Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

Episode: Stephanie Schnittger, CFO of UVA Health
Date: September 1, 2025
Host: Madeline Ashley

Overview

This episode features a conversation with Stephanie Schnittger, the newly appointed Chief Financial Officer of UVA Health. With decades of experience in Virginia healthcare, Stephanie shares her early impressions of UVA Health, discusses major industry trends, offers advice for CFOs considering a move into academic medicine, and lays out her strategic perspectives on organizational growth and mission alignment.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Stephanie’s Background and First Impressions

• Stephanie’s Tenure: Joined UVA Health just four weeks ago, but brings over 25 years’ experience in Virginia healthcare (Inova, Sentara, Luminis).
  • Quote: "Virginia Healthcare is very familiar to me, even though the job here at UVA Health is somewhat new." [00:24]
• Early Experience at UVA Health:
  • Describes her first month as "intense" and "invigorating," citing both challenges and opportunities within the organization.
  • Finds great satisfaction in the opportunity to add value.
  • Quote: "It's been intense. It's been invigorating. We have a lot of things going on here... Lots of challenges, but also major opportunities. And I'm just extremely excited about the work ahead." [01:12]

Industry Trends to Watch

Stephanie outlines three major trends that are shaping her work as CFO:

1. Federal Regulatory Environment

   • “The federal regulatory environment right now” is a top concern. Recent legislation—what she calls the "one big beautiful bill"—is reshaping payment structures, especially for Medicaid.
   • Focused on how reimbursement changes impact care for underserved/Medicaid populations.
   • Quote: "Recently with the enactment of the one big beautiful bill that is obviously creating a lot of challenges in terms of federal regulatory changes in the Medicaid program in particular..." [01:58]

2. Shifting Care to Lower-Cost Settings

   • Market-specific challenge: Many lower-acuity patients end up in the emergency department due to a lack of robust primary and ambulatory care options.
   • UVA plans substantial investment in lower-cost settings to increase access, lower overall health costs, and better serve the community.
   • Quote: "We are really challenged here in the Charlottesville market with developing lower cost of care settings to help open up access." [02:35]

3. Clinical Workforce Sustainability

   • Ongoing issues with clinical talent shortages: nurses, clinicians, technologists, radiologists, and physicians.
   • Emphasizes the importance of educational pipelines, recruitment, and retention.
   • Quote: "...trying to make sure that we are involved with building those pipelines, whether it's through the education, the training programs and so forth, and that we have robust recruiting and retention programs for the clinical workforce, I think is going to be a key trend that will define how successful we're going to be in the future." [04:23]

The Impact of the “One Big Beautiful Bill”

• Deep Dive into Legislation
  • Stephanie is closely monitoring how changes to Medicaid funding will affect UVA Health, with each state’s program structure varying.
  • Anticipates more limited ability to draw down federal funds, requiring careful strategy to continue serving Medicaid patients effectively.
  • Quote: "Some of the changes in that legislation is basically going to lead to a more limited ability to draw down federal funds to support Medicaid in the states. And so how we can plan around and strategize how we can ensure that we can still get reimbursed a fair amount for covering the patients that we know we are committed to covering is absolutely critical to planning our financial future." [05:45]

Enthusiasm for UVA Health’s Mission

• Mission-Driven Care:
  • Transitioning from community to academic health brings new excitement; emphasizes serving all patients regardless of ability to pay, as a public institution.
  • The ownership structure (health system owned by the university, part of the state) strongly supports access and equity.
  • Quote: "...we have a truly very inspirational mission of delivering high quality patient care to the communities we serve here, regardless of a patient's ability to pay." [07:11]
  • Finds this mission personally inspirational and sees it as a strategic advantage.

Advice for CFOs Transitioning to Academic Medicine

• Expect More Complexity:
  • Academic health systems are inherently more complicated than community systems due to the intertwining of university, faculty, health system, and physician practices.
  • Decision-making and change often move more slowly.
  • Quote: "Prepare for a bit more complexity if it wasn't complicated already. It gets even more complicated when you think about the intersection points of faculty and a university and the running of a health system and physician practices..." [08:36]
  • Despite the complexity, remarkable opportunities for learning and delivering on the mission.

Strategic Growth at UVA Health

• Purpose-Driven Growth:
  • Growth should align with mission, vision, and values—not for growth’s sake alone.
  • Focus on expanding into areas where UVA can provide operational expertise, workforce support, clinical talent, or technology to enhance quality and access.
  • Quote: "When I think about growth... I think about really aligning with, you know, our mission, vision and values and not really whether we should grow, but how and where we should grow." [09:35]
  • Sustainable, value-adding expansion is the goal.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|--------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:12 | Stephanie | "It's been intense. It's been invigorating. We have a lot of things going on here across the university and across the enterprise. Lots of challenges, but also major opportunities..." | | 01:58 | Stephanie | "...what's top of mind is really the federal regulatory environment right now...with the enactment of the one big beautiful bill that is obviously creating a lot of challenges..." | | 02:35 | Stephanie | "We are really challenged here in the Charlottesville market with developing lower cost of care settings to help open up access." | | 04:23 | Stephanie | "...trying to make sure that we are involved with building those pipelines, whether it's through the education, the training programs and so forth, and that we have robust recruiting and retention programs for the clinical workforce..." | | 05:45 | Stephanie | "...is basically going to lead to a more limited ability to draw down federal funds to support Medicaid in the states. And so how we can plan around and strategize..." | | 07:11 | Stephanie | "...we have a truly very inspirational mission of delivering high quality patient care to the communities we serve here, regardless of a patient's ability to pay." | | 08:36 | Stephanie | "Prepare for a bit more complexity if it wasn't complicated already. It gets even more complicated when you think about the intersection points of faculty and a university and the running of a health system and physician practices..." | | 09:35 | Stephanie | "When I think about growth... I think about really aligning with, you know, our mission, vision and values and not really whether we should grow, but how and where we should grow." |

Key Timestamps

• 00:21: Stephanie’s background and experience in Virginia healthcare
• 01:12: Initial impressions and excitement for role at UVA Health
• 01:58: Top trends in healthcare: regulatory changes, lower-cost settings, workforce pipeline
• 05:24: Deep dive on the impact of the “one big beautiful bill” and Medicaid reimbursement
• 06:56: Inspiration from UVA Health’s mission and transition to academic medicine
• 08:36: Advice for CFOs: academic system complexity
• 09:33: Strategy for growth: mission-driven, sustainable, value-adding expansion

Summary Takeaways

• Stephanie Schnittger brings a wealth of experience and a fresh perspective to UVA Health, focusing on the challenges and opportunities unique to academic health centers.
• She identifies federal regulatory changes, especially recent Medicaid reforms, as a critical concern for financial planning and access.
• Expanding primary and ambulatory care access is a priority to reduce costs and alleviate emergency department crowding.
• Workforce recruitment and retention remain urgent, with emphasis on building long-term pipelines for talent.
• Growth strategies at UVA Health prioritize alignment with mission and values, targeting areas where UVA can make impactful, sustainable contributions.
• The transition from community to academic health offers new complexity but also catalyzes professional growth and mission-driven work.

This episode offers practical insights for healthcare leaders navigating similar transitions or facing today’s pressing industry challenges.