Executive Snapshot
Industry: Healthcare
Challenge: After rapid growth, unemployment claims surged—overloading HR teams, compressing response timelines, and dragging down protest and win rates.
Solution: We take end-to-end ownership with a proactive, facility-first workflow—collecting details 7–10 days before deadlines, escalating within 24 hours, and tightening documentation and follow-through.
Outcomes:
- Increased win rate to 90% (up from 80%).
- Boosted protest rate to 74% (up from 57%).
- Recovered $30,000 in UI tax credits—plus identified additional multi-state savings opportunities.
“They aren’t just our unemployment insurance vendor—they operate as a true partner. They take ownership of items most vendors wouldn’t tackle, and they consistently provide practical counsel. When they say they’ll take care of something, we know it will be handled completely and expertly.”
HR Program Manager, Large National Healthcare Provider
Introduction
After a major acquisition, this national healthcare provider effectively doubled its workforce and operating complexity. With unemployment claims volume rising alongside day-to-day HR demands, leadership needed a partner that could reduce administrative burden, improve timeliness, and drive down unemployment-related costs—without sacrificing compliance or responsiveness.
The Challenge
- Underperforming unemployment outcomes: lower protest and win rates on claims.
- Compressed timelines: claims details were often requested too close to deadlines, increasing the risk of late or incomplete responses.
- Administrative overload: HR teams were absorbing nearly all facility questions, escalating stress and slowing throughput.
- Inconsistent follow-through: limited structured escalation and tracking reduced the ability to refute claims effectively.
- Recordkeeping gaps: outdated or misfiled documentation created rework and delayed decision-making.
- Communication delays: slow responses to calls and emails and little proactive outreach.
The Solution
The provider transitioned to an unemployment cost management partner that took ownership of the end-to-end process—starting with proactive information gathering at the facility level. Instead of funneling every request through HR, the partner coordinated directly with individual locations, maintained disciplined timelines, and escalated only when necessary. This reduced bottlenecks while improving the quality and completeness of claim responses.
- Proactive information collection: secured claim details from locations 7–10 days before deadlines to avoid last-minute scrambles.
- Structured escalation: if facility requests were not answered within 24 hours, inquiries were escalated—with sufficient lead time for HR to respond.
- Facility-first workflow: direct outreach to care centers reduced the volume of questions routed through HR.
- Up-to-date records: standardized documentation and filing to prevent rework and redundant questions.
- Claims strategy and follow-through: consistently refuted claims where documentation existed to confirm reason for separation.
- Always-on communication: maintained open lines of communication with a 24-hour response expectation.
- Education and enablement: webinars and on-site training for front-line staff responsible for providing claim information, with recordings to support onboarding.
- Multi-state UI tax review: reviewed state tax rates across the organization’s footprint to identify errors and recovery opportunities.
The Results
- Unemployment claims win rate: improved to 90% (previously 80%).
- Claims protest rate: increased to 74% (previously 57%).
- Unemployment insurance tax credits recovered: $30,000.
- Additional savings identified: realized tax deductions across the client’s 34-state operating footprint through rate review and correction opportunities.
The Impact
By shifting from a reactive, deadline-driven approach to a proactive, facility-led workflow, the organization improved outcomes on claims while easing the operational strain on a lean HR team. The result was a more predictable process, faster turnaround, and measurable financial recovery—delivered at enterprise scale.
- Minimized HR workloads and stress: fewer last-minute escalations and less manual chasing of information.
- A proactive partner for UI management: disciplined timelines, clear escalation paths, and consistent follow-through.
- Continued education for front-line staff: training that improved the quality of claim documentation and responses over time.