The ‘big focus’ at Inova, per its CFO

At Falls Church, Va.-based Inova Health, the recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act is a “big focus.” 

“There are a number of regulatory changes that will have an adverse impact to us financially,” Rick Talento, CFO of Inova, said during a “Becker’s CFO + Revenue Cycle Podcast” episode.

Mr. Talento pointed to four main areas of impact from the law: subsidy reductions starting at the end of 2025, new Medicaid work requirements that will begin affecting Inova in 2027, provider tax reductions starting in the fourth quarter of 2027, and Medicaid directed payment cuts in 2028.

“As an organization, we began as an executive team planning early this year to proactively develop mitigation strategies in response to these regulatory impacts,” he said. “We set up five different work streams that all ultimately come together around financial mitigation, care model, operations, legal and workforce.

Mr. Talento said many of these mitigation strategies are in the works, with implementation to begin in a few years as the legislation begins to affect the seven-hospital system. 

Mr. Talento also offered advice for CFOs as they battle industry headwinds and unknowns. He stressed the importance of partnering and being an active participant with one’s organization’s clinical enterprise and technology leadership team.

“In healthcare over the next couple of years, we’re going to see a lot of drop off in terms of retirement and so on, both providers and allied professionals and nurses,” he said. “Technology is going to be a big piece of how we can combat the [reduced] number of resources in our facilities.” 

Despite industry challenges, Mr. Talento expressed pride in Inova’s momentum. 

“We’re experiencing a record-low turnover, exceptional employee engagement scores and consistent recognition as a top place to work,” he said.

The system is also planning $5.5 billion in capital investments over the next five years. 

“The key thing here is to allow us to continue to invest in our people, training, technology, equipment and facilities,” Mr. Talento said.

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