Improving cash flow with an innovative healthcare workforce strategy

How a health system adopted a flexible staffing solution to ease workforce shortage and boost revenue

• After an academic health system’s total accounts receivable (A/R) grew and cash flow slowed, leadership sought assistance in diagnosing and implementing changes to increase collections.
• Efforts focused on identifying staffing gaps and addressing overdue accounts.
• The health system collaborated with Huron to quickly fill short-term staffing needs, clear backlogs to increase cash flow, and determine long-term staffing levels to sustain steady A/R management.

An academic health system faced a staffing shortage exacerbated by backlogs that were preventing adequate accounts receivable (A/R) coverage and slowing cash flow. Leadership sought a solution to quickly increase staffing in a competitive job market. With only some positions needed long-term once backlogs were cleared, the standard hiring process was not an effective use of time or resources.

The health system collaborated with Huron’s healthcare managed services (HMS) team to develop a flexible staffing solution, adding 15 supplemental staff members to improve A/R management within the organization’s revenue cycle operations.

Supporting the blended staffing model and delivering expedited results involved:

Integrating HMS leadership into key accountability sessions, including a weekly metric meeting to monitor and discuss performance.

Implementing feedback forums with leadership to ensure full transparency and collaboration on priorities and approaches.

Leveraging the managed services team’s expertise by continuously adjusting the team’s focus when additional root cause issues and opportunities were identified.

Maintaining agility by aligning staff’s skill sets with the health system’s needs to accelerate results.

Continuously re-evaluating long-term staffing needs to acquire the necessary staff to support steady-state A/R management.