At Becker’s 13th Annual CEO + CFO Roundtable, healthcare leaders gathered for a featured session titled “Compliance at the Point of Care: How Ambient AI Protects Revenue Before the Audit.”
The discussion explored how artificial intelligence tools deployed at the point of care are improving documentation accuracy, driving revenue integrity and reducing provider burden.
Speakers included Todd Manion, chair of coding, revenue integrity, outpatient CDI and provider education at Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic; and Alfred Lumsdaine, CFO of Brentwood, Tenn.-based Ardent Health.
Here are four key takeaways from the session:
Note: Quotes have been edited for length and clarity.
1. Moving compliance upstream improves audit defensibility
Both Mayo Clinic and Ardent Health Services have adopted ambient AI tools to support physicians during documentation. Instead of treating compliance as a post-visit audit function, both systems now embed audit-grade capabilities into clinical workflows.
Mayo’s process includes continuous feedback loops and real-time case reviews until a provider achieves a 90% accuracy threshold, at which point they “graduate” from intensive oversight.
2. Accurate documentation reduces denials and boosts revenue
Ambient tools help reduce backend queries and documentation errors, improving revenue capture. Ardent Health saw significant improvements after piloting ambient AI in one of its markets.
“We saw a 20% increase in HCCs [hierarchical condition categories] documented and average visit coding complexity went up,” Mr. Lumsdaine said, adding that providers are highly satisfied with the technology.
“User satisfaction has been 100%,” he said. “This is the first tool I can recall having 100% satisfaction from providers.
Both leaders emphasized that accuracy at the point of care minimizes costly rework later in the revenue cycle.
3. Adoption hinges on physician trust and usability
Ambient AI solutions at Mayo and Ardent were introduced gradually, with close attention to provider workflows. At Mayo, each provider’s documentation is reviewed before they’re cleared to use the tool independently.
Ardent, which launched a full rollout after a pilot, saw over 90% utilization.
“Providers were clamoring to be part of the adoption,” Mr. Lumsdaine said. “It was unlike any tool we’ve ever rolled out.”
Trust and ease of use were key at both health systems.
Mr. Manion noted that ambient tools must understand how different specialties communicate verbally about care and how that differs from how they document care.
“There’s a difference in how clinicians speak and how they chart,” he said.
4. Sustainable value requires continuous feedback and system alignment
Ambient documentation is not a plug-and-play solution. The speakers underscored the importance of aligning clinical, financial and operational leaders to ensure lasting success.
The speakers also noted emerging interest in using ambient tools to support clinical outcomes and risk management, not just revenue.
Health systems investing in ambient AI documentation are seeing measurable improvements in documentation quality, audit readiness and financial outcomes. But success hinges on clinician engagement, thoughtful implementation and continuous feedback across the revenue cycle.
