Acknowledging the Importance of IT Specialists in Healthcare

IT specialists are essential to seamless and successful revenue cycle operations.

To stay vigilant against the threat of data breaches and cyberattacks, health systems should look to their IT departments.

As technology advances and innovations like revenue cycle management solutions become more commonplace, IT specialists are becoming essential to streamlined and successful operations.

Bill Arneson, director of business operational transformation at Moffitt Cancer Center, has observed the growth of revenue cycle management technology and organizations’ increased interest.

“I think the biggest change is that now salespeople are getting executives excited about revenue cycle technology, which means [IT specialists] are meeting a lot more vendors,” he told HealthLeaders.

He adds that being able to filter through different vendors to sus out the ones that would best suit your organization makes the difference. For example, when talking to vendors, the goal is to see what their solution can and can’t do for the organization’s revenue cycle processes.

Questions IT specialists and leaders should be asking during vendors include:

• What customers do you have that use our systems?
• What struggles have you had with interfaces?
• Will the vendor provide support for the solution or does the organization have to take over?

Regarding technological support, Arneson is in favor of having internal expertise so that the organization has ultimate control.

“If you have the knowledge internally, you can document it, you can share it amongst other people,” he explained. Doing so, he noted, also makes for a more secure and stable process.

Executives and C-suite leaders are taking notice of the critical importance of IT staff. Having spent the entirety of his career in IT, Arneson admitted that there are still those who believe it’s easier to say it’s too difficult to do something than look at creative solutions to grow the business.

“There is a newer wave of IT leaders that grew up from the operational side of business and weren’t just tech people,” he said. “I think those are the people that you need, someone that can speak business and IT to bridge those gaps. Those are the people getting stuff done.”

In his current role, he serves as an innovator and translator from the revenue cycle through business and technology. For roles like chief information officer or innovation officer, he said, they’re no longer just technical jobs; but rather business roles that leverage technology.

As the utilization of revenue cycle management solutions increases, other executives can benefit from furthering their understanding of technology and how it can be leveraged.

“You can do some cool things and I think healthcare people inherently understand that because they have all these medical devices that do wonderful things,” Arneson said. “They’re already fully bought into technology. You just have to show, as a technical leader, how this technology can help instead of being a debt you have to pay."