CASE STUDY – KRA Legal, PC
How a Growing California Firm Cut Request Prep Time by Two-Thirds
“Clear and compliant request formatting, and automated follow-ups, save us an estimated 50 hours of administrative work each month.” Donna Salao
Year Founded: 2011
Location: Torrance, CA
Practice Areas: Motor Vehicle Accidents, Personal Injury, Premises Liability, Wrongful Death, Catastrophic Injury
kralegal.com
KRA Legal’s deep understanding of California’s legal procedures provides real solutions to intricate personal injury claims.
Donna Salao
Director of Operations
Viviana Fuentes
Records Coordinator
The records retrieval process is much less stressful. I can get other tasks done. I don’t have to feel like I’m overwhelmed.
– Viviana Fuentes
Arctrieval has been a lifesaver — paperless requests and automated follow-ups changed everything.
– Donna Salao
The Challenge
KRA Legal has a team of three attorneys supported by sixteen staff members managing nearly 400 active cases at any given time. With that many cases in motion, even small inefficiencies snowballed into significant delays.
The firm’s traditional paper-based HIPAA authorization process was the biggest bottleneck. Every request required drafting, printing, assembling, and mailing multiple documents. As Viviana explained:
“We had an authorization on file, and we used it to request different records for different facilities. I would have to fill them out myself, print them out, fill out the request, and so on. Then I would mail it out.”
This repetitive workflow meant that each client’s record requests took 20–30 minutes of prep time. With 40 new cases each month, that alone added up to roughly 20 hours of administrative labor — just for initial requests.
The pain didn’t end there. Staff spent about an additional 30 hours each month calling providers, waiting on hold, being transferred between departments, or being told to “call back after lunch.” Records from providers like Kaiser Permanente were sometimes delayed for months if minor errors appeared, compounding delays for both the firm and its clients.
The Solution
KRA Legal implemented Arctrieval in November 2024, following the owner, Kenechi R. Agu’s, introduction of the platform to the operations team. Donna and Viviana worked together to integrate Arctrieval with Filevine and their overall workflow.
Arctrieval replaced manual, repetitive steps that created inefficiencies with a streamlined system designed around the realities of provider compliance:
- Paperless processing: No more printing, assembling, or mailing requests. Everything is electronic and tracked.
- Automated follow-up system: The system handles provider reminders, saving staff hours of phone calls and transfers.
- Clear, compliant request formatting: Requests are formatted to meet provider requirements (including Kaiser Permanente and Cedars-Sinai), reducing the likelihood of rejection for a technicality.
- Integrated expense tracking: Request costs post automatically to Filevine, eliminating manual data entry and ensuring accurate case accounting.
- User-friendly interface: ‘Very user-friendly,” as Donna put it, with FAQs that let staff troubleshoot on their own.
Together, these changes provided KRA Legal with a reliable and repeatable process. What used to be errorprone and labor-intensive is now streamlined, accurate, and largely self-managing. Staff are now able to focus on case progress instead of paperwork.
The Result
KRA Legal achieved measurable gains in both time savings and reliability. The most significant improvement was in request preparation: what once took 30 minutes per client now takes about 10, a two-thirds reduction in administrative work.
Automation delivered additional impact. Viviana estimates the follow-up system saves roughly 30 hours per month that would otherwise be lost to calling providers, navigating phone trees, and tracking outstanding requests. “Calling the hospitals took forever… sometimes they’re not available or they’re out for lunch, and I’d have to call back, or I’d get transferred from one department to another,” she explained.
Arctrieval also broke through long-standing barriers with strict providers. Records from Kaiser Permanente, which were previously delayed for months due to minor errors, now typically arrive within a month. “I know for sure now that Kaiser has the request and it’s been received — I’ve seen that it is working and it’s efficient,” Viviana said. The firm has also seen smoother interactions with CedarsSinai, a provider with detailed authorization requirements.
Impact on Growth
The efficiencies from Arctrieval have enabled KRA Legal to manage higher volumes more efficiently with the same team. With nearly 400 active cases, the firm can now handle higher volumes because routine tasks are quicker and more dependable. Donna highlighted the client benefit: “We were able to send demands faster, which helps us and our clients a lot.”
Drawing on her experience at three different firms, Donna observed that retrieving medical and billing records has always been the most persistent operational challenge. By automating follow-ups, ensuring clear request formatting, and syncing expenses directly into Filevine, Arctrieval addresses that issue at scale. The result is a solid foundation for growth while keeping every case moving efficiently.