Five revenue cycle leaders recently shared with Becker's their thoughts on how to attract and retain talent amid workforce shifts and strict budgets.
The five revenue cycle learners were among 36 leaders to share their thoughts with Becker's. The executives are all speaking at the Becker's Health IT, Digital Health + RCM Annual Meeting: The Future of Business and Clinical Technologies, which will take place Oct. 3-6 at Navy Pier in Chicago.
To learn more about this event, click here. If you would like to join as a speaker, please contact Randi Haseman at rhaseman@beckershealthcare.com.
The executives answered the following question: With the shifts in workforce and strict budgets, how is your organization attracting and retaining talent?
Christopher Ault. Chief Revenue Officer at Cooper University Hospital (Camden, N.J.): Like just about every health system, we are seeing the effects of a tightening labor market and challenging economic climate. Diverging pressures on wages and reimbursement make managing our business extremely challenging. To attract and retain revenue cycle talent, we have been strategic in our approach and remained flexible to keep up. Cooper has been proactive to keep wages in line with, or ahead of, our market, maintained 403(b) matches and benefits and aggressive in marketing to talent. While pay is a main priority, we also know that we have to be mindful of our financial position to ensure we are able to reinvest in our people and our community well into the future. Thus, we have remained focused on the non-cash components of workforce development by deploying flexible work arrangements and focusing on diversity, wellness, recognition and engagement. Throughout all of our revenue cycle teams, we are always finding new ways to continuously check the pulse of our teams and react in real time to any opportunities.
Robert Boos. Vice President of Revenue Cycle at Centra Health (Lynchburg, Va.): In the span of over 30 years in my career, this is the first time that we are directly competing with fast-food restaurants and big retail establishments for the same potential employee. Their ability to offer hourly rates comparable to some of our positions has created fierce competition. What we have to offer our potential new recruits goes beyond the initial hourly rate. The career in hospital finance and revenue cycle is significantly broader than fast food or retail, and the ability to grow in this career is much more attainable.
Once our employee, it is incumbent upon us to continue to highlight this career path in front of them, encourage them to look to grow within our organization and make a significant commitment that our new positions and leadership opportunities are grown from within.
Angela Mauch. Director of Hospital Revenue Cycle at The University of Kansas Health System (Topeka): Our health system is agile and adaptive and like many organizations, due to the pandemic, we sent much of our remaining on-site workforce to work remotely. We quickly learned that roles previously thought to be needed in-house were sustainable and productive in a work-from-home environment. We are now recruiting nationally for work-from-home positions as our default, with no plans to bring teams back on site. This obviously allows us to cast a wider net when recruiting for talent, but it also allows for flexibility in our employees' days and supports work-life balance. As we look forward, we are focused on continuing to build relationships with schools and organizations across the community that we can use as talent pipelines and creating succession plans and career ladders. which provide a road map for professional growth across the organization.
Sheldon Pink. Vice President of Revenue Cycle at Luminis Health (Parole, Md.): The concomitant between expense reduction, wage increases and labor shortages has created a quagmire for healthcare organizations across the country. Retention and recruitment are major initiatives within our health system. As leaders, we must exercise profundity, transparency and partnership with HR and finance. Attracting talent starts with paying attention to the minutiae of what drives individuals to your organization and using those principles to establish a criterion. The willingness to provide your team members with the confidence, knowledge and opportunities for continuous development while exercising fiscal responsibility to the organization will always be the key to retention.
Joseph Zehler. Director of Specialty Physician Revenue Cycle at St. Joseph's/Candler Health System (Savannah, Ga.): Staff retention is multipronged. There are several areas that we focused on in order to keep staff within our organization. We offer competitive pay, flexible work hours, hybrid work from home, incentive pay, career paths and put the right staff in the right positions. Most importantly, we provide a great work culture where our staff feel appreciated.