In this episode of CFO Weekly, Ed Bleacher, Chief Financial Officer at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, joins Megan Weis to explore the financial realities facing healthcare providers in today’s policy environment and why the debate between healthcare and defense spending matters deeply to every finance leader in the industry. Ed brings more than thirty years of experience in healthcare finance, including over two decades at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and leadership roles at Cooper University Health Care before joining St. Christopher’s.

With deep expertise in revenue cycle management, reimbursement structures, financial strategy, and government relations, Ed shares how safety-net hospitals are navigating Medicaid-dependent realities, how fragmented healthcare economics creates systemic inefficiency, and why the CFO of tomorrow must be as fluent in operations and relationship building as in financial reporting. He also offers a candid perspective on the misconceptions that shape federal budget debates and what healthcare finance leaders can do to make their voices heard.