Healthcare

Precision Recruitment: Delivering Critical Talent for a Leading Academic Medical Center

Situation

A prominent academic medical center faced significant challenges in identifying and recruiting experienced, high-level coders and clinical documentation specialists. They were struggling with issues including high turnover and significant budget expenditure on employees who weren’t working out for the organization long-term. Additionally, they had experienced disappointing results with other staffing agencies. The medical center’s Director of Coding & CDI approached Networks Connect for assistance, making it critical for our team to leverage our subject matter expertise in revenue cycle, specifically for complex inpatient coders and CDI specialists.

Challenge

The medical center needed to both replace underperforming talent and add new hires to support growth. Specifically, they required:

4 Senior Inpatient Coders
3-4 Senior RN CDI Specialists

These highly specialized positions demanded candidates with specific skillsets and experience in a complex academic healthcare environment. The timeline was aggressive, requiring all positions to be filled within 60 days to minimize operational disruption and revenue impact.

Solution

Networks Connect implemented a targeted recruitment strategy tailored to the medical center’s specific needs:

Subject Matter Expert Recruiters: We assigned dedicated recruiters with specialized knowledge in CDI and coding who understood the industry-specific requirements and role complexities.
True Headhunting Approach: Rather than relying on passive applications, our team actively pursued qualified candidates through multiple channels, including LinkedIn, Indeed, and direct candidate referrals.
Specialized Team Deployment: Unlike generalist recruiting firms, our specialized teams focused exclusively on their areas of expertise, allowing them to quickly identify ideal candidates for these niche positions.
Rigorous Pre-Screening Process: Candidates were thoroughly vetted before presentation to the client, ensuring that only those meeting the exact requirements and cultural fit proceeded to the interview stage.
Accelerated Timeline Management: Our team worked diligently to compress the recruitment cycle while maintaining quality standards, recognizing the urgency of the client’s staffing needs.

Results

Networks Connect delivered impressive outcomes that exceeded the client’s expectations:

All seven required positions were successfully filled in under 60 days, with most being filled within the first few weeks.
We provided six highly qualified coders, with four receiving immediate offers without requiring second interviews—a testament to the quality of candidates presented.
The successful placements integrated smoothly into the organization, with all hired candidates successfully completing orientation and performing well in their roles.
Due to our outstanding performance, the client expanded our engagement to include two additional departments—outpatient coding and DRG denials—creating opportunities for further impact across the organization.

Client Feedback

"I appreciate all you and your Team are doing to find candidates for us."

"Things are going FANTASTIC with Catherine."

"Rhoda, Shannon and Tameka are all doing well. They all have been off orientation for a few weeks now and are settling in with the team nicely. All three have been wonderful to work with so far and have had very respectful and professional attitudes. We are continuing to monitor their progress in order to ensure they understand and are following our processes appropriately. But, so far, we are pleased with their work, for the majority of cases."

Why It Matters

In today’s healthcare environment, securing qualified revenue cycle professionals directly impacts financial performance and operational efficiency. Networks Connect’s success with this academic medical center demonstrates how specialized recruiting expertise can transform talent acquisition challenges into sustainable staffing solutions.

What sets Networks Connect apart is our subject matter expertise in healthcare revenue cycle operations and our commitment to presenting only thoroughly vetted, high-quality candidates. This approach saves clients time and resources while ensuring long-term placement success.

Is your healthcare organization struggling with hard-to-fill revenue cycle positions? Networks Connect specializes in identifying and securing top-tier talent for even the most challenging roles. Contact us today to learn how we can help you build your dream team and calculate your potential ROI using our Recruiting ROI Calculator.