Seventy-nine percent of independent practice leaders say technology is very or extremely important to staying independent, according to a Veradigm survey of 360 practice leaders fielded in March 2026. The same survey found the gap behind that confidence: 68% of those practices have only moderate or limited real-time visibility into their own accounts receivable.
Veradigm, an EHR and practice-technology vendor, ran the survey across 11 specialties and four U.S. regions. Every respondent was screened to confirm they had no affiliation with a hospital system, health system, or integrated delivery network. Of the 360 leaders, 59% were physicians or physician owners and 41% were practice administrators, vice presidents, or other C-suite executives. Respondents named rising costs, shrinking reimbursement, and administrative burden as the operational pressures they face, and 57% said better automation would bring a significant or major improvement to their practice. Eighty-eight percent said AI and automation could deliver at least a moderate improvement to practice efficiency.
Where the confidence in technology comes from
Practice leaders did not name technology as important in the abstract. 57% said better automation would bring a significant or major improvement to their practice, and 88% said AI and automation could deliver at least a moderate improvement to practice efficiency. Respondents pointed to three specific priorities behind those numbers: cutting the administrative burden tied to prior authorization, documentation, and billing; improving revenue cycle visibility and speeding up denial resolution; and strengthening payer data visibility ahead of value-based contracts. Those three priorities line up with where the survey found the biggest operational gaps, which is the more useful part of the data for a practice deciding where to spend on analytics or automation first.
The revenue cycle blind spot
The survey's sharpest finding sits in accounts receivable. Sixty-eight percent of independent practices report only moderate or limited real-time visibility into their own AR, and 48% say their claim denial volume has increased. The lag between a denial happening and someone at the practice finding out about it is where the real cost sits: 41% of practices do not learn about a denied claim for one to two weeks, and only 8% get real-time notification when a claim is denied.
Asked directly about visibility into revenue leakage, meaning denials, underpayments, and delayed collections combined, just 24% of practices called their visibility high or complete. Twenty-nine percent described it as limited or nonexistent.
| Revenue cycle visibility gap | Share of independent practices |
|---|---|
| Only moderate or limited real-time AR visibility | 68% |
| Report increased claim denial volume | 48% |
| Wait one to two weeks to learn of a denial | 41% |
| Get real-time denial notification | 8% |
| Call revenue-leakage visibility high or complete | 24% |
| Call revenue-leakage visibility limited or nonexistent | 29% |
Source: Veradigm, survey of 360 independent practice leaders, March 2026.
What practices expect automation to fix
The 57% who expect a significant or major gain from automation and the 88% who expect at least a moderate gain are not spread evenly across every task. The survey ties the expected payoff to the same three areas named above: administrative work, revenue cycle visibility, and payer data for value-based contracts. For a billing company or a practice manager weighing which system to fix first, the AR and denial figures above point to a specific target: a denial notification lag of one to two weeks, against an 8% real-time rate, is a bigger and more measurable gap than administrative burden in general.
Readiness for value-based contracts
Independent practices are also being asked to take on more risk-based reimbursement, and the survey measured how ready they feel for it. Sixty-two percent said they feel prepared for value-based or risk-based reimbursement models, and 56% rated their collaboration with payers as very or extremely effective. Administrative requirements were the top named barrier to fuller value-based participation, cited by 49% of respondents. That figure connects back to the same administrative-burden priority that topped the technology wish list, rather than a separate concern.
Why this is happening against a shrinking base
The pressure behind these numbers is not new. The American Medical Association's Physician Practice Benchmark Survey, updated June 24, 2026, put the share of physicians in private practice, meaning a practice wholly owned by physicians, at 42.2% in 2024, down 18 percentage points from 60.1% in 2012. At the same time, medical groups are absorbing higher costs almost across the board: MGMA's June 23, 2026 poll of 251 medical groups found 84% reporting higher year-to-date operating costs than the same period in 2025, with an average increase of about 11% among those reporting a rise. Only 8% reported a decrease.
Set against that backdrop, the Veradigm figures describe a group of practices that has already chosen to stay independent and is now looking for a way to make that choice sustainable. Seventy-nine percent calling technology essential, next to 68% who cannot see their own AR in real time, describes unfinished work. Belief in technology has arrived well ahead of the systems that would justify it.
What the gap means for billing operations
The numbers point to a specific order of operations. A denial that surfaces in one to two weeks, the position 41% of practices are in, costs more to work than one flagged the same day, because the appeal window has narrowed and the account may have moved further into the billing cycle. Closing that gap does not require solving the whole 68% AR-visibility problem at once. It requires closing the smaller, sharper gap between the 41% who wait and the 8% who already get real-time denial alerts.
The same logic applies to the 29% of practices with limited or nonexistent visibility into revenue leakage. That group is not failing to collect money it never had. It is failing to see money it already earned. For a billing company managing several independent practices, the AR-visibility and denial-notification figures are a more specific measure of where automation pays off than the 88% figure on general AI optimism, because they describe a current operational gap rather than a sentiment about the technology.
Sources
- Yahoo Finance / Veradigm, "Veradigm Survey: Independent Practices Rely on Technology to Stay Independent," May 6, 2026
- MGMA, "Operating costs keep climbing for medical practices in 2026," June 23, 2026
- American Medical Association, "Physician Practice Benchmark Survey," updated June 24, 2026
Talk to us
Fifteen minutes about your practice and the systems you run.