HFMA 2026 Recap: Daring to Solve the Revenue Cycle’s Toughest Challenges

This year’s HFMA Annual Conference gathered more than 4,000 healthcare finance leaders under the fitting theme of “Dare to Solve.” Across keynotes and conversations on the show floor, one message came through clearly: revenue cycle professionals want to move beyond simply surviving disruption and start building a stronger financial future.

As we listened to speakers, talked with attendees, and shared our own perspective in a breakout session on proactively stopping denials, three priorities rose to the top for revenue cycle teams:

• Treating revenue integrity, not just cost cutting, as the path to financial sustainability
• Moving AI from conference buzzword to everyday backbone
• Helping leaner teams thrive under sustained pressure

From cost containment to revenue integrity

The conference’s marquee panel asked what healthcare finance must become to advance affordability, access, and better outcomes. For revenue cycle teams, that future starts with a practical truth: the most sustainable dollar is the one a provider has already earned but hasn’t yet captured.

Daring to solve this means shifting energy from back-end cleanup to front-end accuracy. Providers can prevent errors that drive denials by verifying patient information, locating all available coverage, and confirming eligibility before a patient arrives. Inovalon’s Registration Workflow™ and Eligibility Verification™ automate these labor-intensive steps so the right payer is billed on the first pass. This protects reimbursement while giving patients a smoother, less stressful experience.

The emphasis on front-end accuracy at HFMA reminded me of findings from the recent white paper, Claim Denials: Prevention Strategies. In it, more than three-quarters of revenue cycle leaders and managers attributed denied claims to front-end workflow issues, with eligibility verification emerging as the most frequently cited contributor.

AI moves beyond the hype

If AI was the buzzword a few years ago, this year’s event showed how far the conversation has matured. Leaders are no longer asking whether to adopt AI in the revenue cycle; they want to know where it delivers measurable results today. The clearest answer remains denial prevention, which was the focus of our own breakout session.

By analyzing historical claims, predictive models can recognize the patterns that lead to denials and forecast them before a claim ever leaves your system. That shift from reactive cleanup to proactive prevention speeds up cash flow and gives billing teams tools that make them more accurate and efficient, rather than more overwhelmed.

That is exactly what Inovalon’s new Claim Denial Predictions delivers. An add-on to Claims Management Pro, it flags probable denials and pinpoints the specific fields and remark codes most likely to trigger a rejection, so billers can fix at-risk claims before submission. Because the AI model trains on real clearinghouse transactions after scrubbing, every flag reflects what is actually happening with payers – the real-world patterns that rules-based scrubbing alone misses. And it appears right in the claim screen teams already use to review scrubbing results, so there is no new tool, process, or learning curve.

The payoff can be practical, but flexibility matters. Provider organizations can differ in how they define and prioritize high-value claims. That’s why it’s critical to give billers the flexibility to filter predictions by attributes such as payer, charge amount, service line, and denial likelihood so they see only what matters. Clean claims go out the door, adjudication speeds up, and cash hits the account sooner. And billers spend less time on the phone with payers and buried in rework.

Together, these efforts point to a larger shift taking place across healthcare finance. Financial sustainability is no longer just about controlling costs. It is about protecting earned revenue, preventing avoidable losses, and helping teams work more effectively under pressure. Revenue integrity, predictive denial prevention, and automation all play a role in building a stronger, more resilient revenue cycle.

Helping leaner teams thrive under pressure

In one of the week’s most memorable keynotes, NFL Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith reflected on the lessons that shaped his success, from embracing change and trusting new opportunities to recognizing that no one succeeds alone. While his stories came from football, the themes resonated well beyond the field.

Few audiences relate to that more than revenue cycle teams, who are asked to do more with leaner staff as volumes and payer requirements keep climbing. Staffing shortages, growing payer complexity, and mounting administrative work are stretching teams thin. Smith’s message about preparation, adaptability, and teamwork felt particularly relevant in an environment where success often depends on helping people navigate constant change without losing focus on the mission.

Another theme from the keynote was the idea that growth often begins outside of a person’s comfort zone. Whether it was changing positions on the football field, learning a new skill, or adapting to a new challenge, Smith emphasized the importance of being open to new ways of working. For healthcare finance leaders, that lesson mirrors many of the conversations at HFMA. As reimbursement pressures continue and expectations rise, organizations are increasingly looking to new approaches, including automation and AI, to help teams work more effectively and sustain strong performance over time.

Daring to solve, together

HFMA marked its 80th anniversary this year, and the milestone underscored why the community gathers in the first place: to learn from one another and tackle shared challenges. Claim denials, AI adoption, and workforce strain are exactly the revenue cycle concerns Inovalon helps providers solve every day.

If you joined our breakout session, visited us at the show, or are just catching up on the highlights, we would welcome the chance to continue the conversation. Let’s chat to see how Inovalon can help your organization dare to protect earned reimbursement, prevent avoidable denials, and build a more sustainable revenue cycle.

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