UCF Business Incubation Program client tackles the cause of one of the biggest losses of medical practice revenue
Orlando, Fla. (July 15, 2026) – Anyone involved in insurance reimbursements for medical practices understands the importance of correctly coding the procedures when filing a claim.
It’s not easy, as the number of codes to enter is massive. For instance, there are more than 70,000 codes to signify specific diagnoses. Overall, nearly 15 percent of all claims are denied primarily due to coding errors.
Enter Deacon, a new tool for medical practices from CareFlo. Using AI to review claims data, the product has shown strong early signals on improving performance in revenue cycle management.
“We built Deacon to put intelligent, human-centered tools in the hands of coders and clinicians so that every legitimate dollar of reimbursement is captured accurately and compliantly,” says Jad Shalhoub, founder, CareFlo. “The independent practices we serve are navigating some of the most significant coding and reimbursement pressures in recent memory and this new AI assistant is here to help.”
For small medical practices, the loss in revenue can be significant. For instance, if a practice earns $5 million in revenue, a 10 percent denial rate would mean a loss of $500,000. Redoing the claims takes more time, and in about 60 percent of the cases, the claim is not resubmitted.
Shalhoub encountered that as he worked for his family’s medical practice, Advanced Vascular Solutions, which has locations in Melbourne and Sebastian, Fla. As he branched into medical consulting, another client asked him to find a solution to address their internal coding issues.
After a couple of years of testing, the result is Deacon, a human-in-the-loop tool designed to improve coding accuracy, reduce claim denials, and accelerate revenue cycle performance for independent and multi-specialty medical practices. The focus is on the independent medical provider with very limited margins.
The tool is also structured to build as the practice sees success. For select early-adopting clients, entry into the program starts with a 90-day pilot with a small base fee designed simply to cover the costs of the tool. Baseline metrics are obtained prior to go-live, and over the course of the 90 days, we measure the impact that Deacon delivers.
“With healthcare reimbursement margins becoming increasingly thin, independent practices need scalable, intelligent solutions that protect their cash flow,” Shalhoub says. “Deacon represents a timely and market-ready response to one of healthcare’s most pressing operational challenges.”
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For more information, the media should contact –
For the UCF Business Incubation Program: Alan Byrd, 407-415-8470, Alan@ByrdConnections.com
About CareFlo: CareFlo, Inc. is a Central Florida-based healthcare consulting and technology company focused on transforming revenue cycle management for independent and multi-specialty medical practices. Through its AI-powered coding and documentation assistant, Deacon, CareFlo helps practices reduce claim denials, improve coder productivity, and recover missed reimbursement, all while keeping clinical staff in control of the process. CareFlo has approved integrations with Athenahealth and Elation and was named a Top 10 Healthcare Consulting Innovator by Healthcare Business Outlook in 2026. For more information, visit careflo.health.
About the UCF Business Incubation Program: The University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program is a community resource that provides early-stage companies with the tools, training and infrastructure to become financially stable, high-growth/impact enterprises. Since 1999, this award-winning program has provided vital business development resources resulting in over 300 local startup companies reaching their potential faster and graduating into the community where they continue to grow and positively impact the local economy.
With eight facilities throughout the region, the UCF Business Incubation Program is an economic development partnership between the University of Central Florida, the Corridor, Lake, Orange, Osceola and Seminole Counties, and the cities of Eustis, Kissimmee, Orlando and Winter Springs. In 2023, current incubator clients supported over 1,000 employees and generated over $120 million in revenue. Nineteen companies graduated from the program and remained in the local community. For more information, visit www.incubator.ucf.edu
