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success story

GenAI transforms high-stakes healthcare appeals

How a healthcare payer cut resolution time and saved $10.1M

A leading healthcare payer processed thousands of appeals monthly through complex, manual workflows, each case taking up to 37 minutes to resolve, delaying outcomes and increasing compliance risk. Virtusa delivered an AI-led workflow automation solution that streamlined the process, cutting resolution time, boosting accuracy, and strengthening audit readiness.

KEY SERVICES
  • End to end AI solution delivery and management
  • Compliance-driven documentation and audit support
  • Real-time decision support for appeals analysts
  • Operational performance monitoring and reporting
KEY TECHNOLOGIES AND PLATFORMS
  • Python Flask App
  • Pytest Framework
  • Gitlab
  • Open AI GPT4
  • OKTA Token Authentication
  • Red Hat Openshift
  • SQL Server
  • NFS
  • LangChain Framework
  • ClairifAI Platform

The operational burden behind every appeal

Appeals agents at a leading healthcare payer managed thousands of member appeals every month, often tied to high-stakes healthcare decisions. Behind every appeal was a patient waiting on a decision that could directly impact their care, coverage, or cost. But for the agents, getting to that decision wasn’t easy. Each case required searching multiple platforms, reconciling fragmented data, and documenting every step manually. 

These repetitive, non-standardized workflows significantly slowed down resolution times, with some appeals taking up to 37 minutes to complete. The delays, combined with manual effort, drove up operational costs, draining both budgets and analyst capacity.

The lack of automation increased the risk of human error and made it challenging to meet service-level expectations and regulatory timelines consistently.

Even minor delays or documentation gaps in appeals tied to financial reimbursements and clinical authorizations had a severe downstream impact: member dissatisfaction, provider friction, and audit vulnerabilities. The constant strain on agents contributed to fatigue, increased turnover, and inconsistent service quality. The healthcare payer partnered with Virtusa to reimagine their appeal processing.

~ 37 mins

Avg. appeal processing time

The payer chose Virtusa as its strategic partner because of its proven expertise in AI-led operations, healthcare domain knowledge, and enterprise-scale transformation.

An AI-led shift to speed, structure, and scalability

As a strategic partner, Virtusa implemented and now manages the ClarifAI platform end-to-end. This generative AI (genAI)-powered solution automates repetitive steps, improving data accuracy and enabling real-time support for appeals specialists.

The AI solution proactively surfaced the correct data, documents, and subsequent actions based on the context of each appeal, resulting in fewer delays, reduced errors, and dramatically lower operational burden on their human counterparts.

Key AI-led enhancements included:

  • Context-driven data retrieval: Pulling of relevant documents and case information in real time from disparate systems, triggered by metadata and appeal type.
  • Embedded compliance logic: Pre-built regulatory rules automatically enforced documentation requirements, minimizing audit risk and manual oversight.
  • Live decision support: In-the-moment prompts, flagged missing inputs, and surfaced exceptions to help appeals agents take the right actions faster.
  • Unified access via SOP Hub: A clear, all-in-one view of relevant data and documents, minimizing system switches and speeding up case handling.

Together, these AI capabilities transformed appeals from a fragmented, manual process into a streamlined, intelligent workflow, accelerating turnaround times, improving accuracy, and alleviating compliance pressure.

Impact that scales with every appeal

The AI-led transformation delivered by ClarifAI significantly improved operational performance and reduced expenses across the appeals lifecycle, supporting the payer’s Cost to Serve initiative. It helped the healthcare payer:

  • Accelerate appeal resolution while maintaining regulatory compliance
  • Reduce operational overhead by minimizing manual effort and system toggling
  • Improve decision quality and consistency across high-stakes healthcare workflows
  • Reduce time spent on research, documentation, and outcome determination
  • Free up analyst capacity to focus on exceptions and complex cases
  • Strengthen audit readiness through embedded compliance logic

These outcomes translated into measurable operational gains across the appeals lifecycle:

  • 60% reduction in redirect transactions
  • 87% routing accuracy (up from 67%), targeting $3.4M in savings 
  • 20% drop in overall transaction volume 
  • 90% solution accuracy for consistent, reliable decisions 
  • 60% faster processing (37 to 15 minutes), unlocking $10.1M in savings 
  • 4.78 appeals processed per hour (up from 1.91)

Scaling success with intake automation

With the success of the appeals transformation, the healthcare payer is extending its partnership with Virtusa to modernize the Submit Order process—a critical intake step for claims and appeals. By applying the same AI-led, workflow-first approach, Virtusa will streamline the collection and routing of supporting documentation, aiming to further reduce cycle times, enhance compliance, and improve both provider and member experiences.

The decision to expand the engagement reflects the payer’s trust in Virtusa’s end-to-end AI engineering, deep healthcare domain expertise, and outcomes-focused delivery model. From scalable automation to KPI-aligned execution, Virtusa has demonstrated the ability to design and manage complex, regulated workflows, making it a strategic partner in the payer’s broader transformation agenda.

60%

faster appeals processing 

$10.1M 

unlocked in savings

87% 

routing accuracy

90%

solution accuracy

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