UCI Health leader joins national panel to address hospital funding challenges on Capitol Hill

CFO Randolph P. Siwabessy joined national healthcare leaders in Washington, D.C.

Orange, Calif. — Randolph Siwabessy, chief financial officer and senior vice president of UCI Health and the UC Irvine School of Medicine, joined national healthcare leaders in Washington, D.C., this week for a congressional briefing to discuss the financial pressures facing hospitals, hosted by Vizient.

The May 14 event, "Hospitals’ Financial Health: The Complex Ecosystem of Provider Reimbursement," was held at the Rayburn House Office Building and drew an audience of congressional staff and healthcare stakeholders. The discussion focused on how hospitals are managing an increasingly fragile financial environment shaped by delayed reimbursements, labor shortages and rising care demands, particularly for patients covered by Medicaid and Medicare.

Siwabessy spoke on behalf of UCI Health, the only academic health system based in Orange County and one of the largest in California, emphasizing the need for reliable reimbursement to support patient care and workforce development.

“Our NICUs [neonatal intensive care units], operating rooms and cancer centers rely on more than clinical excellence — they depend on a financial ecosystem that has become increasingly fragile,” Siwabessy said during the briefing. “Hospitals cannot be rebooted like startups. We must stabilize what we have built. That means payment reform, workforce investment and policies that reflect the true cost of care.”

Moderated by Michael D. Busch, FACHE, senior vice president of member networks at Vizient, the panel also featured Stephanie Daubert, chief financial officer of Nebraska Medicine, and Steven M. Fontaine, chief executive officer of Penn Highlands Healthcare.

Remarks were shared by Rep. Dave Min (D-Calif.), who highlighted the importance of protecting academic health systems like UCI Health, and Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-Pa.) emphasized the need to strengthen access to care and support financially at-risk hospitals.

Panelists underscored the growing gap between reimbursement and the actual cost of care, particularly for hospitals that serve high numbers of publicly insured patients. They called for sustainable policy solutions that protect graduate medical education programs, preserve safety-net funding and ensure access to care for all communities.

To learn more about Vizient’s policy efforts, visit vizientinc.com.