That said, here are two practical things to consider when hiring these resources:
- Far too often when organizations hire external resources that will be deployed to their patient financial services, finance or health information management departments, they consider only the person OR the company supplying the resource. In order to better leverage your investment; be certain that you are hiring quality resources supported by an offering company with deep expertise in revenue cycle management operations.
You are importing expertise and human capital to your organization and those values are not found in the company logo, rather they are delivered through the people serving you. Therefore, it is important to interview the specific people who will be working with you. Is the chemistry good? Do they have the technical background required? Have their achievements with other clients been commensurate with expectations you have in your organization? This interview process allows you to access what you are buying without the influence of a logo, business development person or other external factors.
It is then a value added if you select a professional services company with the capacity to leverage the people selected. Once you have interviewed the consultant or interim director, pursue how the offering vendor achieves synergy by supporting the engagement with a brain trust, technical depth, management practices and other props. At Nearterm, we have (a) a quality assurance program called Q-100, (b) Principals with successful background leading provider organizations and (c) a mechanism for our field professionals to access our collective resources and expertise on a real time basis when engaged in development and/or problem solving endeavors. As a result our clients have the benefit of professionally managed resources with access to a cache of experience, eliminating the “trial and error” approach.
We always have to consider cost. I submit that in most cases, when provider organizations identify sustained operating deficits, performance problems, extended vacancies in key positions and backlogs, the real cost is in NOT getting help from an external resource.
If these items could have been addressed internally, they would have already been resolved. Losses can be measured in terms of cost of cash and also balance sheet losses. Often the extra set of eyes and new ideas represented by an interim CFO or interim Business Office Director are just the change catalyst needed to improve performance. An Interim Controller can assist finance with accelerating close schedules and new formatting so that management reports are more timely and useful. Regardless of the issue, always think about the cost of inaction in terms of financial performance and even career development.