Cycle Up

Deflating a Denial Myth

Written by Jeff Nieman | Apr 6, 2026 6:58:00 PM

Focusing on high-dollar denials feels like a smart RCM strategy.

After all, today’s depleted RCM teams only have so much capacity. And a $575 claim doesn’t seem worth the same effort as the $5,000 claim sitting right underneath it.

Which is what payers are counting on.

They’re using AI to overwhelm business offices with denials, knowing that most can’t keep up. So, a $575 claim here. A $350 claim there. They get written off.

Individually, that’s nothing. But when you add all these smaller claims up? Well, it turns into something pretty quickly.

$575 written off

$1150 written off

$2875 this week

$11,500 this month

$138,000 this year

*These numbers are hypothetical but based on industry trends

For healthcare organizations, cherry-picking denials isn’t the answer.

Building an AI-driven process that scales without tradeoffs is.