AuthSync – Optimizing Post-Acute Authorizations

Role: Program Manager

When I joined the health system, the team had already established a post-acute authorization process to support patients transitioning from the hospital to skilled nursing, long-term acute care, or inpatient rehab facilities. My focus was to take that foundation and optimize it for real impact, data collection, streamlining workflows, strengthening communication, and creating better visibility across every step of the process.

Under my director, I consolidated authorization intake into one centralized team reporting to a single director, which brought consistency, oversight, and speed to what had previously been a fragmented process that differ across each hospital within our network. I built a more robust tracking and escalation system that made it easy to identify delays and resolve issues like missing documentation or payer complications before they disrupted patient care. This allowed the ease for Avoidable day documentation past it being a prior authorization delay. It targeted who and what caused the delay within the process.

Beyond process design, I focused heavily on collaboration. By improving communication between the authorization team, care managers, and social workers, we created a connected workflow that kept everyone aligned and patients moving forward without unnecessary delay.

Impact: These optimizations led to faster authorization turnaround times, fewer discharge delays, and a smoother transition experience for patients. The improvements also strengthened relationships with payers and gave leadership better insight into discharge performance and trends.