Spotlight: Trent McCallson @ VerifyTreatment

A spotlight is a short-form interview with a leader in health tech. In this spotlight, you'll hear from Trent McCallson, Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) at VerifyTreatment.

What does VerifyTreatment do?

VerifyTreatment is a healthcare technology platform designed to streamline the administrative hurdles that often delay or prevent patient care.

While we are known for instant Verification of Benefits (VOB), we have evolved into a comprehensive solution for the revenue cycle. We track claim acknowledgment, claim status, ERAs (electronic EOBs), and provide the industry’s best coverage discovery –  all within one easy-to-use, intuitive platform.

Ultimately, we act as the translation layer between providers and payers, ensuring that financial clearance is fast, transparent, and accurate so providers can focus on treating patients rather than chasing data from disparate sources.

How did you end up working in health tech?

My transition into health tech wasn't theoretical; it was born out of necessity in the trenches of the custom rehab durable medical equipment (DME) industry. I realized early on that mechanical solutions and fast delivery were meaningless if they couldn’t be delivered due to not meeting eligibility and coverage criteria.

After retiring from DME, I devised a scalable turnkey lab program distributed by all the major capital equipment distributors. We faced significant data delivery challenges. To protect the newfound revenue, I developed a proprietary internal system to scrub claims and medically evaluate order documentation against qualification criteria before they ever hit the billing system.

That specific experience – building the digital logic to prevent denials upstream – is exactly what led me to VerifyTreatment. I know firsthand that the only way to fix the revenue cycle is to solve the data quality problem at the very front end.

How does your role intersect with revenue cycle management (RCM)?

My intersection with RCM is rooted in the concept of the "clean claim." Throughout my career, whether I was collaborating with therapists to align documentation or developing software to analyze payment potential, the goal was always the same: valid medical justification.

In my current role, I focus on the "front end" of RCM and the outcome data behind it. I focus a lot on interoperability and data integrity. By ensuring that patient coverage is verified, we prevent the backend chases that plague the industry.

I view RCM not just as "billing," but as a separate, related operational multi-layered ecosystem that works to support the care initiatives of the providers. Healthy providers directly correlate with healthier patients.

What do you think RCM will look like two years from now?

I believe we must enter into an era of "de-villainization" where the relationship between payer and provider becomes far more collaborative, and goals are better aligned.

As all things in healthcare grow and create financial friction throughout the industry, there will be more consolidation at every level and growth stage. Consolidation will accelerate the sophistication of the tools that will be used to precede care. The typical evolution cycle is: Data > information > knowledge > wisdom

In two years, I expect to see:

• True Interoperability: Systems that don't just exchange data but "understand" it, reducing technical denials significantly. The way we think about interoperability will change.
  
  With better data security tools, interoperability is more achievable because the cost barriers will slowly decline and allow for it to happen between more providers. This prevents translational errors, incomplete data, and other things that challenge the back end of revenue… Revenue retention. 
  
  

• Empathy-Driven Automation: AI handling the repetitive scrubbing and status checks, allowing human staff to focus on complex cases and patient interaction, and solving the evolving challenges.
  
  

• Transparency: Tools that allow everyone in the healthcare transaction – including the insurance carrier – to see the same data at the same time, reducing friction and speeding up reimbursement.