In revenue cycle and finance, the pressure to demonstrate a clear, measurable return on technology investment has never been greater. Health systems are being asked to do more with less — reduce denials, accelerate cash flow, lower the cost to collect, and free up staff to focus on higher-value work — all while navigating an increasingly complex payer landscape. For finance and revenue cycle leaders, technology is no longer a back-office convenience; it is a strategic lever that can determine whether an organization operates in the black or struggles to sustain its mission.
Yet even among those closest to the numbers, a consensus is forming that financial ROI alone is an incomplete measure. The leaders driving revenue cycle transformation today are looking beyond spreadsheets and dashboards to ask deeper questions: Does this technology make our people more effective? Does it reduce friction for patients navigating the financial side of their care? Does it create capacity that can be reinvested in the work that matters most? Becker’s asked 13 finance leaders in healthcare how they define ROI for a technology their system invests in.
The leaders featured below are speaking at Becker’s 11th Annual Health IT + Digital Health + RCM Conference, set for Sept. 14-17 at the Hilton Chicago.
If you would like to join the event as a speaker, please contact Scott King at sking@beckershealthcare.com.
As part of an ongoing series, Becker’s is connecting with healthcare leaders who will speak at the event to get their perspectives on key issues in the industry.
Editor’s note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: How do you define ROI for technology?
Marji Karlin. Chief Revenue Officer for NYC Health + Hospitals (New York City): There are so many factors that go into demonstrating ROI for healthcare technology. The calculation is fairly nuanced to the type of technology we’re considering. There are some obvious metrics, such as direct cost savings, revenue lift or risk-based returns. For some technology we’d consider clinical outcome metrics, and for others we’d look at operational efficiencies, clinician experience, or patient experience. Regardless of which metrics are chosen, it is always critical to define the measures of success up front.
Atek Pandya. Director of Revenue Cycle for Northwestern Memorial Healthcare (Chicago): I define direct ROI in technology by how much capacity it gives back to us. Since technology can either reduce or replace human intervention, it is important to measure the human component, and not just the dollars. In many cases, technology does not bring in the dollars directly, but if we can measure and repurpose that capacity it creates to getting people to work at the top of their capabilities, the ROI will be seen in the aggregate of cost, satisfaction and overall output.
Tatyana Sushkina. Director of Revenue Cycle for Prosser (Wash.) Memorial Hospital: For me, ROI on technology isn’t just about whether the numbers add up on paper. It’s about whether it actually makes our lives easier and improves the financial health of the organization. If a tool helps us bring in cash faster, reduce denials, lower our cost to collect, or allows our team to focus on meaningful work instead of chasing claim statuses all day, that’s a real return. In revenue cycle, where resources are always tight and expectations keep growing, good technology should help us do more with the people we already have, not just give us another dashboard to look at.
I also look at whether the technology makes processes smoother for both staff and patients. If it reduces manual work, prevents errors and helps our team spend less time fighting the system and more time solving real problems, that’s a win. And if it improves the patient financial experience along the way, even better. At the end of the day, ROI means the technology actually works for us, not the other way around. Otherwise, it’s just an expensive way to make everyone click more buttons.
Aron Klein. Vice President of Finance Operations and Supply Chain for Carle Health (Urbana, Ill.): Historically, Carle Health has focused the determination of ROI related to technology adoption in the revenue cycle space as a metric focused on revenue enhancement through improved realization rate or extending staff bandwidth. These can be challenging metrics to measure due to the number of variables involved. The historical metrics we’ve tracked include softer metrics such as assigning a value to the calculation of staff capacity gains as well as proactive denial avoidance through automation of prior authorization processes.
However, as we continue to push forward with additional investment and adoption in the technology space, we are focused on harder metrics like FTE and salary savings along with the efficiencies we create to reduce organizational overhead costs, making the system more affordable for our patients. We’re focusing our metrics on improved yield and incremental collections per FTE including near real-time (weekly tracking) of net revenue and cash realization per FTE. This includes measuring legacy metrics like Cost to Collect, but also looking at our revenue cycle costs as a percentage of our system overhead expense and comparison to external benchmarks to create the most efficient team and processes possible while minimizing fatal denials.
Sheila Augustine. Director of Revenue Cycle for Nebraska Medicine (Omaha): Defining return on investment for technology in healthcare can be particularly challenging because the value extends far beyond direct financial gains. While traditional ROI focuses on measurable cost savings or revenue increases, many healthcare technologies deliver benefits that are indirect, long term or difficult to quantify, such as improved patient outcomes, enhanced safety, reduced clinician burnout and better care coordination. These complexities make it difficult to isolate the technology’s true contribution and assign it a clear monetary value, requiring a broader, more holistic approach to evaluating ROI that includes both quantitative and qualitative outcomes.
Kathleen Moriarty. Senior Director of Case Management for Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago: We continue to refine our work and utilize technology to establish the ROI. I support RN teams (utilization management team, denial team) that participate in the mid-revenue cycle functions. We are gaining efficiencies utilizing automation that reduces the time staff spend managing denials, allowing them to focus on more high dollar claims that need specific clinical acumen in the pediatric space.
I am a huge advocate of patient/family and staff satisfaction. Streamlining processes can lead to a quicker resolution for patients, families and our staff. Trust is built with our families; the staff can celebrate denial prevention (UM team) and overturn rates (denial team) and PFS get rewarded with an increase in accounts receivable.
Rebecca Ashe. Director of Finance Education and Quality Assurance for Moffitt Cancer Center (Tampa, Fla.): At Moffitt, return on investment for technology goes beyond cost savings alone. It reflects how effectively technology enables better patient outcomes, improves efficiency for our care teams, and supports our mission to prevent and cure cancer. Strong technology ROI demonstrates measurable value such as time saved, reduced risk, improved access or better decision-making while also creating sustainable margin that can be reinvested in research, innovation and patient care. Ultimately, technology ROI is about impact: using resources wisely to advance both operational excellence and our mission.
Mark Townsend, MD. Chief Clinical Digital Ventures Officer for Bon Secours Mercy Health (Cincinnati): Defining ROI for technology is tough, to be clear; my one-word answer is “profitability.” Defining ROI leverages cost accounting, which leverages allocations, which can end up being an elegant narrative of sorts; to that end, I advocate strongly for defining ROI as “profitability” as measured by unit-level operating margin trended over time. After a technology is implemented, success is defined by improved unit-level margin through either 1) revenue enhancement, or 2) through cost containment. That creates a corollary for “profitability”: We must measure “adoption” at the inception of every project. If we push out technology that isn’t pulled in quickly by our teams as something that they “can’t live without,” then we have failed, and there is no point trying to measure the ROI.
Richard Beatty. Executive Vice President for Ninala Medical Center (Tacoma Park, Md.): ROI for technology goes beyond cost savings — it’s about measurable impact across the entire organization. From operations and clinical teams to patient financial services, technology must deliver tangible value at every level. For us, that means faster revenue cycle performance, reduced denials and improved patient access. True ROI is realized when technology empowers every member of the medical staff to do more with less while maintaining quality. If it doesn’t move those needles across the board, it’s not worth the investment.
Namrata Saha. Program Manager for Northwestern Medicine (Chicago): ROI for technology in healthcare requires a thorough analysis of the cost versus the return. When determining overall cost, it’s best to include licensing, implantation, change management and opportunity costs (time and resources diverted). When calculating the return, there are numerous metrics including time savings, ongoing support costs, dollars saved, more accurate documentation, reduced readmission rates, better user experience, time diverted to higher value work, novel analytical insights and many more.
It’s important to compile a number of quantitative and qualitative metrics along with long term trends and predictions to determine the real impact of the technology. It’s a combination of numbers and storytelling to show the true value.
Joshua Rivera. Pathology Business Operations Director for Moffitt Cancer Center (Tampa, Fla.): From the perspective of my role within pathology and the laboratory, when evaluating ROI for technology in pathology, I focus on measurable gains in diagnostic quality, workflow efficiency and operational scalability.
For clinical AI, ROI is demonstrated when algorithms enhance diagnostic accuracy, reduce variability and accelerate turnaround times in ways that directly improve patient care.
On the operational side, automation of business and laboratory processes creates ROI through reduced manual workload, fewer errors and more predictable resource utilization, which allows for a higher productivity labor rate.
Ultimately, the strongest ROI occurs when technology not only reduces cost but also elevates clinical performance and enables clinicians to spend more time on complex, value-adding decisions.
Praneeth Chebrolu. Director of Clinical Research for OSF HealthCare (Peoria, Ill.): The real return of Investment of technology is the human capacity it unlocks. When routine work is automated, organizations gain the ability to redeploy talent towards the work that creates the greatest impact like improving patient outcomes, accelerating discovery and strategic decision making.
Dirk Steinert, MD. Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Ambulatory Care for ThedaCare (Appleton, Wis.): Defining the return on investment for technology is best accomplished utilizing a comprehensive approach that goes beyond traditional financial metrics. Ideally, an effective understanding of technology ROI should encompass three key areas:
Financial value
Technology in health care should help improve efficiency, accuracy and scalability in care delivery while also demonstrating reduced costs and generating measurable financial benefit.
Clinical and operational well-being
A complete assessment of the ROI for technology should highlight its impact on the well-being of the team members that utilize it. That means illuminating its effect on reducing cognitive load, minimizing administrative burdens, simplifying documentation, strengthening team communication and supporting safer, higher-quality and more efficient patient care.
Quality, safety and patient experience
A comprehensive ROI for technology should include improvements in care outcomes, reliability, safety and the overall patient experience. In healthcare, technology ROI is about creating an environment where people can do their best work, patients receive better care and the system becomes more sustainable over time.
At the Becker's 11th Annual IT + Revenue Cycle Conference: The Future of AI & Digital Health, taking place September 14–17 in Chicago, healthcare executives and digital leaders from across the country will come together to explore how AI, interoperability, cybersecurity, and revenue cycle innovation are transforming care delivery, strengthening financial performance, and driving the next era of digital health. Apply for complimentary registration now.
