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R1 launches a revenue 'operating system' for end-to-end coverage

R1 announced the launch of the Phare Operating System, which utilizes AI agents to orchestrate automated revenue cycle management, spanning from patient access to denials management.

Jacqueline LaPointe
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Published: 22 Oct 2025

Revenue cycle management technology vendor R1 is looking beyond point solutions and launching a revenue 'operating system' that autonomously responds to challenges across the entire revenue cycle.

The company announced today the launch of the Phare Operating System, a unique platform that uses enterprise-grade AI to take a system-level approach to revenue cycle management. The platform leverages health AI technology from Phare Health, which R1 said earlier this week it plans to acquire. Under the acquisition, Phare Health will join R1's R37 innovation lab, which tests AI in partnership with Palantir Technologies to automate and streamline revenue cycle management.

Phare OS will act as the "foundational platform" for three flagship enterprise products, with the first being Phare Access for front-end revenue cycle tasks, such as insurance verification, prior authorizations, patient data intake and eligibility verification. The platform also includes Phare Claim, which features autonomous inpatient coding, and Phare Flow, an autonomous follow-up model that utilizes AI agents to track claims, from status checks to appealing denials.

The new platform is fully integrated across all major EHR systems and banks, according to R1. It also connects with over 1,000 payers and leverages more than 670 million patient encounters, enabling the AI-powered technology to adapt to changes in policy and payer requirements.

With the use of AI, including large language models, voice models and computer use models, Phare OS aims to deliver autonomous operations. Although R1 highlighted that the platform understands when a human is needed to address an issue.

The company also retained the name Phare to showcase its "commitment to making reimbursement fair, transparent, and seamless for health providers."

"While other solutions providers seek to fix isolated problems within the revenue cycle, the Phare Operating System is a holistic approach to optimizing the entire cycle," Steve Albert, chief product officer at R1, said in the announcement. "The platform is designed to respond to problems autonomously, continuously learn from observed outcomes, and prevent problems from recurring."

R1 goes all in on AI for revenue cycle management

R1 sees the future of revenue cycle management in AI technology. The company has invested heavily in health AI companies and forged several partnerships, particularly through its R37 innovation lab, to advance the use of AI capabilities within revenue cycle management.

In the last three years alone, R1 made several major deals, including the $675 million acquisition of Acclara in 2023, the $4.1 billion acquisition of CloudMed in 2022 and the $300 million acquisition of VisitPay in 2021. More recently, in November 2024, it was acquired by investment funds from TowerBrook Capital Partners and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in an $8.9 billion deal that took the company private.

R1 has also forged strategic partnerships, such as the one with Palantir Technologies and Microsoft, and developed capabilities internally to leverage AI across its suite of products for end-to-end revenue cycle management. This has enabled R1 to integrate various types of AI, including machine learning, natural language processing and generative and agentic AI, into its platform.

CEO Joe Flanagan said the Phare OS unveils the next stage of the company's "tech evolution," following a year of AI investments.

"We strongly believe that AI can have a transformative impact on the healthcare revenue cycle," he said in today's announcement. "This evolution of our business reflects our commitment to helping healthcare providers streamline complexity, accelerate cash flow, and move the industry closer to making real-time claim adjudication an operational reality."

AI is not integral to revenue cycle management operations, according to 82% of healthcare leaders in a Waystar survey from over the summer. The technology is delivering results, including claim accuracy, denial prevention, workforce efficiency and payment speed, Waystar reported. Consequently, 60% of surveyed leaders plan to make additional AI investments.

Jacqueline LaPointe is a graduate of Brandeis University and King's College London. She has been writing about healthcare finance and revenue cycle management since 2016.

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