Finding your perspective: Tips for applying to speak at the 2026 Revenue Integrity Symposium

Speaking at the Revenue Integrity Symposium (RIS) is a major professional milestone in the revenue integrity field. RIS speakers gain enormous professional benefits from being recognized as experts in their field, highlighting the knowledge and dedication of themselves and their teams, and greatly enhancing their networking abilities at the premier event for revenue integrity professionals.

The 2026 event will be held September 24-25, 2026, in Savannah, Georgia, and you could be one of those professionals who step forward and become a key part of what makes the event so special by applying to speak. But for many revenue integrity professionals interested in speaking at RIS, there’s one major catch: What should your proposed session be about? Even for seasoned revenue integrity experts, it can feel intimidating to select a topic and build a compelling description and presentation. If that sounds like you, don’t give up! NAHRI has tips and suggestions to help you choose a topic and craft a strong application.

The online application is here (note that you will be prompted to create an account) and is open until January 12, 2026. Before you apply, prepare by reading our tips and guidance.

Pick your strengths

The best advice for picking a topic is to choose one that you are knowledgeable and passionate about. Your expertise in a given area means you have knowledge to share and your enthusiasm will inspire your peers. Take some time to consider your strengths. Are you the injections and infusion guru at your organization? Are you the charge capture ambassador to clinical departments, known for your listening and problem-solving skills? Are you the one your colleagues turn to with thorny questions about understanding billing and documentation rules and regulations? What are some successful projects you’ve worked on? What’s something you’ve learned in recent years that’s helped you stop revenue leaks and shore up earned, compliant revenue for your organization?

To help spark ideas, NAHRI has compiled the following list of suggested topics. For 2026 RIS, we are particularly interested in sessions on:

• Chargemaster management and maintenance
  • Strategies, policies, procedures, and workflows
  • Staffing to support maintaining an up to date and accurate chargemaster
• Charge capture workflows and policies
  • Successful policies and best practices
  • Developing successful partnerships with clinical departments, including successful education programs,
  • Hospital inpatient charging policies and workflows
  • Hospital outpatient charging policies and workflows
• Revenue integrity program design
  • Staffing models
  • Developing, maintaining, and improving revenue integrity programs
  • Defining and managing scope
  • Setting goals and priorities, identifying and using KPIs
  • Creating a culture of revenue integrity
• Denials management and prevention
  • Strategies for mitigating different types of denials
  • Identifying high priority denials
  • Capturing, using, and communicating denials data
  • Developing, maintaining, and improving denials management programs
• Cross-functional collaboration
  • Developing and maintaining relationships with clinical departments to support revenue integrity goals, including accurate charge capture and reconciliation, documentation integrity, etc.
• Working with payer contracting
  • Developing a relationship with payer contracting
  • Sharing data and information with payer contracting
  • Working with payer contracting to improve contracts with payer
  • Working with payer contracting to address denials
• Commercial payers
  • Developing better contracts with commercial payers
  • Determining when it’s appropriate to be in or out of network with a payer
  • Managing commercial payer audits
  • Managing denials and appeals with commercial payers
• Coding and documentation
  • Ensuring correct coding and documentation for injections and infusions, skin substitutes, and other services at high risk of errors and payer scrutiny
  • Developing interdepartmental coding and documentation audit programs (i.e., working with CDI, internal audit, compliance)
• Billing and reimbursement compliance
  • Keeping up to date with regulations
  • Identifying and addressing major compliance risks in revenue cycle
  • Creating and managing an internal revenue integrity/revenue cycle audit program
• Price transparency and pricing strategies
  • Implementing and maintaining price transparency requirements
  • Developing and revising pricing strategies
• Implementing advanced technology in revenue integrity
  • Identifying opportunities for advanced technology in revenue integrity
  • Understanding, evaluating, and mitigating risks associated with advanced technology
  • Developing a business case
  • Measuring, understanding, and reporting ROI for advanced technology
• Outpatient CDI
  • Developing, maintaining and improving CDI programs in outpatient and ambulatory settings
  • Strategies to improve outpatient documentation, coding, and charge capture with CDI
  • Programs to train outpatient CDI staff on core revenue integrity concepts
  • Core CDI concepts for revenue integrity leaders

However, this is not an exhaustive list, and we welcome applications to speak on topics not included here. If you have questions about whether a topic is appropriate, or are seeking advice for choosing between several topics, please email us at nahri@hcpro.com.

Proposed sessions should be appropriate for an audience of revenue cycle professionals, including professionals in revenue integrity, HIM, coding, CDI, PFS, compliance, and other revenue cycle roles. RIS attendees represent a broad range of levels of expertise. Some attendees may be newer to the field and seeking more basic or introductory level sessions. Others may be seeking sessions at an intermediate level on topics they wish to learn more about. And some attendees may be seeking more advanced level sessions.

What aren’t we looking for? We are not looking for sessions on general leadership or professional development topics or other topics of general interest. All sessions must be specifically crafted for the revenue cycle and revenue integrity perspective. We are not currently seeking applications for keynote sessions.

How to apply

Now that you’ve picked your topic, it’s time to prepare your application. You’ll need:

• Presentation information, including an outline/abstract or agenda, brief synopsis, draft version or example of a previous presentation, learning outcomes, title, and audience level with rationale
• A brief statement explaining why you are qualified to present on your topic and previous speaking experience

Your written description of the session should be thorough and complete. This is the key piece that the NAHRI Networking and Events Committee will use to evaluate and choose sessions. Your application should clearly explain your topic, what your proposed session will cover, and why you are qualified to speak on it. If you have a draft version of your proposed session, you may also include that; although it is not required, and applicants selected to speak at RIS will be provided with a slide template to create their presentation materials, it may be helpful to the committee. You may also include examples of sessions you’ve presented at RIS or other conferences in the past or at your organization to give the committee a better idea of the quality of your work. However, it is not a requirement to submit an example presentation and applications without one will be given the same consideration.

When creating learning outcomes for your proposed session, please refer to this document. Learning outcomes must stick to the language and format described in the document.

Proposed sessions may include a maximum of two speakers.

If your application is accepted, RIS will provide free registration for up to two speakers per session. However, all selected speakers will be responsible for the cost of their own travel, accommodation, and meals.

You may submit several topics; however, each topic must be a separate application. If you are proposing to speak on, for example, developing a revenue integrity program and combatting ED downgrades, then you must submit two separate applications. Do not combine them into one application and say that you are willing to speak on either topic as that makes it difficult for the committee to appropriately evaluate your application.

Above all, keep in mind that you are pitching your idea to an audience of your peers, so please develop it with that perspective in mind.

The application period is open until January 12, 2026. Although that seems like a long time away, be mindful of how quickly that time can pass, particularly if you are have numerous end of year projects and holiday plans. Start working on your application now so that you will be ready to submit before the deadline.

You may apply online here. Note that you will be asked to create an account with the application platform.

Contact us at nahri@hcpro.com if you have any questions. We look forward to receiving your application!