Get Ready Now: Finance Staffing for Healthcare’s Future
Sweeping changes to healthcare are here with the signing of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). While the full financial impact of OBBBA will unfold over the next decade, now is the time to prepare. Healthcare leaders should focus on evaluating financial operations, engaging in scenario planning, and exploring flexible staffing solutions. Organizations who plan now will be better positioned and more agile to respond when the landscape shifts.
Policy changes as a result of the OBBBA include Medicaid spending cuts, the creation of the Rural Health Transformation program, restrictions to ACA tax credit eligibility, and new federal oversight of Medicaid provider taxes. These changes will significantly reshape the health system. It is projected upwards of 10 million people will face the loss of health insurance coverage over the next 10 years. While the impact will not be immediate, healthcare organizations can expect to see reduced patient volume, changes in reimbursement, and shifts in payor mixes. This can result in more uncompensated care and increased bad debt from patients who lose insurance coverage, especially in organizations with a high government payor mix.
Focusing on what can be done now to plan and prepare for the impact should be top of mind for healthcare executives. This might include scenario planning, service line or departmental analysis, evaluating cost structures, stress testing budgets, and optimizing the revenue cycle to prepare for higher uninsured patient volumes with better collection strategies.
Consider the following questions:
- How much time do you have to prepare?
- Where do you have knowledge gaps?
- What are your most urgent projects?
- What capacity does your current staff have to take on these projects?
One of the major obstacles to planning can be staffing shortages, commonly due to head count or lack of available capacity. Having the right expertise is crucial in creating a successful plan and implementation. A flexible option to overcome shortages is staff loans. Staff loans provide short-term, long-term, or on-demand placements that can be flexible with the scope of work. Flexible staffing gives organizations the ability to scale up or down as needed without committing to permanent headcount. Consider using staff loans to fill short-term gaps, add capacity for special projects, or access niche expertise. Tailored to every project, staff loans provide access to talent at every level with seamless integration into existing teams.
While the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will reshape the healthcare landscape, proper planning now can lead to organizations being better positioned to adapt and thrive. Proactive, forward-looking planning can turn uncertainty into opportunity. Flexible staffing is a great resource, providing a strategic advantage to plan, respond, and lead.
Microscope partners with healthcare organizations to deliver staffing solutions with strategic support in revenue cycle management, reimbursement, financial reporting, internal controls, and compliance. We can help.
For more information, please contact:
Michelle Hammerle, CPA, CMA | Senior Consultant
