A new AKASA survey highlights the vacant roles healthcare CFOs and financial leaders most need talent for to sustain daily operations within medical billing and the revenue cycle. The back office of healthcare is essential to keeping the doors of hospitals open by making sure the bills are paid. Yet, these teams are facing labor shortages like never before.
The survey of more than 400 healthcare financial leaders ranked the following as the roles where they have the greatest need to fill vacancies:
1. Registrars
2. Billing specialists
3. Patient follow-up
4. Front-office staff
5. Central scheduling
6. Denial specialists
7. Authorization staff
8. Claims specialists
9. Collections
Why It Matters
Because of the difficulty to recruit, this also squeezes leaders on effectively retaining top talent. It’s challenging to find the time and resources required to train and upskill revenue cycle specialists currently on staff. Even if you have experienced employees, they’re likely facing more work than they can handle and not working at the top of their skill set — making them underutilized and at risk of leaving. To help fill in the staffing gaps and elevate staff, hospitals and healthcare systems are increasingly looking to AI-powered automation solutions.
“We’re seeing staffing gaps at every stage of the revenue cycle process,” said Amy Raymond, vice president of revenue cycle operations at AKASA. “Revenue cycle departments are essential to the success of a healthcare organization. But this function of healthcare isn’t care-related and thus, often considered not revenue-generating. The result? Reactive, rather than proactive, hiring. When there’s a demand, revenue cycle specialists are hired. When there’s less demand, they’re let go. This reactionary hiring cycle results in permanent workers often facing too much work, and patients having a less-than-stellar financial experience.”
Report Background/Methodology
Commissioned by AKASA, the survey fielded responses from 411 chief financial officers and revenue cycle leaders at hospitals and health systems across the United States through the Healthcare Financial Management Association’s (HFMA) Pulse Survey program between December 1, 2021 and December 21, 2021. The national survey was designed to assess the adoption of automation in revenue cycle operations at hospitals and health systems across the U.S.
To learn more, download the report, “No Resignation: Solving Today’s Greatest Staffing Challenges in the Healthcare Revenue Cycle.”
