eBook

From care to claim to payment

Why integrated clinical AI, not disjointed solutions, will define the future of revenue cycle

Every revenue cycle leader is living with the same tension: knowing where the revenue cycle needs to go, but not being able to get there fast enough.

A 2026 SmarterDx survey, in partnership with The Health Management Academy (THMA), uncovered that just 18% of healthcare RCM leaders described their mid-cycle as more proactive than reactive — yet 62% said they expected to shift it significantly upstream within three years.

‍Despite recognizing the need for a proactive approach, getting there doesn’t feel within reach for many leaders.And the clock is ticking. Payers have automated their offense faster than legacy mid-cycle infrastructure was ever built to absorb. For every quarter a system stays reactive, that gap widens. And with it, monumental costs grow.

A single, targeted solution alone can make positive strides to help health systems recover the revenue they’ve earned. But the gap doesn’t close with one disjointed tool at a time. It closes with a connected clinical intelligence platform that understands the full patient story and applies that intelligence across every revenue cycle workflow, from authorization to appeals.

  • The threat is concentrated, but the response requires a unified front.
  • AI adoption is a given. Deployment order is what matters. Start with a revenue integrity foundation.
  • You can't fix what you can't see.
  • AI augments; it doesn't replace.
  • ROI should be durable, with gains that compound over time rather than fade after the first year.

SmarterDx + The Health Management Academy survey (2026). [THMA] findings come from a survey of 81 revenue cycle leaders across U.S. health systems, supplemented by five in-depth C-suite interviews. Conducted by The Health Management Academy in partnership with SmarterDx.

‍Deloitte Insights Momentum Isn’t a Metric (Aug 2026) [Deloitte]

‍SmarterDx platform data. [SDx] findings reflect SmarterDx proprietary data and platform results.

Walk through what clinical AI surfaces in your own data.

Request a demo