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TKOSolutions

Healthcare proof asset · synthetic

A policy change is not real until every downstream system behaves differently.

This assessment makes one prior-authorization modernization scenario inspectable across member eligibility, benefit coverage, procedure policy, provider qualification, UM routing, and the claims control that survives after clinical review is removed.

The wedge

The commitment is simple. The execution environment is not.

Removing prior-authorization review for a defined population sounds like one rule change. In practice, the answer is assembled from multiple authorities and must still produce behavior that legacy clinical and claims platforms can consume.

Benefit coverage, authorization policy, provider qualification, clinical review, and claims evidence are different decisions. Collapsing them into one flag is how burden-reduction programs create payment defects, manual workarounds, and conflicting provider experiences.

The first job of modernization is to make those decisions explicit: who owns each one, which inputs control it, when it is effective, what happens when facts conflict, and what record the next system needs.

AI can assist the workflow. It cannot substitute for an undefined authority model.

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Walkthrough: Automated walkthrough of TKO's educational prototype. Rules and identifiers are synthetic; no PHI or clinical determination. Use the interactive lab to change the facts yourself.
Run the interactive decision lab

Synthetic decision lab

Change one fact. Inspect every downstream decision.

Select a starting scenario, change its controls, and follow the determination across source authorities. All identifiers and rules are illustrative. No patient data is collected or processed.

9-Part Implementation Chain

Policy

Start with the approved interpretation of CMS-0057-F. This synthetic example is not a rule interpretation or conformance test.

Line of business
Commercial
Synthetic plan
SYN-COM-ALPHA
Synthetic service
IMG-410 · Advanced imaging service
Provider program
Performance-based waiver
Controlling facts
Member eligible
Benefit covered
Policy version effective
Policy requires PA
Provider TIN matches
Qualification active
Program includes service
Delegated specialty review
Advance notification required

Determination

Prior authorization review waived

Clinical authorization review is removed, but the workflow still creates the notification record downstream claims processing expects.

Operational route
No clinical review route
Claims control artifact
Advance-notification record

Decision trace

  1. 01 · Member and eligibility

    Is the member eligible for the selected plan on the service date?

    Eligible in Commercial.

  2. 02 · Benefit coverage

    Is the service a covered benefit under this plan?

    Advanced imaging service is marked covered in this synthetic scenario.

  3. 03 · Procedure policy

    Is the correct policy version effective for the service date?

    The SYN-COM-ALPHA policy version is effective.

  4. 04 · Procedure policy

    Does plan policy require prior authorization for this service?

    The effective procedure policy requires prior authorization.

  5. 05 · Provider program

    Does an active provider-program qualification apply to this TIN, plan, and service?

    Performance-based waiver qualification applies to the submitted provider TIN and service.

  6. 06 · Claims control

    What downstream artifact must claims processing be able to find?

    Advance-notification record

This is a synthetic, educational prototype. It does not use PHI, determine benefits, reproduce a payer's policy, submit prior authorization, or make a clinical decision. Its purpose is to expose the operating and architecture questions a real implementation must answer.

System boundaries

Six authorities. One reconstructable decision.

The orchestration layer does not become the master of every fact. It resolves effective-dated inputs from the systems that already own them, applies governed logic, and records the resulting path.

  1. 01

    Member & eligibility

    Which coverage is active for the service date, and which plan and line of business govern?

  2. 02

    Benefit coverage

    Is the requested service covered? This is not the same question as whether authorization is required.

  3. 03

    Procedure policy

    For this plan, service, place, state, and effective date, what administrative requirement applies?

  4. 04

    Provider program

    Does an active qualification apply to the submitted provider TIN and the requested service?

  5. 05

    UM orchestration

    Should the request bypass review, enter plan UM, or route to a delegated specialty workflow?

  6. 06

    Claims control

    Which durable record must downstream adjudication find so the claim follows the intended path?

Assessment model

From executive commitment to observable outcome.

A real assessment follows the change across six dimensions before recommending a platform, integration, automation, or AI intervention.

01

Commitment

The burden-reduction, access, regulatory, or platform outcome leadership has committed to deliver.

02

Population

Affected plans, lines of business, accounts, provider entities, services, states, and effective dates.

03

Authority

The system or team that owns each fact, rule, qualification, exception, and approval.

04

Execution

The applications, integrations, operational teams, delegated partners, releases, and migration paths involved.

05

Control

The evidence, exception route, appeal, requalification, audit trail, and claims artifact that keep the change safe.

06

Outcome

The baseline and observations required to prove activation, administrative-burden change, and unintended fallout.

Impact, not activity

The prototype exposes a decision. The sprint defines the evidence a release needs.

No administrative-burden or outcome claim is implied by the lab. Those claims require a baseline, activation evidence, and observed post-change behavior.

Proof layerQuestionRequired evidence
ActivationEligible scenarios reaching the intended routeDecision traces by plan, provider, service, and effective date
Administrative burdenTouches, active minutes, calls, rework, and elapsed timeA pre-change baseline and segmented post-change observations
Claims continuityMissing or mismatched control artifacts and related falloutNotification/auth creation matched to downstream claim behavior
ExceptionsUnresolved inputs, manual routes, appeals, and requalificationRoot-cause categories with an accountable owner

Standards and evidence boundary

The model is informed by public healthcare interoperability patterns, including the CMS Interoperability and Prior Authorization Final Rule and the HL7 Da Vinci Coverage Requirements Discovery, Documentation Templates and Rules, and Prior Authorization Support implementation guides. Those standards define important exchange behavior; this prototype's policy, qualification, orchestration, and claims-control model is TKO advisory work, not a claim of conformance.

One principal · Priced up front

Which healthcare commitment is getting lost between policy and production?

Bring one bounded change. TKO will map the authorities, decisions, systems, controls, failure paths, and evidence required to make it executable.