On this episode of the MGMA Insights Podcast Network, host and senior editor Daniel Williams sits down with Kevin Barron, vice president of payer relations at University Health in San Antonio. The conversation explores the realities of payer contracting, from aligning internal priorities to navigating underpayments and denials, along with how integrated contracting and revenue cycle strategies can drive better outcomes. 

Barron also shares how AI is reshaping contract review workflows and why relationships — not just numbers — define success at the negotiating table ... with a few fun detours into Spurs basketball and Disney along the way.

Key Takeaways:

• Rates aren’t the whole story — While reimbursement rates matter, contract language, policies, and operational requirements often have a greater long-term financial impact.
• Consistency across stakeholders is critical — Successful negotiations begin with internal alignment across finance, physicians, and operations on what truly matters.
• Live the contract after signing — Negotiations may take months, but organizations must manage and monitor performance for years afterward.
• An integrated approach strengthens results — Combining contracting, auditing, and contract management under revenue cycle enables better accountability and performance tracking.
• Underpayments often stem from outdated data — Frequent payer fee schedule updates require constant monitoring and system alignment to prevent payment discrepancies.
• Denials management requires proactive strategy — Grouping, trending, and assigning accountability for denials can help identify root causes and drive improvement.
• Relationships drive negotiation success — Understanding payer constraints and communication styles leads to more productive, balanced agreements.
• AI is a force multiplier — Tools are dramatically reducing contract redlining time and increasing consistency, freeing teams to focus on strategy and relationships.

Resources

• Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn. 
• Never Split the Difference by Christopher Voss
• Epic Resolute Billing System 
• MGMA Payer Contract Playbook
• MGMA Analyzing Payer Contracts Playbook
• MGMA DataDive (Signature benchmarking resource)
• "The race for more revenue in medical groups: What’s your gameplan?" (MGMA Stat article)
• MGMA Annual Conference |  Sept. 27-30 | San Antonio, TX

Sponsors:

Your staff is buried in phone calls. Patients are frustrated. And you're losing revenue to no-shows. There's a better way. GoTo Connect for Healthcare is a unified, AI-powered communication platform built to support your HIPAA compliance, streamline scheduling, reduce staff burden, and help your team do more with less. Because when communication works, care works. Learn more and get a personalized demo.

Allied Medical Waste is the premier medical waste and document shredding company for medical groups all over the United States. On average, Allied helps medical groups save up to 50% on their monthly costs. Allied is known for their great service and impeccable response times. Reach out today for a free quote! Allied has a special offer for all MGMA members: the first 2 months FREE of charge! Connect with us at [email protected] or call (801) 328-8581. 

On this episode of the MGMA Insights Podcast, host and senior editor Daniel Williams sits down with Sarah Waters, PhD, founder of 50 West and a behavioral scientist trained at the London School of Economics. They explore how behavioral science can reshape patient engagement, reduce no-shows, improve medication adherence, and drive meaningful change in clinical outcomes. Sarah shares practical strategies for identifying patient barriers, reframing communication, and designing systems that help both patients and care teams follow through.

Key Takeaways:

• Knowing isn’t enough — design for doing: Patients (and clinicians) often know what they should do, but behavior change requires intentional system design, not just more information or reminders.
• No-shows are predictable — and preventable: Long scheduling lead times increase no-show risk. Practices can reduce this by tightening scheduling windows, analyzing patterns by day/time, and proactively addressing barriers at booking.
• Ask better questions upfront: Instead of asking “When are you available?”, ask “What days don’t work for you?” — this subtle shift prompts patients to consider real-life constraints earlier.
• Move beyond “corporate nagging”: Repetitive reminders without context lead to disengagement. Understanding why a patient isn’t showing up (transportation, fear, misunderstanding) enables more effective, targeted outreach.
• Small barriers become big obstacles: Minor uncertainties — like not knowing what a procedure involves — can feel overwhelming. Address emotional and logistical friction early to prevent dropout.
• Stories outperform statistics: Data may inform, but narratives stick. Sharing relatable patient experiences can help demystify procedures like colonoscopies and mammograms.
• Habit formation drives long-term outcomes: Programs that reduce ER visits and hospitalizations focus upstream — building simple, repeatable behaviors (e.g., daily monitoring) that compound over time.
• Medication adherence needs systems, not willpower: Pair medications with existing routines (like brushing teeth) and create backup plans for disruptions to improve consistency.

Resources:

• Connect with Sarah Waters, PhD, on LinkedIn
• 50 West Consulting
• MGMA Insights Podcast Network 
• "Patient no-shows in 2025: What’s changing and what to do about it" (MGMA Stat article)
• MGMA Events: Conferences and Webinars 
• Register for the MGMA Annual Conference (September 27-30, 2026 | San Antonio, TX)

Email us at [email protected] if you would like to appear on an episode. If you have a question about your practice that you would like us to answer, send an email to [email protected]. Don't forget to subscribe to our network wherever you get your podcasts!

Sponsors:

Your staff is buried in phone calls. Patients are frustrated. And you're losing revenue to no-shows. There's a better way. GoTo Connect for Healthcare is a unified, AI-powered communication platform built to support your HIPAA compliance, streamline scheduling, reduce staff burden, and help your team do more with less. Because when communication works, care works. Learn more and get a personalized demo.

Allied Medical Waste is the premier medical waste and document shredding company for medical groups all over the United States. On average, Allied helps medical groups save up to 50% on their monthly costs. Allied is known for their great service and impeccable response times. Reach out today for a free quote! Allied has a special offer for all MGMA members: the first 2 months FREE of charge! Connect with us at [email protected] or call (801) 328-8581. 

On this episode of the MGMA Insights Podcast, host and senior editor Daniel Williams sits down with longtime MGMA leader and senior editor Cristy Good for a wide-ranging conversation about MGMA’s 100th anniversary, the evolution of Ask an Advisor, and how members can better navigate MGMA’s growing library of tools, playbooks, and communities. 

Drawing on her background in lab science, practice management, and hospital operations, Good shares how her real-world experience shapes the resources MGMA builds — and how members can use them to solve everyday operational challenges while also prioritizing professional growth and well-being.

Episode Takeaways

• Good’s career path — from laboratory test development to physician practices and hospitals — informs her hands-on approach to supporting MGMA members with practical, real-world solutions.
• Ask an Advisor remains a key member benefit, often resulting in custom-built tools, checklists, calculators, and even policies when existing resources don’t fully address a question.
• MGMA playbooks are designed to consolidate articles, tools, reports, and guidance into a single, step-by-step roadmap for major topic areas like physician compensation, recruitment, and AI implementation.
• Playbooks help members move from “What do we do next?” to a clearer action plan, with hyperlinks that reduce the need to search across multiple parts of the MGMA website.
• The MGMA member community is a powerful peer-to-peer resource, especially for vendor selection, revenue cycle questions, staffing challenges, and operational benchmarking.
• Ask AI and Ask an Advisor serve different purposes — Ask AI surfaces existing MGMA content, while Ask an Advisor routes more complex or unmet questions directly to subject matter experts.
• Professional development opportunities such as ACMPE, fellowship, and virtual conferences like the MGMA Summit offer flexible ways to earn credits and deepen expertise.
• Wellness matters — from mindfulness and meditation to community-building activities and even fostering rescue animals, sustainable leadership requires attention to life outside of work.

Resources Mentioned

• Connect with Cristy Good on LinkedIn
• Ask an Advisor (MGMA)
• MGMA Playbooks
• MGMA Member Tools and Checklists
• MGMA Member Community
• 2026 MGMA Summit (virtual conference)
• ACMPE Fellowship Information

Mindfulness and Wellness Apps Mentioned

• Headspace
• Insight Timer
• Calm

Email us at [email protected] if you would like to appear on an episode. If you have a question about your practice that you would like us to answer, send an email to [email protected]. Don’t forget to subscribe to our network wherever you get your podcasts!

Sponsors:

Your staff is buried in phone calls. Patients are frustrated. And you're losing revenue to no-shows. There's a better way. GoTo Connect for Healthcare is a unified, AI-powered communication platform built to support your HIPAA compliance, streamline scheduling, reduce staff burden, and help your team do more with less. Because when communication works, care works. Learn more and get a personalized demo.

Allied Medical Waste is the premier medical waste and document shredding company for medical groups all over the United States. On average, Allied helps medical groups save up to 50% on their monthly costs. Allied is known for their great service and impeccable response times. Reach out today for a free quote! Allied has a special offer for all MGMA members: the first 2 months FREE of charge! Connect with us at [email protected] or call (801) 328-8581. 

On this episode of the MGMA Insights Podcast, host and senior editor Daniel Williams sits down with Jennifer Sanchez and Liz Gurley, data experts at MGMA, to kick off a limited series focused on MGMA data — how it’s collected, how it’s used, and how medical groups can apply it with confidence.

The conversation starts with one of MGMA’s most widely used — and most frequently misunderstood — datasets: MGMA Provider Compensation. Together, they unpack what DataDive is (and isn’t), how benchmarking really works, why percentiles cause so much confusion, and how leaders can use compensation and productivity data to support providers without turning benchmarks into prescriptions.

Episode Takeaways

• What MGMA DataDive actually is — A national benchmarking platform built from annual survey data across private practices, health systems, and large organizations, designed to help groups compare compensation, productivity, and financial performance against true peers.
• Why provider compensation data is often misunderstood — MGMA does not tell practices what they should pay or produce; the data provides context and comparison, not mandates or targets.
• How organizations really use the data — From contract negotiations and physician recruitment to internal KPI tracking, productivity analysis, and leadership decision-making across multiple roles.
• Why the data lags by a year — and why that matters — Annualized, validated data allows for accuracy, consistency, and meaningful peer comparison, even if it’s not real-time.
• Percentiles explained without the math headache — The 50th percentile is simply the median, not a goalpost. Half of organizations fall above it, half below it, and neither position is inherently good or bad.
• There is no “right” percentile — Compensation philosophy varies by organization, specialty, geography, provider tenure, and strategy. Best practice is starting at the median and asking why you fall where you do.
• Why compensation and productivity must be viewed together — Looking at total compensation without work RVUs, encounters, or collections can lead to misleading conclusions and unproductive conversations.
• Tools that make benchmarking actionable — Features like the Provider Report Card, pay-to-production plotter, and upcoming Procedural Profile Platform help practices move from raw data to informed discussions and strategy.

Resources

• Connect with Liz Gurley on LinkedIn
• Connect with Jennifer Sanchez on LinkedIn 
• MGMA DataDive Collection 
• MGMA Provider Compensation Data 
• MGMA Procedural Profile 
• MGMA Podcast Network

Email us at [email protected] if you would like to appear on an episode. If you have a question about your practice that you would like us to answer, send an email to [email protected]. Don’t forget to subscribe to our network wherever you get your podcasts!

Sponsors:

Your staff is buried in phone calls. Patients are frustrated. And you're losing revenue to no-shows. There's a better way. GoTo Connect for Healthcare is a unified, AI-powered communication platform built to support your HIPAA compliance, streamline scheduling, reduce staff burden, and help your team do more with less. Because when communication works, care works. Learn more and get a personalized demo.

Allied Medical Waste is the premier medical waste and document shredding company for medical groups all over the United States. On average, Allied helps medical groups save up to 50% on their monthly costs. Allied is known for their great service and impeccable response times. Reach out today for a free quote! Allied has a special offer for all MGMA members: the first 2 months FREE of charge! Connect with us at [email protected] or call (801) 328-8581. 

On this episode of the MGMA Insights Podcast, host and senior editor Daniel Williams sits down with Tara Ossek, Senior Vice President of Recruiting at Jackson Physician Search, and Matt Phillips, Managing Director at City Capital Advisors to examine the growing pressure points reshaping physician partnership models and private practice ownership.

Drawing from conversations with physicians and practice leaders across the country, Tara and Matt discuss why recruiting and ownership strategy can no longer happen in separate silos. They break down what today’s physician candidates actually want from partnership, why vague promises around buy-ins and governance are falling flat, and how practices that delay succession and ownership planning risk losing both recruits and long-term stability.

Episode takeaways

• Early-career physicians still value partnership, but they evaluate it like a business decision — weighing debt, lifestyle, governance, and risk alongside compensation.
• Vague language like “great partnership track” no longer resonates; candidates expect specific timelines, costs, expectations, and outcomes.
• Ownership conversations often happen too late, triggered by looming retirements or recruiting crises rather than proactive planning.
• Practices can’t maximize retiring partner payouts, keep buy-ins affordable, and reinvest heavily in growth at the same time — trade-offs are unavoidable and must be acknowledged.
• Confusion arises when practices defer ownership discussions or oversell partnership benefits that don’t align with contract language.
• Modern ownership structures — including LLCs, MSOs, and hybrid models — offer far more flexibility than traditional models, if practices are willing to reexamine legacy assumptions.
• A written, transparent FAQ addressing buy-in, timing, economics, governance, and exit scenarios can significantly improve recruiting outcomes.
• Succession planning and physician leadership development are no longer optional — they are foundational to long-term independence and stability.

Resources

• Connect with Tara on LinkedIn
• Connect with Matt on LinkedIn
• Jackson Physician Search 
• City Capital Advisors
• "Is your practice telling the best story it can for physician partner recruitment?" (MGMA Insights Article - RE: Jackson Physician Report) 
• "The significance of the partnership agreement in private practice and trends in medical practice ownership" (MGMA Insights Article)
• MGMA Conferences
• MGMA DataDive

Email us at [email protected] if you would like to appear on an episode. If you have a question about your practice that you would like us to answer, send an email to [email protected]. Don’t forget to subscribe to our network wherever you get your podcasts!

Sponsors:

Your staff is buried in phone calls. Patients are frustrated. And you're losing revenue to no-shows. There's a better way. GoTo Connect for Healthcare is a unified, AI-powered communication platform built to support your HIPAA compliance, streamline scheduling, reduce staff burden, and help your team do more with less. Because when communication works, care works. Learn more and get a personalized demo.

Allied Medical Waste is the premier medical waste and document shredding company for medical groups all over the United States. On average, Allied helps medical groups save up to 50% on their monthly costs. Allied is known for their great service and impeccable response times. Reach out today for a free quote! Allied has a special offer for all MGMA members: the first 2 months FREE of charge! Connect with us at [email protected] or call (801) 328-8581. 

On this episode of the MGMA Insights Podcast, host and senior editor Daniel Williams has a wide‑ranging conversation with Pat Kroken — MGMA Fellow, healthcare communications leader, and competitive powerlifter — about resilience, career reinvention, and the unexpected paths that shape leadership in healthcare. 

From books and community learning to recovering from a life‑altering injury and competing on the world stage, Pat shares stories and lessons that resonate far beyond titles or job descriptions.

Episode Takeaways

• A lifelong love of reading can become a professional advantage — especially when paired with community discussion and shared perspectives, as seen in the MGMA Book Club.
• Careers in healthcare don’t always begin with a plan — sometimes they begin with a phone call, transferable skills, and the willingness to say yes.
• MGMA involvement at the state and national levels can accelerate learning, expand professional networks, and open leadership opportunities early in a healthcare career.
• The FACMPE provides structure, credibility, and confidence — particularly for professionals entering healthcare from other industries.
• Resilience is often learned through adversity; trusting the process can be essential when navigating injury, recovery, or major life transitions.
• Strength training and competitive powerlifting taught discipline, risk‑taking, and mental toughness that translated directly into leadership and career growth.
• Community learning — whether through book discussions or professional associations — offers insights and perspectives that individual study alone cannot provide.
• Pushing personal limits, even without a clear end goal, can unlock opportunities and capabilities you never imagined possible.

Related Resources 

• Connect with Pat on LinkedIn
• USA Powerlifting (USAPL) - the organization Pat competed with
• The Resilience Factor by Karen Reivich, PhD, and Andrew Shatté, PhD
• MGMA Book Club
• FACMPE certification  
• MGMA Podcast Network

Email us at [email protected] if you would like to appear on an episode. If you have a question about your practice that you would like us to answer, send an email to [email protected]. Don’t forget to subscribe to our network wherever you get your podcasts!

Sponsors:

Your staff is buried in phone calls. Patients are frustrated. And you're losing revenue to no-shows. There's a better way. GoTo Connect for Healthcare is a unified, AI-powered communication platform built to support your HIPAA compliance, streamline scheduling, reduce staff burden, and help your team do more with less. Because when communication works, care works. Learn more and get a personalized demo.

Allied Medical Waste is the premier medical waste and document shredding company for medical groups all over the United States. On average, Allied helps medical groups save up to 50% on their monthly costs. Allied is known for their great service and impeccable response times. Reach out today for a free quote! Allied has a special offer for all MGMA members: the first 2 months FREE of charge! Connect with us at [email protected] or call (801) 328-8581. 

On this episode of the MGMA Insights Podcast, host and senior editor Daniel Williams sits down with Melanie Stohl, director of pediatrics for the Pediatric Service Line at M Health Fairview and current chair of the Minnesota MGMA board. Melanie shares her leadership journey — from revenue cycle beginnings to executive-level leadership — and reflects on guiding teams through organizational transition, community crisis, and ongoing change while keeping patients, staff, and mission at the center of the work.

Episode takeaways

• Melanie Stohl’s career path highlights the power of lifelong learning, including earning her bachelor’s degree later in life and completing a healthcare-focused MBA while leading large, complex teams.
• Hands-on experience across front desk operations, coding, credentialing, rooming, and leadership roles gave Melanie a system-wide perspective — helping her anticipate downstream impacts and advocate for smarter operational decisions.
• At M Health Fairview, Melanie oversees pediatric specialty care across roughly 27 specialties and multiple clinic entities, balancing hospital-based and freestanding clinic models.
• Melanie discusses leading teams through significant organizational change as University of Minnesota Physicians transitioned employment structures, emphasizing transparency, listening, and anchoring teams to the shared mission.
• During periods of community unrest, daily leadership huddles, open forums, and frequent communication helped create psychological safety — even when leaders didn’t yet have answers.
• Patient safety and access remained a priority, with teams quickly adapting through virtual visits, alternate locations, and flexible workflows when patients felt unsafe traveling to certain sites.
• As chair of Minnesota MGMA, Melanie is focused on growing a small but mighty chapter through monthly “power hours,” in-person engagement, and creating space for candid peer-to-peer learning.
• A consistent theme throughout the conversation is servant leadership — showing up as human first, leader second, and trusting that culture and purpose carry teams through uncertainty.

Resources

• Connect with Melanie on LinkedIn
• MGMA Membership and Communities
• MGMA Education and Events
• MGMA Insights Podcast Network

Email us at [email protected] if you would like to appear on an episode. If you have a question about your practice that you would like us to answer, send an email to [email protected]. Don't forget to subscribe to our network wherever you get your podcasts!

Sponsors:

Your staff is buried in phone calls. Patients are frustrated. And you're losing revenue to no-shows. There's a better way. GoTo Connect for Healthcare is a unified, AI-powered communication platform built to support your HIPAA compliance, streamline scheduling, reduce staff burden, and help your team do more with less. Because when communication works, care works. Learn more and get a personalized demo.

Allied Medical Waste is the premier medical waste and document shredding company for medical groups all over the United States. On average, Allied helps medical groups save up to 50% on their monthly costs. Allied is known for their great service and impeccable response times. Reach out today for a free quote! Allied has a special offer for all MGMA members: the first 2 months FREE of charge! Connect with us at [email protected] or call (801) 328-8581. 

On this episode of the MGMA Insights Podcast, host and senior editor Daniel Williams sits down with Dave Gans, longtime MGMA leader and historian, and Akash Madiah, MGMA’s acting CEO, to mark a major milestone — 100 years of MGMA. Together, they reflect on MGMA’s origins in 1926, the enduring role of the medical practice administrator, and how the association is positioning itself to support medical practice leaders through the next century of change.

Episode Takeaways

• MGMA was founded on a simple but powerful idea — medical practice leaders are stronger when they share challenges, data, and solutions rather than operating in isolation.
• Many of today’s administrative challenges — staffing, overhead, collections, physician–administrator alignment — were already being discussed at MGMA’s very first meeting in 1926.
• Despite sweeping clinical and technological change, the core role of the practice administrator has remained remarkably consistent for a century.
• The physician–administrator partnership is central to effective group practice management and remains one of MGMA’s defining principles.
• MGMA’s impact is deeply personal — members routinely credit the organization’s data, education, and community with helping them improve performance, advance careers, and navigate uncertainty.
• Conferences and peer networks remain one of MGMA’s most valuable assets, offering real-world insight that goes beyond sessions and speakers.
• As MGMA enters its second century, the focus is on staying outward-facing — listening to members, evolving content and data, and addressing emerging challenges like AI and administrative burden.
• The centennial is both a celebration and a call to action — honoring what has endured while actively shaping what comes next for medical practice management.

Resources

• Connect with Dave Gans on LinkedIn
• Connect with Akash Madiah on LinkedIn 
• A Century of Progress? - MGMA DataDive article by Dave Gans
• MGMA Annual Conference (Centennial Special)
• MGMA Data Resources
• MGMA Advocacy Efforts
• MGMA Membership 

Email us at [email protected] if you would like to appear on an episode. If you have a question about your practice that you would like us to answer, send an email to [email protected]. Don't forget to subscribe to our network wherever you get your podcasts!

Sponsors:

Your staff is buried in phone calls. Patients are frustrated. And you're losing revenue to no-shows. There's a better way. GoTo Connect for Healthcare is a unified, AI-powered communication platform built to support your HIPAA compliance, streamline scheduling, reduce staff burden, and help your team do more with less. Because when communication works, care works. Learn more and get a personalized demo.

Allied Medical Waste is the premier medical waste and document shredding company for medical groups all over the United States. On average, Allied helps medical groups save up to 50% on their monthly costs. Allied is known for their great service and impeccable response times. Reach out today for a free quote! Allied has a special offer for all MGMA members: the first 2 months FREE of charge! Connect with us at [email protected] or call (801) 328-8581. 

On this episode of the MGMA Insights Podcast, host and senior editor Daniel Williams sits down with Tawnya Capps, CMPE, ACMPE, practice administrator at Colorado Cardiovascular Surgical Associates.

In this MGMA member spotlight, Tawnya reflects on nearly 30 years in the same practice — starting at the front desk and eventually stepping into executive leadership. The conversation explores servant leadership, building trust through empathy, the value of professional networking, and what it means to model resilience and confidence for the next generation.

Episode takeaways

• There’s power in growing up inside a practice. Having worked in nearly every role — front desk, billing, coding, HR, scheduling, and leadership — Tawnya brings deep operational empathy and credibility to her administrator role.
• Leadership doesn’t mean distancing yourself from the work. Stepping in to check in patients or cover gaps isn’t symbolic — it’s practical, culture‑building, and reinforces that every role in a practice matters.
• Careers don’t always start with a master plan. Tawnya’s path into leadership was shaped by curiosity, timing, and opportunity — not a rigid roadmap — underscoring the value of saying yes to learning.
• Confidence often follows validation. Earning the CMPE and later ACMPE fellowship helped Tawnya recognize that the work she was already doing day in and day out truly mattered and met a national standard.
• Networking reduces isolation. MGMA conferences and chapter involvement created a sense of community — a reminder that most practice leaders are facing similar challenges, especially in today’s hybrid and high‑pressure environment.
• Women’s leadership has evolved — and visibility matters. Seeing more women in senior roles helped Tawnya envision herself as a leader and motivated her to mentor others coming up behind her.
• Family and leadership are deeply connected. As a working mother raising two daughters, Tawnya’s professional resilience and growth were inseparable from her role as a parent and role model.
• Presence builds trust. Whether in the office, at a conference, or on a board, showing up — consistently and authentically — is a through‑line in Tawnya’s approach to leadership.

Related Resources

• Connect with Tawnya Capps on LinkedIn
• Colorado Cardiovascular Surgical Associates
• MGMA Certification 
• MGMA Conferences and Events
• MGMA Membership and Local Chapters
• MGMA Insights Podcast Network

Sponsors:

Your staff is buried in phone calls. Patients are frustrated. And you're losing revenue to no-shows. There's a better way. GoTo Connect for Healthcare is a unified, AI-powered communication platform built to support your HIPAA compliance, streamline scheduling, reduce staff burden, and help your team do more with less. Because when communication works, care works. Learn more and get a personalized demo.

Allied Medical Waste is the premier medical waste and document shredding company for medical groups all over the United States. On average, Allied helps medical groups save up to 50% on their monthly costs. Allied is known for their great service and impeccable response times. Reach out today for a free quote! Allied has a special offer for all MGMA members: the first 2 months FREE of charge! Connect with us at [email protected] or call (801) 328-8581. 

On this episode of the MGMA Business Insights Podcast, host and senior editor Daniel Williams, sits down with Dr. Michael Blackman, Chief Medical Officer at Greenway Health, to explore how artificial intelligence is moving beyond standalone tools and becoming embedded directly into core healthcare technology platforms. Drawing on his clinical background and health IT leadership experience at organizations like Allscripts, McKesson, and now Greenway, Dr. Blackman shares what an “AI by design” approach really means for medical practices — spanning documentation, operations, revenue cycle performance, and team-based care.

Episode Takeaways

• AI has reached a tipping point in real-world use. While artificial intelligence has existed in healthcare for years, the last 24 months have brought practical, scalable tools — like ambient documentation — that clinicians are actively using in day-to-day practice.
• Ambient documentation is on track to become standard of care. Dr. Blackman likens today’s ambient documentation tools to the early days of e-prescribing: not yet universal, but increasingly inevitable as accuracy improves and costs decline.
• Layering tools on top of tools doesn’t work. Adding AI as yet another bolt-on solution can create fragmented workflows and added burden. True value comes when AI is integrated directly into the core platform and designed around how practices actually work.
• “AI by design” means rethinking the platform, not just the features. Rather than retrofitting legacy EHRs, this approach starts from the ground up — asking what can be automated, where AI adds real value, and how workflows can be simplified end to end.
• Operational strain touches every part of the practice. From staffing shortages and documentation demands to prior authorizations, patient messages, and claim denials, AI can help reduce friction by automating routine tasks and preventing downstream problems.
• Better documentation upstream improves revenue cycle performance downstream. AI-assisted documentation and coding suggestions can reduce errors, lower denial rates, and allow billing teams to focus on more complex cases instead of rework.
• AI is an assistant, not a replacement. Trust-but-verify remains essential. Human oversight ensures safety and accuracy — especially when it comes to orders, medications, and clinical decision-making.
• Success ultimately shows up in people, not technology. The real measure of AI by design is whether clinicians and staff feel the system is working for them — freeing time, reducing frustration, and allowing them to focus on meaningful work and patient care.

Related Resources

• Connect with Dr. Blackman on LinkedIn
• Greenway Health 
• Greenway Health's Novare
• MGMA resources on operations management

Sponsors:

Your staff is buried in phone calls. Patients are frustrated. And you're losing revenue to no-shows. There's a better way. GoTo Connect for Healthcare is a unified, AI-powered communication platform built to support your HIPAA compliance, streamline scheduling, reduce staff burden, and help your team do more with less. Because when communication works, care works. Learn more and get a personalized demo.

Allied Medical Waste is the premier medical waste and document shredding company for medical groups all over the United States. On average, Allied helps medical groups save up to 50% on their monthly costs. Allied is known for their great service and impeccable response times. Reach out today for a free quote! Allied has a special offer for all MGMA members: the first 2 months FREE of charge! Connect with us at [email protected] or call (801) 328-8581.