Amid a wave of automation and AI investment across revenue cycle operations, some leaders point to a less flashy lever as their biggest win: the workforce itself.
At New Orleans-based Ochsner Health, senior vice president of revenue cycle and HIM Stephanie Wells has launched plenty of automation projects and built out a financial clearance process. The investment she points to that has had the greatest longer-term effect, however, is the investment in her team.
That meant succession planning, talent development, skill-gap assessments and a deliberate push on employee engagement — building a deep bench of leaders and subject matter experts ready to step into new roles as the organization evolves.
“This focus has created a more resilient and high-performing revenue cycle organization. It has allowed us to maintain momentum during periods of growth, adapt to industry changes, and navigate retirements or turnover without significant disruption,” she said. “By prioritizing the development and retention of our talent, we have built a team that is both highly competent and highly engaged.”
Erika Whitney, assistant vice president of revenue cycle operations at Louisville, Ky.-based Synchrony Health Services, arrived at a similar conclusion from a different starting point.
“Early in my career, I assumed operational performance was primarily driven by systems and workflows,” Ms. Whitney said. “What years of leadership have taught me is that even the best processes struggle when organizations are constantly replacing and retraining staff.”
Sustainable improvement “requires experienced people who understand the work, can identify issues before they become problems, and have the confidence to continuously improve operations,” she said.
One of the most impactful initiatives she led focused on strengthening hiring, onboarding, training and retention while creating clearer expectations, accountability and operational visibility for the team.
“As turnover stabilized and tenure improved, we were able to address longstanding inventory and claim backlogs, improve operational performance and create more consistent financial results,” Ms. Whitney said.
Sandy Lood, vice president of revenue cycle at Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Cottage Health shares a similar philosophy. Her system was among the 20 providers that received the Healthcare Financial Management Association’s 2026 MAP Award for high performance in revenue cycle.
What won them the award was a strong team that shows up every day and puts forth their best effort and tries to be innovative, she said. She said a successful revenue cycle team will not always post the strongest results. There will always be ebbs and flows. She works to cultivate a team that has critical thinking and logical skills that are “bringing their expertise to the table to help us be our best selves.”
With payers constantly evolving, revenue cycle teams have to keep learning and adapting, too, Ms. Lood said. At Cottage Health, that includes giving employees time for education, holding one-on-one career conversations and supporting opportunities for professional growth.
“Ten years ago, my job was very transactional,” she said. “Today, I think it’s more fun because you get to have some autonomy to do things differently. We can’t always be so strict on, ‘I need everybody to have so much productivity day in and day in and day in.’ I want to start focusing more on quality touches, having those conversations. ‘What are you seeing in your accounts? How can we make your job more meaningful?’ Because it’s expensive to hire and we want to really have people enjoy what we do.”
Revenue cycle careers are rewarding, but it’s not one that people go to school and get a degree in.
“Folks kind of fall in here, and I think it’s up to us as leaders to keep that engagement and keep that excitement going.”
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