Thursday, 24 September 2026 11:30 AM
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Pre-MGMA attendee survey finds staffing pressure, payer administration, fragmented technology and demand for measurable ROI reshaping purchasing priorities for independent and corporate-owned medical groups
SAN ANTONIO, TX / ACCESS Newswire / September 24, 2026 / Physician practices, medical groups and ambulatory organizations are entering 2027 with a more urgent technology agenda centered on reducing administrative labor, improving revenue-cycle performance, consolidating fragmented workflows and determining where artificial intelligence and outsourcing can produce measurable operating gains, according to new Black Book Research findings released ahead of the MGMA Annual Conference, September 27-30 in San Antonio.
Black Book is also announcing and reintroducing its highest client-rated medical group technology, software and services categories for 2026 while completing a new series of 2027 Medical Group Practice Technology Client Satisfaction Awards covering emerging physician-enterprise priorities including value-based care technology and outsourcing, outsourced practice management, AI-enabled practice operations and technology-enabled administrative services.
The combined findings are designed to provide physician executives, practice administrators, MSOs, independent groups and corporate-owned practices with a clearer view of where their peers are directing technology and operating investments entering 2027.
Medical Groups Enter 2027 Under Intensifying Operational Pressure
In a September 2026 Black Book preconference flash survey of 1,184 physician-practice executives, administrators, finance leaders and technology decision-makers, respondents identified staffing constraints and payer-related administrative work as the two most immediate operating challenges affecting technology decisions.
Among the nearly eleven hundred unique Medical Practice respondents:
- 82% cited staffing shortages, labor costs or difficulty maintaining experienced administrative teams as a major operational concern.
- 89% identified payer administrative requirements, prior authorization, reimbursement complexity or claims follow-up among their most significant sources of avoidable work.
- 94% reported rising operating expenses without comparable growth in reimbursement.
- 91% identified denials, payment delays or revenue-cycle productivity as a 2027 improvement priority.
- 58% said disconnected systems, duplicate entry or weak integration between applications continue to create material staff inefficiency.
- 72% reported that recruiting and retaining qualified revenue-cycle, billing, scheduling or administrative personnel has become more difficult during the past 12 months.
- 79% identified cybersecurity, technology resilience or third-party technology risk as an increased executive concern.
The findings suggest that technology selection is becoming less centered on feature expansion and more focused on whether a product or service eliminates work that practices can no longer afford to perform manually.
"The technology conversation in medical groups has shifted from what a system can do to what work the organization can actually stop doing after it is implemented," said Doug Brown, Founder of Black Book Research. "Practices are facing simultaneous labor, reimbursement and administrative pressures. The technology or outsourcing investment that matters in 2027 is the one that produces a measurable operational result."
What Medical Groups Expect to Buy in 2027
Technology spending intentions remain strong, but Black Book found purchasing priorities increasingly concentrated around applications with identifiable labor, cash-flow or patient-access effects.
Among organizations planning significant technology or outsourcing investments through 2027:
- 70% expect to acquire, expand or replace revenue-cycle automation, billing or claims-management capabilities, with either software or outsourced services.
- 32% are evaluating AI-enabled administrative or clinical workflow applications.
- 37% are prioritizing patient access, scheduling, digital intake or patient communication technology.
- 41% expect new investments in value-based care technology, analytics or outsourced VBC support.
- 78% are reviewing cybersecurity, managed IT or infrastructure services.
- 16% are considering additional outsourced administrative or revenue-cycle functions.
- 13% are evaluating provider workflow, documentation or specialty clinical-system improvements.
- 19% expect to add or expand analytics, financial intelligence or practice-performance management capabilities.
- 11% anticipate a major practice-management or EHR replacement evaluation.
Artificial intelligence has moved rapidly onto physician-practice purchasing agendas, but respondents remain selective. 96% of AI evaluators within medical groups said integration with existing EHR, practice-management and revenue-cycle systems will be a major buying criterion, while 89% said they will require a defined operational or financial performance measure before expanding an AI implementation.
Purchasing Timetables Are Compressing for High-Priority Projects
The survey also indicates that practices are moving faster on targeted automation and outsourcing projects while remaining cautious about large platform replacements.
Among organizations expecting a material technology or services purchase during the next 12 months:
17% expect to make a selection or contract decision by the end of the first quarter of 2027, 20% expect a decision during the second quarter, 33% anticipate purchasing during the late second half of 2027 and 17% remain in early evaluation without a defined acquisition date. Smaller workflow products, AI applications and outsourced services are generally moving through purchasing cycles faster than EHR or practice-management replacements.
Conversely, 78% of organizations considering replacement of a major core platform reported that their evaluation process has lengthened compared with their previous major technology purchase, reflecting concerns about migration, implementation burden, interoperability, training and disruption to physician productivity.
Integration Has Become a Primary Technology Issue
Physician practices continue to add specialized applications, but technology fragmentation is increasingly influencing buying decisions.
Among surveyed technology decision-makers, 93% said they would favor a solution capable of working effectively with their existing technology environment over an application requiring significant additional interfaces or manual reconciliation.
The leading technology concerns entering 2027 are: interoperability and application integration; migration and implementation burden; AI governance, accuracy and human oversight; cybersecurity and third-party access; duplicate data entry and fragmented workflows; insufficient reporting across disconnected systems; vendor responsiveness and implementation resources; and the ability to quantify ROI within the first year.
70% of respondents said a documented implementation and migration approach now materially influences vendor selection, while 85% said technology proposals increasingly require a measurable first-year productivity, financial or staffing outcome.
Independent and Corporate-Owned Practices Share Priorities but Differ in Scale
Black Book found substantial overlap between independent and corporate-owned practices but differences in how technology investments are justified. Independent groups were more likely to prioritize immediate administrative labor reduction, collections improvement and simplified vendor management. Corporate-owned practices, MSO-supported groups and larger physician enterprises placed greater emphasis on standardization, centralized analytics, cybersecurity, integration across multiple locations and enterprise-wide operating visibility.
Black Book 2026 Client-Rated Medical Group Technology Leaders
Against this purchasing backdrop, Black Book is reintroducing several previously published 2026 client-satisfaction leaders relevant to physician practices and medical groups.
Medical Group Practice Operations, Clinical Systems and Patient Access
NextGen Healthcare - #1 Physician Practice Management Software
ModMed - #1 Client satisfaction leader across 11 separately evaluated Specialty EHR categories
Modio Health - #1 Provider Credentialing Solutions
InteliChart - #1 Independent End-to-End Patient Engagement Platform
Luma Health - #1 Digital Scheduling and Referral Intake
RevSpring True Access -#1 Registration Quality Assurance and Financial Clearance
Medical Group Revenue Cycle, Authorization and Claims Automation
MedEvolve - # Physician-Enterprise and Ambulatory RCM Workflow Optimization and Workforce Automation
Notable - #1 Revenue-Cycle Workflow Orchestration and Automated Task Queues
Waystar - #1 Agentic and Generative AI Revenue-Cycle Management
Infinx - #1 Provider-Side Prior Authorization Automation
RapidClaims - #1 AI-Powered Claims Automation for Physician Practices and Groups
Medical Group Denial Prevention, Payer Connectivity and Payment Accuracy
AKASA - #1 Denial Prevention Software and Analytics
Availity - #1 Provider Clearinghouse and Claims-Network Services
InstaMed by J.P. Morgan - #1 Remittance, Payment Posting, Reconciliation and Cash Application Automation
MD Clarity - #1 Underpayment, Payment Variance and Payer Contract Recovery Analytics
Medical Group Managed Coding and Ambulatory Revenue-Cycle Services
IKS Health - #1 Managed Medical Coding Services
Omega Healthcare Services / Omega Healthcare - #1 EHR-Agnostic Ambulatory RCM Services and Physician-Enterprise Revenue-Cycle Operations
The categories retain their original competitive sets, methodologies and evaluated buyer populations. Hospital and health-system categories that included physician-enterprise or ambulatory users should not be interpreted as universal rankings of independent practices.
Announcing New Client Satisfaction Awards Expanding 2027 Medical Group Practice Coverage
Black Book has also completed a new group of 2027 physician-practice and medical-group client satisfaction evaluations reflecting areas where purchasing activity is accelerating.
New and expanded award categories include and will be announced separately, prior to MGMA 2026: Value-Based Care Technology and IT Enablement; Value-Based Care Outsourcing and Managed Operations; Outsourced Practice Management; AI-Enabled Physician Practice Operations; AI Patient Access and Communications; AI Revenue-Cycle and Administrative Workflow Automation; Technology-Enabled Practice Administrative Services; Managed IT and Cybersecurity for Physician Organizations; Physician Workforce, Scheduling and Compensation Technology; and Practice Consulting and Transformation Services
The newly completed 2027 recognitions extend Black Book's traditional physician-technology research beyond core EHR and practice-management platforms into the technology-enabled services, AI and operating partnerships increasingly being considered by practices. Award recipients are being notified in conjunction with the MGMA Annual Conference period, with category reports and supporting research becoming available through Black Book's physician-practice research program.
The 2027 Buying Standard: Completed Outcomes, Not More Technology
Black Book recommends that practices establish operational baselines before implementation or contract renewal, particularly for administrative automation and outsourcing. Key measures should include staff time required per completed transaction, repeat handling, unresolved exceptions, denials, scheduling completion, patient follow-up, days to payment, manual touches and the amount of work transferred to another department after automation.
"Physician organizations are entering a period where adding another application without removing an existing burden is becoming difficult to justify," Brown said. "The winning technologies and services in 2027 will be those that connect clinical, administrative and financial workflows while demonstrating that something measurable became easier, faster or less expensive for the practice."
Black Book's previously published Clinician Reality Index 2026, based on responses from 1,919 clinicians across multiple care settings, found that 81% required at least one daily workaround and 65% lost at least 30 minutes per day or shift to avoidable digital work. Among clinicians already using AI, only 19% reported meaningful net work reduction, underscoring the difference between technology adoption and actual workload improvement.
Across Black Book's physician-practice research programs, 9,018 medical practices, organizations and distinct physician groups participated in one or more studies supporting its 2026 evaluations. Black Book conducts category-specific client-experience research across physician practices, medical groups, ambulatory organizations, health systems and other healthcare buyer populations.
About Black Book Research
Black Book Research is an independent healthcare market research and competitive intelligence organization evaluating healthcare technology, software, services and outsourcing through stakeholder feedback and category-specific research. Black Book's research examines client experience, operational performance, technology adoption and purchasing priorities across healthcare providers, payers and other industry stakeholders.
Black Book conducts independent research without vendor membership requirements for participation in its market evaluations. Category results are based on defined buyer populations, competitive sets and research methodologies appropriate to each market segment. Media Contact: [email protected] 1-800-863-7590
SOURCE: Black Book Research