# What Is Risk Adjustment Software?

## Understanding Risk Adjustment

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has [announced plans](https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cms-rolls-out-aggressive-strategy-enhance-and-accelerate-medicare-advantage-audits?) to expand audits and grow its team of medical coders from roughly 40 to nearly 2,000 to manage the surge in Risk Adjustment Data Validation (RADV) reviews. This wave of scrutiny underscores a new reality: accurate, transparent risk adjustment is no longer optional.

Accurate data capture maintains the financial balance that sustains value-based care. Risk adjustment ensures:

- Providers caring for sicker patients are properly reimbursed
- Health plans manage population health efficiently
- Patients receive equitable, needs-based care

## What Risk Adjustment Software Does

Risk adjustment software automates a complex, manual process—transforming coding and documentation into a streamlined, intelligent workflow.

**Key capabilities include:**

- Aggregating data from EHRs, claims, and labs
- Identifying diagnosis codes and Hierarchical Condition Categories (HCCs)
- Flagging documentation gaps and coding opportunities
- Validating data for CMS compliance
- Generating audit-ready submissions

## The Hidden Costs of Manual Risk Adjustment

[CMS estimates](https://oig.hhs.gov/reports-and-publications/workplan/summary/wp-summary-0000817.asp?) that 9.5% of MA payments are improper, mainly due to unsupported diagnoses. Each missed diagnosis or incomplete record distorts risk scores, understates population complexity, and can erode both revenue and data integrity.

**Common challenges include:**

- Incomplete data: EHRs rarely reflect the entire patient story.
- Human error: Even experts can overlook subtle details or mis-map codes.
- Lagging insights: Delays between review and action hinder intervention.

## The AI Advantage

Manual processes persist across the industry, but they’re inefficient and error-prone. Analysts and coders can spend hours reviewing charts—only to miss critical diagnoses buried in free-text notes or scanned PDFs.

**How AI elevates risk adjustment**

Using natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning, AI-driven systems can:

- Extract hidden data from unstructured sources like clinician notes
- Predict undocumented conditions using longitudinal trends
- Provide real-time feedback to coders and providers
- Create transparent, audit-ready records with clear logic paths

## Why It Matters

Accurate risk adjustment—including within Medicare and Medicaid populations—drives both financial stability and better patient outcomes. strengthens both financial stability and patient outcomes. When risk data reflects reality, organizations can plan better, allocate resources wisely, and deliver higher-quality care.

**Proven benefits include:**

- Improved documentation accuracy and compliance
- Faster gap closure
- Reduced audit exposure
- Stronger population health management

In short: better data means better care.

## The Keebler Health Difference

Our AI-powered platform unifies structured and unstructured data into a gap-free patient story, empowering ACOs, MSOs, and health plans to excel in value-based care.

**Get Started—Risk-Free, No Obligation**

Discover how Keebler Health’s AI-driven platform delivers accurate, compliant, and audit-ready risk adjustment—without adding workload or risk.

**[Request a Demo!](https://keebler.health/risk-free-trial/)**