Wednesday, August 19, 2026

Malachi LeBlanc’s Story: What If the Biggest Threat to Human-Centered Healthcare Isn’t AI?

The future of healthcare may depend less on what AI can replace—and more on what it can give back: time, attention, and human connection.



“We're talking about the delivery of health care to people.” — John Whyte, MD, MPH, CEO, American Medical Association, August 19, 2026


A Story About a 2-Year-Old That Has Almost Nothing to Do With AI

On August 5, 2026, 2-year-old Malachi LeBlanc was found unresponsive at a community pool in San Antonio.

His parents, Grace LeBlanc and Myron LeBlanc, rushed to the hospital.

They waited.

They hoped.

They prayed.

They wanted the kind of miracle every parent wants when their child is fighting for his life.

But the miracle did not come.

Malachi was declared brain-dead.

Then came an impossible conversation.

The Texas Organ Donation Alliance approached Grace and Myron about organ donation.

Grace's first reaction was understandable.

This was her baby.

She did not want to think about donation.

She wanted her son back.

But then she thought about another family.

Another parent sitting beside another hospital bed.

Another child waiting for a transplant.

Another person praying for the miracle that Grace and Myron would not receive.

The LeBlanc family said yes.

Grace later explained:

“If we weren’t going to receive the miracle we wanted, I wanted Malachi to be that miracle for someone else.”

That sentence stopped me.

Not because it is dramatic.

Because it exposes something we sometimes forget about healthcare.

Medicine is not ultimately about procedures, claims, codes, software or machines.

It is about people.

And that leads to a question I think every physician, clinic owner and healthcare technology founder should be asking:

If technology is supposed to make healthcare better, why are so many clinicians still spending so much of their time doing work that has nothing to do with caring for patients?

That is the question behind this article.

And it is not really an AI question.

It is a human-time question.


The AI Debate May Be Asking the Wrong Question

Healthcare is having a very loud conversation about AI.

Will AI replace physicians?

Will AI diagnose disease?

Will AI write notes?

Will AI code?

Will AI replace billing staff?

Will AI take jobs?

Will AI hallucinate?

Will AI make healthcare safer?

These are legitimate questions.

But I think we are missing a more important one.

What should humans actually be doing?

Because there is another possibility we rarely discuss.

Maybe the greatest threat to human-centered healthcare isn't that AI will take too much work away from physicians.

Maybe it is that administrative work will continue taking too much human time away from physicians.

Read that again.

The debate is usually:

AI versus humans.

Perhaps the better debate is:

Which work belongs to humans, and which work should machines help with?

That changes everything.


The Claim Is Not the Patient

A claim has a diagnosis.

A procedure.

A payer.

A charge.

A code.

A status.

A dollar amount.

A denial reason.

But the claim itself is not the patient.

A denial is not the patient.

A prior authorization is not the patient.

An A/R balance is not the patient.

A payer portal is not the patient.

These are representations of healthcare.

They are not healthcare itself.

And yet physicians increasingly spend enormous amounts of time navigating them.

That creates an uncomfortable contradiction.

We say:

"Patients come first."

Then we build workflows that consume the very resource clinicians need to put patients first:

time.


The Hidden Enemy Nobody Wants to Talk About

Healthcare loves visible villains.

High drug prices.

Insurance companies.

Government regulation.

AI.

Hospital consolidation.

Administrative complexity.

But there is a quieter problem.

Work that nobody has stopped to question.

A staff member checks something.

Someone copies it.

Someone re-enters it.

Someone reviews it.

Someone approves it.

Someone submits it.

Someone follows up.

Someone documents the follow-up.

Someone follows up again.

And because everyone has become accustomed to the workflow, the organization starts calling it:

"the process."

But "the process" is not a defense.

It is a question.

Why does the process exist?

Who benefits from it?

What happens if we remove it?

Can the step be simplified?

Can software perform it?

Can AI assist?

Does a human really need to touch it?

Those questions are far more important than:

"Where can we add AI?"


A Contrarian Idea: Stop Automating First

This may sound strange coming from an AI founder.

But here is my advice:

Do not automate your workflow first.

Question it first.

Then eliminate.

Then simplify.

Then automate.

That sequence matters.

Because if you automate unnecessary work, you haven't innovated.

You have simply created a faster way to do unnecessary work.

That is not transformation.

That is high-speed bureaucracy.


The Four-Letter Word That Healthcare Avoids

There is a word healthcare organizations sometimes struggle to say:

STOP.

Stop doing this.

Stop entering that.

Stop checking the same thing three times.

Stop maintaining that spreadsheet.

Stop sending that fax.

Stop requiring the physician to review something that doesn't require physician judgment.

Stop asking staff to perform work because "that's how we've always done it."

We are remarkably good at adding.

Add a portal.

Add a form.

Add a field.

Add a rule.

Add a workflow.

Add a vendor.

Add an approval.

We are much worse at subtracting.

But subtraction may be the most important healthcare innovation of all.


What Malachi's Story Reminds Us About Time

Think about Grace and Myron LeBlanc.

When your child is critically ill, you do not care about productivity.

You do not care about dashboards.

You do not care about KPIs.

You care about one thing:

your child.

Every minute becomes meaningful.

Every conversation matters.

Every decision matters.

That is an extreme example.

But healthcare is filled with people for whom time matters.

A patient with cancer.

A frightened parent.

An elderly patient living alone.

Someone receiving a new diagnosis.

Someone waiting for surgery.

Someone trying to understand a confusing bill.

Someone whose symptoms have been ignored for months.

The healthcare system does not have an unlimited supply of human attention.

Attention is a scarce clinical resource.

We should treat it that way.


Physician Time Is a Clinical Resource

We routinely measure:

Blood pressure.

Heart rate.

Length of stay.

Readmission.

Mortality.

Complication rates.

Patient satisfaction.

Revenue.

A/R days.

Denial rates.

But what about:

Human attention?

How many minutes does a physician spend on administrative work that does not require a physician?

How many hours does a nurse spend searching for information?

How much staff time is consumed by rework?

How much cognitive energy disappears into payer portals?

How much physician attention is left at 6 p.m.?

Those are not merely workforce questions.

They are care-quality questions.

Because tired, distracted, overloaded humans are still humans.


The Best AI May Be the AI You Barely Notice

This is another contrarian idea.

Healthcare AI doesn't have to be spectacular.

It doesn't need to impress a conference audience.

It doesn't need a flashy demo.

It doesn't need to announce itself every five minutes.

The best AI may quietly do something incredibly boring.

It notices a claim is likely to fail.

It retrieves the relevant information.

It identifies the likely problem.

It explains why.

It recommends an action.

A human reviews it.

The workflow continues.

Nobody applauds.

The payment arrives.

And the physician gets home on time.

That is a successful AI story.


The Workflow Nobody Sees

Consider the medical billing journey:

Patient

Documentation

Coding

Claim

Payer

Adjudication

Payment or Denial

Appeal

Payment

A/R

On paper, it looks simple.

In practice, it can become a maze.

One missing detail can create another task.

One unclear code can create rework.

One payer-specific requirement can create a denial.

One denial can trigger an appeal.

One appeal can create more documentation.

One delayed payment can affect cash flow.

And suddenly a five-minute administrative problem becomes a two-week operational problem.

That is why billing should be viewed as a workflow, not merely a department.


The Most Important Billing Question Isn't "How Do We Collect?"

It is:

"Why did we have to work this claim so many times?"

That is a different question.

And it moves the organization upstream.

Instead of constantly treating symptoms, the practice starts searching for patterns.

Why are these claims denied?

Why does this payer behave differently?

Why are these codes repeatedly corrected?

Why does this documentation problem keep appearing?

Why does staff have to manually search for this information?

Why does the physician keep getting pulled into this?

That is where intelligence becomes useful.


From Reactive Billing to Predictive Billing

Imagine two revenue-cycle systems.

System A tells you:

"Your claim was denied."

System B tells you:

"This claim has characteristics associated with a high probability of denial. Here is the likely reason. Here is the evidence. Here is what can be corrected before submission."

The second system changes the workflow.

It moves the organization from:

React → repair

to:

Predict → prevent

That is a much more interesting application of AI.

And it doesn't require replacing the people who understand the practice.

It requires giving those people better information at the right moment.


This Is Where Human-in-the-Loop Matters

There is a dangerous idea spreading through technology:

Full autonomy equals progress.

Not necessarily.

In healthcare, sometimes the smartest system is the one that says:

"I am not sure. Please review this."

That is not failure.

That is responsible system design.

A billing AI should be able to:

Recommend.

Explain.

Prioritize.

Retrieve.

Summarize.

But consequential decisions may still require a person.

The architecture should often look like:

AI identifies

AI explains

Human reviews

Human approves

System executes

System records

That is not less intelligent.

It is more mature.


Three Experts, Three Lessons

Francis W. Peabody: Don't Lose the Patient

Peabody's famous statement about caring for patients sounds almost quaint in the age of AI.

It isn't.

It may be more important now than ever.

Technology should strengthen the clinician-patient relationship.

If it creates distance, distraction and additional work, we should question it.

The purpose of healthcare technology is not to make healthcare more technological.

It is to make healthcare better.


Atul Gawande: Complexity Changes the Game

Gawande has written extensively about the increasing complexity of modern medicine.

The lesson is simple:

Human beings cannot reliably manage unlimited complexity through memory and effort alone.

We need systems.

We need checklists.

We need better processes.

We need tools that reduce cognitive load.

Revenue-cycle management is no different.

If a payer requirement is predictable, why should every staff member rediscover it?

If a denial pattern repeats, why should the practice treat every denial as brand new?

If information exists somewhere in the system, why should someone spend 20 minutes searching for it?

Good systems turn repeated knowledge into reusable knowledge.


Don Berwick: Fix the System

Berwick's work in healthcare quality repeatedly points toward a powerful principle:

Don't blame the person before examining the system.

When a staff member makes the same mistake repeatedly, ask why.

When physicians struggle with administrative workflows, ask why.

When claims repeatedly fail, ask why.

The answer may not be:

"People need more training."

It may be:

"The workflow is poorly designed."

That distinction can save enormous amounts of time.


The Small Practice Problem

Large organizations have departments.

Small practices have people.

Often the same person is:

Physician

Owner

Employer

Manager

Recruiter

Clinical leader

Business operator

And sometimes:

Billing problem solver.

That is too much.

Not because physicians cannot learn billing.

They can.

But because there is a finite amount of attention available each day.

Every hour spent on low-value administrative work is an hour that cannot be spent elsewhere.


The $64,000 Question

Suppose a physician could eliminate five hours of repetitive administrative work every week.

What is that time worth?

The obvious answer is financial.

But consider the less obvious value.

Five hours could mean:

More patient visits.

More follow-up.

More time with complex cases.

More teaching.

More practice development.

More family time.

More rest.

More thinking.

More medicine.

The return on automation isn't always:

more revenue.

Sometimes it is:

more life.


The Medical Billing Workflow Needs a Redesign

Here is the framework I would use.

1. Map

Document the complete journey.

Don't guess.

Follow the work.

2. Measure

Record time, cost and error rates.

3. Eliminate

Remove unnecessary steps.

4. Simplify

Reduce handoffs.

5. Standardize

Create repeatable processes.

6. Automate

Use technology for predictable work.

7. Escalate

Send exceptions to humans.

8. Audit

Track what happened.

9. Learn

Use outcomes to improve the workflow.

10. Repeat

Optimization is not a one-time project.


Where OnnX Fits

This is the thinking behind OnnX.

The goal isn't to create another piece of software that physicians have to learn.

The goal is to rethink how repetitive medical-billing work gets done.

Imagine a workflow where:

A claim is submitted.

The system monitors it.

A problem appears.

AI interprets the problem.

Relevant information is retrieved.

The probable cause is identified.

The next action is recommended.

The human sees the reasoning.

The human approves.

The system performs the appropriate next step.

The result is recorded.

The workflow learns.

That is the direction.

Less chasing.

Less repetition.

Less fragmentation.

More visibility.

More human control.


What We Should Stop Calling Innovation

Here are a few things I would stop celebrating.

Another dashboard

Unless it eliminates work.

Another portal

Unless it reduces fragmentation.

Another chatbot

Unless it solves a meaningful workflow problem.

Another AI feature

Unless it produces measurable value.

Another automation

Unless it removes something humans shouldn't have to do.

Healthcare does not need more technology theater.

It needs operational outcomes.


What Physicians Should Demand From AI Vendors

Before buying anything, ask:

"What exactly does this eliminate?"

Not:

What does it do?

Ask:

What does it remove?

Then ask:

How many minutes does it save?

What happens when it is wrong?

Can I see why it made the recommendation?

Who remains accountable?

Can my staff override it?

Can I audit it?

Does it integrate with my existing workflow?

What happens to my data?

What measurable outcome should improve?

If the vendor cannot answer those questions clearly, be cautious.


The Metrics That Matter

Forget vanity metrics.

Track outcomes.

Clean claim rate

Denial rate

Denial recovery rate

Days in A/R

A/R aging

Time to resolution

Staff hours spent on rework

Manual touches per claim

First-pass acceptance

Net collection rate

Physician administrative hours

And one metric I would add:

Time returned to clinicians.

Because that is the point.


The Statistics Behind the Problem

The numbers reinforce the human story.

The American Hospital Association reported that hospitals spent more than $43 billion in 2025 trying to collect payments from insurers for care that had already been provided. (trustees.aha.org)

The AHA also reported that nearly 90% of physicians say prior authorization increases physician burnout to some degree. (trustees.aha.org)

And the AHA's 2026 environmental scan found that 57% of physicians identify administrative burden as the biggest opportunity for AI. (aha.org)

These numbers are not just operational statistics.

Behind every hour of administrative work is a person.

Behind every delayed payment is a practice.

Behind every overloaded physician is a human being.

Behind every healthcare transaction is a patient.


Recent News: The Human Side of Healthcare Is Still the Story

The Malachi LeBlanc story appeared this week amid a healthcare news cycle dominated by larger institutional developments.

But Malachi's story reminds us that healthcare is ultimately experienced one human being at a time.

His parents, Grace LeBlanc and Myron LeBlanc, faced a devastating outcome and chose to help another family through organ donation.

That is not a technology story.

It is not a policy story.

It is not a corporate story.

It is a human story.

And perhaps that is exactly why it deserves our attention.

Because the more technology we introduce into healthcare, the more important it becomes to remember what healthcare is actually for.

People.


The Ethical Question

There is a question healthcare AI founders should ask before every automation project:

If this works perfectly, what human time does it give back?

Then ask the harder question:

What happens if it doesn't?

Good healthcare AI needs both answers.

The ethical framework should include:

Privacy

Security

Transparency

Human oversight

Auditability

Appropriate escalation

Bias monitoring

Data governance

Compliance

Patient protection

Automation should never become an excuse to stop thinking.


The Legal Question

Billing automation exists within a complicated legal and regulatory environment.

Practices and vendors should consider:

HIPAA and privacy obligations

Business associate arrangements

Security controls

Access permissions

Audit trails

Coding requirements

False Claims Act considerations

Payer contracts

Documentation requirements

State-specific rules

The exact obligations depend on the system and use case.

But one principle is universal:

AI does not eliminate accountability.

If a human organization uses an AI recommendation, it remains responsible for establishing appropriate controls around that use.


Five AI Mistakes I Would Avoid

Mistake 1: Starting With Technology

Start with the workflow.

Mistake 2: Automating Everything

Automate selectively.

Mistake 3: Ignoring Exceptions

Exceptions are where healthcare becomes difficult.

Design for them.

Mistake 4: Removing Humans From High-Stakes Decisions

Human oversight should be intentional.

Mistake 5: Measuring AI Activity

Measure business and clinical impact instead.


A Practical 30-Day Challenge for Clinic Owners

If you want to explore AI without launching a massive transformation project, try this.

Week 1: Observe

Pick one workflow.

Watch what staff actually do.

Don't rely on policy manuals.

Week 2: Measure

Count:

Touches.

Minutes.

Errors.

Rework.

Delays.

Week 3: Redesign

Ask:

What can we eliminate?

What can we simplify?

What can we standardize?

What can AI assist with?

Week 4: Pilot

Test one small intervention.

Measure the outcome.

Then decide whether to expand.

That's it.

No giant transformation program required.


The Most Dangerous Phrase in Healthcare

I think one of the most dangerous phrases in healthcare is:

"That's just how we do it."

It sounds harmless.

It isn't.

Every inefficient process began somewhere.

Someone created it.

Someone added a step.

Someone added an exception.

Someone added another exception.

Years later, nobody remembers why it exists.

But everyone is still doing it.

AI gives us an opportunity to ask:

Does this step still need to exist?

That may be more valuable than asking whether AI can perform it.


The Future of Medical Billing Isn't More Billing

It is less unnecessary billing work.

That distinction matters.

The future should look less like:

Human → portal → spreadsheet → payer → email → spreadsheet → portal

and more like:

Data → intelligence → recommendation → human approval → action

The machine handles repetition.

The human handles judgment.

The practice sees the result.

That is a healthier division of labor.


The Bigger Healthcare Innovation Opportunity

We often talk about AI as if the biggest opportunity is replacing intelligence.

I think the bigger opportunity is amplifying human intelligence.

Let machines search.

Let machines compare.

Let machines monitor.

Let machines classify.

Let machines remind.

Let machines identify patterns.

Then let humans decide what those patterns mean in context.

That is particularly important in healthcare.

Because context is everything.


Why Independent Practices Should Pay Attention

Independent practices cannot afford unlimited administrative overhead.

Every unnecessary process consumes scarce resources.

That makes workflow automation particularly important for small and medium-sized practices.

The goal isn't to become a technology company.

The goal is to remain a great medical practice without allowing administrative complexity to overwhelm it.

That is a very different objective.


The Question I Would Ask Every Physician

Forget the AI hype for a minute.

Forget the vendor demos.

Forget the buzzwords.

Ask yourself:

What part of my day would disappear if I redesigned my practice from scratch today?

That answer is probably where your best automation opportunity is hiding.

And it may not be the most sophisticated workflow.

It may be something incredibly boring.

That is okay.

Because boring problems can have enormous value.


Three Takeaways

1. Don't automate before you simplify.

Eliminate. Simplify. Standardize. Automate.

2. Measure time, not just dollars.

Physician time is a healthcare resource.

3. Keep humans where humans matter.

AI should handle repetition. Humans should handle judgment.


Final Thoughts: The Patient Is Still the Point

The story of Malachi LeBlanc, Grace LeBlanc and Myron LeBlanc is not a story about technology.

It is a story about love.

It is about an impossible decision.

It is about what people do when medicine can no longer give them the outcome they desperately wanted.

And it reminds us why healthcare exists.

Not for the claim.

Not for the code.

Not for the dashboard.

Not for the payer portal.

Not for the AI model.

For the person.

That is why I am interested in healthcare automation.

Not because I think machines are the future of medicine.

Because I think human attention is too valuable to waste on work machines can safely help perform.

The future of healthcare should not be:

AI versus humans.

It should be:

AI for the work humans don't need to do, so humans have more time for the work only humans can do.

That is the future worth building.


Get Involved: Don't Just Read This

Here is my challenge to physicians and clinic owners:

What is the most ridiculous repetitive administrative task you still have to perform in your practice?

Don't give me the polished answer.

Give me the real one.

The task your staff hates.

The task everyone complains about.

The task you've automated three times but still have to touch.

Tell me in the comments.

Then share this article with one physician or clinic owner who is quietly dealing with the same problem.

And if you believe physician time should be spent on patients rather than preventable administrative friction, repost this conversation.

Maybe the next important healthcare innovation isn't another technology.

Maybe it is simply deciding:

What should we stop doing?


Frequently Asked Questions

Is AI going to replace physicians?

That is the wrong starting question.

The more useful question is which tasks AI can safely assist with while preserving physician judgment and patient relationships.

Will AI replace medical billing staff?

The more realistic near-term model is augmentation.

AI can perform repetitive analysis and workflow support while humans handle exceptions, judgment and accountability.

Can AI eliminate denials?

No responsible technology should promise that.

It may help identify patterns, prevent certain errors and prioritize work.

But payer behavior and healthcare complexity mean some denials will remain.

Should every medical practice use AI?

No.

A practice should adopt technology when there is a clearly defined problem, measurable opportunity and appropriate governance.

What should practices automate first?

Start with a workflow that is repetitive, measurable and costly.

How do we know whether AI is working?

Measure outcomes.

Look at denial rates, A/R, staff time, rework, payment velocity and physician administrative time.

What is the biggest AI mistake healthcare organizations make?

Starting with the technology instead of the problem.

What does human-in-the-loop mean?

It means AI can assist with analysis or recommendations while a human retains responsibility for appropriate decisions.


Myth Busters

Myth: More automation equals better healthcare.

False.

Poorly designed automation can create new problems.

Myth: AI must be autonomous to be valuable.

False.

An AI system that makes a useful recommendation and knows when to escalate can be extremely valuable.

Myth: Administrative work is separate from patient care.

False.

Administrative systems influence practice sustainability, clinician workload and the ability to provide care.

Myth: Technology automatically improves workflows.

False.

Technology can make a bad workflow faster.

Myth: Physician time is simply a labor expense.

False.

Physician attention is one of the most valuable resources in healthcare.


Tools, Metrics and Resources

For practices exploring workflow automation, start with:

Workflow mapping tools to document processes.

Revenue-cycle dashboards to establish baselines.

Denial analytics to identify recurring failure patterns.

EHR and practice-management integrations to reduce duplicate data entry.

AI-assisted document review for appropriate repetitive tasks.

Human approval workflows for higher-risk actions.

Audit logs for accountability.

Security and compliance assessments before deploying AI against protected health information.

Most importantly:

Use the tools you already have before buying more tools.

The objective is not a larger technology stack.

The objective is a smaller workload.


Future Outlook

Healthcare AI is moving from isolated assistants toward workflow intelligence.

The distinction is important.

A chatbot answers.

A workflow system acts.

The next generation of healthcare automation will increasingly connect:

Information

Reasoning

Recommendation

Human approval

Action

Measurement

That model has enormous potential in revenue-cycle management.

The future may be less about asking:

"What did the payer do?"

and more about:

"What is likely to happen next?"

Less:

"Why did this claim fail?"

and more:

"How can we prevent similar failures?"

Less:

"Where is this information?"

and more:

"Here is the information you need."

That is the difference between software that stores healthcare information and software that helps people work with it.


About the Author

Dr. Daniel Cham is a physician, medical consultant and healthcare entrepreneur focused on the intersection of medical technology, healthcare management and medical billing.

As founder of OnnX, he is focused on practical applications of AI and workflow automation that can help small and medium-sized medical practices reduce unnecessary administrative work, improve revenue-cycle operations and protect clinician time.

His approach is straightforward:

Understand the workflow.

Find the friction.

Eliminate unnecessary work.

Automate what can be safely automated.

Keep humans in control where judgment matters.

Connect with Dr. Daniel Cham on LinkedIn


Continue the Conversation

Healthcare innovation should not happen in isolation.

Explore more practical perspectives on healthcare operations, medical billing, physician entrepreneurship, technology and innovation through Dr. Cham's work.

Visit Dr. Cham's website

Listen to the podcast on Spotify

Watch and subscribe on YouTube

Follow Dr. Cham on X

Follow Dr. Cham on Facebook

Knowledge creates leverage. Better questions create better systems.

Start with one workflow.

Question one assumption.

Remove one unnecessary step.

Then see what happens.


Free Resource

Want to go deeper?

Check the Featured section of Dr. Cham's LinkedIn profile for the latest free resources and practical materials.

No complicated funnel. No unnecessary friction. Just useful information you can put to work.


Disclaimer

This article is provided for general educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute medical, legal, compliance, coding, financial or professional advice.

Healthcare organizations should consult appropriately qualified professionals regarding their specific clinical, legal, regulatory, privacy, security, compliance and revenue-cycle circumstances.


References

1. KSAT — The Malachi LeBlanc story. Reporting on 2-year-old Malachi LeBlanc, his parents Grace and Myron LeBlanc, and their decision to pursue organ donation after his death.

Read the KSAT report

2. American Hospital Association — 2026 Environmental Scan. Current analysis of healthcare trends, including physician views of administrative burden and AI opportunities.

Read the AHA Environmental Scan

3. American Hospital Association — Administrative burden and healthcare costs. Analysis highlighting the financial and operational consequences of payer-related administrative work.

Read the AHA analysis


Final Invitation

Question the workflow.

Protect physician time.

Build technology that gives human beings more room to care for other human beings.

If this perspective resonates with you, leave a comment, share your experience and repost this article so more physicians and clinic owners can join the conversation.

The future of healthcare should not be about replacing humans.

It should be about removing the unnecessary work that keeps humans from doing what they do best.

#Healthcare #MedicalBilling #HealthcareAI #RevenueCycleManagement #PhysicianBurnout #AdministrativeBurden #HealthcareInnovation #MedicalPractice #PrivatePractice #ClinicOwners #PhysicianEntrepreneur #HealthTech #DigitalHealth #WorkflowAutomation #HealthcareTechnology #PatientCare #PhysicianLeadership #HealthcareOperations #AIinHealthcare #RevenueCycle #MedicalPracticeManagement #HealthcareTransformation #OnnX

 

Tuesday, August 18, 2026

Mark and Madi Turley: Two Preemies, 30 Years Apart—and What Their Story Reveals About the Broken Translation Between Medicine and Money

The patient’s story begins in the exam room. Somewhere between clinical care and the claim, we keep losing it.



“The white coat symbolizes the other critical part of students’ medical education, a standard of professionalism and caring and an emblem of the trust they must earn from patients.”American Medical Association, 2026


A baby survived. Then the paperwork began.

In 1975, Mark Turley was born seven weeks premature.

Doctors gave him roughly a 50–50 chance of survival.

More than three decades later, Mark and his wife, Kennetha Turley, found themselves confronting a nightmare that felt strangely familiar.

Their daughter, Madi Turley, was born at only 24 weeks.

She was tiny.

Very tiny.

She spent 66 days in the NICU and faced serious medical complications. Her medical journey continued long after she left the hospital, with more than 200 days in hospitals during her early childhood and years of therapy.

The Turley family's story is remarkable because Madi survived.

But that isn't where the story ends.

Today, Madi is an adult and a drag racer.

The little girl who once fought simply to stay alive found confidence behind the wheel.

Her story is a reminder of what healthcare is ultimately supposed to accomplish.

Not merely keeping someone alive today.

Giving them a chance to live tomorrow.

And that is where I want to make an uncomfortable leap.

Because I think this story has something important to teach us about medical billing.

At first glance, it has nothing to do with billing.

And that's exactly why it does.


The patient doesn't know where the exam room ends

When a physician sees a patient, the physician sees a person.

A story.

Symptoms.

History.

Risk.

Context.

Sometimes fear.

Sometimes hope.

Sometimes a family sitting quietly in the corner pretending not to be terrified.

The physician makes decisions.

The nurse documents.

The team coordinates care.

Then the patient leaves.

And the healthcare machine changes languages.

The patient's story becomes:

ICD-10.

CPT.

HCPCS.

Modifiers.

Eligibility.

Authorization.

Claim edits.

Payer rules.

Medical necessity.

Adjudication.

Denial codes.

The patient says:

“I need help.”

The physician says:

“Here is what I believe is medically appropriate.”

The billing system says:

“Invalid.”

That translation gap is one of the least discussed problems in American healthcare.

And I think it is becoming one of the most important.


My contrarian take

Medical billing is not primarily a collections problem.

It is an information problem.

More specifically, it is a translation problem.

Clinical medicine produces rich, contextual information.

Financial systems require structured information.

Somewhere between the two, meaning gets lost.

A physician documents a complex clinical encounter.

A coder interprets it.

A billing system converts it.

A clearinghouse checks it.

A payer applies its rules.

Then someone receives a denial.

And everyone acts surprised.

Why?

We shouldn't be.

We built a healthcare system where the same patient story is repeatedly translated by different people, different systems and different rule sets.

Then we wonder why things get lost in translation.


And then we call it a denial problem

This is where I think healthcare has gotten the diagnosis wrong.

A denial is often treated as the problem.

It isn't always the problem.

Sometimes the denial is simply the symptom.

The real problem happened earlier.

Maybe the documentation didn't clearly support the service.

Maybe coding did not accurately reflect the documentation.

Maybe the payer's requirements were not known at the point of care.

Maybe authorization was missed.

Maybe information existed in the EHR but wasn't structured in a way the downstream system could use.

Maybe the claim contained an error that could have been caught before submission.

Then the denial arrives.

And we call the billing department.

Someone works the account.

Someone calls the payer.

Someone submits an appeal.

Someone waits.

Someone calls again.

Eventually, the claim gets paid.

Everyone celebrates.

I have a slightly different reaction.

Why did we need the appeal in the first place?


We celebrate recovery when we should celebrate prevention

Healthcare loves heroic recovery stories.

We celebrate the physician who saves the patient.

The surgeon who performs the impossible operation.

The nurse who catches the subtle deterioration.

The emergency team that acts in seconds.

We should.

But there is another kind of healthcare heroism that receives much less attention:

preventing the problem before anyone notices it.

A clean claim doesn't make headlines.

A prevented denial doesn't get a standing ovation.

A payer requirement correctly identified before the visit isn't exactly cinematic.

Nobody makes a documentary about:

“Local medical practice submits accurate claim. Nobody has to call anyone.”

Yet that is precisely the kind of boring success we should want more of.


Boring is beautiful

Physicians understand this.

The best clinical workflow is often the one you barely notice.

The medication reconciliation happens.

The allergy is caught.

The right test gets ordered.

The documentation is complete.

The referral goes where it needs to go.

The patient receives the care.

No drama.

No heroics.

No midnight phone call.

Healthcare operations should aspire to the same thing.

The best revenue cycle should be boring.

No drama.

No mystery.

No endless payer phone trees.

No staff member whispering:

“I'm going to try calling them again.”

No physician staring at a denial wondering what happened.

No CEO discovering six months later that an entire category of claims has been underpaid.

Just:

right information → right workflow → right claim → right payment.

That sounds almost ridiculously simple.

Which probably means it is harder than it sounds.


The numbers are telling us something

The latest AMA data should make every physician owner stop for a moment.

Physicians report completing an average of 40 prior authorizations per week.

That workload consumes approximately 13 hours of physician and staff time each week.

40% of physicians report having staff dedicated exclusively to prior authorization.

And 94% say prior authorization contributes to burnout.

Let me translate that into practice-owner language.

Thirteen hours isn't a statistic.

It's Tuesday afternoon.

It's Wednesday morning.

It's someone's lunch break.

It's another employee.

It's the physician finishing charts at 8:00 p.m.

It's the staff member who came into medicine because they wanted to help people spending half the day navigating payer requirements.

And this is not just an inconvenience.

The AMA reports that 95% of physicians say prior authorization delays access to necessary care, while 92% say it negatively affects clinical outcomes.

That is no longer a back-office conversation.


The strangest part: we keep adding technology to the same broken workflow

Now comes the part where I will probably annoy some people in healthcare technology.

Everyone wants to put AI into the revenue cycle.

Fine.

But here is my question:

What if we are putting AI in the wrong place?

If the workflow is broken, AI can automate the broken workflow.

Congratulations.

Now it breaks faster.

That is not transformation.

That's high-speed inefficiency.

We have to be careful not to confuse automation with improvement.

A faster bad process is still a bad process.

A beautifully designed dashboard showing 17 different types of denials does not fix the fact that the practice is generating the same preventable denials every week.

A chatbot that tells staff what to do after a denial is useful.

But I would rather build a system that helps prevent the denial.

That is a very different philosophy.


AI shouldn't be the hero

This is another contrarian point.

I don't think the future of healthcare billing is:

AI replaces billing staff.

I don't think that is particularly interesting.

The better future is:

AI makes billing staff less necessary for repetitive work and more valuable for complex work.

That means AI handles pattern recognition.

AI handles repetitive checks.

AI identifies anomalies.

AI surfaces payer-specific requirements.

AI connects information.

AI prioritizes work.

Humans handle:

judgment.

exceptions.

relationships.

ambiguity.

escalation.

clinical nuance.

compliance oversight.

That is much more realistic.

And much safer.


The real opportunity is upstream

This is where my own thinking about OnnX begins.

I believe the highest-value place to intervene is before the claim exists.

Not after the denial.

Before it.

Think about the chain:

Patient → Clinical Encounter → Documentation → Coding → Payer Requirements → Claim → Adjudication → Payment

Most traditional revenue-cycle technology concentrates heavily toward the right side.

Claim.

Denial.

A/R.

Appeal.

Collections.

But the information that determines the quality of that claim often originates much earlier.

At the clinical encounter.

That is why I keep coming back to one phrase:

Precision at the Source.

If we can improve the quality and structure of information at the point where it is created, we have a better chance of improving everything downstream.


The patient is telling one story

Here is the philosophical problem.

The patient tells one story.

Healthcare turns it into dozens of data objects.

The patient says:

“My knee hurts. I fell. I can't sleep. I can't work. I tried physical therapy. It's getting worse.”

The physician interprets that story clinically.

The EHR records it.

The coder translates it.

The payer evaluates it.

The billing system processes it.

The patient gets a bill.

Everyone is working from the same patient.

But not necessarily from the same representation of the patient.

That is the problem.


Clinical-to-financial intelligence

This is why I believe healthcare needs something beyond conventional revenue-cycle automation.

We need better clinical-to-financial intelligence.

The phrase sounds complicated.

The idea isn't.

It means connecting the clinical reality of what happened to the administrative and financial requirements needed to process it.

The physician shouldn't have to become a billing expert.

The coder shouldn't have to reconstruct the clinical story from fragments.

The billing staff shouldn't have to discover payer requirements after the claim is rejected.

The technology should help connect those dots.

That is the opportunity.


And healthcare is finally moving toward the problem

This isn't just my opinion.

The AMA announced in July 2026 an initiative focused on mapping SNOMED CT clinical concepts to CPT terminology specifically to help EHRs and payer systems communicate more effectively during prior authorization.

That is significant.

Why?

Because it acknowledges something fundamental:

clinical language and administrative language do not naturally speak to each other.

Someone—or something—has to translate.

Today, that translator is often a human being.

Usually a very tired human being.


We have built a human middleware layer

Think about that.

Healthcare has created an enormous workforce whose job is essentially:

translate one healthcare system into another healthcare system.

The physician documents.

The staff interprets.

The coder translates.

The biller corrects.

The authorization specialist negotiates.

The payer reviews.

Then someone sends an appeal.

This is human middleware.

And it is expensive.

Very expensive.

Not just financially.

Human attention is one of the scarcest resources in medicine.

We should be extremely careful about wasting it.


The small-practice problem

Large health systems can sometimes absorb administrative complexity through scale.

Independent practices cannot.

A large organization may have:

authorization teams.

coding departments.

compliance officers.

revenue-cycle executives.

analytics teams.

IT departments.

legal teams.

specialized payer contracts.

A five-physician practice?

Maybe it has one office manager who knows everything.

And if she goes on vacation?

Everyone discovers what "mission critical infrastructure" really means.

That is not a joke.

It is an operating model.

Small practices often depend on institutional knowledge trapped inside individual people.

That is dangerous.

What happens when the person who knows how to handle Payer X leaves?

What happens when the billing specialist retires?

What happens when the payer changes a requirement?

What happens when claim volume doubles?

The practice needs institutional intelligence—not just institutional memory.


This is where technology should help

The goal should not be to turn a small practice into a miniature health system.

The goal should be to give the small practice the intelligence of a much larger organization without the overhead.

That means:

Payer intelligence.

Workflow intelligence.

Coding intelligence.

Denial intelligence.

Documentation intelligence.

Revenue intelligence.

But these should not exist as six disconnected dashboards.

They should work together.


The best question to ask about any healthcare technology

Forget the demo for a moment.

Forget the AI.

Forget the shiny interface.

Ask:

What work disappears?

That's my favorite technology question.

Not:

“How many features do you have?”

Not:

“Is it AI-powered?”

Not:

“Does it have predictive analytics?”

Ask:

What does my staff stop doing?

Then ask:

What does my physician stop doing?

Then:

What error stops happening?

Then:

What happens earlier than it does today?

Those questions get you much closer to ROI.


Five questions before buying an AI billing platform

1. Does it prevent or merely recover?

If the system mainly helps after the denial, it may be useful.

If it can prevent the denial, that is potentially much more valuable.

 

2. Does it understand the clinical context?

Billing cannot be separated completely from clinical documentation.

If the system sees only billing codes, it is missing part of the story.

 

3. Can it explain itself?

If it recommends something, ask:

Why?

If nobody can answer, be cautious.

Healthcare is not the place for:

“Trust the algorithm.”

 

4. Does it fit the workflow?

If staff have to open another application, copy information, paste information, log in again and manually reconcile results, you may not have automation.

You may have another job.

 

5. Does it learn?

A good revenue cycle should become smarter over time.

If the same payer rejects the same type of claim repeatedly, the system should learn from the pattern.

Otherwise, you're paying humans to rediscover the same lesson forever.


My favorite healthcare metric may be the one nobody reports

Physician hours returned.

We obsess over:

days in A/R.

clean claim rate.

denial rate.

collection rate.

gross charges.

net collections.

Those are important.

But I would add:

Physician Administrative Hours Returned

Because physician time is not inventory.

You can't manufacture more of it.

If technology saves a physician two hours a week, that isn't merely a productivity metric.

That's:

two more hours with patients.

two more hours with family.

two more hours sleeping.

two more hours thinking.

two more hours being a human being.

That matters.


The hidden ROI of administrative simplicity

Suppose a practice saves:

5 hours of staff time per week.

2 hours of physician time per week.

10% of avoidable denials.

3 days of A/R.

That doesn't sound revolutionary.

But multiply it by 52 weeks.

Then by multiple physicians.

Then by multiple years.

Suddenly the boring improvements become strategic.

That's how healthcare transformation usually works.

Not one giant breakthrough.

A thousand small frictions removed.


A practical revenue-cycle audit for physicians

If I were walking into your practice tomorrow, I would start with one patient journey.

Not a dashboard.

A patient.

Follow the encounter from:

appointment → eligibility → visit → documentation → coding → authorization → claim → adjudication → payment.

Write down every human touch.

Every handoff.

Every delay.

Every correction.

Every phone call.

Every duplicate entry.

Then ask:

Why?

Not:

“Who made the mistake?”

Ask:

Why did the system allow the mistake?

That changes the conversation from blame to design.


Step 1: Find the recurring pain

Take the last 90 days.

Find your most common denials.

Not the most expensive.

The most common.

Frequency reveals workflow problems.

 

Step 2: Find the expensive pain

Now identify the denials with the largest financial impact.

A small number of high-dollar problems can matter more than hundreds of minor issues.

 

Step 3: Find the human cost

How many hours are spent fixing them?

This is where many practices stop too early.

They measure dollars.

They don't measure time.

Track both.

 

Step 4: Find the earliest intervention point

For every major denial ask:

When could we have known this was going to happen?

Before scheduling?

At eligibility?

During the encounter?

During documentation?

During coding?

Before submission?

The earlier you can identify the problem, the cheaper it usually is to fix.

 

Step 5: Create a denial taxonomy

Stop using “denial” as a single bucket.

Separate:

eligibility

authorization

coding

documentation

medical necessity

payer processing

demographics

timely filing

coordination of benefits

missing information

Now you can see patterns.

 

Step 6: Close the loop

Every meaningful denial should answer two questions:

What happened?

and

What should we change so it happens less often?

If your revenue-cycle team only answers the first question, you have a recovery department.

If it answers both, you have a learning system.

 

Step 7: Automate selectively

Automate what is:

repetitive

well-defined

measurable

low ambiguity

high volume

Be more cautious with tasks involving:

clinical judgment

uncertain documentation

exceptions

legal interpretation

high-risk financial decisions

The goal isn't maximum automation.

It's appropriate automation.


The myth that automation means no humans

Let's kill this one.

I don't want a healthcare system with no humans.

I want a healthcare system where humans spend their time on things that require humans.

That's different.

A good AI system should allow a billing specialist to spend less time checking 200 identical claims and more time solving the one complicated claim that actually needs expertise.

That's augmentation.

Not replacement.


Myth: More technology means less complexity

Not necessarily.

Healthcare has a talent for taking one fax machine and replacing it with:

three portals,

two logins,

an API,

a dashboard,

an inbox,

and a notification saying:

“Action required.”

We didn't eliminate the fax.

We gave it friends.

Technology is not the solution if it adds another layer.

The goal is fewer steps, not more software.


Myth: Denials are just part of doing business

This one bothers me.

Some denials are unavoidable.

Healthcare is complicated.

Payers have legitimate utilization-management functions.

Patients change insurance.

Eligibility changes.

Contracts differ.

Mistakes happen.

Fine.

But “some denials are inevitable” does not mean:

“Preventable denials are acceptable.”

Those are very different statements.


Myth: The billing department owns the revenue cycle

No.

The revenue cycle begins long before billing.

It begins with:

registration.

Then:

eligibility.

Then:

clinical documentation.

Then:

coding.

Then:

authorization.

Then:

claim preparation.

Then:

submission.

Then:

payment.

Then:

reconciliation.

Then:

learning.

That is a practice-wide system.


Myth: AI automatically makes the system smarter

AI can make a system smarter.

It can also make a bad system faster.

That distinction matters.

Before adding AI, ask whether you understand the workflow well enough to know:

What should be automated?

What should remain human?

What data are reliable?

What exceptions exist?

How will performance be measured?

How will errors be detected?

What happens when the model is wrong?

If you don't know those answers, you're not ready to automate.

You're ready to experiment.

Those are not the same thing.


The legal problem

There is another uncomfortable reality.

Healthcare billing is not a playground.

Automated systems operate in an environment involving:

HIPAA

Medicare and Medicaid requirements

payer contracts

coding rules

documentation requirements

fraud and abuse laws

False Claims Act exposure

overpayment obligations

and numerous federal and state requirements.

AI does not change those obligations.

If anything, automation can make governance more important.

A physician owner should know:

Who approved the workflow?

What data does the system use?

Who can change the rules?

How are recommendations audited?

How are errors corrected?

What happens when the system disagrees with the physician or coder?

Where is the audit trail?

If nobody can answer those questions, the system isn't ready for high-stakes automation.


Ethical considerations

The objective of revenue-cycle technology should never be:

maximize reimbursement at any cost.

It should be:

accurate reimbursement for appropriate care.

That means technology should never become an excuse for:

upcoding.

unsupported documentation.

fabricated clinical information.

inappropriate medical-necessity assertions.

automated manipulation.

Patients deserve transparency.

Physicians deserve control.

Payers deserve accurate information.

And practices deserve to be paid appropriately for legitimate care.

That's the ethical center of the problem.


The black-box problem

I have a simple rule:

If the system makes a consequential recommendation, I want to know why.

If the system says:

“This claim is likely to be denied.”

Great.

Tell me why.

If it says:

“This documentation may not support the code.”

Fine.

Show me the issue.

If it says:

“Change the code.”

I want evidence.

Healthcare AI needs explainability, especially when its output can affect reimbursement, documentation or patient access.

A black box may be impressive.

But impressive isn't the same as trustworthy.


The recent news that matters

There is an important shift happening right now.

The conversation is moving from:

“Should we digitize prior authorization?”

to:

“Can the systems actually understand each other?”

The AMA's July 2026 initiative to connect SNOMED CT clinical concepts with CPT terminology is a good example. The stated goal is to help bridge the gap between clinical information in the EHR and the coding information required by payers for authorization workflows.

That matters because merely moving a paper form onto a screen doesn't necessarily eliminate the work.

You can create a beautiful electronic version of a terrible process.

Congratulations.

You now have digital bureaucracy.

The harder problem is interoperability of meaning.


And prior authorization reform is still unfinished

The AMA reports that only one in three physicians believes insurer commitments will make a meaningful difference.

Meanwhile, physicians report:

40 prior authorizations per week.

13 hours of physician/staff time.

94% saying PA contributes to burnout.

32% reporting that requests are often or always denied.

74% saying denials have increased over five years.

This is why physician owners should not wait for Washington, insurers or technology vendors to solve every operational problem.

Some reforms require policy.

Some require payer behavior to change.

But some problems can be addressed inside the practice.

That is where operational intelligence matters.


The bigger healthcare lesson

Let's go back to Mark and Madi Turley.

Mark survived prematurity.

Then, decades later, his daughter faced an even more difficult beginning.

Their family experienced healthcare at its most human.

Doctors.

Nurses.

NICU teams.

Therapists.

Hospitals.

Years of care.

The ultimate measure wasn't a claim.

It wasn't an A/R report.

It wasn't a denial rate.

It was Madi eventually getting to live.

That's the point I want healthcare leaders to remember.

The administrative system exists to support the care system.

Not the other way around.

When administrative machinery becomes so complicated that it consumes the people delivering care, something has gone backward.


What I think the future looks like

I don't think the future medical practice will eliminate billing staff.

I don't think AI will eliminate payers.

I don't think claims will disappear.

I don't think healthcare will suddenly become simple.

I do think something more interesting can happen.

The revenue cycle can become predictive instead of reactive.

Instead of:

“This claim was denied.”

We move toward:

“This claim has a high probability of denial. Here's why. Here's what can be corrected before submission.”

Instead of:

“The payer requested documentation.”

We move toward:

“This documentation requirement is likely to apply. Here's what is missing.”

Instead of:

“The practice discovered a recurring denial.”

We move toward:

“The system detected a recurring payer pattern and recommends an upstream workflow change.”

That's a different revenue cycle.

It is not simply automated.

It is intelligent.


What OnnX is trying to build

This is the thinking behind OnnX.

I founded OnnX around a simple observation:

Small and medium-sized physician practices should not need an army of intermediaries to get paid accurately for the care they already delivered.

The opportunity isn't merely to build another billing tool.

It is to rethink the revenue cycle as an interconnected operating system.

An AI Revenue Cycle OS should help connect:

clinical documentation

to

coding

to

payer intelligence

to

claim optimization

to

denial prevention

to

revenue intelligence.

The goal is not to make physicians think more about billing.

It is to make physicians think less about billing.

That distinction is everything.


What I would build if I were starting a practice today

I would build around five principles.

1. Capture information once

Every unnecessary re-entry is an opportunity for error.

 

2. Put intelligence as close to the source as possible

Don't wait until the denial.

 

3. Make every recommendation explainable

No mysterious black boxes.

 

4. Measure time as aggressively as money

Because physician and staff attention are economic resources.

 

5. Design for the exception

Automation handles the routine.

Humans handle what is unusual.

That's where people add value.


The practice of the future may be smaller, not bigger

This is one of my favorite contrarian ideas.

We often assume healthcare organizations need to become larger to survive.

Maybe.

But another possibility exists.

What if technology allows a small physician practice to operate with the sophistication of a much larger organization?

Imagine a five-physician practice with:

real-time payer intelligence.

automated claim validation.

denial prediction.

coding support.

documentation intelligence.

workflow orchestration.

A/R prioritization.

Payment reconciliation.

Analytics.

Without building a 30-person administrative department.

That is interesting.

Because technology could potentially make independence more viable, not less.


The future competitive advantage may be administrative simplicity

Physicians already compete for patients.

They compete for staff.

They compete for time.

They compete for margins.

They compete for independence.

Soon, they may increasingly compete on something less obvious:

operational simplicity.

A practice that can deliver excellent medicine while generating less administrative friction has a structural advantage.

Its physicians may have more capacity.

Its staff may have less burnout.

Its cash flow may be more predictable.

Its patient experience may be better.

Its owner may have more time to actually run the business.

That is not glamorous.

It is strategic.


A challenge for physician owners

I want to challenge you to do something this week.

Don't buy anything.

Don't install anything.

Don't call a vendor.

Just measure.

Take one week.

Track:

How many hours did physicians spend on administrative work?

How many hours did staff spend on denials?

How many claims required correction?

What were the top three denial reasons?

How many payer calls occurred?

How many prior authorizations were submitted?

How many were denied?

How much revenue was delayed?

Then ask one question:

“Which of these problems should never have reached a human?”

That is where your opportunity is.


The five numbers I would put on every practice dashboard

Not 50.

Five.

1. Preventable denial rate

Not just denial rate.

Preventable denial rate.

 

2. First-pass claim success

How often does the claim move through without human repair?

 

3. Days to payment

Speed matters.

 

4. Administrative hours per 100 encounters

This tells you how much operational friction surrounds care.

 

5. Physician administrative hours

Because if that number is rising, something is wrong.


The question nobody asks after buying software

Here's another uncomfortable question:

Did the software actually make the practice simpler?

Not:

Did people log in?

Not:

Did usage increase?

Not:

Did we create reports?

Not:

Did the dashboard look good?

Ask:

Did work disappear?

If not, the technology may be measuring the problem rather than solving it.


Three lessons I would take from the Turley family's story

Lesson 1: Healthcare is longitudinal

The hospital sees an encounter.

The family experiences a lifetime.

 

Lesson 2: The outcome is bigger than the transaction

A claim is not the end goal.

The patient's life is.

 

Lesson 3: Every administrative hour has a human consequence

Someone is paying for that hour.

A physician.

A nurse.

A biller.

A patient.

A family.

A practice owner.

Often, all of them.


The uncomfortable truth about healthcare innovation

Healthcare doesn't need more technology for technology's sake.

It needs less friction.

We don't need another AI logo.

We need fewer phone calls.

We don't need another dashboard.

We need fewer denials.

We don't need another workflow.

We need fewer workflows.

We don't need another portal.

We need fewer passwords.

And we definitely don't need a chatbot telling a tired physician that their claim has been denied.

We need the system to say:

“We caught the problem before it left the practice.”

Now that's innovation.


Final Thoughts

Mark Turley survived when medicine wasn't nearly as advanced as it is today.

Decades later, his daughter Madi Turley faced her own extraordinary medical battle.

Medicine did what medicine is supposed to do.

It gave them a chance.

Then life took over.

That is what makes their story so powerful.

Healthcare is ultimately measured in the lives that happen after the encounter.

That should change how we think about everything surrounding the encounter.

Billing isn't the mission.

Authorization isn't the mission.

Coding isn't the mission.

Technology isn't the mission.

They are infrastructure.

The mission is the patient.

And if our infrastructure consumes the time, attention and energy of the people caring for that patient, we should have the courage to redesign it.

My contrarian view is simple:

The future of medical billing isn't more aggressive collections.

It is better information, earlier.

It is prevention instead of repair.

It is clinical intelligence connected to financial intelligence.

It is technology that disappears into the workflow instead of creating another workflow.

And perhaps most importantly:

It is giving physicians back the time they never should have lost in the first place.


Get Involved

I don't think physicians need another lecture about how broken healthcare is.

We already know.

The more interesting conversation is:

What are we going to redesign?

So I want to hear from you.

What is the single administrative task in your practice that makes you think, “Why are humans still doing this?”

Tell me in the comments.

If you've solved part of the problem, share what worked.

If you've failed at solving it, share that too.

Failure is data.

And if this perspective resonates with you, repost this article so another physician or clinic owner can join the conversation.

We don't need everyone to agree.

We need more people willing to question the status quo.

Ask better questions.

Share what you are learning.

Help build a healthcare system where administrative infrastructure serves medicine instead of competing with it.

That is where I believe the real opportunity is.


Continue the Conversation

The healthcare conversation doesn't end with one article.

I write about the intersection of medicine, healthcare operations, medical billing, technology, physician entrepreneurship and innovation.

My goal is straightforward:

Make complicated healthcare problems easier to understand—and harder to ignore.

Explore more practical ideas, operating lessons and perspectives on where healthcare may be headed.

Knowledge becomes valuable when it changes what we do next.

Visit my website:
Dr. Daniel Cham's website

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Start with one question. Follow the friction. Find the root cause. Build something better.


Free Resource

PS: Visit the Featured section of my LinkedIn profile for a free resource. No signup required.

If you're a physician or clinic owner dealing with medical billing, denials, prior authorization, administrative overload or revenue-cycle problems, take a look.

And if you think I missed something, tell me.

The people closest to the problem usually know the most about the solution.


About the Author

Dr. Daniel Cham is a physician, healthcare entrepreneur and medical technology consultant focused on the intersection of clinical practice, healthcare operations, medical billing and technology.

He is the founder of OnnX, an AI-powered medical billing platform focused on helping small and medium-sized physician practices reduce administrative friction and improve the connection between clinical documentation and revenue-cycle performance.

His perspective comes from looking at healthcare from both sides:

the medicine and the machinery surrounding the medicine.

His work focuses on one central question:

How can technology help physicians spend more of their finite time practicing medicine—and less time fighting the infrastructure surrounding it?


Connect with Dr. Daniel Cham


Disclaimer

This article is provided for general educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute medical, legal, coding, compliance, reimbursement or financial advice.

Healthcare regulations, payer policies, contracts and coding requirements vary and change over time. Readers should seek qualified professional advice for circumstances specific to their practice, organization or patients.


References

1. American Medical Association — 2026 Prior Authorization Physician Survey
The AMA's latest survey documents the continuing burden of prior authorization, including approximately 40 requests per physician each week, 13 hours of physician/staff time and significant reported effects on burnout and patient care.
Read the AMA findings

2. American Medical Association — SNOMED CT to CPT Mapping Initiative
The AMA's July 2026 initiative addresses the disconnect between clinical concepts in EHRs and administrative coding requirements used in prior authorization.
Read the AMA initiative

3. CAQH — 2025 CAQH Index
The latest CAQH Index reports that U.S. healthcare avoided an estimated $258 billion in administrative costs through electronic transactions and improved data exchange, while identifying an additional $21 billion savings opportunity.
Explore the 2025 CAQH Index findings


One Last Question

Madi Turley survived because medicine worked.

But medicine is surrounded by systems that often don't work nearly as well.

So here is my question for every physician owner:

If you could eliminate one administrative task from your practice tomorrow, what would it be—and why hasn't someone eliminated it already?

Leave your answer below.

Your frustration might be someone else's product idea.

Your workaround might be someone else's breakthrough.

And your story might help another physician realize they are not the only one fighting the same battle.

#Healthcare #MedicalBilling #RevenueCycleManagement #PhysicianPractice #HealthcareInnovation #HealthTech #HealthcareAI #PhysicianEntrepreneur #MedicalPracticeManagement #HealthcareLeadership #PriorAuthorization #ClaimDenials #IndependentPractice #HealthcareOperations #ClinicalDocumentation #OnnX

If this perspective resonates, repost it. Someone in your network may be spending 13 hours this week solving a problem that should have been prevented.

 

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