How XpertCoding came to exist, and the lesson we keep coming back to.
Today, XpertDox is recognized as a leader in AI-powered autonomous medical coding, named among The Healthcare Technology Report's Top Healthcare AI Companies, MedHealth Outlook's Top 10 RCM Companies, and CIOCoverage's 10 Fastest Growing Healthcare Tech Companies to Watch in 2026. None of that was the plan when we started. The story of how we found our way here came up recently when Dr. Ather joined Abdul Rastagar and Caitlin La Honta on Sirona Marketing's The Science of Sales and Marketing podcast.
In our first years, Dr. Ather began to notice a pattern in our customer conversations: clinicians were genuinely engaged. Administrators found the product interesting. But very few of those conversations turned into contracts.
Over time, he came to recognize the shape of what was happening. There is a quiet but important difference between a product the market wants and one the market needs.
Takeaways from the Podcast
- •Distinguish between what the market wants and what it urgently needs based on budget allocation and willingness to pay.
- •Pivot toward solving problems buyers are actively trying to solve rather than the problems you originally envisioned solving.
- •The strongest market signal is not enthusiasm but measurable daily cost; every week of delay should carry a real financial impact.
- •Success comes from listening patiently to what the market reveals and having the honesty to act on it, even if it means abandoning your original vision.
- •Align your solution with the financial pressures of decision-makers and budget holders, not just the enthusiasm of end-users or clinicians.
What We Originally Built
XpertDox was founded with a focus shaped by what Dr. Ather had seen firsthand in his clinical and academic work: that every patient represents a unique intersection of biology, environment, and history, and that healthcare ought to reflect that. The earliest product was built around that conviction. The technology was sound. Clinicians who used it engaged with it. But sales conversations were taking longer than we expected, and signals kept getting lost between the people who loved the product and the people who would ultimately fund it.
'And again, it goes back to what was the original goal is to have a bigger impact than just being a clinician.'
- Dr. Sameer Ather, Co-founder & CEO, XpertDox
What the Market Was Telling Us
A few years earlier, the industry had completed the largest infrastructure shift in its history: the move from handwritten notes to EHRs (electronic health records). Everything was now digital. But the underlying problem was still there. Dr. Ather observed that the physicians still used the same shorthand and abbreviations they had used on paper, and the systems on the receiving end struggled to interpret what was actually meant.
That gap had a price tag. Roughly 30 to 40 percent of claims were being denied on first pass, and about half of those denials traced back to coding and billing errors. The people writing the checks knew it. They were focused on revenue cycle management, denials, and claim delays, and these issues were consuming their budgets every month.
So, the product we had built mattered deeply to clinicians. It simply sat further from the day-to-day pressures of the people responsible for the practice's financial health. We had built something physicians valued. We hadn't yet built something the business prioritized.
The Pivot
Then came COVID19. As the pandemic spread, Dr. Ather watched hospitals across the country fall months behind on claim submissions. The financial bleeding was real, immediate, and visible to anyone close to it.
So, XpertDox began working with an urgent care clinic whose claim submissions were running four to five weeks behind due to administrative overload. Within weeks of our pilot, that backlog had narrowed to one to two days. The product we built for them was modest, less polished than what we had been selling before. But it addressed a problem that was costing the practice money every day it remained unsolved.
That clinic recommended us to another. That clinic spoke to a third. The pipeline that had moved slowly for our original product began to move on its own for the new one. We had moved away from persuasion, toward something simpler: solving a problem people were already trying to solve. That work eventually became XpertCoding, our AI-powered autonomous medical coding platform, designed to bridge the gap between what doctors say and what the system sees.
For Healthcare Founders Facing the Same Challenges
A few reflections from Dr. Ather for anyone in a similar place:
- •Pay attention to budget allocation as much as enthusiasm: Positive feedback is meaningful, but the clearest signal of priority is what an organization is willing to fund.
- •Consider the cost of doing nothing: If a buyer can comfortably defer your product another quarter, you may be building a want. If every week without it carries a measurable cost, you are likely building a need.
- •Hold the original idea lightly: Pivoting is not a verdict on the founder or the original vision. Often, it is simply the market offering a better question to answer.
Looking back, the harder part of the journey was being patient enough to listen, and honest enough to act on what we heard. The recognition that XpertDox has followed flowed from that one discipline, and in March 2026, Dr. Ather was honored among The Healthcare Technology Report's Top Healthcare Technology CEOs of 2025.
None of that was part of the plan when we started.
Thanks to Abdul Rastagar and Caitlin La Honta from Sirona Marketing for the thoughtful conversation and for the space to reflect on how XpertDox actually came together.
About XpertDox
XpertDox is an AI-powered autonomous medical coding solutions provider. XpertCoding, our flagship platform, accelerates revenue cycle management, reduces denials, and recovers revenue that clinics would otherwise lose. The goal is simple: less time on administration, more time with patients. Learn more about our solutions.
About Sirona Marketing
Sirona Marketing is a marketing consultancy co-founded by Abdul Rastagar and Caitlin La Honta. They host The Science of Sales and Marketing, a podcast featuring conversations with founders and operators about how real businesses are built and grown. Learn more about Sirona Marketing.
