Keona Health, a healthcare CRM company, has released new ROI guidance and a Triage ROI Calculator for nursing leaders, patient access directors, and healthcare operations teams to evaluate the true cost of manual triage processes. The analysis, based on Keona Health customer data and industry experience, examines the operational and financial considerations of manual versus AI-supported triage workflows.
The guidance arrives as healthcare organizations face compounding pressure on patient access operations due to staffing shortages, rising call volumes, and increasing clinical complexity. These pressures have exposed structural weaknesses in triage workflows that were not designed to scale, often resulting in avoidable emergency department visits, documentation errors, and staff turnover.
The published materials include a before-and-after performance comparison, a breakdown of cost centers most affected by outdated triage infrastructure, and a Triage ROI Calculator that organizations can use to estimate savings based on their current call volume and staffing model. The guidance is designed for nursing and operations leaders who want a structured way to quantify triage performance and evaluate the case for investment.
According to Keona Health, manual triage processes frequently lead to inconsistent clinical decisions, extended onboarding timelines for nurses, and elevated downstream risk. Misclassified calls can generate avoidable ED visits, documentation errors, unnecessary callbacks, and liability exposure. “These failures are caused by structural problems. A manual triage model is not designed to scale efficiently,” said Stephen Dean, COO of Keona Health.
The clinical stakes of triage accuracy are significant. A 2024 evidence-based review published in the Journal of Emergency Nursing reported human triage accuracy ranging from approximately 59% to 82%, varying with clinician experience and case complexity. In contrast, Keona Health’s internal data indicates that AI-assisted triage has demonstrated an accuracy rate of 93% in directing patients to the appropriate level of care. At volume, this gap translates into meaningful clinical and operational risk, reducing avoidable ED referrals and liability exposure.
AI-supported triage systems address workflow gaps that manual processes leave open. According to Keona Health customer data, organizations implementing AI-guided triage have reported measurable improvements within 90 days, including a 20% to 30% reduction in call handling time, documentation time reductions of up to 50%, reduced nurse onboarding timelines to 2-3 weeks, and observed reductions in unnecessary ED referrals. These outcomes reflect improvements across the full operational surface of patient access.
“Healthcare call centers are not only experiencing a staffing problem. They’re facing a workflow problem,” said Stephen Dean. “When triage decisions depend on paper binders and non-clinical judgment calls, you’re not managing risk. You’re absorbing it.”
Organizations that modernize triage infrastructure reduce systemic clinical risk, improve staff retention by lowering cognitive burden on nurses, and create a foundation for scalable patient access operations. The full Nursing Triage ROI analysis, including the ROI Calculator, is available at KeonaHealth.com.
