In its 2023 annual outlook report, Fitch Ratings warned that 2024 would be a “make-or-break” year for many healthcare organizations. It’s a designation that Fitch had applied to the previous year as well, noting that half of all hospitals weren’t profitable in 2022 and that the future held bleak prospects for many healthcare providers—particularly those in rural areas.
Much of the problem is attributable to rising operating costs and healthcare costs for patients. The former eats into hospital revenue, and the latter diminishes individual liquidity, which hinders collections on medical bills. The overarching solution is to refine the revenue cycle, making it more flexible and capable of adapting to evolving demands. However, revenue cycle management is facing its own set of challenges.
Top 3 Challenges for Revenue Cycle Management Staffing
In today’s patient-centric and technology-driven healthcare landscape, revenue cycle teams will have to overcome several challenges to improve the patient experience, reduce the administrative burden, and ensure organizational profitability:
1. Finding Specialized Talent
Revenue cycle management comprises an array of key roles, including:
- Authorization staff
- Billing specialists
- Claims specialists
- Denial specialists
- Financial counselors
- Front-office staff
- Registrars
These roles aren’t always easy to fill, considering the level of candidate expertise required to excel and the competition among healthcare employers.
2. Retaining Talent
The tight labor market presents difficulty in talent retention. Though this is an issue in all areas of the workforce, it can be particularly challenging in revenue cycle management because organizational resources tend to focus on the clinical aspect of operations rather than the business side. According to an Experian Health survey, turnover among revenue cycle management staff is as high as 40%, and an overwhelming majority of healthcare organizations believe revenue cycle staffing poses a long-term problem.
3. Rapid Workforce Augmentation
Workforce augmentation is about bringing in outside temporary staff to help an organization adapt to shifting needs or time-based initiatives. This, too, presents challenges. Finding, onboarding, and training outsourced talent is typically time-consuming and arduous, while integrating augmented staff with your in-house team can require elevated communication and refinements of internal processes.
Partner with Medix to Maintain a Flexible Revenue Cycle Team
Finding and retaining talent to augment your workforce is much simpler to accomplish when you work with a trusted staffing expert. At Medix, we use our longstanding expertise in healthcare and revenue cycle management to help your team deliver timely revenue, steady collections, and financial viability to your organization. Here’s how partnering with Medix can help you realize a more capable and highly adaptive revenue cycle team.
Expedient Hiring
With over 20 years of specialization in the healthcare industry, we have an intricate understanding of the revenue cycle management market and have built a tremendous talent pool of candidates nationwide. Having Medix as your staffing partner means that our team works devotedly for your organization to fill vacancies efficiently with high-quality, vetted talent that meets your needs.
Reduced Cost and Risk
The Medix vetting process includes a MyPrint assessment, which allows us to identify candidates who are qualified and can integrate into your organizational culture—key qualities when it comes to job satisfaction and retention. We also offer flexible temporary-to-permanent contracts so you can assess candidates’ long-term viability. What’s more, Medix has been named Best of Staffing in Talent Satisfaction, so we know what qualities to look for in engaged, retainable talent.
Flexible Staffing and Recruitment Solutions
Medix is also proud to have earned a Best of Staffing designation in the client category for six consecutive years—an accolade we continue to maintain thanks to our flexible and scalable staffing solutions. With our short-term, long-term, and permanent contract options, you’ll be able to navigate any hiring market, economic climate, or seasonal project. Moreover, you can rest easy knowing that your Medix recruitment team is managing the entire staffing process, including:
- Sourcing
- Interviewing
- Onboarding
- Scheduling
- Managing payroll
Even after you’ve filled your key positions, our team helps ensure satisfaction by providing on-demand access to productivity metrics, talent hours, and project spend. This way, you know how your talent investment is paying off.
A staffing partnership with Medix is your streamlined solution to avoiding the bleak financial future awaiting many healthcare organizations. With our support, your organization can effectively overcome common revenue cycle staffing challenges and balance its full-time and contingent workforces instead of managing endless vendors and contractors.
Contact us today to learn more about the Medix advantage.