Articles

Optimizing Healthcare Staffing: Why Flexible Call Support Matters in Patient Scheduling

May 8, 2025

Patient schedulers are the gatekeepers to your healthcare organization, and efficient healthcare staffing ensures timely patient access. However, persistent front-end revenue cycle staffing shortages present a significant challenge. Patients become frustrated when they cannot make or reschedule an appointment due to staff unavailability. In response to increasing patient demand, today’s healthcare providers must possess the ability to adapt swiftly. 

The most cost-effective and efficient way to do that? Leverage flexible call support that optimizes healthcare staffing while simultaneously improving the patient experience. Discover the benefits of optimizing staffing levels, improving the patient experience, and ensuring operational efficiency. 

The Role of Call Support in Healthcare

Especially during times of healthcare staffing shortages, flexible call support greatly enhances an organization’s ability to ensure that patient scheduling keeps pace with demand. This includes making it as easy as possible for patients to book and reschedule appointments as well as ask questions about medical bills, health concerns, test results, medications, and more. 

Patient scheduling support is important year-round, but it is especially critical during these times:

  • Beginning of the year when deductible and insurance plan changes occur
  • Flu season
  • End of summer/early fall during back-to-school months
  • End of the year before insurance benefits expire

Patient scheduling support is also critical during peak hours of the day such as early morning when patients call for same-day appointments, lunchtime when patients take a break to handle personal matters, and again at the end of the day when patients leave work. 

For many healthcare organizations, managing high and fluctuating patient volumes simply isn’t possible without the help of call support to ensure smooth scheduling operations. This front-end revenue cycle support helps providers weather the storm of healthcare staffing challenges and improve the patient experience with ease. 

Why Flexibility is Essential in Call Support

Given the unpredictability of patients’ healthcare needs, flexible patient scheduling support helps organizations adapt to changes in call volume, time of day, or urgent patient needs. Flexible healthcare staffing also helps providers handle peak demand periods and unexpected surges in appointment requests or cancellations without compromising the patient experience.

In addition, front-end revenue cycle support and/or technology-driven solutions offer backup during busy times. The hybrid approach of front-end revenue cycle support and cutting-edge technology also eases the workload and reduces burnout for in-house staff, thereby reducing turnover and enhancing employee retention.

Enhancing the Patient Experience with Flexible Call Support

Perhaps one of the biggest benefits of flexible patient scheduling support is the ability to improve the patient experience by reducing wait times and ensuring timely communication. Efficient and personalized responses to patient inquiries enhances patient satisfaction and fosters positive relationships with patients. 

For example, imagine calling with an urgent health question (e.g., a question about a side effect of a medication, sudden onset of a symptom, or potential post-operative complication) or to schedule an annual physical during a few free moments in the day only to be placed on hold for 15 minutes. Most patients don’t have the time or ability to wait that long, and in some cases, patient safety may even be at risk as patients wait. Healthcare staffing flexibility allows healthcare teams to stay responsive to patient needs and maintain a positive patient experience. This consistent and courteous communication, in turn, builds trust and encourages patients to return and refer others. 

Operational Benefits of Flexible Call Support

Flexible call support benefits healthcare organizations in many ways. For example, it helps providers contain costs because they only pay for the front-end revenue cycle support they need. They avoid having to absorb overhead costs associated with salary and benefits when patient call volumes are low. 

Another benefit of patient scheduling support is the ability to re-allocate internal resources more effectively. On-demand call support allows permanent staff to focus on more complex tasks that may require nuanced patient communication or specialized skillsets. In addition, adequate healthcare staffing levels promote improved workflows, enhanced emergency triage, and better overall access to care. With flexible front-end revenue cycle support, healthcare organizations also tend to have better staff morale because they’re able to ensure adequate coverage without overburdening any one team. This is especially helpful when staff members are out sick, on vacation, or terminate employment unexpectedly. 

Focus on front-end revenue cycle improvements

When it comes to healthcare staffing, flexibility isn’t just a convenience—it’s an essential component of maintaining a smooth, responsive, and patient-centric operation. Providers who leverage flexible call support systems ensure that their scheduling processes are both efficient and scalable, reducing bottlenecks and improving patient outcomes.

If you’re looking to optimize your patient scheduling and enhance the efficiency of your staffing operations, Revenue Enterprises can help. Contact us today to learn how we can provide flexible call support solutions tailored to your organization’s needs, improving both operational performance and patient satisfaction.

Check Out our Solutions!

 

Karie Bostwick

VP of People and Compliance

As VP of People and Compliance at Revenue Enterprises, Karie Bostwick oversees People functions including recruiting, training, onboarding, engagement and satisfaction. Additionally, she is responsible for compliance training, oversight and monitoring.

Karie has a long history of working in the revenue cycle support industry. Her skills span leadership, operations start up, policies and procedures development, operations workflow, budgeting and client management.

She is passionate about the experience of our people, patients and the Healthcare clients we serve and believes that a team of diverse, talented and motivated individuals working together toward a common goal can make a difference.

Robert Sterett

VP of Information Technology

As a transformational leader Robert Sterett has leveraged his 20 years of experience to build effective service lines and exceptional teams. In his role as VP of Information Technology at Revenue Enterprises, Robert excels at taking a unique, balanced, and strategic approach to technology leadership with people first for the best possible outcome. Using his experience from engineering, project management and service line management he takes a multi-faceted approach to ensure the right people are in the correct position coupled with the best technology to meet or exceed all expectations from security to compliance and business continuity.

Robert’s leadership style lends itself to building long term relationships and has consistently been a relied upon strength in many organizations. Over Robert’s time as an IT operational and project leader, he has spent significant time in both hands-on technology facing roles and client centric management roles to bring the best solutions that strive to meet the business and client needs.

Focusing heavily on his personal development skills and opportunities, Robert continues to foster coaching and mentorship relationships everywhere in his life, and the lives around him.

Douglas Dunbar

VP of Sales & Marketing

As VP of Sales and Marketing for Revenue Enterprises, Douglas Dunbar leads with a passion for building strategic partnerships, nurturing relationships, and upholding customer service excellence. In his role, Doug focuses on marketing and brand strategy, sales team leadership, and working closely with members of the management team to best serve company goals.

Doug has over 28 years of National sales and marketing call/contact center leadership, with 10 years of service specifically at Revenue Enterprises. Currently, Doug serves as part of Wyoming HFMA Chapter leadership and has held various roles in Colorado HFMA Chapter leadership for over 9 years.

In his spare time, Doug is very family oriented. Additionally, he loves traveling, cycling, golfing, fishing, hunting, and boating.

Kris Brumley, MBA

President & COO

As President & COO of Revenue Enterprises, Kris Brumley is a collaborative partner within the executive team and a leader for operational functions across the organization. Kris productively shares vision, drives innovation, and supports those around her in a way that elevates them and fosters continuous improvement and results. She has helped create a supportive environment for clients resulting in 98% client retention and a 65% NPS score for all clients and 75% for top clients by revenue.

Kris possesses an MBA in data analytics and has twenty-five years of experience in the healthcare industry, with 19 specifically in revenue cycle. She brings a wealth of customer service experience to her role and has worn many hats at Revenue Enterprises including Director of Business Development, EBO Division Director, and VP of Client Experience Management.

In her personal life, Kris is as busy outside of work as inside. She values spending time with her family, and enjoys fishing, hiking, traveling and interior decorating and design.

Timothy (Tim) Brainerd

CEO

As CEO of Revenue Enterprises for almost 20 years, Tim Brainerd leads by example. He promotes a shared vision and stewards a culture of Integrity, Passion, and Respect. He has assembled and empowered high-performing talent and teams to support customers, facilitate strategic planning and manage the capital of the company. Under his leadership, Revenue Enterprises has doubled in size three times over the past fifteen years while maintaining a culture of caring and gratefulness.

Tim has close to four decades of revenue cycle experience, including nineteen years with RSI
Enterprises. He has been a past president of Colorado Chapter of the HFMA and a presenting speaker on the topic of Leadership. He is a fifteen-year member of Vistage International, the world’s largest CEO coaching and peer advisory organization for small and midsize business leaders.

Raised in the Midwest, Tim values humble principles like being respectful, caring, passionate, self-reliant, and most importantly grateful. His most important lesson and the lesson he hopes to pass on in all relationships is living the Golden Rule–do unto others as you would have them do unto you. He is intentional in his choices and believes in making decisions, taking action, being accountable, and loving your neighbors.

Whenever possible, Tim spends his time with his wife of nearly forty years, his adult children, and his grandchildren. His hobbies include fishing, golfing, traveling as well as game nights and sharing great food with his family.