Article
Two different decisions
UChicago Medicine automated routine insurance verification and prior authorization for predictable services such as imaging and simpler surgeries. The system kept its headcount and moved employees to complex surgeries, labor plans, payer follow-up and cases where authorization rules are unclear. About 95% of certain cases are now cleared up to 28 days before the scheduled service, roughly 12 days earlier than before. Its patient access director stressed that staff still review the automated output and track payer portal and documentation changes.
The same week, Kaiser Permanente disclosed in state filings that it will eliminate 147 business and administrative positions at 16 California locations, effective Nov. 20. The largest reductions are 72 roles at regional administrative offices in San Diego, 22 at its information technology campus in Pleasanton and 20 in Pasadena. Kaiser said none involve direct patient care and that it is helping affected employees look for other internal roles and offering severance and career support.
Why the choice matters
Both approaches can be sound. Systems under margin pressure may need to cut administrative cost, and many have said they will protect bedside roles first. But redeployment has advantages that do not show up in a single budget year. Experienced access and revenue cycle staff know payer behavior, documentation rules and local workflows. Those skills are hard to rebuild once lost, and complex cases still require them.
How leaders handle the transition also shapes culture. Employees watching automation arrive will judge leadership by what happens to the first group affected. A clear, early explanation of who is redeployed, who is retrained and who may be let go protects trust across the workforce.
Questions for your workforce plan
- Where is the hard work? Inventory the complex tasks that pile up today, such as denials, complex authorizations and payer follow-up, before deciding staffing levels.
- Who can be retrained? Identify employees whose routine work is shrinking and map them to open or growing roles.
- Who checks the output? Assign staff to monitor automated results and payer rule changes, as UChicago does.
- How will you communicate? Tell employees what will change and when, before rumors fill the gap.
Archive entry for Sep 25, 2026, added Nov. 11, 2026.