing is, we\u2019re competing rather than regularly talking to one another.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the first things Albert did to address this issue was create a digital forum where the healthcare systems can share ideas about financial analytics. Each month, members take turns presenting via Skype and answering questions like how do you measure this? <\/em>\u00a0and how do you visualize that?<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cHealthcare is a business, sure,\u201d says Albert, \u201cbut at the end of the day, it\u2019s about making things better for the patients. There are many things broken in United States healthcare, and this is one way of breaking down walls and encouraging disruption.\u201d<\/p>\n And so, as he navigates the world of financial analytics, it is this care-centric focus for Mainers and healthcare patients everywhere that makes Albert\u2019s success one data point that requires little analysis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Analytics might be the business world\u2019s newest buzzword, but MBS alum Randy Albert \u201910 has been driving innovation in the field for years. Albert is Associate Vice President of Finance and Analytics for Northern Light Health, a role which grew both from his knowledge and expertise and from the system\u2019s increasing demand for data and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1455,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"50","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","spc_primary_category":0},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alumni-profiles"],"featured_image_urls_v2":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":"","archive_9_5":"","portrait_3x4":"","image_16_9":"","image_15_7":"","image_25_7":"","3col-image_16_9":"","3col-image_15_7":"","3col-image_full":"","4col-image_16_9":"","4col-image_15_7":"","4col-image_full":"","6col-image_16_9":"","6col-image_15_7":"","6col-image_full":"","8col-image_16_9":"","8col-image_15_7":"","8col-image_full":"","9col-image_16_9":"","9col-image_15_7":"","9col-image_full":"","12col-image_16_9":"","12col-image_15_7":"","12col-image_full":"","post-thumbnail":"","gform-image-choice-sm":"","gform-image-choice-md":"","gform-image-choice-lg":"","umaps-featured-image":"","umaps-icon-size":""},"post_excerpt_stackable_v2":" Analytics might be the business world\u2019s newest buzzword, but MBS alum Randy Albert \u201910 has been driving innovation in the field for years. Albert is Associate Vice President of Finance and Analytics for Northern Light Health, a role which grew both from his knowledge and expertise and from the system\u2019s increasing demand for data and analysis. After being recruited to a manager-level position in financial planning, Albert\u2019s role expanded quickly to meet the organization\u2019s needs. \u201cWhen I started, we were a team of three,\u201d says Albert, who joined Northern Light in 2016. \u201cBut as demands kept coming into my department,…<\/p>\n","category_list_v2":"Alumni Profiles<\/a>","author_info_v2":{"name":"","url":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/business\/blog\/author\/"},"comments_num_v2":"0 comments","taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":50,"label":"Alumni Profiles"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"","author_link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/business\/blog\/author\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":50,"name":"Alumni Profiles","slug":"alumni-profiles","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":50,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":3,"count":33,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":50,"category_count":33,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Alumni Profiles","category_nicename":"alumni-profiles","category_parent":3}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1455"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14140"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14160,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14140\/revisions\/14160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}