At A Glance
By automating multiple patient registration checks in a single workflow with Patient Access Curator, MetroHealth cut denials by 44%, reduced rework and downstream costs, and gave staff more time to focus on higher-value tasks.TABLE OF CONTENTS
Challenge: Too many registration errors were caught too late
Health systems are under constant pressure to improve cash flow while doing more with the same or fewer resources. For MetroHealth, rising claim denials were the symptom of some deeper workflow problems. Busy patient access teams relied on manual registration processes, leading to inevitable coverage errors and patchy eligibility verification.
Mary Ann Olschlager, Director of Revenue Cycle Operations at MetroHealth, describes how these errors worked their way into claims and billing, creating more pressure downstream:
“Our backend teams were bombarded with rework. Morale was low, and we were spending time fixing what never should’ve been broken.”
Mary Ann Olschlager, Director of Revenue Cycle Operations at MetroHealth
Staff were spending too much time chasing down missing or incorrect information that should have been resolved before the patient visit. Turning to third-party agencies to fill the gap was proving costly and inefficient.
They needed a system that could eliminate manual steps and remove unnecessary touchpoints. Could MetroHealth find a better way to reduce the manual burden and fix issues before they lead to denials?
Solution: Automation, with a human touch
By working with its existing partner, Experian Health, MetroHealth introduced a new automated solution, known as Patient Access Curator™ (PAC), that consolidated multiple registration checks into a single, streamlined process. This was an upgrade to their existing use of Experian Health’s Real-Time Eligibility, with PAC’s AI and machine learning technology having caught their attention.
With Patient Access Curator, eligibility, coordination of benefits primacy, Medicare identifiers, demographics and coverage discovery could now be handled in one transaction. Results were returned directly to their electronic health record, which was good news for staff who no longer had to jump between portals and websites to check patient details.
Onboarding was straightforward, with no new screens or extra steps for registrars. Automation ran quickly and quietly in the background, reducing last-minute fixes and follow-up work.
After the new system was in place, MetroHealth continued collaborating closely with Experian Health to refine the setup.
“This solution truly is a partnership. Experian didn’t just turn it on. They met with us consistently to tweak and improve it.”
Mary Ann Olschlager, Director of Revenue Cycle Operations, MetroHealth
Experian consultants also helped resolve specific pain points, like correcting Epic mapping for a complex payer. Olschlager says staff felt more confident because nothing critical was being missed.
“One of our contact center staff told me, ‘I love it. My job is so much easier.’ That’s when I knew we had a real win,” she says.
Downstream teams also appreciated having less firefighting to do, as their daily workload became more predictable. Spending less time fixing errors and calling patients gave staff more bandwidth for higher-value tasks. Christina Adkins, Manager of Cash Application and Rapid Registration, added that since more errors were being caught upfront, her team was able to focus more on claim edits, rather than reworking denials.
Results: Less rework, fewer denials
| The numbers lined up with the staff experience: |
| – 44.1% reduction in coordination of benefits denials |
| – 20.3% drop in registration denials |
| – 37.3% decrease in eligibility denials |
These reductions also translated into tangible operational and financial benefits. With fewer denials to rework, MetroHealth reduced its reliance on third-party contingency services, cutting fees by 35% – and saving $250,000 per year. The organization also reallocated three full-time staff members to other departments, boosting capacity in those areas without squeezing teams.
More time for meaningful work
Routine decisions that had relied on experience and memory were no longer left to chance. Once the manual burden was removed from day-to-day registration work, there was no appetite to go back.
“Patient Access Curator removed the manual work. We can’t go back to human decision-making. That’s a thing of the past for us now.”
Mary Ann Olschlager, Director of Revenue Cycle Operations, MetroHealth
Importantly, while automation eliminated repetitive manual tasks and decisions, it did not remove people from the process. Instead, it changed where they focused their time and attention.
Reflecting on their experience, MetroHealth leaders also emphasize the importance of human collaboration across departments, alongside continued support from Experian Health to build on early improvements and embed them in everyday practice. As Adkins says, “Patient Access Curator is efficient and intuitive, with so much information built in. We can’t imagine going back.”
Learn how Patient Access Curator uses AI to automate eligibility and coverage checks at registration.
