Ardent Health Streamlines 75,000+ Annual Refunds with TailFin

Industry: Healthcare
Client: Ardent Health
Stakeholder Interviewed: Stacey Martinez, VP of Accounting Operations
Solution Partner: TailFin

Key Results:

• 75,000+ refunds digitized
• $230,000 in savings
• 30 hours/week of manual work eliminated
• 145,000 one-time vendors deactivated
• Increased team satisfaction and invoice throughput
• Seamless integration with existing EHR and ERP systems

The Challenge

Before partnering with TailFin, Ardent Health was burdened by a highly manual and fragmented refund process. Each year, the organization issued over 75,000 check-based refunds—all of which required manual matching of documents, printing, stuffing, and mailing. This inefficiency consumed approximately 30 hours per week across five AP teams and a central billing office (CBO).

Key issues included:

• Manual packet creation for insurance refunds
• No automation in payment matching or distribution
• 145,000+ one-time vendors cluttering systems
• Unclaimed property (escheatment) risk and compliance exposure
• Inefficient allocation of team resources

“Our system couldn’t house the necessary information. We were literally loading 75,000 one-time vendors a year just to issue these payments,” said Martinez.

The Solution

Ardent Health implemented TailFin’s platform to fully digitize its refund disbursement process. The rollout included:

• A centralized digital portal for patients to select preferred payment options (ACH, gift card, donation, etc.)
• Automated outreach and fulfillment
• Seamless integration with EPIC (EHR) and Lawson (ERP)
• Outsourced escheatment processing with audit-readiness support

“Now it’s efficient and removing work,” Martinez noted. “The portal is user-friendly, and reissuing payments is much easier compared to before.”

The Results

The impact of TailFin’s solution was immediate and measurable:

• 150 hours/week eliminated from manual mailing, batching, and reissue work
• 75,000+ annual refund transactions digitized
• 145,000+ one-time vendors deactivated, cleaning up system clutter
• Improved employee morale as teams focused on core AP tasks instead of envelope stuffing
• No increase in customer service volume after rollout—indicating a smooth transition for patients
• Flexible options for patients led to higher satisfaction and faster resolution

“The team was thrilled not to spend hours printing, stuffing, and chasing down refunds,” said Martinez. “Now they focus on processing invoices.”

The Implementation Experience

Despite the scale and complexity of the rollout, Martinez described the client described the implementation as “easier than expected,” highlighting the collaboration between the health system employees and TailFin teams.

“Your responsiveness was huge,” said Martinez. “Your client success team didn’t just punt issues—they stayed on it until we had resolution. That made a difference.”

Client Testimonial

“From beginning to end, it was a wholly collaborative project with exemplary teamwork—resulting in a huge win for our patients, major efficiencies, and real workload relief for our AP team.”
— Stacey Martinez, VP of Accounting Operations, Ardent Health