After 12 wonderful years, Maria will take a break from HFMA National Seminars after the January cluster in San Antonio, TX - Jan 21, 22, and 23. Read the news!
Maria Todd began presenting her nationally acclaimed two-day HFMA program, Analyzing and Negotiating Managed Care Contracts back in 1995. It was just about the time she was wrapping up the manuscript for her first book, The Managed Care Contracting Handbook, which was co-published by the McGraw Hill and the HFMA. She has been honored as a HFMA Annual National Institute Distinguished Speaker five times since 2002. This honor is bestowed upon speakers who receive post-program evaluations in the first quartile in all metrics. " I love teaching for HFMA. I have so many wonderful friends, colleagues and connections in the association, but it's time to take a little sabbatical from the national circuit. I have a lot on my plate at the moment."
International and Domestic Consulting and Training
"When the economy gets tough, there's a knee-jerk response to transition to austere mode. However, those who will survive the storm quickly move to Plan B, C and D to develop a sustainable competitive strategy," says Todd. "Often, that requires consultants to get creative and offer clients new methods, approaches, best practices, case studies of others' successes, and an objective viewpoint." Maria's is known for being visionary and a thought leader. As a result, her consulting practice is thriving. She's also working on more international projects as hospitals, dentists and physicians across the globe step up activities in medical tourism and global health care program development. Many are eager to establish relationships with managed care plans and ERISA employers. Most are unprepared for these relationships and as such Todd is very busy with onsite training and project management in Europe, Southeast Asia, South and Central Americas and the Middle East. US Health plans are often surprised to find her seated and prepared for negotiations in the conference room at foreign hospitals when they come to negotiate agreements with providers. The international travel is exciting, but gruelling. In service to her local chapter, she is co-chair of the Program Committee and she has been busy with establishing a Peer-to-Peer Audiowebinar Series in addition to their regular live programming
Will Maria return to the HFMA National lecture circuit in the Fall of 2009?
"If they invite me to return, I will consider my options and commitments at that time. I want to do the programs, I just don't know what else lies ahead for me this year." Todd is known for keeping her programs current and updated. To do this takes research and hours of preparation. Most people don't realize that in order to develop one hour pf program content (30 slides) and handout materials, the average preparation and program development includes 6-20 hours of research, several hours to build an audience-needs map, organize the ideas, and send the outline for peer review, together with another 20-60 hours to build the slides in the presentation application. Even when a speaker repurposes a program that has already been developed, if any customized changes or updates are required (and they usually are) the time commitment and requirements are not substantially reduced. To develop a one-day, 7 CPE course for them costs me roughly $4500 per hour of training to produce, or essentially $30,000 for a one day course, and $60,000 for a two-day course for 14 CPE credits. The 2-day course would have to be presented about 35 times without modifications to reach break-even point. It's not just a problem that Maria faces, it is a business decision that all the speakers are facing. "We all have overhead expenses to meet, salaries to pay, benefits to underwrite. Just like many of my speaker colleagues, I support several other salaries besides my own and have to make responsible and sustainable business decisions." With the current registration as low as it has been, Maria understands and empathizes that for the National HFMA to pay a market-rate speaker honorarium to their professional speakers in addition to the travel cost reimbursement for those programs is just not a possiblity for them right now. She hopes things will improve for all concerned - very soon!
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