When discussing the application of AI in healthcare, the conversation often shifts to a clinical focus. Diagnoses. Care gaps. Patient engagement.
But some of the biggest wins—and fastest returns—are hiding in the back office. Claims. Authorizations. Denials.
That’s why I invited Michael Riley, co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Gabeo, to join me on the latest episode of The Health/Tech Edge. Gabeo is an AI company that’s laser-focused on a single operational pain point: denial management. And what they’re doing with AI is working.
Why Denials?
Denials are one of those things everyone in revenue cycle deals with, but few can quantify—let alone solve. Gabeo doesn’t try to tackle everything at once. They started with a specific question: How much money are providers losing to denials they could be recovering, or preventing entirely?
It turns out the answer is a lot. In some cases, tens of millions per year.
What’s striking is how Gabeo helps provider organizations see the problem clearly, fast, and without a months-long implementation slog. Once that problem is measurable, solving it becomes a priority. And AI becomes a cost-saving tool, not a science project.
What the Product Actually Does
Michael walked us through how the Gabeo platform works:
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It ingests claims and denial-related data (no integration required)
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Uses AI to find payer-specific denial patterns
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Flags which denials to appeal and which aren’t worth chasing
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Surfaces upstream documentation or process breakdowns
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Automates some workflows like pre-filling appeals and routing tasks
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Helps teams fix denial-prone workflows and avoid future losses
What makes this interesting to me isn’t just the AI, but how focused and actionable the output is. This isn’t a chatbot bolted onto claims data. It’s agentic AI observing workflows, making decisions, and initiating action.
Agentic AI in Action
At Productive Edge, we’ve been talking a lot about Agentic AI, systems that go beyond insight to actually do the work. Gabeo fits that model perfectly.
Their platform doesn’t just analyze data or summarize reports. It takes action, whether that’s flagging a denial worth appealing or helping a team prioritize the next best task. And over time, it learns.
Even better? The teams using it don’t feel threatened. They feel supported. Gabeo isn’t replacing people. It’s giving them the tools to stop wasting time chasing dead ends and focus on what matters.
Real ROI, Real Fast
One of the things I appreciated most about Michael’s approach is the focus on results. Gabeo aims to deliver 10x ROI on every deployment. In some cases, they’ve hit 20x or 40x. And they’re doing it without weeks of integration or IT lift.
That kind of velocity is rare in healthcare.
And it’s a reminder that while AI’s clinical promise is huge, its operational impact is happening now.
What to Listen For
In the episode, we also cover:
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How Gabeo landed on denial management as the wedge use case
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What makes their AI approach different from off-the-shelf LLM wrappers
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Why starting with denial insights opens the door to deeper transformation
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What provider execs should be asking when evaluating AI partners
🎧 [Listen to the full episode here →]
If you’re a healthcare executive trying to reduce costs and boost revenue cycle performance, this episode will help you see what’s possible when AI is focused, measurable, and built to act.
And if you're curious how Productive Edge is helping other healthcare organizations apply agentic AI across operations, feel free to get in touch.
