Date Posted: Tuesday, July 30, 2024

 

More than 3,500 people at the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA)'s annual conference in late June heard from multiple speakers and panelists about the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and other innovative technologies in healthcare finance.

 

Yet attendees of the Las Vegas conference were also reminded of the ongoing importance to healthcare finance departments of operational best practices that help ensure optimal efficiency and data security.

 

Stabilizing the revenue cycle in the face of chronic understaffing and thin provider margins through the deployment of AI and automation was a theme that particularly resonated among healthcare finance professionals sitting in on keynote speeches and panel discussions.

 

“The engagement from the audience was palpable, signaling a collective readiness to embrace innovations for the betterment of our healthcare systems,” said Anurag Mehta, co-founder and CEO of Omega Healthcare, a technology and clinically enabled managed outsourcing solutions vendor. “We even discussed actual use cases of Gen AI in the back end of the rev cycle, amongst many topics around improving outcomes and cost reduction.”

 

Mehta sensed a strong desire among attendees for innovative solutions to revenue cycle issues.

 

“It's clear that traditional approaches no longer suffice, and we are seeing a pivotal shift towards leveraging automation technologies and outsourcing as practical, cost-effective solutions to the challenges that continue to plague the revenue cycle,” he said. “The landscape can be overwhelming for some, but the overall consensus is it's no longer optional during these times of significant financial strain."

 

To Kyle Hicok, chief commercial officer of R1, a revenue cycle platform provider, the HFMA show “underscored the transformative potential of AI in healthcare finance enhance efficiencies, elevate decision-making, and ultimately improve patient care outcomes.”

 

In addition to helping offset staffing shortages in the revenue cycle, Hicok said, AI is poised to optimize payor-provider interactions. “The innovations and insights from HFMA paint an exciting picture of what lies ahead for the healthcare finance sector, and I look forward to seeing what's on the horizon,” he said.

 

If the overarching goal of the conference was to educate and inform attendees about solutions for helping providers adapt to urgent challenges, Wayne Grodsky, SmarterDx chief commercial officer, said he got the message.

 

“In a time where teams are spread thin and hospitals are struggling to keep their doors open, my biggest takeaway is that embracing data, technology, and AI has the power to help solve problems that hospitals and health systems are facing,” he said.

 

As an example, Grodsky said, Prabhjot Grewal of Montefiore Health System emphasized during an AI Strategy in RCM Spotlight Session the importance of AI to “clinical documentation integrity (CDI) and health information management (HIM) teams.”

 

Cybersecurity was a top-of-mind topic at this year's HFMA meeting, according to Ryne Natzke, chief revenue officer of TrustCommerce, a financial technology company that works with some of the nation's largest health systems.

 

“While baseline precautions need to be taken, such as implementing multi-factor authentication, the general feeling was that the bad actors will continue to succeed in disrupting technical infrastructure,” Natzke said. “Being able to react, minimize the disruption, and get operational and clinical activity back to normal as quickly as possible is a key priority, especially in areas where there may only be one vendor in place.”

 

The desert heat may have been withering, but this year's HFMA gathering recharged the batteries of healthcare professionals in attendance. “I came away from the HFMA Annual Conference energized and inspired by our industry and had a great time catching up with our clients, colleagues, and partners,” SmarterDx's Grodsky said.

 

BC Advantage Contributor