By Ryne Natzke
Staffing issues were top-of-mind for many attendees at June’s 2023 Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) Conference in Nashville.
Healthcare organizations of all sizes are looking for new approaches to counter the new reality of staffing shortages and rising labor costs, with many exploring automation and virtual staffing models to ease burdens on existing team members.
It certainly makes sense. For many provider organizations, worker shortages are likely to grow more challenging in the future. For example Mercer estimates that by 2025, the U.S. is estimated to have a shortage of approximately 446,000 home health aides, 95,000 nursing assistants, 98,700 medical and lab technologists and technicians, and more than 29,000 nurse practitioners.
In the revenue cycle management (RCM) space, providers are increasingly seeking ways to deliver a retail-like, seamless user experience that mimics the convenience and personalization that consumers have come to expect from other industries. This equates to providing patients with modern, flexible payment options, such as digital wallets, and offering self-service digital engagement tools that increase transparency, such as pre-service cost estimates and patient self-scheduling.
Other sessions focused on topics that ranged from how behavioral economics impact provider performance, to how healthcare organizations can ensure they are positioned for digital transformation, to tapping consumerization to build patient loyalty.
Overall, the HFMA Conference 2023 experience in Nashville was a positive one. It’s really starting to feel like travel and in-person events are back to normal after the disruption caused by the pandemic, and it was great catching up with current customers and partners, meeting with prospective clients, and even visiting with our own TrustCommerce staff face-to-face.
All the exhibits were approachable, and despite some competitive overlap in some areas, it was clear that everyone was there to solve the huge and growing problem of high healthcare costs and the impact on patients and providers.
See you next year!
