AI in Healthcare Billing: The Untold Challenges of Automating Revenue Cycle Management

In this episode of Vital Conversations, Tim Coan sits down with Dena Langan, VP of Revenue Cycle at Frontier Dermatology, to talk about the real-world challenges of automating healthcare RevCycle processes. From coding complexities and payer contracts to prior authorizations, denials, and reporting, Dena shares why some automation promises fall short—and where AI has real potential to make a difference.

00:00 – Welcome to Vital Conversations with Tim Coan & Dena Langan
01:00 – Dena’s background & Frontier Dermatology’s scale
02:35 – AI’s growing role in healthcare RevCycle
03:50 – The goal of automation: freeing humans from tedious tasks
04:40 – Why coding accuracy still needs human oversight
05:50 – The impact of AMA’s 2020 coding rule changes
07:10 – Could ambient listening scribes be the answer?
09:00 – Optimism for AI-driven coding improvements
09:35 – The challenge of automating contract loading
11:25 – Why eligibility & prior auth automation is still tricky
12:48 – The complexities of automating denials & appeals
14:14 – Reporting and analytics: manual bottlenecks
15:18 – Dena’s 12-month automation wish list
16:10 – Closing thoughts on the future of RevCycle automation