Phillip Kaufman was placed as the associate vice president of finance and corporate controller at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. The 664-bed academic medical center, which encompasses a children’s hospital and an inpatient medical and rehabilitation care center, is the hub of patient care for Rush, a $1.8 billion, not-for-profit healthcare, education, and research enterprise. It is nationally and internationally known for many specialties of care and areas of research, and has received numerous awards and accreditations, ranking among the top 50 hospitals in the nation in a number of categories. In his role, Phil provides operational leadership and financial management expertise to manage corporate reporting and accounting functions by overseeing the completion of various financial reports, guiding team operations, collaborating with key stakeholders, and developing strategies and initiatives for continuous process improvements to ensure alignment with department standards and company objectives. In addition to overseeing general accounting, grant accounting, fixed assets, taxation, university financial affairs, payroll, and accounts payable for Rush University Medical Center, Phil is accountable for these areas for Rush Oak Park Hospital (the system’s community hospital), and for various affiliates.
Before joining Rush, Phil served as the vice president of finance for Cancer Treatment Centers of America at Midwest Regional Medical Center in Zion, Illinois, a 73-bed hospital that generated over $1.3 billion in gross revenue. In this capacity, he was the functional lead responsible for finance operations, including financial accounting, financial planning and reporting, payroll, decision support, supply chain, revenue cycle, and patient access. Phil supported the organization through 10 consecutive years of record-breaking revenue growth, profitability growth, and operating margin improvement, leading a team of finance professionals to prepare and manage a $1.5 billion operating and capital plan for the hospital, and a $4.5 billion operating and capital plan for the enterprise as a whole. During his tenure, he increased supply chain effectiveness, resulting in over $1 million in annual expense savings; implemented strategic pricing policies to maximize revenue and reimbursement; successfully negotiated $20 million in cash savings resulting from third-party payer settlement; improved the revenue cycle process; and increased profitability and patient access, redefining reimbursement criteria to provide an incremental $10 million of marginal operational profit to the enterprise. Phil successfully led enterprise general ledger standardization across all facets of accounting for five hospitals and three corporate entities, led a group of finance leaders to re-engineer the enterprise finance function, and led and developed a team of talented stakeholders, resulting in greater than 90% engagement across the entire function at all levels.
Phil had a successful career of over 17 years with the fast-paced, for-profit Cancer Treatment Centers of America, holding key roles at both the corporate and site levels. During his tenure, he progressed through roles including manager of financial planning and analysis, assistant controller, controller, and assistant vice president.
Phil is originally from the Chicago area. He earned his bachelor’s degree in finance from Elmhurst College and his master’s degree in accountancy and financial management from Keller Graduate School of Management. Outside of work, he enjoys playing ice hockey and boating.
QLK’s Sharman McGurn led the search to recruit Phil to Rush, where his duties began on March 27, 2017.
