Case Study: University of California San Diego Health achieves over 250% increase in revenue collected and reduces bad debt with Experian's Collections Optimization Manager

How University of California San Diego Health improved collections and reduced bad debt

University of California San Diego Health’s Shared Business Office (SBO) set out to deliver a best‑in‑class patient financial experience while reducing bad debt—especially by identifying patients eligible for California’s Medi‑Cal—and to increase automation and staff empowerment. Led by Terri Meier, the team needed better tools and processes to improve cash collections, streamline outreach, and ensure compliance with third‑party collection agencies.

UCSDH adopted a three‑pronged people, process and technology strategy using Experian Health’s Collections Optimization Manager, Coverage Discovery and Return Mail. By scoring and segmenting accounts, automating presumptive charity using FPL estimates, correcting 10,630 addresses and uncovering $5M+ in previously missing coverage (including $4M+ in Medi‑Cal), collections rose from about $6M (2019–2020) to over $21M (2020–2021)—an increase of more than 250%—while improving outreach efficiency, compliance and reductions in bad debt.

University of California San Diego Health

Terri Meier

System Director of Patient Revenue Cycle