'AI is never used to deny care'– on tech, trust, accuracy and prior auths
Published:
August 18, 2026
This is a three-part interview series with Cohere Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Brian Covino and Medical Economics. Missed the beginning? Read Part 1 here.
The CMS-0057-F mandate is driving a transition from manual fax workflows to standardized APIs, with domain-specific machine learning models helping health plans meet aggressive new 3-to-7-day turnaround requirements. In an interview with Medical Economics, Dr. Brian Covino, chief medical officer for Cohere Health, explains how integrating clinician-reviewed AI can reduce missing-information events by 30% to 40% while accelerating request assembly by approximately 50%. By deploying specialized models to parse complex policies in real time, organizations can successfully automate standard approvals in under a minute and bridge the gap between compliance and provider trust.
Key points discussed:
- CMS’s shift from administrative to clinical quality measurement
- The operational gaps across the care and cost continuum
- Automating responsibly with AI while maintaining human judgment
- How connected clinical intelligence unifies historically fragmented systems
Continue reading: Advance to Part 3 here
Written by
Brian
Covino, M.D., FAAOS
Dr. Brian Covino is Chief Medical Officer at Cohere Health, bringing over 25 years of experience as a practicing orthopaedic surgeon, serving as a partner at Knoxville Orthopaedic Clinic, and directing the value-based care program at OrthoTennessee. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and an M.D./M.S. from Georgetown University School of Medicine. Dr. Covino completed his surgical training at the University of Virginia and a fellowship at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He served as Co-Director of Parkwest Medical Center’s Joint Replacement Center and was among the "Best Doctors in America" for 20+ consecutive years.
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