This week we’re sharing articles we’ve read this week focused on a concern that has been mentioned more and more over the past year, staffing. With high levels of workforce participation and very little unemployment, the jobs market is highly competitive, and this is being felt throughout the healthcare industry. While hospitals and health systems are facing physician and nursing shortages resulting from COVID-19 related stress and burn-out, a huge number of revenue cycle departments are also understaffed, creating a crisis of a different nature.
Read on to see how hospitals and the government are addressing these challenges:
In this article on Healthcare IT Today, Founder & Chief Editor John Lynn reflects on conversations he had during HFMA Annual, which focused repeatedly on challenges with staffing. The article also includes a link to a video with Patient Financial Services Manager, Dawn Johnson, from Hennepin Healthcare, who shares how they are addressing staffing shortages through claims processing partners as well as improving front-end registration to reduce denials.
The US Surgeon General Advisory report for 2022 was recently released, and while not a short read at 76 pages, the document does focus on the need for collaboration from all stakeholders, including hospitals, stage & federal government, health insurers, technology companies, and more, and shares ideas for reducing the administrative burdens contributing to health worker burnout.
As more and more hospitals face staffing shortages in RCM teams, many are looking towards automation technology to relieve the need for focus on repetitive tasks, as shared in Insider Intelligence, highlighting recent contracts with technology firms, as well as staff openings.
From Health Leaders Media, an under-the-hood look at a recent revenue cycle automation project taken on by Banner Health, including lessons learned surrounding strategic alignment, and resource allocation.
R1 RCM’s June mid-year survey of 250 CFOs and VPs of Revenue Cycle highlights that 92% of survey respondents indicated that they are facing labor shortages, with 48% of those with shortages characterizing them as severe.