Ingenious Med funded research that reveals healthcare leaders believe AI holds powerful potential to optimize revenue cycles.

82% of financial healthcare executives say AI in the revenue cycle will be important for addressing pressing revenue cycle management (RCM) problems, and nearly two-thirds (60%) are already anticipating that AI will be widespread in RCM moving forward. 

But our research also shows that three-quarters of participating healthcare provider organizations are currently relying on their EHR or in-house solutions to manage their revenue cycles, rather than specialized RCM software. Complicating matters even more, hospitals and health systems on average operate EHRs from 18 different vendors, when taking into account all affiliated providers across inpatient and outpatient settings. 

The sheer number of EHR vendors at health systems and the persistent lack of interoperability, in fact, are rendering systems and data as siloed at 67% of hospitals and challenging revenue cycle strategies, a HIMSS survey demonstrates. Almost all (98%) of hospital leaders participating in the HIMSS study say accessing data for reimbursement is either extremely (33%) or moderately (65%) challenging.

Among 108 C-suite executives who Sage Growth Partners independently surveyed, nearly half (48%) say their health system or hospital is seeking RCM tools outside their EHR, and 30% are “exploring” AI and automation use cases in the revenue cycle.

In contrast, equipping revenue cycle teams with the right EHR-agnostic point-of-care tools and data analytics can extend EHR capabilities so clinicians practice care more effectively, streamline efficiencies, improve performance, and manage costs for a better return on the investment.

The time to move toward specialized RCM tools is now: C-Suite leaders rank revenue cycle solutions among their top five digital health priorities for the next 12 months. That’s according to new independent research from healthcare consultancy Sage Growth Partners, which also illustrates that 69% of C-suite leaders say financial sustainability is their top challenge in the next year, and 57% indicate that growing revenue is a top strategic initiative. 

Our own Ingenious Med research finds that the top benefits among those now using AI are better financial health and greater efficiency — and respondents expect their organization would increase revenue by at least 25% when employing AI in the revenue cycle. 

To learn more about how Ingenious Med can serve as the central point of business insights across multiple EHRs, schedule a demo today.