Artificial intelligence (AI) shows no sign of shrinking its use among healthcare practices. From streamlining revenue cycle management to improving billing accuracy, AI-driven tools are increasingly helping to reduce costs and relieve administrative burdens. Yet the challenge for medical practice leaders remains: how to balance these technologies with the human relationships that are vital to patient care.

MGMA Business Solutions Podcast host Daniel Williams speaks with Dr. Rihan Javid, President of EDGE and CEO of Rinova AI, about practical ways to integrate AI and remote staffing to achieve both efficiency and trust. The conversation highlights both the opportunities and the limits of automation.

Expanding Capabilities Through EDGE and Renova AI

EDGE was founded to meet a critical need in healthcare staffing: providing reliable, cost-effective talent to support medical and dental practices, as well as insurance companies. With more than 350 healthcare clients, EDGE has built teams in multiple countries to serve organizations ranging from solo practices to large physician-owned hospitals. These teams perform a wide array of functions, from billing and coding to front-office and back-office support.

But as clients increasingly asked how technology could be applied to help further reduce costs and improve efficiency, EDGE launched Rinova AI. This sister company builds AI-powered tools designed to handle repetitive, rules-based tasks that often bog down staff. By layering AI automation on top of EDGE’s staffing solutions, practices gain both flexibility and scalability in how they manage administrative functions.

“It’s just a software that does maybe 90-95% percent of your billing, but you still have your human team that supervises it,” Dr. Javid explains. “So your workflow stays the same, but you just have the AI that does most of it.”

Addressing the Persistent Billing Challenge

Billing remains one of the most significant pain points in healthcare operations. Recruiting and retaining skilled billing staff is increasingly difficult, as large health systems can outbid smaller practices for experienced coders by offering higher pay and better benefits. Even when practices do build effective teams, turnover remains high, leading to recurring training costs and operational disruptions.

The financial burden of billing is equally daunting. Dr. Javid discovered that for many practices, billing and coding expenses consume 4–8% of revenue. For a group of 10 physicians generating $10 million annually, that can mean $500,000 or more spent on billing functions alone.

Renova AI aims to reduce that burden by automating large portions of the billing cycle. Javid notes that practices can cut billing costs to less than 1% of revenue. “You’re seeing about an 88% savings on your billing costs overnight,” he highlights.

For a primary care physician billing $1 million per year, that can mean $40,000–$50,000 in savings annually—money that can be redirected into staff retention, new services or investments in patient care.

Where AI Adds Value

The most immediate opportunities for AI in medical practices lie in tasks that are repetitive and rules-based. Coding patient visits, reconciling payments, checking eligibility and managing prior authorizations all follow predictable workflows that AI agents can execute more quickly than humans.

“Instead of taking ten or fifteen minutes per patient, it can do it in twenty seconds,” Dr. Javid says. The speed and accuracy of these processes can reduce revenue cycle delays and improve cash flow, all while freeing staff from tedious responsibilities.

By relieving employees of repetitive work, practices can reallocate them toward higher-value tasks. Staff who once spent hours coding or processing claims can instead support patient-facing functions, where human judgment and communication skills make a critical difference.

Why the Human Element Still Matters

Despite the advantages of automation, AI has clear limits in healthcare. Patient interactions, in particular, demand empathy, trust and personal connection—qualities that machines cannot replicate.

As a psychiatrist, Dr. Javid emphasizes the importance of maintaining this balance. “Without the empathy, without that doctor-patient relationship, it’s just not going to work.”

Patients still expect to talk with people, not machines, when they call their provider’s office.  Plus, they value the attentiveness of staff who can answer questions and provide reassurance while demonstrating compassion. Overreliance on chatbots or automated phone systems risks damaging trust in the practice.

AI is often most effective when used as a behind-the-scenes tool. By automating back-office processes, practices free up their teams to engage more meaningfully with patients, preserving the human connections that drive better outcomes and satisfaction.

Strategic Adoption for Practice Leaders

For medical group leaders considering AI adoption, the key is to be intentional and phased in approach. Attempting to overhaul entire workflows overnight can create disruption and resistance among staff. Instead, leaders should target areas where automation delivers the fastest return on investment and integrate AI gradually.

Dr. Javid offers this guidance: “Keep your essence of who you are and bring in little bits here—whether it’s the AI agent to help with billing or this or that—but don’t let AI or computers or anything change who you are. Don’t let it change your practice and don’t let it change your connection with your patients.”

In practice, this means starting with functions where AI has a proven track record of success, such as billing and coding, or eligibility verification. Leaders should also maintain clear lines of human oversight, ensuring staff are empowered to monitor AI outputs and step in where necessary.

Action Steps for Practice Leaders

To put these ideas into practice, leaders can begin with the following steps:

1. Audit your current costs: Identify how much your practice spends on billing, coding, and administrative support.
2. Prioritize billing automation: Target functions like claims processing and payment reconciliation for AI deployment.
3. Integrate with staff workflows: Ensure AI agents support rather than disrupt existing processes.
4. Reinvest savings strategically: Use reduced billing costs to invest in patient services, technology upgrades, or staff development.
5. Preserve patient connection: Make human empathy the standard in all patient-facing roles.
6. Adopt incrementally: Introduce AI step by step, allowing staff and patients to adapt with minimal friction.

By combining EDGE’s global staffing solutions with Rinova AI’s automation technology, practices can dramatically reduce costs and streamline operations while allowing staff to focus on delivering patient-centered care. The future of healthcare operations is not about replacing humans with machines—it’s about creating smarter workflows where technology enhances, rather than diminishes, the human touch that defines effective medical practice.

Resources

• Visit the EDGE website
• Visit the Rinova AI website to learn more
• Watch a Rinova Agentic AI Insurance Verification Demo
• Connect with Dr. Rihan Javid on LinkedIn