Writing

On AI and the economics of getting paid

Short essays on where AI is actually changing healthcare reimbursement, and where it only looks like it. By Zack Spooner, founder of Remend Health and an AI engineer by trade.

• 01The 1.2-Second DenialIn 2022, over a single two-month stretch, Cigna's medical directors rejected more than 300,000 requests for payment. The average time a doctor spent r…
• 02Downcoding: The Quiet Tax on a Doctor's VisitA denial is loud. The claim comes back rejected, someone notices, and at least in theory there is a fight to be had. Downcoding is quiet. The claim gets pa…
• 03The AI Arms Race Nobody Voted ForFor the last several years, the automation in American claims processing ran in one direction. Payers built systems to deny, adjust, and downcode at machin…