Automate patient intake and insurance checks in any EHR
Stepwork enters faxed and emailed referrals into your EHR and checks tomorrow's insurance on payer portals, through the screens your front desk uses. No EHR API needed.
- Industry
- Front-desk and intake work for clinics, home health, and labsHealthcare
- Best for
- Practice Manager, Intake Coordinator, Front Desk Lead
- Applications used
OutlookMeditech
Availity
Microsoft Teams
- Business outcome
- Hours back each week; coverage checked before the visit
The problem
Referrals arrive by fax. Insurance gets checked by hand.
- Read each faxed or emailed referral
- Search the EHR for the patient
- Retype name, date of birth, insurance, and referring provider
- Chase referrals with missing details
- Log in to a payer portal before every visit
- Rework claims denied for a skipped check
Triage
However a request arrives, it runs the right procedure
Referrals come in as faxes and emails. Coverage questions come in as chat messages and voicemails. Stepwork reads each one, pulls out the patient's details, and starts the procedure your team already follows.
How it arrives
FaxScanned referralREFERRAL · Lakeside Family Medicine
Pt: GONZALEZ, Maria DOB 04/12/1961
Ins: BCBS PPO ID XGH229117
Reason: L knee pain, ortho eval
Ref: Dr. A. PatelGoes to Referral intake- OutlookEmail with attachmentFwd: new pt referral
Hi, sending over John Okafor (DOB 9/3/74) for a cardiology consult. Notes attached, insurance card is on page 2. Thanks, LindaGoes to Referral intake
- Microsoft TeamsChat messagecan someone check Mrs. Chen's insurance before her 9am tomorrow? she said she switched plansGoes to Eligibility checks
- OutlookVoicemail transcriptHi, this is Ruth Adams, I'm seeing Dr. Lee on Thursday. I got new insurance through work, it's Aetna now, the member number is W274 1186...Goes to Eligibility checks
Systems
Works in the EHR and portals you already run
Stepwork uses each system's own screens with a login your team grants, so it works the same whether your EHR went in twenty years ago or last year.
- EHR and practice management: Meditech, NextGen, eClinicalWorks, athenaOne, Veradigm, Epic, WellSky
- Payer portals and clearinghouses: Availity, Waystar, Payer portal
- Inbox, fax, and chat: Outlook, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint
- Staff accounts: Microsoft Entra ID, Active Directory
Example procedures
Two intake procedures, step by step
One branches on whether the patient already has a chart. One repeats for every appointment on tomorrow's schedule. Swap in your EHR and the steps stay the same.
Faxed or emailed referral to a patient in Meditech
A referral comes in by fax or email. AI reads the patient's details, a rule checks for a chart so nobody gets registered twice, and the referral is filed on the right patient in Meditech.
- Outlook
- Microsoft Teams
Swap in your systemsThe steps stay the same. Only the screens change.
Faxed or emailed referral to a patient in Meditech
Webhook
Referral arrives in the Outlook intake inbox
message received · referrals
Output variables
- referral_pdf
AI
Read the referral
Input variables
- referral_pdf
Output
- patient_name
- date_of_birth
- insurance_id
- referring_provider
Extraction
Look for the patient in Meditech
Input variables
- patient_name
- date_of_birth
Extracted variables
- patient_id
Rule logic
Does the patient have a chart?
Input variables
- patient_id
Paths
- If no chart matches the name and date of birthThen: Register the patient in Meditech
- OtherwiseThen: Attach the referral to the chart
Execution
If new patientRegister the patient in Meditech
Input variables
- patient_name
- date_of_birth
- insurance_id
Output
- new_patient_id
Execution
Attach the referral to the chart
Input variables
- patient_id
- referral_pdf
- referring_provider
Output
- referral_id
Execution
Tell intake in Microsoft Teams
Input variables
- patient_name
- referral_id
Drag to explore · pinch to zoom
Step by step
- The referral comes inFaxes land in the intake inbox as PDFs, and so do emailed referrals. A new one starts the run.
- AI reads itThe AI card pulls the patient's name, date of birth, insurance member ID, and the referring provider off the PDF, whatever form the office used.
- It searches for the patientStepwork searches Meditech by name and date of birth, the same search your front desk runs.
- The rule stops duplicate chartsNo match means a new patient, so the run takes the top path. A match skips straight to filing the referral.
- If new patientRegister the patient in Meditech
- If chart existsAttach the referral to the chart
- New patients get registeredOnly for new patients: the recorded flow fills in the registration screen with the name, date of birth, and insurance from the referral.Only on this path: If new patient
- The referral goes on the chartBoth paths meet here. The PDF is filed on the patient's chart with the referring provider, so the clinician sees it at the visit.
- Intake hears backStepwork posts the patient and the referral number in Microsoft Teams, so intake can call to book.
Field map
| From | To |
|---|---|
| OutlookReferral: patient name, date of birth | MeditechPatient: name, DOB |
| OutlookReferral: insurance member ID | MeditechPatient: primary insurance |
| OutlookReferral: referring provider | MeditechReferral: referring providerMatched to your provider list |
| OutlookReferral: the PDF | MeditechChart: documentsFiled under Referrals |
Tomorrow's eligibility checks on Availity
Every afternoon Stepwork checks coverage for tomorrow's patients on Availity. Inactive coverage gets flagged on the appointment while there's still time to call the patient.
- Microsoft Teams
Swap in your systemsThe steps stay the same. Only the screens change.
Step by step
- Tomorrow's schedule comes outAt 4 pm Stepwork reads tomorrow's appointments from Meditech: the patient, their member ID, and date of birth. Each appointment is one pass through the loop.
- It checks coverageInside the dashed frame, Stepwork looks the patient up on Availity and reads the coverage status and the copay.Repeats: For each appointment tomorrow · 38 appointments
- The rule sorts active from notInactive or missing coverage takes the top path. Active coverage goes on to the copay.
- If not activeFlag the appointment in Meditech
- If activeNote the copay on the appointment
Repeats: For each appointment tomorrow · 38 appointments - Problems get flaggedOnly for inactive coverage: Stepwork flags the appointment in Meditech, so the front desk calls before the visit, not after the claim comes back.Only on this path: If not activeRepeats: For each appointment tomorrow · 38 appointments
- The copay gets notedFor active coverage, the copay goes on the appointment, so the front desk collects the right amount at check-in.Only on this path: If activeRepeats: For each appointment tomorrow · 38 appointments
- The run sums it upAfter the last appointment, the Summary card lists every flag and anything the portal couldn't answer.
- The front desk gets one messageThe list lands in Microsoft Teams before the end of the day.
Field map
| From | To |
|---|---|
| MeditechAppointment: member ID, date of birth | AvailityEligibility search |
| AvailityCoverage: status | MeditechAppointment: insurance flagOnly set when coverage isn't active |
| AvailityCoverage: copay | MeditechAppointment: copay due |
Flows
The flows behind these procedures
Each flow is one job recorded once in one system. They're recorded on your screens, since every practice sets up its EHR its own way.
EHRRegister a new patient
Fills in the EHR's registration screen with the name, date of birth, and insurance from a referral.- EHR
Attach a document to a chart
Files a PDF on the patient's chart under the right document type. - Availity
Check eligibility on a payer portal
Searches the patient by member ID and date of birth and reads the coverage status and copay. - Outlook
Read a referral from the intake inbox
Opens the newest referral email or fax and hands the PDF to the next step.
Why Stepwork
Same steps, any EHR
Stepwork works through the EHR and payer screens your staff already use, with a login you grant and can take back. There's no interface engine to buy and no EHR API to wait for. Every run records which referral came in, which chart it went to, and what each payer said.
Security
Book a DemoFAQ
Common questions
The math
What the manual version could cost a clinic
Example volumes for a clinic seeing about 120 patients a week. Swap in your own numbers; the math works the same way.
Illustrative estimate, not a quote. These are example volumes and typical hand times, not a customer's results. Your numbers will differ, and we can work them out with you.
| The manual task | Times a week | Minutes each | Hours a week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Key a referral into the EHR | 60 | 8 | 8 |
| Check coverage on a payer portal | 120 | 4 | 8 |
| Chase a referral with missing details | 15 | 10 | 2.5 |
- Hours a week
- 19
- Hours a year
- 925
- Of one full-time person
- 46%
Minutes are the typical time to do each task by hand. Hours a year assume 50 working weeks.