The healthcare staffing crisis is hitting medical practices hard. According to a survey by MGMA staffing shortages are a major concern of healthcare leaders. Around 58% of physician practices surveyed shared that staffing shortages was their biggest concern. To compound the problem further healthcare labor costs are up by 37%.
Let us share with you 5 strategies to manage the current staffing crisis.
How much automation is too much automation? As a rule of thumb, it is best to automate processes that can be handled by technology better. Automate processes that are redundant and time-intensive. Intelligent automation drastically improves financial performance and reduces friction across the revenue cycle.
A research by Frost and Sullivan reveals that 90% of healthcare organizations are in some stage of digital transformation.
Intelligent revenue cycle automation has the potential to truly unlock the financial potential of medical practices and reduce cost-to-collect.
But most physician practices and groups do not have the resources to adopt automation solutions. Partnering with a revenue cycle provider like SolvEdge, opens up new opportunities and provides access to state of the art RCM technology for medical practices. We invest millions in automation every year to provide the best RCM solutions to our clients.
What do insurer contracts have to do with staffing shortages? If analyzed closely, a lot. As costs are rising are rising faster than revenue, it is mission-critical to work on strong payer contracts to offset revenue cycle costs. A shockingly high number of medical practices have poorly optimized payer contracts.
Underperforming insurer contracts are a major cause of revenue loss. To improve yield and optimize reimbursement it is essential to strengthen the performance of payer contracts. Weed out contractual inconsistencies by performing regular audits. In a tight labor market it is important to align compensation with rising labor costs.
A study by Elseiver reveals that 70% of clinicians are planning to embrace modern patient experience solutions to meet the expectations of patients. In a medical practice that is inadequately staffed, managing the patient experience is difficult. Adopting technology to streamline patient access functions can improve the patient experience.
Utilizing technology to improve processes that are major patient touch points helps in patient retention and to supplement the staffing crisis.
The post-pandemic environment has driven the demand for tele-health services. In light of the present staffing shortage plaguing healthcare, offering tele-health services enables medical practices to cope with patient volume fluctuations without increasing headcount.
It helps in improving expansion efforts and delivering patient care without friction or delays.
Outsourcing revenue cycle functions frees up in-house talent who can be utilized for more critical tasks. The primary role of practice managers and clinicians is to offer exceptional patient care. By partnering with a revenue cycle vendor medical practices can focus on their core competency - patient care.
A revenue cycle vendor like SolvEdge can improve operational efficiency and improve the financial performance of medical practices.
Tide over the current staffing crisis
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