What Medical Billing Leaders Want From AI-Driven RCM
A new report commissioned by Smarter Technologies and produced by MedCity News shows strong momentum for AI in revenue cycle management. More than 90% of surveyed billing professionals are interested in AI-enabled billing tools, prioritizing bill collection, patient financial services, and payer communication.
The message is clear: teams are ready for automation that reduces friction across the billing lifecycle. Leaders who move first will reduce costs, accelerate cash flow, and give staff time back for higher-value work.
Who Was Surveyed
The survey captured feedback from 125 medical billing executives and support staff - from CFOs to billing managers. Respondents work across organizations of all sizes, from practices with fewer than 5,000 annual discharges to large hospitals with more than 10,000.
Experience levels skew senior: 55% have six or more years in healthcare. About half work at hospitals with 5,000-10,000 discharges per year, 26% at organizations with more than 10,000, and the rest under 5,000.
What Billing Teams Want Fixed
Across the responses, the pattern is consistent: the status quo is fragmented. Manual follow-ups, payer back-and-forth, and patient billing clarity are the biggest drains on time and cash.
The top asks for AI: speed collections, support patient financial services, and simplify payer communication. In plain terms - faster payments, fewer denials, and clearer next steps for staff and patients.
About Smarter Technologies
Smarter Technologies is an automation platform for hospitals and health systems. It brings together three companies: Access Healthcare (RCM services), Thoughtful.ai (AI revenue cycle automation), and SmarterDx (clinical insights AI) - all recently acquired by New Mountain Capital.
To gauge market readiness, Smarter Technologies launched The AI Index in RCM survey to understand interest and priority use cases straight from the people doing the work.
Where AI Can Deliver Quick Wins
- Bill collection: prioritize accounts, recommend next best action, and automate follow-ups.
- Payer communication: automate status checks, appeal packaging, and documentation assembly.
- Patient financial services: estimate out-of-pocket costs, clarify statements, and trigger reminders.
- Denial prevention: surface documentation gaps and coding inconsistencies before submission.
- Coding QA: flag anomalies and route complex cases for expert review.
- Payment posting and reconciliation: reduce manual data entry and matching errors.
What Leaders Should Do Next
- Define the target metrics: days in A/R, denial rate, cost to collect, DNFB, patient pay rate.
- Pilot narrow use cases first (e.g., claim status checks or self-pay outreach) with a 60-90 day timeline.
- Set data prerequisites: clean payer mappings, standardized reason codes, and audit trails.
- Vet vendors for EHR/RPA integration, explainability, HIPAA compliance, and measurable ROI.
- Train staff on new workflows and escalation paths; pair automation with clear accountability.
- Institute weekly reviews on throughput, exceptions, and cash acceleration to lock in gains.
If you need a quick refresher on revenue cycle fundamentals and performance benchmarks, resources from the Healthcare Financial Management Association can help. HFMA Revenue Cycle Resources.
Upskill Your Team
If you're building AI fluency across operations and finance, consider structured training paths for managers and analysts. Explore curated programs by job role here: Complete AI Training - Courses by Job.
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