TELCOR buys Sample Healthcare

TELCOR said on April 10 that it acquired Sample Healthcare, adding an artificial intelligence workflow platform to its healthcare billing business. (telcor.com) TELCOR, based in Lincoln, Nebraska, said Sample’s software handles revenue-cycle tasks such as prior authorizations, appeals, payer follow-up, and document processing. TELCOR did not disclose financial terms. (telcor.com) Sample Healthcare will remain available as a standalone product, and the Sample team will stay in leadership roles at TELCOR, according to the company. TELCOR said customers will also be able to use Sample inside the broader TELCOR platform. (telcor.com) Revenue cycle management is the back-office work that turns patient care into payment, from eligibility checks to claim appeals. TELCOR said most existing systems organize data, while Sample’s software is built to carry out the steps themselves with human oversight. (telcor.com) The deal lands as hospitals, labs, and physician groups keep looking for ways to cut administrative labor tied to insurers. In a 2024 American Medical Association survey, physicians reported completing an average of 39 prior authorizations a week, and 40% said they had staff dedicated only to prior authorization work. (ama-assn.org) TELCOR said healthcare providers and laboratories are facing staffing shortages, reimbursement pressure, and rising administrative costs, with delays and denials still common in billing operations. Becker’s Hospital Review reported on April 11 that hospital revenue-cycle teams are in an artificial intelligence “arms race” as payers automate denials faster. (telcor.com) (beckershospitalreview.com) TELCOR has long sold software and services for laboratory revenue cycle management and point-of-care testing, and it said the acquisition extends its earlier rules-based automation into artificial-intelligence execution. On its artificial intelligence product page, TELCOR says customers can see up to a 75% productivity improvement for clinical staff and a 75% reduction in prior-authorization preparation time. (telcor.com 1) (telcor.com 2) The company said it is already using these artificial intelligence workflows inside its own revenue-cycle service operations to test performance before wider rollout. The acquisition closes with TELCOR betting that providers will pay for software that does the paperwork, not just tracks it. (telcor.com)