In the Age of AI, Great RCM Still Starts with World-Class Customer Service

AI is rapidly changing revenue cycle management (RCM). It can quickly analyze enormous volumes of data, identify patterns that humans might miss and automate work that once consumed hours or even days of staff time.

At the same time, healthcare organizations need more than out-of-the-box AI technology to ensure RCM success. They need a partner that understands their challenges, knows the complexities of the revenue cycle and uses data along with deep expertise to determine what actions to take next.

In other words, as RCM becomes more technologically advanced, the human side of the partnership often matters more, not less. That’s especially true in complex areas such as underpayment recovery and denials, where identifying an issue is only part of the job. Organizations need expertise to understand why an underpayment or denial happened, determine how to recover revenue and help prevent the same problem from happening again. 

RCM Requires More Than a Traditional Vendor

RCM has never been a set-it-and-forget-it proposition. Reimbursement policies change. Payer behavior evolves. New challenges emerge. And when millions of dollars in revenue may be at stake, healthcare organizations can’t afford to wait for answers or work with a partner that only delivers technology and leaves the rest to them.

That partner should stay engaged, have experience in customers’ business, respond when challenges arise and bring ideas forward proactively. High-touch support means combining responsiveness with deep RCM expertise, ongoing communication and a shared commitment to results.

Technology Changes. The Need for Expertise Doesn’t.

Revenue cycle leaders have always had to adapt. For instance, several decades ago, teams might have pulled managed care contracts from hospital basements to validate payment accuracy on claims. Today, AI can extract contract terms, analyze data and help identify payment variances at a scale that would once have been unimaginable.

Tools have changed dramatically. The need for knowledgeable people behind them hasn’t.

At R1, that expertise comes from professionals who have spent years and sometimes decades working alongside healthcare organizations and understanding revenue cycle challenges firsthand. That experience shapes how R1 supports customers and the technology we develop.

The result is a model in which AI and human expertise reinforce each other. For underpayment recovery, for example, R1 uses AI to review contract terms and remittance rate data, while human-in-the-loop validation helps ensure quality, accuracy and high-touch support. R1’s experts then put those insights to work by identifying payment variance and resolving contractual underpayments.

Turning Customer Experiences Into Better Technology

Customer conversations don’t just help R1 deliver better service. They shape what R1 builds next.

R1 experts and executives work directly with healthcare organizations. That experience gives them firsthand knowledge of the challenges customers face and the technology, services and support they need. Ongoing communication with customers keeps those needs front and center as R1 develops new capabilities.

One result is R1’s investment in AI-assisted contract modeling. For a recent customer, the modeling enabled R1 to establish pricing coverage for 70% of commercial net patient revenue within thirty days of go-live, spanning multiple account types, plan types, payers and facilities representing more than $3 billion in net patient revenue. Without AI, this process would have taken months.

This is an example of what’s possible when service-enabled technology development begins with an understanding of the people who will use it and the problems they need to solve.

What Does a Great RCM Partnership Look Like?

One strong measure of a successful RCM partnership is what customers themselves say. R1 has earned repeated recognition from KLAS for its revenue cycle solutions, including Best in KLAS recognition for Underpayment Recovery Services in 2026. This designation is based entirely on feedback from providers and payers about their experiences with RCM services.

That feedback highlights something technology metrics alone can’t capture: the value of collaboration.

“The firm’s executive involvement has been at the next level. A couple of the higher-ups have been very involved from the beginning, and they have served as thought partners with me related to driving strategic shifts in the way we are approaching and prioritizing the work,” according to a VP/Other Executive in December 2025.

Similarly, a director noted in June 2025 that, “R1 RCM is really good about the feedback loop, and they provide information that can help us identify the areas of opportunity and put some things in place within our system.”

That feedback loop matters. Recovering an underpayment delivers immediate financial value, while helping a customer understand its root cause creates an opportunity to prevent future revenue leakage.

The impact can be significant. R1 currently recovers more than $850 million annually for underpayment recovery customers, with revenue collection beginning in as little as 75 days. For one large regional health system, more than $45 million in revenue was recovered in the first six years of its partnership with R1, while its underpayment exposure rate decreased by 45%.

Keep the Human Connection at the Center

AI will continue to transform healthcare revenue management. The technology RCM teams use a year from now will almost certainly be more capable than what they use today.

But as technology gets smarter, RCM doesn’t have to become less human. Done well, technology gives experts more time and better information to understand problems, work alongside customers, and find better ways forward.

That’s why R1 combines technology and human expertise to help healthcare organizations recover earned revenue today while building a stronger revenue cycle for tomorrow.