Born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, Phil moved to Dearborn Michigan where his father was the Minister at Littlefield Presbyterian. He played football at Fordson High School and later, at Albion College where he earned Phil earned his undergrad degree.
Following his graduation, Phil relocated to Boston and attended Northeastern where he earned his Master’s. He went to work for Coopers and Lybrand, beginning his career in healthcare administration where it would continue for three decades, Boston. Primarily working as a consultant where he gained insight into the way many different hospitals operated, including serving as the Executive Vice President and CFO of the Affiliated Physician’s Group at Best Israel Deaconess, Associated Director of Fiscal Services at Mass General, and starting PGConsulting before he relocated to North Carolina to work at Northeastern before they merged with Carolinas Healthcare System and became Atrium.
He served as the interim CFO for many organizations as an interim executive consultant. He developed a broad network of contacts and frequently helped connect job seekers with others in his network.
He earned his Fellow, in the Healthcare Finance Management Association before I met him and his Fellow, in the Medical Group Management Association in 2018. He was an active member and volunteer in MGMA in Boston for many years and continued that work after relocating to North Carolina.
As the son of a minister and a social worker, Phil had a heart that leaned toward service. His other volunteer work was extensive including the FENG chapter in Charlotte, The Allied Health Regional Skills Partnership, serving as the President of the neighborhood HOA when we met, and a long list of other volunteer activities.
Phil was a lifelong learner. He read several newspapers each day and continued studying to increase his professional knowledge throughout his career.
When the Affordable Care Act passed, Phil knew the numbers the exerts were providing to the public were off — way off! He ran his own numbers. Over the years, I lost track of how many times he would be reading the Wall Street Journal and comment that he knew it! He’d then pull out the numbers he’d run and show me that the actual numbers and his projections of what those numbers would be were matched.
This and other troubling problems with what is happening with healthcare in this country led him to decide to pursue a Ph.D. in Public Health at the Arnold School of Public Health at U of SC in his early 60’s. He wanted a seat at the policy table and felt he needed the Ph.D. to compliment the forty years of experience he has in healthcare finance.
One of my many regrets is that he was unable to complete his degree and make the difference he was sacrificing so much to be able to do. I have learned that he was mentoring other students in his cohort who were at the very beginning of their careers. Some of them have shared that Phil’s mentoring has had a strong influence over the direction of their careers and this his dreams are not lost. They will carry the torch forward.
An announcement by the Boston – New Hampshire HFMA where Phil was a member and served as a volunteer in several positions: https://blog.ma-ri-hfma.org/2020/05/in-memory-of-phil-geissinger/