Case study
Reducing Time-to-Chair for Infusion Patients
How Latent's enterprise pharmacy intelligence platform enables Ochsner to care for more infusion patients, faster
40k+
Total infusion authorizations completed in Latent to date
9.3 min
Prior auth time with Latent
35 %
More cases per FTE per day
Overview
A year and a half ago, Latent and Ochsner set out to co-build a product that would redefine medication access for the world of infusions. Infusion workflows are among the most time-intensive, fragmented workflows in health systems today: every case could mean a different payer portal, benefit rule, documentation requirement, and team handoff. Ochsner had already proven the model with Latent on the pharmacy benefit side, where Specialty and Retail teams saw the first efficiency gains. Extending the same platform to the medical benefit was the deliberate next move.
For a health system like Ochsner, a central aggregator for medical benefit workflows isn't just a productivity tool. It fundamentally changes how the team operates. It reduces the operational risk of fragmented knowledge, gives leadership visibility across the team, and creates the conditions for continuous improvement. When every submission follows a standardized, supported workflow, the whole organization benefits: outcomes become more predictable, and the team can focus on the clinical work that requires their expertise.
This journey not only spans prior authorization but works toward a future where every step between a physician's order and a patient's infusion is as frictionless as possible. For the teams at Ochsner advocating for patients every day, Latent is building the infrastructure to transform a complex, fragmented process into a smoother and speedier path to treatment.
The problem
Playing Defense for Every Patient
Infusion authorizations have no single source of truth. No map.
Just an ever-growing stack of tipsheets, institutional know-how accumulated over years, and a team doing everything in their power to get patients the treatments they need as quickly as possible. Take chemotherapy: a member of Ochsner's infusion med access team must locate the treatment plan, investigate the patient's insurance coverage, pull the relevant payer policy from an external source, verify medical necessity criteria, determine the correct submission method (fax form, portal or even a portal buried inside another portal) just to submit. After all of that comes the follow-up: stretches on hold with payer phone lines, waiting for the approval that allows the infusion to be scheduled. This is the battle infusion teams fight every day, on behalf of patients who can't wait, against a constantly moving target, with no map to guide them.
The pivot
Infusion med access · OchsnerLive
FAX RECEIVEDJ. R. Entyvio Aetna · ePAProcessingApproved
POLICY MATCHEDp. 14ProcessingApproved
PORTAL SUBMITTEDM. T. Ocrevus UHC · PortalWaiting on payerApproved
HOLD ENDEDD. K. Prolia Humana · FaxSubmittedApproved
TIPSHEET RETIREDTipsheet · EntyvioProcessingApproved
Latent AssistantMedical necessity criteria met. Supporting evidence surfaced from the chart.
See it run
Watch the map clear a case.
The same steps, now run by Latent.
Time to approve
Locate the treatment planReviewed to bring the best answers forward.
Investigate the patient's insurance coveragePulled into one centralized view.
Pull the relevant payer policyPayer requirements built into the workflow.
Determine the submission methodLatent directs the right method. No portal maze.
Verify medical necessity criteriaClinical criteria built into the workflow itself.
SubmitAutofilled in one click.
Follow up on the approvalMore auto-approvals, far less time on hold.
Without Latent26.5 min
With Latent9.3 min
17 minutes savedper case65% less time
One chemotherapy case, cleared by Latent.
The assistant
Latent's Medical Benefit Assistant
Ochsner's Infusion team now works from a single, centralized dashboard, with full visibility across the entire team, in real time. No more tracking cases in paper notes or spreadsheets while bouncing between fax forms and portals. No more relying on tipsheets, memory and experience to remember which payer requires which submission method for which drug.
Latent brings the map to the team. AI takes care of directing them to the correct submission method/payer requirements, and clinical criteria is built into the workflow itself, rather than living in the minds of individual staff members. Autofill handles demographic and drug information. And when the case reaches the complex clinical questions, the Latent Assistant surfaces the right clinical evidence from the patient chart.
For Ochsner's infusion patients, that means faster authorizations, faster starts to treatment, and more patients receiving their care within the Ochsner system. Now, Ochsner patients stay connected to the physician and care team who know them best, from the first infusion through the last.
01
One dashboard
The whole team works from a single, centralized view, in real time. No more paper notes, spreadsheets, or bouncing between portals.
FIG. 02Infusion med access · Ochsner
DrugPayer · methodStatus
EntyvioAetna · ePAApproved
OcrevusUHC · PortalWaiting on payer
ProliaHumana · FaxSubmitted
EntyvioUHC · PortalApproved
ProliaAetna · ePASubmitted
OcrevusHumana · FaxApproved
02
The map, built in
AI directs the team to the correct submission method and payer requirements, with clinical criteria built into the workflow itself.
FIG. 03Payer · method
03
Evidence on hand
Autofill handles demographic and drug information. For complex clinical questions, the Assistant surfaces the right evidence from the chart.
FIG. 04Clinical evidence
DrugEntyvio 300mg IV
PayerAetna · Medical
Criteria
Medical necessity criteria met. Surfaced from chart.
CRITERIA MET
The results
Each case cleared faster is a patient whose care comes sooner.
FIG. 05Time-to-chair · per team member, each day
Without LatentWith Latent
Prior auth review time
26.5 min
9.3 min−65%
Daily case capacity per FTE
17 / day
23 / day+35%
−65%
Review time per case dropped from 26.5 minutes to just 9.3 minutes, a reduction of 65%.
Time savings raised daily capacity by 35%, from 17 to 23 prior authorizations submitted by each team member each day.
The biggest success of all is that each additional case completed per day is a patient whose path to care was cleared a little faster.
At scale
Proven at the scale a health system runs on.
Total infusion authorizations completed in Latent, to date
40,000+Every one of them, a step toward treatment.
FIG. 06Total infusion authorizations
Voices from the team
What it changed for the
people doing the work.
We value the Latent AI program for its ability to streamline the collection of clinical information directly from the chart, supporting more efficient workflows.
Ochsner Infusion Team Member
Hospital-Based Outpatient
Infusion Med Access Team
Latent has helped us work more efficiently by cutting down the time we spend reviewing patient charts and increasing auto-approvals, which means our patients can start treatment sooner—especially in chemotherapy, where timing really matters.
Ochsner Infusion Team Member
Hospital-Based Outpatient
Infusion Med Access Team
“I like the way it fills in the patient information with one click.”
Janet Perriatt
Pre-Service Authorization Manager, HOPD
Infusions & Clinical Medications
Why it matters
For patients receiving complex infusions like chemotherapy at a hospital-based outpatient center, being treated within the Ochsner system means being followed by their physician and care team throughout every step of their journey. For the most complex infusion drugs, that continuity of care is always the most desirable patient outcome. And it starts with getting the prior authorization right.
Frequently asked
Common questions
about the Ochsner
infusion case study
What did Ochsner achieve for infusion patients with Latent?
Ochsner's infusion prior authorization review time dropped from 26.5 minutes per case, cases completed per team member each day rose from 17 to 23, and more than 40,000 infusion authorizations have been completed in Latent to date.
Why are infusion prior authorizations so hard?
Infusion authorizations have no single source of truth and no map. Every case can mean a different payer portal, benefit rule, documentation requirement, and team handoff, spread across fax forms, portals, tipsheets, and payer phone lines. A team member must locate the treatment plan, check the patient's coverage, pull the payer policy, verify medical necessity, and find the correct submission method just to submit.
What is Latent's Medical Benefit Assistant?
Ochsner's infusion team works from a single centralized dashboard with full visibility across the team in real time. Latent directs the team to the correct submission method and payer requirements, builds clinical criteria into the workflow, autofills demographic and drug information, and surfaces the right clinical evidence from the patient chart for the complex questions.
How does this build on Ochsner's earlier pharmacy work with Latent?
Ochsner first proved the model with Latent on the pharmacy benefit side, where Specialty and Retail teams saw the first efficiency gains. Extending the same platform to the medical benefit, where infusions live, was the deliberate next move.
What does faster authorization mean for patients?
Faster authorizations mean faster starts to treatment and more patients receiving care within the Ochsner system, where they stay connected to the physician and care team who know them best. In chemotherapy, where timing matters most, that continuity starts with getting the prior authorization right.