Brent McCarty: From CEO to Advisor — Lessons from a Healthcare Industry Leader

0 6 9 minutes read

When you hear the name Brent McCarty, you probably think about someone deeply involved in healthcare: someone who’s led companies, shaped strategies, and guided multiple organizations as a board member. That’s exactly who he is. Over more than 30 years, McCarty has built a reputation as a go-to person in healthcare revenue cycle management (RCM), healthcare services, and healthcare technology (HCIT).

In this article, I want to introduce you to his life, his career, what sets him apart, and what aspiring leaders can learn from him. I’ll also share some of what I found inspiring and some reflections from his path. Even if you’re not in healthcare, I think many of his experiences are broadly useful.

Early Life and Education

Brent McCarty grew up in a time when healthcare was going through big changes: more regulation, more technology, more complexity in insurance and billing. He studied at Texas Tech University, earning a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and Finance.

During his university years, McCarty developed strong numerical skills, and also a curiosity about how businesses work — especially industries where rules and money intersect heavily. For someone entering healthcare, knowing accounting and finance is a big advantage, because much of industry leadership is about managing cost, revenue, cash flow, and compliance.

I believe that his foundation in accounting/finance gave him early credibility in leadership roles. It probably helped him understand both the operational side (how hospitals, clinics, labs bill, how insurance payers work) and the strategic side (where to invest, when to scale).

Early Career and Rise to CEO

After graduating, McCarty moved into leadership roles in healthcare companies. One of his prominent roles was founding and serving as CEO of Argos Health, a company focused on revenue cycle management, especially handling complex medical claims. This was a key move, because medical billing isn’t just about submitting forms; when claims are complex (say involving multiple providers, unclear insurance policies, denials, appeals), leadership needs operational excellence, legal knowledge, and strong process systems.

Before and after Argos Health, he headed other companies: Solis Mammography, Eagle Hospital Physicians, Accuro Healthcare Solutions, Sentient Medical Systems. Each of these roles involved different slices of healthcare services, whether diagnostic imaging, outpatient services, physician practice management, or diagnostic technologies. Leading companies with different service models means adapting, learning, and often solving problems in different domains: regulatory, reimbursement, technology integration.

What stands out about McCarty’s CEO roles is that he repeatedly worked with private-equity-backed companies or was involved in high growth/exit scenarios. For example, the exit of Argos Health when it was acquired by EnableComp is one of the noticeable achievements.

From my perspective, managing in those environments is tough: private equity usually expects performance, cost discipline, growth metrics. So the ability to deliver in that context suggests McCarty has both strategic vision and strong execution skills.

Shift to Advisory & Board Work

Once someone builds up such experience, there often comes a point where the role changes: instead of being in the trenches daily, you start advising, helping multiple organizations, serving on boards. That’s what McCarty has done. He’s currently a Senior Advisor at InTandem Capital, and also an Executive Partner with NaviMed Capital.

In these roles, his job isn’t to manage every department. It’s about seeing the big picture, helping with strategy, ensuring governance, helping firms raise capital, guiding acquisitions or exits, ensuring compliance, and often mentoring the executive teams already in place.

For example, serving on boards (for companies like ACU-Serve Corp, RSi RCM, Vivo Infusion, etc.) gives him exposure to many different business models in healthcare. He sees which ones scale well, which ones run into pitfalls, where technology adoption lags, how policy changes (insurance, CMS, state laws) affect operations.

This shift also brings more responsibility in terms of trust: stakeholders trust that he will act in the long-term interest, that he understands regulations, and that he can evaluate risk (financial, compliance, reputational).

Areas of Expertise

McCarty’s career has given him deep expertise in a few core areas. I list them here, with examples and what they involve.

Revenue Cycle Management (RCM)
RCM means all steps from when a patient is registered, services are provided, claim is submitted, payment is collected, denials are managed, appeals are filed. When he was CEO of Argos Health, that meant handling complex claims, which are especially challenging. For example, claims that cross specialties, involve multiple payers, disputed coverage, or where documentation must meet strict criteria.
Healthcare IT (HCIT)
To scale RCM, technology must support automation, data analytics, billing tools, denial management, integration with electronic health records (EHRs), patient portals. McCarty’s service companies often needed tech solutions to streamline operations. Understanding tech, what works, what doesn’t, is essential in today’s environment.
Healthcare Services Operations
Running diagnostic imaging centers (mammography), physician practices, outpatient services, even hospital-affiliated service lines. Each has its own regulatory, staffing, logistic, billing, and quality challenges.
Complex Claims & Compliance
Claims that are denied, underpaid, need appeals, or where regulation is fuzzy. Having experience here means not just fixing problems, but building systems to prevent mistakes, reducing denials, improving documentation, often training staff, staying on top of changing payer rules or government regulation.

These areas combined create a kind of “sweet spot” in healthcare operations: where business, service, patient outcomes, regulation, and technology all intersect. And McCarty is someone who has been operating in that intersection for decades.

Board Memberships & Governance

One dimension of McCarty’s work that often gets less attention but is critical is his board and advisory roles. Here are some observations about those roles:

He serves on boards of multiple healthcare companies, often ones backed by private equity. These boards look for strategy, risk management, oversight, not micromanagement.
For example, ACU-Serve Corp, One Mnet Health, RSi RCM, Vivo Infusion, Healthfuse are among the companies he’s affiliated with.
He is also on the advisory council at Texas Tech University’s Rawls College of Business. That shows recognition of his experience, and also that he’s contributing back in education / mentoring / thought leadership.

In governance roles, credibility matters. Stakeholders want someone who has walked the path: operational leadership, understanding financials, compliance, scaling, exit strategies. McCarty’s track record gives him that.

What’s more, board and advisory roles often require different skills from running a company: diplomacy, oversight, asking right questions, risk awareness, ensuring adequate resources, but not day-to-day operation. People who move into these roles successfully tend to have humility, the ability to listen, and the wisdom to contribute without taking over.

Personal Life & Values

It helps to see the person behind the public profile. While there’s limited public information about private life, here’s what is known and what seems likely from his pattern of behavior.

He is married, with at least three children.
He lives in Dallas, Texas, particularly in the Preston Hollow area.
Beyond work, he seems to value family, mentoring, giving back (through advisory roles, working with universities) and balancing impact with business success.

From reading profiles and statements, it’s clear that he doesn’t chase novelty for its own sake. Instead, he seems to pick roles where he can apply his strengths: financial discipline, operational excellence, risk management, and where there is meaningful scale or complexity.

Achievements & Key Successes

Here are some of McCarty’s achievements, and why they’re notable.

Founding and leading Argos Health, which focused on RCM for complex claims, and successfully exiting via acquisition (EnableComp). This shows he built something of value and found a buyer.
Leadership in multiple companies across different parts of healthcare: from mammography, outpatient diagnostics, physician services, to IT and services. That breadth shows adaptability.
Building a reputation so that he is sought after as a board member and senior advisor. That kind of trust doesn’t come easily.
Being appointed to advisory councils (e.g. TTU’s Rawls College). When educational institutions invite someone on their advisory boards, they are recognizing both experience and the ability to contribute knowledge and networks.

Lessons & Leadership Style

From what is publicly known, here are lessons we can draw from McCarty’s journey. These are my interpretation, but I believe they hold true.

Strong foundation matters. Education in accounting/finance provided him tools to understand business deeply. Early roles seem to build steadily rather than jumping too fast.
Focus on specialty but remain broad enough. He specialized in RCM and HCIT, but his leadership touched many service lines. That balance lets you have deep expertise but also flexibility.
Execute in complex environments. Claims, regulation, reimbursement changes, payer relationships are messy. Being able to operate well here shows resilience and adaptability.
Build for exit and growth. For PE-backed businesses, investors often look for growth and exit potential. Knowing that early helps make decisions about process, investment, people, technology.
Transitioning to advisory roles requires a shift in mindset. As CEO, you make many decisions. As advisor / board member you ask more questions, help shape, but you must listen, avoid micromanagement, and add guidance without owning operations. McCarty appears to balance that well.
Maintain credibility and trust. In healthcare, where compliance, regulation, patient outcomes, reputational risk all matter, you need high integrity. Doing what you say, delivering results, staying current with laws and best practices — these build trust.

Challenges & Balanced View

No one’s path is perfect. While public information does not show major scandals or controversies around McCarty, here are some general challenges that leaders in his position often face, and possible ones he likely navigated:

Regulation and policy uncertainty. Healthcare law changes, reimbursement rules change. That affects margins, operations, and can suddenly make a business risky.
Technology adoption lag. Even when you have HCIT in your business, many partners (smaller clinics, providers) are slow to adopt or integrate systems, which creates friction.
Staffing and operational scale. Recruiting and retaining staff (billing specialists, coders, IT personnel) is often hard.
Private equity pressures. Expectations of growth, profitability, sometimes short timelines. Balancing that with sustainable practice can be hard.

While I don’t have specific public complaints about McCarty, the fact that he has survived many of these headwinds and continues in leadership roles strongly suggests he has dealt with those.

Personal Reflections

I find McCarty’s career inspiring for a few reasons. First, he shows how specializing in something complex (like revenue cycle, claims) can be more powerful than trying to be broad without depth. Many executive tracks try to touch as many functions as possible; McCarty built real mastery in areas that many people shy away from because they seem tedious or highly regulated.

Second, his transition into advisory and board roles illustrates a common career arc: after years of intensive management, stepping back to guide becomes both more influential and also, in many ways, more satisfying (if you like helping others grow, if you like strategy over operations).

Third, he seems to balance performance and integrity. In healthcare, where people’s well-being is involved, and where mistakes or failures can have real harm, being someone who sticks to legal, ethical, compliance standards, while still building successful, profitable business units, is not trivial.

If I were an aspiring healthcare executive, I would try to emulate: get strong grounding, dig into complex problems, don’t shy away from regulations, learn technology, and when possible find mentors who have done it. And realize that leadership isn’t just the glamour of being CEO; advisory roles, boards, mentorship are also parts of long-term influence.

Conclusion

Brent McCarty is a model of what a modern healthcare industry leader can be: someone who combines financial/operational discipline, domain expertise (RCM, HCIT, services), and the capacity to lead both companies and advisory bodies. He shows that you don’t have to choose between being deeply technical/regulatory and being broadly strategic. His success in founding, growing, exiting companies, then guiding others from board or advisor positions, is a path full of learning.

If you’re in healthcare or thinking of entering, there is much to admire here. The challenges are real, but the strengths he demonstrates — clarity, adaptability, ethical grounding, strategic thinking — are ones that matter in any industry.

FAQ

Q1: What is revenue cycle management and why is it important?
Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) refers to the administrative and clinical functions that contribute to the capture, management, and collection of patient service revenue. It includes claim submission, payment, handling denials and appeals. In healthcare, where payers have complex rules and documentation matters, good RCM is crucial: poor RCM means lost money, inefficiencies, risk of non-compliance, and lower ability to fund patient care or innovation.

Q2: What types of companies has Brent McCarty led?
He has led or founded companies in healthcare services (like diagnostic imaging, outpatient services), HCIT, revenue cycle management, physician practice management, and companies focused on handling complex claims. Some of the names include Argos Health (his role as CEO and exit), Solis Mammography, Eagle Hospital Physicians, Accuro Healthcare Solutions.

Q3: What does serving on a board require, and how is it different from being a CEO?
Being a board member or advisor means adopting a mindset of oversight and guidance rather than day-to-day execution. You ask questions, help determine strategy, ensure resources, manage risk and compliance, but you don’t run daily operations. It demands listening, humility, the ability to see patterns, judge leadership, and ensure accountability.

Q4: How did McCarty prepare for leadership in complex healthcare settings?
By building from strong educational foundation (finance/accounting), gaining roles in diverse healthcare service and tech companies, tackling complex claims and operations, and taking on roles which exposed him to the regulatory, financial, and technological challenges. Over time, his exposure to scalable companies and exit strategies likely sharpened judgment.

Q5: What advice can be drawn from his path for someone wanting to follow similar footsteps?

Learn the fundamentals (finance, operations, regulation).
Don’t be afraid of complicated or unglamorous work (claims, compliance).
Seek roles where you can have measurable impact.
Be adaptable; healthcare changes constantly.
Build reputation: trust, ethics, competence matter a lot.
When appropriate, move from operational roles into advisory / board roles to scale your impact.