What You Should Know
- FinThrive's 2026 Transformative Trends Report marks a historic turning point: for the first time, improving the patient experience has surpassed increasing revenue as the top strategic goal for healthcare financial leaders, with 71% identifying it as their primary focus.
- The shift indicates that leaders are moving away from short-term fixes toward AI-enabled platform consolidation and automation to drive long-term stability and workforce
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Revenue Cycle Management | News, Analysis, Insights - HIT Consultant
Zelis Acquires Rivet to Bring AI-Powered Analytics to 750+ Providers
What You Should Know
- Zelis, a global leader in healthcare financial modernization has acquired Rivet, a pioneer in revenue cycle analytics. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.
- The deal integrates Rivet’s AI-enabled analytics and intuitive dashboards directly into the Zelis platform, providing 750+ payers and millions of providers with actionable data to reduce denials, minimize "rework," and navigate rising regulatory complexity.
The Intelligence Layer:
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Abridge and Availity Partner to Automate Prior Authorization at the Point of Conversation
What You Should Know
- Abridge, the leader in clinical conversational AI, and Availity, the nation’s largest health information network, have launched a first-of-its-kind collaboration to automate prior authorization in real-time.
- By embedding Availity’s FHIR-native Intelligent Utilization Management solution into Abridge’s Contextual Reasoning Engine, the partnership aims to provide clinicians with visibility into coverage requirements and enable payer determinations during the
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Penguin Ai Launches Snowflake Native App to Automate HCC Risk Adjustment
What You Should Know
- Penguin Ai has announced the launch of its Hierarchical Condition Category (HCC) Coding & Risk Adjustment solution as a Snowflake Native App.
- By bringing its risk-adjustment intelligence directly into a customer’s Snowflake environment, Penguin Ai enables Medicare Advantage (MA) plans and risk-bearing providers to automate diagnosis extraction and improve Risk-Adjustment Factor (RAF) accuracy without moving or exposing sensitive patient data.
The "Data
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The 40% Difference: Why AI Must Anchor Your RCM Modernization Strategy in 2026
The Crisis Facing Healthcare Financial Leaders
Healthcare financial leaders are navigating an environment of unprecedented complexity. Your organization is caught between escalating operational costs and a relentless denial rate fueled by increasingly sophisticated payer tactics. The truth is, if your Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) is reliant on manual, legacy systems, you are accepting a permanent, self-inflicted fiscal vulnerability.
Industry data confirms this exposure: upwards of 10%
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Denial Management: Closing Gaps and Reducing Revenue Leakage
Revenue leakage on the front end and mid-cycle is an ongoing challenge for hospitals and health systems. Rather than taking a reactive approach to the problem, proactively collaborating among teams prior to admission helps providers avoid playing the blame game when their claims are denied after the fact.
By focusing on reducing the number of denials before a claim is submitted, rather than trying to eliminate denials after the fact, revenue cycle managers can save time and energy. Today’s AI
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From Confusion to Collections: How Unclear Billing Fuels the Medical Debt Crisis
Medical debt remains a significant burden for patients nationwide, with U.S. residents collectively owing an estimated $220 billion. Medical visits already bring emotional and financial stress, and confusing bills only make matters worse. When patients receive statements that they don’t understand, or multiple, fragmented bills, they’re left frustrated, less likely to pay on time, and are at greater risk of accumulating medical debt.
While the July 2025 ruling striking down the Consumer
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Beyond the Margin Squeeze: How Specialty Providers Use RCM Automation to Combat Rising Costs
Despite a recent uptick in margins, providers continue to face significant pressure on their revenue cycles as a result of potential reimbursement cuts, workforce recruitment challenges, and higher costs.
Providers in 2024 reported operating margins of 1.2%, up from -0.5% the prior year, according to a report from Fitch. Nonetheless, margins remain “well below” pre-pandemic levels, and looming federal cuts to Medicaid funding could be devastating for some providers.
Federal
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Kaufman Hall Report: Rising Non-Labor Costs and Payer Denials Squeeze Hospital Margins in 2025
What You Should Know:
- According to Kaufman Hall’s 2025 Health System Performance Outlook, hospitals are facing a "financial trifecta" of rising non-labor expenses, workforce instability, and aggressive payer reimbursement pressures.
- Nearly 60% of health systems reported non-labor cost increases of up to 10%, driven by inflation and tariffs, while 44% cited high claim denial rates as a top challenge. As bad debt rises and staffing levels tighten, the report urges leaders to
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Transparency Trap: Why Commercial Negotiated Hospital Rates Are Up to 32% Higher Than Cash Prices
What You Should Know:
- New analysis of Texas hospital price data reveals a transparency paradox: discounted cash prices for common services are often significantly lower than the rates hospitals negotiated with commercial insurers, according to a new research study from Trilliant Health.
- For diagnostic colonoscopies, the median cash price was 32% below the median negotiated rate. This disconnect means that employees on high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) and the employers who
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