Reach your revenue potential with next-gen RCM tools
Physician groups operate in a rapidly shifting reimbursement landscape. Delays, denials and inefficient workflows limit cash flow and distract from patient care. With the right strategy and tools, physician groups can turn RCM from a burden into a growth engine.
Solve 4 common physician group challenges
Successful RCM isn’t just about clean claims. It’s about tackling obstacles head-on. Explore these four common challenges physician groups face, along with practical, proven solutions that drive real results.
1. Payer delays and denials are straining cash flow.
Slow reimbursements and excessive denials are among the biggest revenue blockers for physician groups. They disrupt cash flow, increase administrative workload and weaken financial performance. High-deductible plans only add to the challenge by shifting more payment responsibility to patients.
Solution: Use key strengths, from quality of care and patient outcomes to patient volume and specialized services, to gain leverage and improve your negotiation power. This helps drive stronger financial results and influence payer behavior in your favor. Pair this with proactive denial management tools and pre-bill edits to catch errors early, reduce rework and speed up payment cycles. Finally, make patient payments simple with online bill pay, text-to-pay and automated reminders to boost collections and cut bad debt.
2. Staffing gaps are hurting efficiency and accuracy.
Ongoing RCM staff shortages and high turnover slow down processes, create costly errors and frustrate teams. Without the right support, even routine tasks can pile up fast, causing stress, delays and inefficiencies.
Solution: Automate repetitive, time-consuming work — like claim status checks and denial appeals — so staff can focus on higher-value tasks. Invest in training that helps employees understand the “why” behind their role to boost critical thinking, accuracy and engagement. The result is better productivity, higher retention and a team that can keep your revenue cycle moving.
3. Limited visibility into performance is holding you back.
When you can’t see what’s causing denials or delays, it’s nearly impossible to fix them. Many physician groups lack real-time visibility into payer patterns, operational bottlenecks and overall financial health.
Solution: Turn data into action with advanced analytics and real-time dashboards that spotlight problem areas before they escalate. Visualizing metrics like AR days, cash flow and denial rates makes it easier to make quick, informed decisions. Push exception-based alerts directly to process owners so issues get resolved fast, driving more predictable revenue and better operational performance.
4. Outdated tech is slowing everything down.
Manual processes and disconnected systems make revenue cycle management inefficient and reactive. Without the right technology, teams waste time chasing data instead of using it strategically.
Solution: Modernize your RCM with AI, intelligent automation and deep data analytics to streamline key functions—like predicting denials, verifying eligibility, generating appeals and retrieving medical records. Tools like the R1 Platform turn complex data into actionable insights, reduce administrative burden and accelerate cash flow.
Case Study: Collaborating for success
R1 partnered with an organization facing excessive denials and achieved significant results over five years:
- 80% increase in net revenue
- 73% increase in gross revenue
- 21% fewer AR days
- Better patient experiences
By focusing on analytics, technology and close collaboration, the organization strategically tackled its challenges and completely transformed its revenue cycle—achieving lasting success.
Seize new opportunities for growth
Now is the time to strengthen cash flow by addressing payer challenges, empowering your team, and embracing advanced analytics and automation. R1 helps physician groups do just that by combining proven RCM expertise, industry insights and tailored technology to deliver measurable results.
With proven revenue cycle strategies, you can simplify complex RCM processes, boost efficiency and focus on what matters most: delivering quality patient care.
For more insights, check out our on-demand webinar “How Physician Groups are Accelerating Revenue Cycle Results” here
Quick Wins to Boost Your RCM
To accelerate performance, consider these immediate actions:
- Audit denial trends. Identify recurring issues and deploy pre-bill edits to reduce denials.
- Invest in staff training. Create programs that teach the rationale behind RCM tasks to improve efficiency and accuracy.
- Leverage automation. Start small with targeted workflows, such as claim status checks or denial scrubbing.
- Unleash analytics. Use dashboards to track key performance indicators (KPIs) and identify opportunities for improvement.
Partner with R1
R1 partners with physician practices across all 50 states and more than 70 specialties. Our experts bring the experience, tools and insights you need to overcome revenue cycle challenges and unlock sustainable growth. Reach out to R1 today to discuss how we can help you tackle your tough RCM challenges.
Author: Robert Troksa
Robert Troksa is the Vice President/GM Office Based Physician Services at R1. He and his team partner with Independent Physician Groups across all aspects of RCM: Front, Middle and Back. He has 30+ years of extensive experience navigating complex, cross-functional environments in Physician RC
