Fortrea Patient Access expands application of innovative AI with Infinitus partnership

Here’s why it worked

Like other healthcare companies, Fortrea Patient Access, which is a key business unit of Fortrea, a leading global contract research organization (CRO), must complete benefit verifications with a high emphasis on quality on behalf of their clients, and must hire and train staff in complex processes to do so. This is complicated by fluctuations in benefit verifications caused by events like January’s annual reverification period or increases in product usage volume.

That’s a big part of what led Fortrea Patient Access to Infinitus and its AI agent. Fortrea Patient Access was in search of more than just a technology provider; they sought a company that could help them develop a standardized set of processes to navigate such fluctuations without compromising quality.

Today, the Infinitus solution is integrated into Fortrea Patient Access’ processes, automatically updating their database with information it collects and enabling Fortrea Patient Access’ staff to quickly take the next steps to help patients get the treatments they need. The AI component of Infinitus’ technology is informed by call scripts Fortrea Patient Access’ employees have perfected over years of communicating with payors as well as Infinitus’ internal knowledge base and prior experience making millions of calls. In addition, it continues to learn from results obtained and feedback provided by Fortrea Patient Access’ staff to ensure calls result in the best possible data quality.

While this technology leverages machine learning and AI that continually improves over time, Infinitus was able to create a consistent method for handling payor calls, saving valuable time for Fortrea Patient Access’ staff that can be better spent on critical patient and provider interactions.

In addition to this increase in productivity, the consistency and quality of the responses received from payor representatives were extremely important for Fortrea Patient Access, because even the smallest error can result in treatment delays or wrongly rejected claims.

“AI is an impressive technology,” said Nathan Miller, Fortrea Patient Access’ executive director of market access growth strategy. “As we operate today as Fortrea Patient Access, which brings a renewed focus on clinical development and patient access, we are better positioned to invest in innovative tools focused on streamlining our operations, and driving efficiency and ease-of-use, both for our staff and the patients and providers we support. Leveraging AI to obtain BV results from a live payor representative and having that data flow seamlessly into our system, powered completely by technology, is an exciting application of technology to see in action.”

Embracing an automation strategy

No matter their focus or specialty, healthcare leaders are being asked to develop automation and AI strategies. There’s a big push around both across the industry, and that’s top of mind to Miller and Fortrea Patient Access’ leadership.

“We need to make sure that, as an organization, we’re doing everything we can to supply efficiency across our business,” Miller said. “That’s definitely a part of what brought us to Infinitus.”

It was just as important for Fortrea Patient Access to partner with a company that didn’t simply provide complex software and call it a day. When the Fortrea Patient Access team saw a demo from Infinitus, they recognized the potential in making their benefit verification process more efficient and accurate – saving time for their employees and ensuring patients have access to medications as quickly as possible. But they also understood that Infinitus would become a true partner, and would ensure the solution was continuously improving, with the goal of further implementing AI in their workflow, along with the proper guardrails in place to meet Fortrea Patient Access’ business and data security requirements.

Can Infinitus work for you?

Infinitus is a strategic resource for healthcare organizations like Fortrea Patient Access looking to scale their resources with AI. The Infinitus AI agent can complete tasks including benefit verification and prior authorization follow-up accurately, consistently, and with a faster turnaround – and being powered by AI means Infinitus is constantly learning and improving.

Infinitus supports over a thousand therapies, procedures, medications, and tests, for a wide range of customer types. We can work with your team to ensure that one of our standardized offerings aligns with your operating procedures and needs – contact us for a demo to learn more.