Most denials strategies start after the claim is billed, when the only options left are appeal, write off, or absorb the loss. This session flips that timeline, examining what a claim needs before submission to survive payer scrutiny and avoid triggering a denial altogether. Drawing on frontline experience building and winning appeals, the speaker will unpack the documentation and coding gaps behind DRG downgrades and medical necessity denials, and why pre-bill clinical validation closes them before a payer ever sees the claim. The session also tackles a number most health systems aren't tracking: the financial impact of the denials that never happen.