Waystar Advances AI Leadership with Next-Generation Denial Prevention and Reimbursement Recovery Innovations

Tackling $20 billion lost in denial recovery efforts and $17 billion in uncompensated care, helping providers unlock stronger financial performance and resilience

LEHI, Utah and LOUISVILLE, Ky., Sept. 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Waystar (Nasdaq: WAY), a provider of leading healthcare payment software, today will unveil breakthrough innovations at its Fall Innovation Showcase. These advancements reinforce Waystar's leadership in AI-powered software built for healthcare. With these breakthroughs, Waystar AltitudeAI™ elevates next-generation denial prevention and reimbursement recovery, transforming healthcare's costliest challenges into meaningful financial gains for providers.

Healthcare providers face steep financial headwinds, with $20 billion spent annually to fight denied claims, $17 billion in uncompensated care tied to bad debt due to lower patient collections, and $2.6 billion that could be saved by eliminating manual steps to obtain payer reimbursement. Waystar directly targets these challenges—delivering more than 90% time savings across key capabilities. Waystar's platform helps providers reclaim millions in revenue, free up the equivalent of more than a dozen full-time employees to focus on higher-value work, and achieve a 135% lift in pre-service patient collections that convert uncompensated care into sustainable cash flow. The result is stronger margins and greater resilience for healthcare providers nationwide.

"Waystar is automating the revenue cycle by harnessing the power of AI to transform the future of healthcare," said Matt Hawkins, Chief Executive Officer of Waystar. "As we gather with hundreds of client thought leaders this week at Waystar True North, we're inspired by the outcomes they're achieving with our AI-powered software platform. Our innovations continue to free staff to focus more on patient care while strengthening financial performance."

Today, Waystar will unveil the following transformative innovations on its AI-powered software platform:

Confronting the $20 Billion Denial Problem

Waystar is announcing the industry's first scaled, AI-powered, end-to-end solution for denial appeals. Waystar AltitudeAI now enables providers to create hundreds of appeal packages simultaneously, more than 90% faster—cutting time from 38 hours to two and redeploying the equivalent of 13 full-time employees to higher-value work for a mid-size health system. With Waystar AltitudeAI capabilities, early adopters are overturning 40% more denials. The latest advances in denial root cause insights will further help providers overturn existing denials and prevent future ones before they occur.

Addressing the $17 Billion Uncompensated Care Strain

Waystar early adopter clients are achieving significant improvements in pre-service patient payments, rising from 17% to 40% of total payments—accelerating cash flow, strengthening patient trust, and reducing uncompensated care. Waystar's new, advanced pre-service cost estimation capability, integrated within the patient's digital experiences, gives patients accurate, transparent out-of-pocket expectations. The need for proactive financial engagement has never been more prominent as providers face greater uncompensated care and policy shifts push more costs to patients.

Targeting the 60%+ Preventable Denials

Waystar AltitudeAI cuts denial-prevention-related work for a mid-size health system from 133 hours to under six—a 95% time savings that accelerates reimbursement. It leverages historical payer and provider behavior insights to prevent errors prior to claim submission. The AI-powered payer behavior technology will also surface risks in real time and prevent costly errors, such as identifying out-of-network coverage before care is delivered. More than 60% of denials are preventable, and providers lose $2.6 billion each year in payer reimbursement-related costs that can be addressed through automation.

Waystar will debut its latest product innovations at the Fall Innovation Showcase today at 10:30 a.m. CT during the annual Waystar True North™ conference. The showcase will be streamed online, and viewers can register to watch here.

About Waystar

Waystar's mission-critical software is purpose-built to simplify healthcare payments so providers can prioritize patient care and optimize their financial performance. Waystar serves approximately 30,000 clients, representing over 1 million distinct providers, including 16 of 20 institutions on the U.S. News Best Hospitals list. Waystar's enterprise-grade platform annually processes over 6 billion healthcare payment transactions, including over $1.8 trillion in annual gross claims and spanning approximately 50% of U.S. patients. Waystar strives to transform healthcare payments so providers can focus on what matters most: their patients and communities. Discover the way forward at waystar.com.

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SOURCE Waystar