Post-acute care (PAC) organizations work in one of the most fast-paced, high-pressure areas of healthcare. Every minute counts when transitioning patients from acute to post-acute settings. But despite this urgency, many PAC teams still rely on manual tools, disjointed systems, and outdated referral workflows that stall admissions, exhaust staff, and disrupt care continuity.
The good news? With the right smart technologies in place, some of these long-standing bottlenecks can be resolved—quickly, affordably, and without the need for a complete system overhaul.
In this blog, we explore three of the most common PAC workflow bottlenecks and how healthcare software solutions are helping post-acute care providers eliminate them.
Bottleneck #1: Delayed Referral Approvals
The Problem:
Referral management is the heartbeat of PAC admissions. Yet, too many facilities still process referrals manually—sorting through faxed documents, scanning PDF attachments, or entering patient details by hand into fragmented systems. This causes delays in approval decisions and results in missed admissions or patient leakage.
The Impact:
- Lost time during the transition from acute to PAC settings
- Increased referral leakage
- Decreased occupancy and missed revenue
- Strained relationships with referring hospitals
The Fix:
Instead of relying on staff to manually read and process every referral, AI-powered systems can automatically scan incoming documents—whether they're faxes, emails, or uploaded files. Using natural language processing (NLP), the system identifies key patient details (like diagnosis, insurance, and care requirements), organizes them into structured data, and routes the information to the right person or department for a fast decision. This not only saves time but ensures that nothing is missed due to human error or weekend delays.. Using Natural Language Processing (NLP), software can extract key clinical and administrative data from incoming files, populate it into structured fields, and route it to the right team for approval.
Real Results:
In a recent implementation, Cabot helped a PAC network reduce referral approval times from 48–72 hours to under 30 minutes using AI-driven automation. Weekend backlogs were cleared, and admission rates rose by over 20% within two months.
Bottleneck #2: Manual Eligibility Checks and Data Entry
The Problem:
PAC staff often have to verify insurance, check payer eligibility, and re-enter patient data multiple times—once from the referral, again into their EMR, and sometimes even into billing systems. This redundancy wastes valuable hours and creates unnecessary friction.
The Impact:
- Duplicated efforts and increased risk of human error
- Burnout among intake and billing teams
- Delays in admission and claim submission
The Fix:
Many PAC teams juggle multiple platforms—referral intake, EMRs, billing software—none of which talk to each other. By building secure connections between these tools using healthcare standards like HL7 and FHIR, it's possible to eliminate duplicate work. Patient information only needs to be entered once and then automatically flows through the entire system. Plus, integrations with clearinghouses allow real-time checks on insurance eligibility—meaning your team can immediately confirm if a patient is covered and what services are authorized. This prevents billing delays and ensures smoother admissions., EMRs, and billing platforms. These solutions extract structured data from incoming referrals and auto-populate key systems, ensuring accuracy and reducing manual entry.
Real-time integration with clearinghouses also enables insurance and eligibility checks, helping teams flag issues before onboarding a patient—avoiding claim denials and revenue cycle setbacks.
Bottleneck #3: Lack of Workflow Visibility and Referral Insights
The Problem:
Once a referral is approved, most PAC teams lack visibility into what happens next. Without centralized dashboards or analytics, it’s hard to monitor how fast referrals are being processed, where delays occur, or which sources are converting best.
The Impact:
- No insight into referral-to-admission rates
- Limited ability to optimize team performance
- Missed opportunities to improve occupancy and margins
The Fix:
PAC administrators often have to make decisions without the full picture—like which referral sources are working, how long approvals take, or where staff are overloaded. With centralized dashboards, you get real-time visibility into every step of the referral process. You can track how quickly referrals are approved, identify bottlenecks, compare hospital referral performance, and even assess patient risk levels. These dashboards turn raw data into insights, helping you optimize staff workflows, speed up admissions, and improve coordination with referral partners. and bottlenecks in real-time. These dashboards track:
- Time to approve or reject each referral
- Referral-to-admission conversion rates
- Source performance (hospital vs ACO vs care managers)
- Patient risk scores and readmission potential
This enables administrators to manage operations proactively—rather than reacting after problems occur.
How Cabot Delivers Results
We’ve worked with several leading PAC organizations to reimagine their intake, onboarding, and coordination workflows. Our healthcare engineering team brings deep experience in:
- EMR integration (PointClickCare, Epic, MatrixCare)
- FHIR/HL7 data exchange
- HIPAA-compliant infrastructure
- AI/NLP for document processing
In one implementation, our client eliminated a 3-day referral processing delay and cut down their onboarding team’s workload by 40%—without hiring more staff or replacing their EMR.
Ready to Remove Bottlenecks in Your PAC Workflow?
Modernizing PAC doesn’t mean starting from scratch. It means choosing smart, targeted interventions that reduce friction, speed up decisions, and improve care transitions.
If your organization is still dealing with faxes, manual entry, and disconnected systems, it’s time to explore a better way. Cabot offers a PAC workflow audit to identify key gaps—and show you what smart tech can do in 90 days or less.