The Exec: How to Develop 'One Of The Best' Revenue Cycle Tech Teams 'In The Country'

The director of revenue cycle process and system support at Moffitt Cancer Center shares his top recruiting tips.

The revenue cycle workforce wasn't immune to the drastic changes happening in healthcare over the last several years. An entire office floor that previously housed a revenue cycle department is now silent and desolate as most staff have been working remotely for years at this point.

Working remotely has been a success for most organizations and is now a permanent work model, and since recruiting an elite revenue cycle team is still a priority, the way organizations find that talent has changed too.

Bill Arneson, director of revenue cycle process and system support, at Moffitt Cancer Center, recently chatted with HealthLeaders about his strategy for recruiting the best talent for his revenue cycle technical team.

After several years of recruiting and development, since January 2023, Arneson says his teams now oversee all revenue cycle automation systems, business rules, and all operational reporting for the hospital, the physician group, and the clinical trial revenue cycle.

Arneson says that in the month of January alone, his team of 22 automated over 360 full-time employees and 689,000 tasks, “which as we calculate out, saves us about $982,000 per month,” he says. “Based on what we accomplish, I put my team in a pretty elite tier, if not one of the best in the country,” he says.

So how did Arneson develop such an accomplished team? Read on to find out. This conversation has been edited for length, but you can listen to the entire conversation here.

HealthLeaders: Hospitals were struggling financially in 2022 as they tried to navigate inflation and labor shortages among many other challenges. Because of this, Moffitt took a unique approach to build up the revenue cycle technical staff. Can you tell us how that came about?

Bill Arneson: Moffitt has been very big in creating efficiencies and choosing process improvements or automation over hiring people for several years. The first answer is never to just hire more people. I don't think that's the first thing any healthcare system wants to do, luckily, I know how to accomplish that.

I need some smart analyst developers or software architects. But I also know we're not going to win any bidding wars with Google or Amazon or some consulting firms. So, I focus on what is in my control. I can control the culture of my team, I can control how good of a recruiter I am personally, and I can control what kind of leader I am. So, the number one thing we try to do is foster a culture that people want to join. If the people love your team, we'll help you recruit good people, and they will stay.

This enables us to get some of the stars who could go somewhere else and make more, but honestly, they would rather have a great working environment and have a great work-life balance then go somewhere else and make a little bit more. So that's one of the things we try to leverage.

We also try to, as I call it, ‘recruit the diamonds in the rough.’ I specifically search for stars in other departments that are not technical people, but who have some raw technical skills or interest.

For example, that person who is over in patient access and they are excellent in Excel. They're the one always digging into the reports. Chances are they could easily transition into a reports person with some training. Another example is the gamer. Avid gamers are great because they're usually very techie people. They might not have pursued an IT career, but they're always into the latest gadgets. Also, people that are going back to school for IT degrees are great candidates to seek out.

HealthLeaders: What criteria do these recruits have to meet before they can be hired on the revenue cycle technical team?

Arneson: It is not a hardline of requirements. We'd like to keep requirements vague because the revenue cycle is such a diverse group of tasks. You need people from across the spectrum, as far as backgrounds and talents.

The number-one thing I look for is emotional intelligence, which I admit can be very hard to identify, especially with external resources. But honestly, they have to be a good team member. They must be able to be an adult and work through problems. I'm a big advocate of peer interviews during the hiring process. I'm only going to have to work with the people one or two hours a week, while their peers must work with them eight hours a day.

Along with that, they need the technical aptitude to fit the role because there will be some very high-level technical roles that they just simply aren't qualified for. So, recruits have to be at a level that allows them to do the technical part of the role too.

We also like then to have the traditional healthcare or revenue cycle understanding, but then again, we've also chosen technical experience over revenue cycle knowledge. For example, we’ve brought over engineers from Citigroup that turned out to be wonderful and amazing, and once you're a software developer, you can apply those skills across the board.

So, as far as qualifications, it really depends, but I would say those are the top three I look for: emotional intelligence, a good team member, and enough technical skills to start the role.

HealthLeaders: Do you have any other unique recruiting techniques that you can share with other organizations?

Arneson: You have to make recruiting part of your job as a revenue cycle leader. You can't just rely on HR or talent teams. I've found a lot more people through building a network of my own than anything else. Also, you have to assess where your budget is at. If you can’t afford to hire the star IT people, then you have to commit to developing them. Ask yourself, are you the New York Yankees with unlimited money? Or are you the Tampa Bay Rays who have to work the farm system and develop players?

I've had people from both: I've brought in people from Epic, Cerner, and Siemens, as well as those home-grown people. I just find the best talent I can, you know the emotionally intelligent good team members, and then tweak it along the way until they find their groove.

I could go through the list of how I hired all of my people, but most importantly, it's never a set it and forget it. Once you hire someone, you have to constantly be thinking how you can bring them in and find new skill sets. People's interests change over time as well so be prepared to constantly be growing the team members that you already have. That will really help you retain and grow your staff so you’re not always recruiting.

HealthLeaders: What is next for Moffitt’s recruiting? Are there other areas outside of the revenue cycle that these strategies may work for?

Arneson: I think everyone's resources got completely out of whack the last few years. And just weathering that storm, we have all done a phenomenal job. But anyone who wants the top talent has to ignore all the traditional boxes and focus on what it takes to be successful on your team. If you look at your staff that have been successful, there is a certain skill set that you can attribute across the board that those people have. That's the sort of stuff you need to be looking to develop.

And keep in mind, developing staff will not always be a straight path. I don't think very many people in their careers have a straight path from college to their dream job. It honestly takes a lot of work by the leadership to build the culture teams want, and need, to be successful.