How Cardiovascular Centers of America Streamlines Cash Flow Across Its Surgery Network With Obol

Highlights

Automated, systemized forecasting
Real-time modeling without rebuilds
Lower maintenance with fewer errors

The Problem

CCA needed a more reliable and efficient way to manage cash flow planning across several surgery centers. With multiple banks, QuickBooks entities, recurring obligations, and reimbursement cycles, the team required a system that could reduce manual work, support operational decision-making, and create reporting that clinical and financial stakeholders could easily understand.

Mike Lembo, CFO at CCA began exploring a modern cash flow planning platform that could simplify workflows, support daily forecasting, and provide professional, presentation-ready outputs.

“Our old model in Excel was just ugly. Unless you're an accountant, it's like a foreign language. When you show doctors something like the Obol dashboard that looks professional, they perk up.”

Mike Lembo, CFO at CCA

Before Obol, cash flow planning at CCA relied on spreadsheets that demanded extensive upkeep and manual adjustments. This created several operational challenges:

Daily forecasting required heavy manual input. Vendor payments, payroll cycles, and loan schedules had to be typed into specific dates on the forecast, and extending timelines meant dragging formulas and recreating rows.
Limited visibility into incoming reimbursements. Medicare and insurer payments only become predictable shortly before arriving, requiring continuous updates.
Recurring payments had to be added manually. Capital leases, loans, rent, and utilities were entered by hand each month, increasing administrative burden.
Reporting took significant time. Excel forecasts were not presentation-ready and required manual chart building.

The Solution

CCA implemented Obol to create a cleaner and more reliable cash flow planning workflow across its surgery centers. The focus was on:

Automated recurring schedules that populate each month without manual updates.
A professional reporting experience with clean visuals for physicians, boards, and internal teams.
A structured workflow that centralizes planning across multiple banks and QuickBooks entities.

“Obol reduces administrative burden and uncertainty. This is a huge time saver for us. I can drag and drop in the Cash Bridge to show different scenarios and demonstrate to stakeholders that we’re not going to run out of money if we pay vendors earlier.”

Mike Lembo, CFO at CCA

From Spreadsheets to Operational Cash Flow Planning

One of the most impactful improvements for CCA has been the way Obol handles daily forecasting and scenario changes.

Instead of typing numbers into cells to simulate decisions, the team can now drag and drop items inside Obol’s Cash Bridge to see how operational choices shift cash over time. CCA frequently evaluates whether to pay vendors before collections arrive or move a payment to the following week, and Obol allows these scenarios to be modeled in seconds.

Business Impact

Systemized forecasting with automated schedules that replace spreadsheet logic.
Real-time operational modeling through the Cash Bridge without rebuilding forecasts.
Lower financial maintenance due to fewer manual inputs and reduced error risk.
Stronger communication using clear visuals for doctors and stakeholders.
Multi-entity scalability within one unified planning environment.