THE CHALLENGE
A prominent academic health system in the Northeast, anchored by a leading teaching hospital affiliated with a major research university, served a large and diverse patient population across multiple hospitals and community locations. The system was committed to delivering equitable access to care, but faced mounting challenges as treatment costs increased and the financial burden on patients grew.
The health system’s existing financial assistance program, while well-intentioned, was capturing only a fraction of the available support for eligible patients. With a growing patient population and an increasingly complex landscape of assistance programs, the manual, decentralized approach to financial counseling was no longer sufficient. Leadership recognized the need for a transformational partnership that could unlock the full potential of patient financial assistance at scale.
THE SOLUTION
The health system entered into a comprehensive partnership with Atlas Health, deploying dedicated advocates and AI-powered technology across its network of hospitals and care sites. The partnership was designed from the outset for scale, with the capacity to handle the system’s large patient volume and the flexibility to expand as the program grew.
Atlas’s platform provided the technology backbone, systematically screening patients against the largest integrated funding network in the industry. Dedicated advocates managed the complex enrollment process, navigating thousands of programs including manufacturer assistance, foundation grants, government benefits, and institutional aid.
The scale of the deployment and the depth of integration made this one of Atlas’s most ambitious partnerships, requiring close collaboration between the health system’s revenue cycle leadership and Atlas’s operational team to build the infrastructure for sustained, high-volume performance.
THE RESULTS
Cumulative reimbursement has reached $70.7M, with annual reimbursement growing 6x over three years, from the initial year to peak performance representing a greater than 500% increase. This trajectory reflects the transformational potential of a fully scaled financial assistance program.
Across four-plus years, the program has enrolled 2,425 patients, connecting each to an average of more than $29,000 in financial support. The growth trajectory has been remarkable, with each successive year demonstrating significant increases in both patient volume and total reimbursement secured.
The scale of cumulative results has established this partnership as a proof point for what is possible when a major academic health system commits fully to a technology-enabled financial assistance strategy. The $70.7M in cumulative reimbursment represents a meaningful impact on both institutional financial performance and patient financial wellbeing, setting a benchmark for the industry.
