Fractional CFO for Rural Health Clinics

RHC finance run by someone who's audited RHCs.

33 years in healthcare finance — including 5 years as a Medicare auditor — brought to bear as your fractional or project-based CFO. I build RHC cost reports, reimbursement strategy, and board reporting that hold up because I know exactly what the other side of the desk is checking for.

33Years in healthcare finance
5Years as a Medicare auditor
RHCRural Health Clinic specialist
CFOFractional & project-based
Services

Three ways to bring in an RHC CFO

Engagements are scoped to what your clinic's finance function actually needs right now — not a fixed retainer that outgrows it or undershoots it.

01 — Ongoing

Fractional CFO

Embedded part-time finance leadership for RHCs that need real oversight without a full-time hire.

  • Medicare & Medicaid cost reporting
  • Reimbursement rate optimization
  • Monthly close & board reporting
  • Cash flow & grant compliance
02 — Project

Project-Based CFO

Focused engagements around a specific event — a cost report cycle, an audit, a certification change.

  • Medicare audit preparation & defense
  • RHC certification & re-designation
  • Cost report reconstruction
  • Provider-based vs. freestanding analysis
03 — Advisory

Advisory Retainer

Light-touch, ongoing counsel for a clinic administrator or existing finance staff who need an experienced second opinion.

  • Monthly strategy sessions
  • Board & grant reporting review
  • Compliance & audit-readiness checks
  • On-call for reimbursement questions
Engagement process

What the first 90 days look like

A real sequence, not a formality — each step determines the scope of the next one.

  1. 01

    Discovery call

    A 30-minute conversation about where the finance function is today and what's actually at stake — a raise, a cash crunch, a board that's stopped trusting the numbers.

  2. 02

    Financial diagnostic

    A structured review of your books, reporting cadence, and systems, ending in a short written assessment of what's broken and what's just underbuilt.

  3. 03

    Engagement scope & start

    A proposal matched to the diagnostic — fractional, project, or advisory — with a defined cadence and the first 30/60/90-day priorities.

  4. 04

    Ongoing reporting rhythm

    Monthly close, a board-ready package, and a standing check-in — so the numbers are trusted well before anyone outside the company sees them.

Results

Representative engagements

Anonymized to protect client confidentiality — details available on a call.

Rural Health Clinic · Fractional
Medicare cost report
ReactiveAudit-ready

Rebuilt the cost report process from scratch and cleared a backlog that had left two years unfiled.

Rural Health Clinic · Project
Medicare audit outcome
FlaggedCleared

Prepared documentation and represented the clinic through a Medicare audit with no repayment findings.

Rural Health Clinic · Advisory
Reimbursement rate
Under-claimedOptimized

Identified and corrected a cost-reporting gap that had understated reimbursable costs for three consecutive years.

About

Garrett Merryman


  • Experience33 years in healthcare finance
  • FocusRural Health Clinics (RHC)
  • Background5 years as a Medicare auditor
  • Based inMissouri · remote nationwide

I've spent 33 years on the finance side of healthcare — including 5 years as a Medicare auditor, reviewing the same cost reports and reimbursement filings I now help RHCs build correctly the first time.

Rural Health Clinics run on a reimbursement model most CFOs never have to learn — cost-based Medicare and Medicaid reporting, provider-based vs. freestanding designation, grant compliance layered on top of clinical operations. I specialize in exactly that gap.

Every engagement starts the same way: a real look at your cost report and reimbursement position, an honest read on what's at risk in an audit, and a plan scoped to what your clinic actually needs.

Get started

Let's look at your numbers together.

Book a discovery call
Contact

Start with a 30-minute call

No pitch, no pressure — just a conversation about where your finance function stands and whether this is a fit.

Email
garrett@jrscfo.com
Phone
(555) 555-5555
Scheduling
Book directly on my calendar →

Responses go straight to my inbox — usually a reply within one business day.