The RC Executive Lounge

The RC Executive Lounge is where top healthcare finance leaders share bold strategies to grow revenue and accelerate cash flow. Discover how they apply cutting-edge tools like Agentic AI across the revenue cycle to reduce denials, streamline Medicare, and enhance patient financing and financial assistance to advance equitable access to care. Each episode delivers real-world wins, deep executive insights, and future-focused thinking on technology, payer dynamics, compliance, staffing, and patient experience.

The RC Executive Lounge is a health podcast hosted by ArceeHQ, with 16 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

ArceeHQ hosts The RC Executive Lounge, a health show with 16 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #10

  The Road to Zero-Touch RCM: Agentic AI, Denials Prevention, and Operator Ownership in Revenue Cycle | David Kelly

  Sep 17, 202652 minS2

  In this episode of The RC Executive Lounge Podcast, David Kelly, Chief of Ambulatory Operations and Vice President of Revenue Cycle at Mary Rutan Health, returns for a second conversation focused squarely on claims denial management: how to prioritize it, how to measure success, and what it will take to reach zero-touch RCM. David opens with a practical framework for defining denial never events. Borrowed from clinical practice, the concept forces revenue cycle teams to decide which denials should simply never happen, whether timely filing, credentialing gaps, or specific CARC and RARC code combinations, and then build the discipline to eliminate them. On agentic AI, David is candid about being of two minds. The potential is real: agents that touch every denial rather than just the largest ones, faster resolution, and policy intelligence no human team could stay on top of. But the roadmap is unclear, and public backlash against patient-facing AI bots is a real constraint organizations will have to navigate. Additional topics covered in this episode include: ✅ Why RevCycle has done itself a disservice by using the word denials to mean too many different things ✅ The Paper Cuts team: the Jeff Bezos concept David borrowed to tackle the small frictions big initiatives never touch ✅ Holding steady as a genuine form of success in a rising denial rate environment ✅ Yield as the A1C of revenue cycle health: the primary metric David tracks above all others ✅ The three biggest obstacles to step-function denial improvement: new shinyism, scarcity, and workforce churn ✅ Bring denials to the operators: David's single most important piece of advice for any RCM leader Learn more about ArceeHQ and our comprehensive AI solutions platform for reducing denials, increasing adoption of patient financing and utilization of financial assistance: ⁠⁠https://arceehq.com⁠⁠ Download the free white paper on the play book for reducing claim denials: ⁠⁠https://arceehq.com/claims-denial-management/the-executive-guide-to-reducing-claim-denials-with-agentic-ai⁠⁠ Download the free white paper on the play book for increasing collections from patient financing: ⁠⁠https://arceehq.com/patient-financing/the-financial-engagement-playbook-with-agentic-ai⁠⁠ Download the free white paper on the play book for increasing collections using financial assistance: ⁠⁠https://arceehq.com/financial-assistance/the-executive-guide-to-financial-assistance-with-agentic-ai⁠⁠ Evaluate your ROI of reducing claim denials using the ROI calculator: ⁠⁠https://arceehq.com/claims-denial-management/roi-calculator⁠⁠ Evaluate your ROI of increasing collections from patient financing using the ROI calculator: ⁠⁠https://arceehq.com/patient-financing/roi-calculator⁠⁠ Evaluate your ROI of increasing collections from financial assistance using the ROI calculator: ⁠⁠https://arceehq.com/financial-assistance/roi-calculator⁠⁠ Access all the podcast episodes and short videos from the RC Executive Lounge: ⁠⁠https://arceehq.com/the-rc-executive-lounge-podcast-series⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://arceehq.com/podcast-shorts⁠ ⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to the RC Executive Lounge Podcast on your favorite platform: Apple: ⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-rc-executive-lounge/id1834231179⁠⁠ Spotify: ⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/6Pzfp41103XlD2ItpFfbdN⁠⁠ Amazon Music: ⁠⁠https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2232884f-10ae-424c-ae65-e21a93b61693/the-rc-executive-lounge⁠⁠ Audible: ⁠⁠https://www.audible.com/podcast/The-RC-Executive-Lounge/B0FMZNHLQK?source_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp #RevenueCycle #RCM #RevenueCycleManagement #DenialPrevention #DenialsManagement #AgenticAI #ZeroTouchRCM #HealthcareAI #AIinHealthcare #HealthcareLeadership #HealthcareFinance #HealthSystemLeadership #RCMLeadership #HealthcareOperations #HealthcareInnovation #ChangeManagement #CommunityHospital #HealthcarePodcast

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  Episode #9

  Mastering Modern Denials Management: Data Discipline, Agentic AI, and the Continuous Improvement Mindset | Taya Gordon

  Sep 4, 202644 minS2

  In this episode of The RC Executive Lounge Podcast, Shawntea "Taya" Gordon, CEO of Atlas & Perpetua Healthcare Consulting, co-author of two MGMA-published books on revenue cycle management, and former adjunct professor at Harvard University, brings a data-first perspective to one of the most persistent challenges in healthcare finance. Claims denial management. Taya opens with a reframe that sets the tone for the entire conversation. Denial management is not a project with a start and end date. It is a continuous optimization discipline. Every quarter, identify the top three denial drivers. Prevent them. Then find the next three. The conversation goes deep on two real-world denial case studies: a credentialing breakdown that went undetected for months, and a code bundle error that landed a practice on prepay review with a major payer. Both were entirely preventable. Both were caught only because someone finally looked at the data. Taya's advice on agentic AI is characteristically evidence-based. Use it like a cautious thought partner with strong guardrails. Trust and verify before acting on any output. Additional topics covered in this episode include: ✅ Why 1 to 3% final denial rates are achievable and what separates best performers from the rest ✅ The override culture problem: why teams send claims out the door rather than solving the root cause ✅ Symptom versus root cause: the clinical parallel that explains why most denial programs stall ✅ Revenue cycle literacy: why the front desk's job is 97% of whether you get paid ✅ Denials adjacent: claims sitting in pending or no-response status that most teams are not tracking ✅ The Growth Edge podcast and Lori Bedke's work on building teams that want to work alongside you Learn more about ArceeHQ and our comprehensive AI solutions platform for reducing denials, increasing adoption of patient financing and utilization of financial assistance: ⁠https://arceehq.com⁠ Download the free white paper on the play book for reducing claim denials: ⁠https://arceehq.com/claims-denial-management/the-executive-guide-to-reducing-claim-denials-with-agentic-ai⁠ Download the free white paper on the play book for increasing collections from patient financing: ⁠https://arceehq.com/patient-financing/the-financial-engagement-playbook-with-agentic-ai⁠ Download the free white paper on the play book for increasing collections using financial assistance: ⁠https://arceehq.com/financial-assistance/the-executive-guide-to-financial-assistance-with-agentic-ai⁠ Evaluate your ROI of reducing claim denials using the ROI calculator: ⁠https://arceehq.com/claims-denial-management/roi-calculator⁠ Evaluate your ROI of increasing collections from patient financing using the ROI calculator: ⁠https://arceehq.com/patient-financing/roi-calculator⁠ Evaluate your ROI of increasing collections from financial assistance using the ROI calculator: ⁠https://arceehq.com/financial-assistance/roi-calculator⁠ Access all the podcast episodes and short videos from the RC Executive Lounge: ⁠https://arceehq.com/the-rc-executive-lounge-podcast-series⁠ ⁠https://arceehq.com/podcast-shorts ⁠ Subscribe to the RC Executive Lounge Podcast on your favorite platform: Apple: ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-rc-executive-lounge/id1834231179⁠ Spotify: ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/6Pzfp41103XlD2ItpFfbdN⁠ Amazon Music: ⁠https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2232884f-10ae-424c-ae65-e21a93b61693/the-rc-executive-lounge⁠ Audible: ⁠https://www.audible.com/podcast/The-RC-Executive-Lounge/B0FMZNHLQK?source_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp #RevenueCycle #RCM #RevenueCycleManagement #DenialPrevention #DenialsManagement #AgenticAI #AIinHealthcare #HealthcareAI #DataDrivenLeadership #HealthcareLeadership #HealthcareFinance #HealthSystemLeadership #RCMLeadership #MedicalCoding #RevenueIntegrity #ChangeManagement #HealthcareOperations #ContinuousImprovement #HealthcarePodcast

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  Episode #8

  Mission-Driven Revenue Cycle: Denials Prevention, Agentic AI, and Proactive Loss Mitigation | Thomasina Wilkins

  Aug 20, 202640 minS2

  In this episode of The RC Executive Lounge Podcast, Thomasina Wilkins, Chief Revenue Officer at Sinai Chicago, shares how a mission-driven approach to revenue protection reshapes denials prevention at a major safety net system in Illinois. She opens with a principle that reframes how most organizations fight denials. Revenue cycle is all of us. It does not start at the back end, it starts at partnership and mission. Her signature approach, proactive loss mitigation, turns every step of the cycle, from scheduling to authorizations to documentation, into a warm handoff that protects cash before a claim is ever at risk. She also covers prioritizing denial work by volume, dollars, and root cause, why medical necessity always tops the list, and how she unites clinical, IT, and financial partners to fix problems at the source. Her philosophy captures the episode: when I think about what brings cash in the door, it is proactive loss mitigation. Additional topics covered in this episode include: ✅ Medical necessity as the denial that never leaves the top of the list, and how to advocate when payer and clinician disagree ✅ Initial versus final denial rates: why 4% is a conservative final-denial target, benchmarked against like facilities ✅ Recalibrate every 60 to 90 days as payer and governmental changes reshape a multi-year program ✅ Where agentic AI earns its place: the appeals process, and front-end authorizations and referrals ✅ Customization over off-the-shelf: why safety net, rural, and academic missions need tools built for their patients Learn more about ArceeHQ and our comprehensive AI solutions platform for reducing denials, increasing adoption of patient financing and utilization of financial assistance: https://arceehq.com Download the free white paper on the play book for reducing claim denials: https://arceehq.com/claims-denial-management/the-executive-guide-to-reducing-claim-denials-with-agentic-ai Download the free white paper on the play book for increasing collections from patient financing: https://arceehq.com/patient-financing/the-financial-engagement-playbook-with-agentic-ai Download the free white paper on the play book for increasing collections using financial assistance: https://arceehq.com/financial-assistance/the-executive-guide-to-financial-assistance-with-agentic-ai Evaluate your ROI of reducing claim denials using the ROI calculator: https://arceehq.com/claims-denial-management/roi-calculator Evaluate your ROI of increasing collections from patient financing using the ROI calculator: https://arceehq.com/patient-financing/roi-calculator Evaluate your ROI of increasing collections from financial assistance using the ROI calculator: https://arceehq.com/financial-assistance/roi-calculator Access all the podcast episodes and short videos from the RC Executive Lounge: https://arceehq.com/the-rc-executive-lounge-podcast-series https://arceehq.com/podcast-shorts Subscribe to the RC Executive Lounge Podcast on your favorite platform: Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-rc-executive-lounge/id1834231179 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6Pzfp41103XlD2ItpFfbdN Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2232884f-10ae-424c-ae65-e21a93b61693/the-rc-executive-lounge Audible: https://www.audible.com/podcast/The-RC-Executive-Lounge/B0FMZNHLQK?source_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp #RevenueCycle #RCM #RevenueCycleManagement #DenialPrevention #DenialsManagement #AgenticAI #HealthcareAI #ProactiveLossMitigation #SafetyNetHospitals #HealthcareLeadership #HealthcareFinance #ChangeManagement #RevenueIntegrity #HealthcareInnovation #HealthcarePodcast

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  Episode #7

  Rethinking Denials Management: AI, Predictive Strategy, and the Future of Revenue Cycle Leadership | Christina Slemp

  Aug 6, 202644 minS2

  In this episode of The RC Executive Lounge Podcast, Christina Slemp, System Vice President of Revenue Cycle Financial Services at UNC Health, shares how a multi-dimensional approach to denial prevention is reshaping what claims denial management looks like at scale. Christina opens with a framework that challenges how most organizations think about denials. Prevention and prediction come first, not remediation. She describes running simultaneous phases of microtargeted denial work, each with a 90-day lookback, a root cause sprint, and a solution presented to a cross-functional executive committee in six weeks. The conversation covers how Christina brought clinical teams into the underpayment resolution process, fixed root causes at the source, and used data storytelling to build cross-functional trust. Her closing line captures the episode perfectly: change does not stick because we tell people to. It sticks because people trust us. Additional topics covered in this episode include: ✅ AI plus RPA together: why combining both delivers maximum benefit and why solving for AI alone misses the mark ✅ Bad process in, bad AI out: why process foundation must come before vendor selection ✅ Governance is not a bad word: why standardization and compliance guardrails protect patients, claims, and the organization ✅ From 10 touches to 2: why reducing claim touches is a win even when the final write-off number does not change ✅ Do not implement technology for the sake of the new shiny toy: the checklist Christina applies before any automation decision ✅ Likeable Badass: the book that shaped how Christina thinks about trust, influence, and leading through change Learn more about ArceeHQ and our comprehensive AI solutions platform for reducing denials, increasing adoption of patient financing and utilization of financial assistance: https://arceehq.com Download the free white paper on the play book for reducing claim denials: https://arceehq.com/claims-denial-management/the-executive-guide-to-reducing-claim-denials-with-agentic-ai Download the free white paper on the play book for increasing collections from patient financing: https://arceehq.com/patient-financing/the-financial-engagement-playbook-with-agentic-ai Download the free white paper on the play book for increasing collections using financial assistance: https://arceehq.com/financial-assistance/the-executive-guide-to-financial-assistance-with-agentic-ai Evaluate your ROI of reducing claim denials using the ROI calculator: https://arceehq.com/claims-denial-management/roi-calculator Evaluate your ROI of increasing collections from patient financing using the ROI calculator: https://arceehq.com/patient-financing/roi-calculator Evaluate your ROI of increasing collections from financial assistance using the ROI calculator: https://arceehq.com/financial-assistance/roi-calculator Access all the podcast episodes and short videos from the RC Executive Lounge: https://arceehq.com/the-rc-executive-lounge-podcast-series https://arceehq.com/podcast-shorts Subscribe to the RCM Executive Lounge Podcast on your favorite platform: Apple:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-rc-executive-lounge/id1834231179 Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/6Pzfp41103XlD2ItpFfbdN Amazon Music:https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2232884f-10ae-424c-ae65-e21a93b61693/the-rc-executive-lounge Audible:https://www.audible.com/podcast/The-RC-Executive-Lounge/B0FMZNHLQK?source_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp #RevenueCycle #RCM #RevenueCycleManagement #DenialPrevention #DenialsManagement #AgenticAI #AIinHealthcare #HealthcareAI #PredictiveAnalytics #HealthcareLeadership #HealthcareFinance #HealthSystemLeadership #RCMLeadership #ChangeManagement #ClinicalEngagement #RevenueIntegrity #HealthcareOperations #HealthcareInnovation #UnderpaymentRecovery #HealthcarePodcast

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  Episode #6

  Winning the Claims Denial War: Clinical Denials, Agentic AI, and the Ownership Mindset That Drives Results | Chris Spady

  Jul 28, 202645 minS2

  In this episode of The RCM Executive Lounge Podcast, Chris Spady, Senior Vice President of Revenue Cycle at Erlanger Health System, shares how process discipline and an ownership mindset are reshaping denial management at one of Tennessee's most important community health systems. Chris opens with the single biggest structural shift in denial management over the last decade: the move from 85% technical denials to above 50% clinical denials. That shift requires cross-functional clinical teams, longer resolution runways, and a different organizational capability. Layer on payers refusing peer-to-peer reviews and the picture gets harder still. The conversation covers Chris' initiative to deploy workflow software for his follow-up team, built around one unusually human success definition: a follow-up rep who shuts down her computer knowing she did exactly what was expected of her. The KPIs will follow. On agentic AI, Chris is candid. It is not a silver bullet. Payers are ahead of providers and the denial problem is too entrenched for technology alone to solve. But the cost-to-collect opportunity is real, and coding automation is where he sees the most credible step-change potential. Additional topics covered include: ✅ Clinical denials require cross-functional teams and a longer runway than technical denials ✅ Small teams move fast: balancing inclusion with execution speed ✅ Three revenue cycle priorities: on time, front and center, and knowing the score ✅ Why low dollar claims drive yield more than high dollar denials ✅ The $47 vs $63 cost-per-denial gap between traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage ✅ Complexity masquerading as thoroughness: the Navy SEAL decision-making framework ✅ Future owners outperform future leaders: the ownership mindset that drives results Learn more about ArceeHQ and our comprehensive AI solutions platform for reducing denials, increasing adoption of patient financing and utilization of financial assistance: https://arceehq.com Download the free white paper on the play book for reducing claim denials: https://arceehq.com/claims-denial-management/the-executive-guide-to-reducing-claim-denials-with-agentic-ai Download the free white paper on the play book for increasing collections from patient financing: https://arceehq.com/patient-financing/the-financial-engagement-playbook-with-agentic-ai Download the free white paper on the play book for increasing collections using financial assistance: https://arceehq.com/financial-assistance/the-executive-guide-to-financial-assistance-with-agentic-ai Evaluate your ROI of reducing claim denials using the ROI calculator: https://arceehq.com/claims-denial-management/roi-calculator Evaluate your ROI of increasing collections from patient financing using the ROI calculator: https://arceehq.com/patient-financing/roi-calculator Evaluate your ROI of increasing collections from financial assistance using the ROI calculator: https://arceehq.com/financial-assistance/roi-calculator Access all the podcast episodes and short videos from the RC Executive Lounge: https://arceehq.com/the-rc-executive-lounge-podcast-series https://arceehq.com/podcast-shorts Subscribe to the RCM Executive Lounge Podcast on your favorite platform: Apple:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-rc-executive-lounge/id1834231179 Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/6Pzfp41103XlD2ItpFfbdN Amazon Music:https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2232884f-10ae-424c-ae65-e21a93b61693/the-rc-executive-lounge Audible:https://www.audible.com/podcast/The-RC-Executive-Lounge/B0FMZNHLQK?source_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp #RevenueCycle #RCM #RevenueCycleManagement #ClinicalDenials #DenialsManagement #DenialPrevention #AgenticAI #AIinHealthcare #HealthcareAI #CodingAutomation #MedicalCoding #HealthcareLeadership #HealthcareFinance #HealthSystemLeadership #RCMLeadership #HealthcareOperations #ChangeManagement #LeadershipDevelopment #HealthcareInnovation #HealthcarePodcast

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