Most revenue cycle teams are not underperforming because people are not trying. They are underperforming because the work is scattered.
Every added vendor creates another handoff. Every handoff creates a place where accountability goes soft and a claim can sit. Denials rise, collections slow and the reporting is fragmented enough that leaders cannot tell which part of the operation is causing the drag. Meanwhile margins tighten, positions stay open and the pressure to produce cash arrives on the same schedule as always. Teams end up managing the symptoms — working denial queues, chasing balances — without touching the structure generating them.
Alicia Johnson, associate VP of revenue cycle at Lake Regional Health System in Missouri, worked the structural version of the problem. On Sept. 24, she walks through what her team changed: how accountability was reestablished, how the vendor and payment environment was simplified, where automation removed manual touches and which metrics she used to prove the direction was right.
Learnings include:
- Leadership moves that rebuild ownership and lift team performance
- How vendor consolidation and payment modernization cut inefficiency and improve the patient financial experience
- How data-driven engagement and automation reduce denials and strengthen collections
- The financial and operational metrics that demonstrate progress and cash acceleration