Transform workflows with smart clinical AI reminders

Our healthcare system is bogged down with inefficiencies—from errors in the patient intake process to issues with the administrative back-end. Complying with the heavy documentation burden expected for insurance and regulatory compliance can negatively impact both clinicians and administrators, detracting from the primary business of delivering superior patient care.

More than half the physicians surveyed for a Medscape study reported burnout, with bureaucratic tasks being the top culprit at 61%.¹ And 41% of healthcare providers see 10% or more of their claims denied, which can lead to decreased revenue and increased financial pressures on already struggling healthcare organizations.²

Fortunately, there's hope. Our 2025 Physician Sentiment Survey shows a turning tide in terms of physician burnout.³ AI technology can assist clinicians and administrative staff in attending to documentation and other procedural details on time and without compromising care. AI-powered “nudges" from athenaOne® can help healthcare organizations improve revenue cycle management (RCM) and deliver patient-centric care.

What is an in-app AI nudge?

Generally, a “nudge" in technology is a small prompt in a digital product deliberately designed to steer users toward a particular action or choice, like push notifications, highlighted buttons, or smart reminders. In the context of healthcare workflows, nudges are gentle reminders to complete tasks that improve patient outcomes and RCM processes. While tools like alerts can be loud or disruptive and interrupt critical workflows; a nudge on the other hand is unobtrusive and seamlessly weaves into clinicians and administrators' workflows.

Equally important, nudges are context-aware, which means they are relevant for the work at hand. A nudge during a diabetes consult, for example, might be a reminder to schedule bloodwork for the patient. AI-native athenaOne will use ambient AI to help extract vital information during the patient visit. Subsequently, native AI can help notify clinicians with context-aware follow-up recommendations. Non-disruptive nudges have a greater chance of being trusted and acted on than those that are annoying or irrelevant. 

AI reminders for follow-ups on patient care

Such AI reminders are particularly helpful at a time when physicians might already be stretched thin. Picture this scenario: A physician running late for a patient visit might understandably miss scheduling follow-ups or completing documentation from earlier visits. The patient might have to call the office at a later time or email them through the patient portal to complete the loop.

AI-powered nudges help in such time-constrained situations. Because athenaOne delivers the nudge at the right time in the right context, it encourages immediate follow-up action on a range of issues. It shifts the burden from the physician having to remember all the protocols and follow-up routines. It also takes less time to follow up and complete all work during, or close to, the visit rather than having to call or email later.

An AI task reminder is especially useful for chronic care management, which depends on continuous attention to small details. A professional physician's supervision and labs guide near and long-term care. A nudge in such cases can perhaps remind the physician of an overdue colonoscopy for a patient with a family history of colon cancer.

But when tasks are left incomplete—a natural consequence of busy healthcare environments—it can lead to wasted time, poor patient outcomes, delayed reimbursements, and lower quality scores. Nudges during patient care delivery can head off incomplete tasks and close care gaps, delivering timely interventions that support better chronic care management. 

Nudging administrators for follow-ups on claims

Challenges related to the claims process can adversely affect RCM and cash flow in healthcare organizations. Administrators often handle hundreds of claims at a time across various stages of the revenue cycle. In addition, denials frequently result from inaccurate or incomplete information and they, too, can be added to lengthy work queues, competing for limited administrator attention.

AI-native athenaOne analyzes trends in payers' claim processing and can nudge billing staff to follow up on unresolved claims based on expected processing timeframes. When claims are denied, native AI can clarify denial reasons and guide administrators through fixes.

Nudges help administrators complete tasks that require some amount of follow-through—like verifying a patient's insurance details, for example, or fixing codes for referrals. Surfacing the items requiring attention in a centralized dashboard can help the administrator attend to the most urgent problems first before reimbursement windows close.

How clinical AI tools can aid clinical documentation improvement (CDI)

Claims are complex and need the right codes in the right places to ensure speedy reimbursement. But coding errors are common and can delay reimbursement. Up to 7% of claims are denied on first submission, with many linked to coding errors, according to the American Medical Association.⁴ Up to 65% of denied claims are never resubmitted, often due to preventable coding issues. ⁵ As the number of denials increases, so does the need for clinical documentation improvement (CDI) and more accurate billing. Challenges to claims denials need thorough documentation backup.

AI reminders can match documentation from a visit against procedure codes and make sure that care is appropriately accounted for. Nudges can prompt back-office staff to complete missing codes and even help physicians provide enough detail in the documentation so staff can use accurate codes for reimbursement.

Native AI reminds clinicians to enter codes for services that might otherwise get missed. It helps healthcare facilities get paid for all services rendered. By streamlining RCM, AI-driven nudges can help claims get paid on the first pass—and boost the financial health of medical practices. 

An ongoing plan to mind the care gaps

With an integrated system like athenaOne, AI-powered nudges in clinical and RCM workflows can help clinicians and administrative staff close care gaps, improve claims' accuracy, and strengthen documentation.

Trust matters in healthcare, and the AI-native athenaOne uses that trust as a guiding principle. By virtue of its simplicity, the technology works seamlessly in the background helping attend to the details and the paperwork so clinicians can deliver superior, patient-centric care.

Learn more about our AI innovations and request a demo of athenaOne today.