The Challenge

Blue Stone Therapy wanted to grow their outpatient direct bill business, but manual processes were holding them back. They needed to automate patient onboarding, gain visibility into financial clearance that was buried in paper,
spreadsheets, and emails, and scale best practices across locations. Hiring more staff or adding more disconnected tools would only create more complexity, not solve the problem.

Key challenges included:

• Patient onboarding and consents. Entirely manual and inconsistent across locations, creating compliance risk.
• Insurance verification bottlenecks. Manual data entry and phone calls made verification slow, error-prone, and impossible to automate.
• Prior authorization gaps. Manual processes and complex steps led to slow turnaround times and revenue loss.
• Patient payment challenges. Collections were difficult, especially when financially responsible parties were not the patients themselves.
• Lack of visibility. Leadership had no centralized view of processes, productivity, or compliance without hours of manual work.

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The Solution

Blue Stone implemented Alinea across their Senior Living Direct Bill locations and went live in just 37 business days. Therapist adoption was strong from day one and the impact was immediate.

Alinea replaced paper-based onboarding and consents with automated digital workflows. Insurance verifications were centralized through a Waystar integration with automated reverifications. Prior authorization tracking moved from
spreadsheets to guided workflows with automated prompts, reducing turnaround times and cutting denials. Patient payment collection became faster and easier, and leadership was freed from manual work to focus on growth.

With scalable processes now in place, Blue Stone can bring new Senior Living Direct Bill locations onboard faster and with greater confidence, whether through organic growth or acquisition.

Improvement Over Time

Prior authorization submissions: from 2.25 days to less than 1 day (53% faster)
Insurance verifications completed in under 2 business days: from 85% to 100%

Efficiency Gains

• Patient Onboarding: Over 15 minutes saved per patient activated via streamlined intake
• Insurance Verifications: More than 20-30 minutes saved per insurance verification
• Prior Authorizations: More than 30-90 minutes saved per prior authorization processed
• Patient Payments: Money collected faster with payment sources on file and streamlined processes
• Leadership Impact: VP of Outpatient Services freed from operational tasks to focus on strategic growth

Business Impact

Before Alinea, compliance checks meant manually reviewing spreadsheets and charts across every location. Now leadership knows instantly if a patient is being treated without consent or an authorization in place. With financial clearance no longer a daily burden, the VP of Outpatient Services shifted focus to strategic growth. Blue Stone expanded into wellness and telehealth, completed the Goodcare acquisition, and achieved an 8.5x return on investment.