A recent survey highlighted the severity of the revenue cycle management talent shortage, as “61% of providers expect to make greater use of external parties for offering patient financing options,” and “63% of respondents indicated they were experiencing staffing shortages in their revenue cycle departments, which can lead to less predictability in revenue streams.” In today’s hiring market, it’s increasingly difficult for dental services organizations (DSOs) to find the revenue cycle staff they need, especially as they continue to experience high growth due to client demand and insurance companies’ increased dental service offerings.
To complicate matters, DSOs traditionally seek only the most experienced candidates, fueled by high expectations from their clients. Here at Medix, our DSO clients have been emphasizing candidate quality more than ever. They expect revenue cycle professionals who can quickly adjust to a high volume of claims, who are more likely to stick around long-term, and who can easily integrate into their organizations’ cultures. Finding these ideal candidates in a rather small candidate pool can be expensive and time consuming—but much less so when partnering with a specialist revenue cycle staffing agency like Medix.
Here are the three major challenges that your DSO faces to build an effective revenue cycle management team, along with staffing solutions to overcome them.
1. It’s expensive and time consuming to recruit revenue cycle professionals.
When factoring in expenses related to job postings, resume parsing, and candidate interviewing, screening and onboarding, it can cost up to $20,000 to recruit and hire a new employee. Oftentimes, in a competitive, specialty space like revenue cycle, it’s even more expensive to hire a qualified candidate. Time is also a critical variable. It’s beginning to take DSOs longer to hire billers, credentialing specialists, and managers, simply because staff demand is outpacing supply.
Staffing Solution:
In most cases, it’s far more cost-effective to partner with a specialty staffing agency compared to relying solely on your internal HR team for staffing. Medix has over 20 years of experience, with a dedicated revenue cycle recruiting team ready to deliver the most highly-skilled, pre-vetted talent—reducing your recruiting costs by a wide margin. Not to mention, we can also help you find permanent or temp-to-perm talent quickly, allowing you to augment your workforce based on demand and further control costs.
2. It’s difficult to find enough talent to handle our volume of claims.
Many DSOs are growing quickly, taking on new clients and long-time clients’ rising number of claims. Today, as access improves and dental health is increasingly tied to whole-person health, patient volumes are seeing consistent growth, and claims are becoming more complex than ever. This has resulted in staffing shortages and a scramble to find enough experienced help. We’ve noticed this is particularly true on both ends of one spectrum: in America’s largest major cities, and in its smallest towns. Talent is scarce because of competition in the former, and because of a plain lack of talent in the latter.
Staffing Solution:
There’s no single solution for this challenge; it requires a multifaceted approach. First, you should know the talent in your market. How many active and passive candidates are there? Where are they employed? What are their expectations around pay, benefits, and flexibility? Second, you should construct your offers based on their expectations, as best as possible. Third, you should consider your hiring requirements. At Medix, we’ve worked with several clients to loosen their requirements related to dental experience, which has allowed them to expand their candidate pool and hire revenue cycle staff from the traditional healthcare space.
3. It’s nearly impossible to find candidates who are the right cultural fit, and more likely to stay long-term.
When employees’ personalities align with an organization’s culture, there is a palpable sense of harmony, as if the two parties were meant to be. But it’s difficult to identify the right cultural fit during the recruiting and hiring process, when, to no fault of their own, candidates may have a tendency to act the part that organizations want to see. In our experience, there’s a direct correlation between fit and the longevity of the employer-employee relationship. It’s vital to rely on the most experienced recruiting teams to help identify candidates with the right blend of soft skills and traits which translate to retention.
Staffing Solution:
Leverage a staffing partner and technology to help you identify the best-fitting candidates. Our MyPrint technology allows us to scientifically assess the soft skills and characteristics of candidates and build a profile unrelated to their hard skills. We learn what makes them happy and what motivates them, and we align these factors with your organization’s culture. Is there a fit, or should we move on to the next candidate? In our experience, this is the most proven method to finding the right long-term fit. You should also consider hiring temporary workers during peak periods. This way, you can see how they fit your culture and collaborate with your permanent revenue cycle team. If it becomes apparent that the relationship works, you have the option to convert them to full-time employment.
Partner with Medix for the most cost-effective, flexible revenue cycle staffing.
You need expertise, and we offer it. From reducing the costs and time allocated to recruiting, to making it easier to find the staff you need to scale, you will see measurable results. And most importantly, our specialty staffing services will help you maximize total revenue from claims for your clients.