Hospitals and health systems are navigating unprecedented financial and operational pressures, from clinical burnout to increasing denials and documentation burdens.
A recent session at Becker’s Health IT + Digital Health + RCM Meeting in Chicago highlighted how three leading systems are transforming the revenue cycle using ambient, context-aware AI.
Leaders from Houston-based Memorial Hermann Health System, Nashville, Tenn.-based Ardent Health Services and Boise, Idaho-based St. Luke’s Health System joined Ambience Healthcare’s Chris Samples to share how they’ve leveraged AI to address administrative inefficiencies, improve documentation accuracy and restore balance to provider workflows.
Here are four key takeaways from their discussion.
1. AI’s clear ROI
For St. Luke’s Health System, the tipping point wasn’t financial, it was human. Megan Stright, chief operating officer of service lines, described how escalating administrative demands pushed many physicians to the brink.
Ambient AI changed that. With 80% utilization of ambient AI, St. Luke’s clinicians saw a 34% drop in charting after hours and a 0.6 increase in daily patient visits, without being asked to take on more.
“What you can do as a leadership team is understanding how those things fit together,” said Ms. Stright. “Look at the ROI and think about the investments, about six months ago we were just short of a $12,000 annual uplift per physician and clinician. It’s at $14,000 now which more than covers the investment for us as a health system.”
Memorial Hermann saw similar benefits. The organization experienced a 54% decrease in work outside of work and a 32% drop in time in chart.
“We haven’t seen that kind of change with any other initiative that we’ve implemented,” said Hina Pandya, MD, associate vice president of medical operations at Memorial Hermann. “What we have seen and heard is that we have better retention of our physicians.”
2. Improving the revenue cycle
Although these systems first pursued AI to ease documentation burdens, the revenue impacts quickly became clear. Eloy Sena, associate vice president of value-based contracts and operations at Ardent, explained that ambient documentation began surfacing more complete and accurate coding.
“We were at five-and-a-half diagnoses per visit, now we’re at roughly 12 or 13,” said Mr. Sena. “We’re now having to figure out a process to automate supplemental billing for the amount of data we’re capturing.”
Memorial Hermann also noted a sharp improvement in timely claim filing. In a specific case, a Memorial Hermann internist saw coding accuracy jump from 50% to 100% after adopting Ambience.
3. Enterprise adoption demands governance
Each system credited strong clinical leadership and cross-functional involvement for successful implementation. At Ardent, the CMIO led the charge before the organizations included population health, coding, and legal. The goal was to involve every stakeholder at the table.
For Ms. Stright, what began as a small pilot has grown into a large-scale initiative, with nearly 900 clinicians across 96 specialties now using the platform. The health system expects that number to reach 1,000 by the end of the year. As adoption has expanded, the technology has also been integrated into other areas, including revenue cycle operations, prompting the need and reflection on what long-term governance of AI tools should look like across the system.
“This environment is so rapidly evolving, that it has challenged us to think beyond a project structure and what actual governance in our health system looks like,” Ms. Stright said. “If we don’t manage these resources well or introduce them thoughtfully, we stand to create a mess.”
4. Flexibility and partnership drive utilization at scale
For all three health systems, a close partnership with Ambience was critical. Dr. Pandya stressed the importance of maintaining open communication and partnering with a vendor that evolves alongside the organization.
When evaluating an AI partner, Mr. Sena said it’s important to prioritize collaboration and adaptability. A strong partnership involves a vendor that listens to feedback and is willing to adjust alongside the organization. Ardent’s teams have reported consistent support and responsiveness from Ambience Healthcare, noting that requests for updates or enhancements are often met with flexibility and a willingness to explore new solutions.
“As we evolve, we’re doing it thoughtfully in a planned way,” Ms. Stright said. “We took a very hand in glove approach to onboarding our physicians. It was one-on-one and very thoughtfully done. Now we’re evolving that concept just at scale as a large healthcare system.”
The post From burden to breakthrough: How 3 systems are redefining RCM with ambient AI appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.
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