Case Study: Health First normalizes bad-debt-to-charity ratio and boosts point-of-service collections with Optum's RelayClearance

Normalize Bad-Debt-to-Charity Ratio and Improve POS Collections

Health First, central Florida’s not-for-profit integrated health system of four hospitals, was facing rising numbers of uninsured and underinsured patients, increasing patient-pay responsibility and incomplete insurance data that drove higher bad debt and weak point-of-service collections. To support comprehensive pre-service financial counseling and normalize its bad-debt-to-charity ratio, Health First selected Optum’s RelayClearance™ Plus to improve eligibility checks, estimate patient responsibility, and screen for charity before care.

Optum implemented RelayClearance™ Plus across patient access points to verify insurance, estimate out-of-pocket obligations, run propensity-to-pay and automate charity screening, enabling staff to have timely financial conversations with patients. The result was a 30% increase in point-of-service collections (about $3M), a 30% reduction in bad debt write-offs/undocumented charity (about $4M), reduced reliance on third-party vendors, elimination of Medicaid claim-scrubbing fees, shorter A/R days, and the ability to add a fourth hospital without new financial-services staff—demonstrating Optum’s measurable impact on revenue and operations.

Health First

Michelle Fox

Director of Patient Access Revenue Operations