Mini Episode: Why Hospitals Need to Integrate Their Data into an LLM with Josh Vierling

Join Ryan Downs and Josh Vierling as they discuss the importance of integrating your financial and revenue cycle data into an LLM.

Mini Episode: Is Interacting with your Data the Future ofAnalytics with Josh Vierling

Join Ryan Downs and Josh Vierling as they discuss how the future of revenue cycle analytics is being changed by the power of AI, and how talking to your data might become the new norm.

Mini Episode: The Future Skill Sets of Revenue Cycle Teammates with Josh Vierling

Join Ryan Downs and Josh Vierling as they discuss how theskill set of revenue cycle teammates and leaders might look very different in the near future – with a nod to true expertise and the growing importance of AI prompting.

Mini Episode: Finding and Fixing Common Healthcare DataIssues with Josh Vierling

Join Ryan Downs and Josh Vierling as they discuss common healthcare data issues – with a focus on contract and policy management - and how to fix them.

Mini Episode: Is an Autonomous Revenue Cycle Within Reach with Josh VierlingJoin Ryan Downs and Josh Vierling as they discuss if revenue cycle can ever be fully autonomous.

Mini Episode: 5 Tips in 5 Minutes - Uncovering Hidden Revenue with Josh Vierling

Join Ryan Downs and Josh Vierling as they walk through 5 places to look for hidden revenue: Precision Contract Loads, Keeping up with Policy Changes, Appealing More Denials, Multi-Faceted Contract Negotiations, and Zero-Balance Audits.

How Hospitals Can Turn Contract Data & AI Into RealFinancial Control: A Conversation with Josh Vierling of Parathon

Ryan Downs sits down with Joshua Vierling, President of Parathon, to unpack how hospitals and large physician groups can improve contractual accuracy, reduce denials, and use AI to turn revenue cycle data into a more actionable operating system. The conversation stays grounded in the realities of contracts, policies, and reimbursements, while looking ahead to how analytics, agentic AI, and semi-autonomous workflows may reshape the field. In this episode, Ryan and Josh discuss why contract interpretation and policy loading are often the root of revenue leakage, how a validation engine can combine claims, remits, contracts, and policies, and why human expertise still matters even as AI becomes more capable.

Key Topics:

• The struggle to keep up with complicated contracts and hundreds of policies
• The importance of precise and accurate expected reimbursement calculations
• What data needs to come together for stronger revenue cycle intelligence
• The importance of having a unified financial and revenue cycle data layer
• How AI and LLMs rely on an underlying data schema
• Data quality issues and how to fix them
• Zero balance and underpayment audits as a hidden opportunity
• How LLMs can turn complexity into clarity
• Agentic AI and the shift toward continuous financial control
• A semi-autonomous, not fully autonomous, revenue cycle is the likeliest future
• The future skill set for revenue cycle teammates and leaders
• What analytics may look like in 12 to 18 months
• From contract loads to unappealed denials: the places revenue leakage still hides

Timestamps:

00:00 - Introduction00:57 - Vendor Voices Snapshot Challenge

05:43 - Introducing Josh Vierling, President of Parathon

06:51 – The power of managed care vendors who have payer-side experience

07:21 - Why a unified financial and revenue-cycle data foundation matters + the datasets that providers should combine
09:47 - The power of combining datasets & leveraging LLMs to hold payers accountable

10:58 - A fresh take on how to evaluate if your contract infrastructure is solid: Why zero-balance and underpaymentaudits reveal hidden opportunities

12:43 - Identifying and fixing common data-quality issues incontracts and policies

18:22 - Future of AI in revenue cycle: How language modelscan turn complex healthcare data into usable insight

21:45 - Agentic AI: automating recurring revenue-cycle workwith human oversight

24:40 - Future skills for revenue cycle leaders and teammates

30:49 - Projecting the next 12–18 months: the evolution of conversational analytics and faster decision-making

37:56 - Where AI could create operational value over the next five years

41:11 - Can revenue cycle become autonomous?

44:44 - Leveraging data for revenue opportunities

45:05 - Hospital data, biomarkers, and new opportunities for collaboration

46:33 - Finding hidden revenue leakage: 5 Ways in 5 Minutes

51:57 – Final parting advice

The episode was brought to you by: Real Partners Consulting

Connect with Ryan Downs: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanpdowns/ 

Connect with Josh Vierling: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-vierling-2462162/

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Mini Episode: Final Parting Advice with Adam CartabianoTune in to see what final parting advice Knowtion Health Chief Growth Officer, Adam Cartabiano has for the healthcare revenue cycle industry.

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