Agentic AI in healthcare: The devil is in the workflow
As a wave of agentic AI solutions sweeps into healthcare enterprises, healthcare leadership is determined to harness its full power. AI promises to transform health enterprises. But whether the results meet expectations depends crucially upon how it is implemented. As Stuart Winter-Tear recently warned, we are not installing agents, we are redesigning work.a If we…
Patient-facing innovation requires a new approach to ROI
When Jefferson Health introduced an AI voice agent to close gaps in mammography screenings, leaders anticipated it would boost screening rates. What they didn’t expect was that patients would prefer the AI agent to a human caller. Two weeks after the agent, “Ava,” launched this past May, “We had one patient who said, ‘I really…
Revenue cycle AI demands a tougher set of questions
AI is gaining ground in the revenue cycle faster than the strategies needed to govern and deploy it, a recent study from UPMC and KLAS Research found. ‘ “Interviewed leaders said the biggest barriers to executing an AI strategy are not a lack of interest or perceived value. Instead, many organizations struggle to create the…
Ken Perez: Potential downsides of healthcare’s growing dependence on AI
In a recent guest essay for The New York Times, Stanford University senior Theo Baker says, “AI is everything. …. Nearly all of higher education has been overtaken by this technology.”a Healthcare is also being overtaken by AI. Hospitals and health systems are rapidly adopting AI to streamline operations and improve clinical decision-making. According to…
Frictionless payment, post-claim resolution and the move to value
HFMA Senior Editor Erika Grotto shares conversations with three sponsors from HFMA’s Annual Conference. This episode includes: * Adam Cartabiano from Knowtion Health talking about post-claim resolution and AI in the revenue cycle. * Jessica Gerow from Zelis discussing payment modernization that goes beyond ACH. * Jeffrey Palmieri and Cindy Clark from Huntington Bank share…
Why hospitals and health systems are trimming vendors from their AI roster
Hospitals and health systems’ relationship with AI is getting more refined as industry executives figure out what they want and don’t want from the software. For hospital and health system executives, that means identifying when their ROI in a given AI application is good enough to keep it in use, and depending on the use,…
David Johnson: The biology of AI and its role in the survival of healthcare
There’s no denying my title for this column is absurd. AI is bloodless. It has no flesh and bone. Beneath the “skin” of large language models, predictive algorithms and other AI manifestations are endless streams of numeric codes. Unlike biological creatures that are born, reproduce and die, AI produces outputs that are inert and can…
5 keys to enhancing automation, expanding capacity and improving efficiency to reduce costs
Healthcare organizations in 2026 are operating under sustained financial strain. Margins remain compressed, workforce shortages continue, payer requirements are more complex and patient financial responsibility has increased. At the same time, many revenue cycle operations still rely on fragmented systems and manual processes that limit efficiency and delay cash flow. The traditional, reactive revenue cycle…
Predict, prevent, perform: The AI evolution of denials management
Healthcare providers continue to face escalating denial rates that erode financial performance and operational capacity. In 2025, denial rates averaged near 12%, with many organizations experiencing even higher volumes — each percentage point representing millions of dollars tied up in unresolved claims. The growing volume and complexity of denials are no longer manageable with legacy,…
A key antitrust case against providers, plus the marriage of patient experience and AI
Nick Hut and Shawn Stack discuss the latest in healthcare finance news. Erika Grotto talks with Jonathan Wiik of FinThrive about how a great patient experience and AI can go together. Also in this episode, a fond farewell to Shawn as he departs the podcast and HFMA.