Cosentus sees India centre as a key AI pillar for US healthcare sector

As healthcare providers across the United States grapple with mounting administrative complexity, revenue cycle management company Cosentus is betting on a combination of AI and human expertise to solve some of the industry's most persistent challenges.

The US-headquartered company, which began as a third-party revenue cycle management services provider, has evolved into a technology-led healthcare operations platform, developing its own proprietary AI tools and steadily expanding its presence in both the US and India.

In an interaction with EnterpriseStory, Cosentus CEO G S Bhalla said the company's journey mirrors the broader shift in India's role in global healthcare services.

"We started in the business process outsourcing space, but today our India team is fully outcome-responsible and is developing technology solutions to address the complexity of revenue cycle management in the US," said Bhalla.

Revenue cycle management encompasses everything from patient eligibility checks and prior authorisations to claims processing, payment collection and denial management. The sector is particularly challenging in the US, where healthcare regulations, reimbursement structures, and compliance requirements vary significantly across states.

Bhalla noted that fragmented data systems and interoperability challenges continue to create inefficiencies for healthcare providers. To address these issues, Cosentus has built its own technology stack, including AI-powered voice agents and workflow automation tools designed to handle high-volume, rules-based processes.

Among the company's AI innovations are virtual agents named 'Chris' and 'Cindy', which assist with patient communications and account-related queries. The tools have helped increase outreach volumes while allowing employees to focus on more specialised tasks such as denial analysis, coding disputes, documentation improvement, and payer escalations, said Bhalla.

"We don't see AI as a replacement. We see it as an augmentation tool for productivity and efficiency," he said, adding that automation enables staff to concentrate on areas where human judgement and expertise remain essential.

The company is also developing more advanced AI applications in areas such as medical coding, denial management, and clinical documentation. Denial management is the process of investigating, analysing, and resolving rejected or denied insurance claims.

A beta-stage AI scribe is being tested to help healthcare providers record patient encounters and improve documentation accuracy.

Founded with a focus on healthcare revenue cycle operations, Cosentus has increasingly moved towards what Bhalla describes as a "services-as-software" model, integrating technology platforms, AI agents, and domain specialists into a single offering. The company has also acquired several healthcare businesses that it previously serviced, strengthening its position in the provider ecosystem.

A significant part of Cosentus' growth story is unfolding in India. The company operates centres in Gurugram and Noida, which together represent the Cosentus' largest workforce footprint. Bhalla said India's deep talent pool, young workforce, and growing technology capabilities make it central to the company's long-term strategy.

"India is a critical component of our success. We are essentially building in India for the global market and solving complex problems in the US healthcare environment through both technology and people," he said.

Looking ahead, Cosentus expects AI adoption to accelerate across the healthcare revenue cycle. Rather than eliminating jobs, Bhalla believes the technology will redefine them, with employees increasingly becoming managers of AI-driven workflows while focusing on higher-value problem-solving and strategic interventions.

In an industry where administrative costs remain stubbornly high, this blend of automation and human expertise may prove to be the company's most valuable prescription.