R1 RCM is a revenue cycle management firm that provides a variety of end-to-end services to hospitals, health care systems, and physician groups throughout the US and India. Health care is one of the most important industries across the world. However, dealing with the complexities of regulation and finance can be an immense challenge for health care providers who are already focused on providing the best possible care. The process used by healthcare systems in the U.S. and globally to track revenue from patients, from their first encounter in the healthcare facility to their final payment of balance, whether that’s from the patient or the insurance company, is what revenue cycle management is all about. It is a normal part of health administration, but it’s complicated. This is where firms like R1 RCM come in.
If you’re an aspiring consultant interested in working in the healthcare industry—and especially if you’re interested in revenue cycle management—R1 RCM could be the perfect place to launch your career. In this article, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about an R1 RCM consulting career, including key facts about the firm, as well as information about their internship programs and hiring practices.
Firm Key Stats
Firm Website: www.r1rcm.com
Firm Headquarters: Murray, UT
Firm Number of Employees: 30,000
Firm Number of Locations: 60+
Firm Chief Executive: Lee Rivas
Firm Revenue: $2+ billion
R1 RCM History
R1 RCM’s history begins in 2003 with its founding by Mary Tolan and Michael Cline as Accretive Health. The company began providing management consulting services to companies and groups in the healthcare industry, with a focus on revenue cycle management. In 2013, Accretive Health agreed to a 20-year settlement with the FTC regarding its data security measures after the theft of several company laptops led to the violation of patients’ private data. In the previous year, the firm agreed to a settlement with the Minnesota AG regarding the firm’s debt collection practices, though Accretive Health admitted to no wrongdoing. Shortly after these litigations, CEO Mary Tolan stepped down and was replaced by Stephen Schuckenbrock, formerly of Dell.
Accretive Health grew significantly after Ascension chose to use Accretive Health as its revenue cycle partner in 2015, leading to a $200 million investment from Towerbrook Capital Partners. The company rebranded as R1 RCM in 2017. Later that year, it announced it had expanded its agreement with Ascension to add $1.5 billion in patient revenue. The company has continued growing in the years since, including by acquiring other companies, such as SCI Solutions (which provides digital patient engagement services), VisitPay (which provides digital payment solutions), and CloudMed (which provides revenue intelligence and automation).
R1 RCM Careers
If you’re an aspiring consultant who’s interested in working in the healthcare industry, especially in the capacity of providing revenue cycle management services, R1 RCM would be a great place to launch your career. The array of services R1 RCM offers for revenue cycle management is vast. With locations all over the US and in India, R1 RCM would provide excellent experience for consultants looking to work in health care. If that describes you, keep reading. In this section we provide all the information you need to know about R1 RCM careers.
R1 RCM Internship
According to reviews on Indeed, people who have previously completed an R1 RCM internship have been generally quite satisfied with the experience. The majority of respondents agreed that the interns do an appropriate amount of work that’s also meaningful. A strong majority also agreed that the internship program was well-structured. However, most respondents said that the internship was not a great opportunity for building a professional network, and that they were not well positioned for advancing internally within the company. Therefore, if you’re interested in working for R1 RCM in a full-time capacity, the internship may not necessarily put you at an advantage. There are not currently any internships listed as available, but be sure to check the R1 RCM Careers page to see when they open up in the future.
Practice Areas
The R1 RCM practice areas include:
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- End-to-End Revenue Cycle Management
- Patient Experience
- Physician Advisory
- Clinical Documentation Integrity
- Coding Management
- Revenue Integrity
- Business Office
- Revenue Cycle Management
- Practice Management
- Pre-Registration
- Financial Clearance
- Debt Collection
- Billing and Follow-Up
- Denials Management
Industries
The primary R1 RCM industries include hospitals, health systems, and physician groups.
R1 RCM Locations
There are R1 RCM locations in the following US cities:
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- R1 RCM American Fork, UT
- R1 RCM Anderson, IN
- R1 RCM Appleton, WI
- R1 RCM Austin, TX
- R1 RCM Baltimore, MD
- R1 RCM Bartlesville, OK
- R1 RCM Birmingham, AL
- R1 RCM Chicago, IL
- R1 RCM Clanton, AL
- R1 RCM Dallas, TX
- R1 RCM Detroit, MI
- R1 RCM Evansville, IN
- R1 RCM Fort Payne, AL
- R1 RCM Granite City, IL
- R1 RCM Indianapolis, IN
- R1 RCM Jacksonville, FL
- R1 RCM Joliet, IL
- R1 RCM Kalamazoo, MI
- R1 RCM Kankakee, IL
- R1 RCM Kansas City, MO
- R1 RCM Kokomo, IN
- R1 RCM Kyle, TX
- R1 RCM Layton, UT
- R1 RCM Lisle, IL
- R1 RCM Logan, UT
- R1 RCM Louisa, KY
- R1 RCM Madison Heights, MI
- R1 RCM Manhattan, KS
- R1 RCM Middleburg, FL
- R1 RCM Milwaukee, WI
- R1 RCM Minneapolis, MN
- R1 RCM Mobile, AL
- R1 RCM Murfreesboro, TN
- R1 RCM Murray, UT
- R1 RCM Nashville, TN
- R1 RCM North Vernon, IN
- R1 RCM Novi, MI
- R1 RCM Ogden, UT
- R1 RCM Oklahoma City, OK
- R1 RCM Oshkosh, WI
- R1 RCM Panama City, FL
- R1 RCM Park City, UT
- R1 RCM Pensacola, FL
- R1 RCM Pittsburg, KS
- R1 RCM Portage, MI
- R1 RCM Provo, UT
- R1 RCM Racine, WI
- R1 RCM Saint George, UT
- R1 RCM Salt Lake City, UT
- R1 RCM South Jordan, UT
- R1 RCM Southfield, MI
- R1 RCM Stevens Point, WI
- R1 RCM Tooele, UT
- R1 RCM Tulsa, OK
- R1 RCM Waco, TX
- R1 RCM Warren, MI
- R1 RCM Warrenton, VA
- R1 RCM Washington, DC
- R1 RCM West Allis, WI
- R1 RCM West Valley City, UTR1 RCM Wichita, KS
There are also several R1 RCM locations in India, including:
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- R1 RCM Bangalore
- R1 RCM Chennai
- R1 RCM Gurugram
- R1 RCM Hyderabad
- R1 RCM Hyderabad
Career Path
The R1 RCM career path for consultants includes the following positions:
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- Implementation Consultant
- Consulting Specialist
- Senior Consultant
- Management Consultant
Exit Opportunities
As health care is such a vast industry, the R1 RCM exit opportunities can be terrific. Departing employees should be well positioned to move into a variety of positions within the healthcare industry, including companies that operate directly in the health care sector, as well as consulting firms that service health care companies. There are also opportunities to work for government organizations that provide health care-related services, as well as other consulting firms that specialize in revenue cycle management.
Diversity Programs
There are several R1 RCM diversity programs overseen by the firm’s Inclusion & Diversity Council, which was established in 2019. This council oversees internal initiatives to support more diverse leadership, to offer equitable career advancement opportunities, to administer Inclusive Teams eLearning as well as a bi-monthly Bias Awareness Campaign, and to prepare a bi-monthly People Leader Bias Discussion Guide for managers.
R1 RCM Culture
The R1 RCM culture has received mixed reviews from past and current employees. The general consensus seems to be that working at R1 RCM offers good opportunities to people who are self-motivated, with many chances to travel and to form long-term relationships with clients. However, for employees who need more support, it can be easy to get lost in the shuffle. Further, as R1 RCM is such a large organization, there is a great deal of variation in employee experiences. Some report that their managers are highly supportive of employee success and development. Others report that their managers are far too hands-off and regard employees as disposable. Virtually everyone agrees that many of the benefits are excellent, however, especially the generous PTO policies.
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R1 RCM Interview
If you want to land a job with R1 RCM, you’ll need to be prepared to ace the R1 RCM interview. In this section, we’ll walk you through what you can expect from the interview process at R1 RCM.
Firm Interview Process
The R1 RCM firm interview process typically involves 3 to 4 rounds of interviews, beginning with an initial phone screening. From there, applicants proceed to interviews with an HR rep, a hiring manager, and team members. Sometimes two team members conduct the interview. The interview process is described as friendly and comfortable. Most of the questions involve the R1 RCM employees getting to know the applicant, such as “Tell us something about yourself,” or, “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?”
Typically, one of the interviews includes technical questions related to your past experience and the position you’re applying for. Previous applicants describe in-depth questions related to financial literacy, knowledge of health care related systems, and competency with relevant software applications like Excel. A few applicants report having to deal with case studies in their R1 RCM interview. However, the majority do not.
R1 RCM Salaries
Of course, if you’re thinking about a consulting career at R1 RCM, you’ll want to know about the R1 RCM salaries. According to past employees, the average salaries for consulting positions at RCM are:
- Implementation Consultant: $81,000
- Consulting Specialist: $100,000
- Senior Consultant: $119,000
- Management Consultant: $150,000
These are impressive figures. However, they’re not quite on par with some of the top consulting firms. At the Big 3 firms, for example, the average salary for a starting consultant averages $110,000-112,000.
If you’d like to access more salary information for hundreds of firms across the world, be sure to check out our current Salary Report.
Conclusion
Health care is one of the few industries that is virtually guaranteed to continue growing for the foreseeable future. Therefore, working at a firm that specializes in health care—like R1 RCM—is an excellent launching pad for aspiring consultants. If you’re interested in helping health care service providers refine their revenue cycle management, R1 RCM might be the perfect place for you.
Additional Resources:
- Top Consulting Firms of 2023
- Top 10 Boutique Consulting Firms in US
- Consulting Resume: Complete Guide
- Case Interview: Complete Prep Guide