You just implemented a new risk adjustment solution. The technology is configured. Users are trained. The system is live. Leadership thinks the hard part is over.
The hard part is just beginning. The first 90 days after implementation determine whether your solution succeeds or becomes expensive shelfware. Here’s what you need to do during that critical window.
Days 1-30: The Support Surge
Users are trying to work with the new system for real. Training taught them mechanics, but now they’re encountering actual problems that the training didn’t cover.
“How do I handle this edge case?” “The system is rejecting this submission, why?” “Where do I find last quarter’s data?” “This workflow doesn’t match what we actually do.”
If these questions sit unanswered for days, users get frustrated and revert to old processes. The first 30 days require intense support availability.
Assign dedicated internal champions who become power users fast. They’re the first line of support. When users have questions, champions provide immediate answers instead of tickets sitting in vendor queues.
Hold daily standup meetings for the first two weeks. “What problems did you hit yesterday? What’s blocking you today?” Surface issues immediately and resolve them fast.
The vendor promised ongoing support. Great. But internal champions provide faster, more context-specific help. Invest in building that capability early.
Days 30-60: The Process Refinement
After 30 days, you’ve discovered all the places where the solution doesn’t quite fit your actual workflow. Time to refine.
Don’t customize the software yet. First, decide whether to change your process to match the software or configure the software to match your process.
Remember, commercial risk adjustment solutions embody best practices from dozens of implementations. When your process differs from what the solution expects, that’s a signal that your process might need improvement.
I’ve seen organizations spend $40,000 customizing their solution to preserve inefficient workflows that they should’ve abandoned. Ask yourself: “Is this process worth preserving, or should we adapt to how the solution does it?”
Where customization is justified (you have genuinely unique requirements), now’s the time. Document specific gaps, prioritize them by business impact, and work with the vendor on solutions.
But also document workarounds. Not every gap needs to be fixed with software. Sometimes a manual process or offline tracking is cheaper and faster than custom development.
Days 60-90: The Analytics Build
Your new risk adjustment solution has been running for two months. You’ve accumulated enough data to start building meaningful analytics.
This is when you discover whether the solution’s reporting capabilities actually meet your needs. Most solutions have standard reports that tell you what happened. You need custom analytics that tell you why it happened and what to do about it.
Start building the reports and dashboards you’ll actually use to manage performance. Coder productivity by complexity. HCC capture trends by provider group. Query resolution time by condition. Audit readiness by member segment.
Don’t wait for the vendor to build these for you. Use the solution’s reporting tools or export data to your own analytics platform. The key is establishing what you’ll measure and starting to track it consistently.
If the solution can’t produce the analytics you need, you discover that now while you still have leverage with the vendor. “Your solution doesn’t support the reporting we require. Either you build it or we need contract modifications.”
The Adoption Metrics That Matter
During the first 90 days, track adoption metrics religiously.
Login frequency: How many assigned users are logging in daily? If 30% of your team isn’t using the system, you’ve got an adoption problem.
Feature utilization: Which features are being used and which are ignored? If nobody’s using the AI suggestions or the automated workflows, find out why.
Workaround detection: Are users doing work outside the system and manually entering results? That defeats the purpose. Identify workarounds and eliminate them.
Velocity changes: Are charts moving through the system faster or slower than before? If slower, identify bottlenecks.
Error rates: Are users making more mistakes with the new system than they did with the old process? If yes, that’s either a training issue or a design issue.
These metrics tell you whether implementation is succeeding. Without them, you’re flying blind.
The Vendor Relationship Check-In
At the 90-day mark, have a formal check-in with your vendor. Not a routine status call. A substantive review.
What’s working well? What’s not working? Where do you need more support? Where are there gaps between what was promised and what’s delivered?
This is your chance to reset expectations or escalate problems while the implementation is still fresh. If there are systematic issues, the vendor needs to know now, not six months from now.
It’s also your chance to provide positive feedback. If certain aspects of the solution are exceeding expectations, tell them. Good vendors appreciate hearing what’s working, not just what’s broken.
The Internal Retrospective
At 90 days, gather your core team and do an honest retrospective.
What would we do differently if we were implementing again? What assumptions were wrong? What unexpected challenges emerged? What went better than expected?
Document these learnings. You’ll implement other systems in the future. These lessons are valuable.
Also ask: Are we on track to achieve the ROI we projected? If not, what needs to change? Is it the solution, our processes, or how we’re using the solution?
Many organizations skip this retrospective and discover a year later that they’re way off their ROI projections. Checking at 90 days gives you time to course-correct.
The Commitment Decision
By day 90, you need to make a decision: are we all-in on this solution, or are we hedging?
If you’re all-in, that means shutting down old processes entirely. No parallel systems. No “just in case” backup workflows. Full commitment.
If you’re still hedging (keeping old processes active “temporarily”), you’re signaling to your team that you don’t trust the new solution. That kills adoption.
Make the call. Either commit fully or admit the implementation isn’t working and plan remediation. The middle ground of half-adoption is where solutions go to die.
The first 90 days after implementing a risk adjustment solution are exhausting. They require intense focus, rapid problem-solving, and constant attention. But organizations that invest properly during this window get solutions that deliver ROI for years. Organizations that coast through the first 90 days get expensive systems that never reach their potential.