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The Company
Patient Funding Alternatives helps hospitals and health systems find funding solutions for patients who need them most. Their Employees work at the intersection of health care and health insurance guiding patients and families through a complex Medicaid solution where no two situations are ever the same. It is meaningful, emotionally demanding work, and the team is built for it: empathetic people who wear their hearts on their sleeves.
The Challenge
PFA is growing, and most of its people managers were moving into leadership roles. The company had promoted strong employees into leadership roles, and wanted a personalized and specific training module for their Managers that encompassed their companies work culture. Leadership did not want a video library or a generic course. They wanted live, interactive training with real role play, built around the actual situations their managers face, from coaching direct reports to navigating tough conversations. And they set a clear bar for success: strong feedback from every learner, and real examples of behavior change showing up on the job.
- A Wave of New Managers: Most learners were stepping into people leadership roles where they supervised a team that required a high degree of empathy and could understand emotional situations. These new Managers needed core management skills.
- Emotionally Demanding Work: Leading empathetic teams through complex, high-stakes patient cases takes steady communication and resilience.
- A High Bar for Relevance: Generic training would not land. Sessions had to reflect PFA's world.
The Solution
PFA started with a pilot to see the approach firsthand, then launched a full program in early 2026 with two cohorts, one for new to some experience managers and one for experienced managers. Each learner follows a 12-session pathway, eight core skill sessions plus four coaching support sessions, with one live session a month across a full year.
- One-on-One, Built Around Real Work: Every session pairs a learner with an expert trainer who tailors role plays and scenarios to that manager's actual challenges.
- Skills That Match the Mission: Pathways cover communication, conflict resolution, team dynamics, emotional intelligence, empathy and compassion at work, and problem solving.
- Low Lift for the Team: Bundle handles onboarding, scheduling, and engagement, and meets with PFA's executives quarterly to review data and progress.
The Results
Halfway through the program, the numbers have answered the question PFA asked at the start.
- Near-Perfect Ratings: Learners rate the program 4.95 out of 5 for overall experience and trainer effectiveness, 4.9 for relevance to their role, and 5.0 for engagement, holding steady across more than 100 sessions.
- Everyone Weighed In: Every learner in the program has submitted feedback, hitting the success bar leadership set on day one.
- An NPS of +84: When asked how likely they are to recommend their sessions to a colleague, learners give the program a Net Promoter Score of 84, with not a single detractor across more than 100 responses.
- Behavior Change You Can See: In their own words, learners describe using session tools the same week: reframing a struggling employee's "performance problem" as a knowledge gap, winning executive buy-in on a staffing initiative, and building action plans they take straight back to their teams.
The Future
The program runs through early 2027, with quarterly executive reviews keeping results in front of leadership. The goal has not changed: confident managers who lead with empathy, so their teams can keep showing up for patients and families when it matters most.
