Ensemble Raises Primary Source Verification to 95.8%

Challenge

Employment and education verifications are an important part of Ensemble’s healthcare hiring process. The organization wanted to increase the percentage of verifications completed directly with primary sources while reducing exceptions that required manual intervention.

Primary-source verification rates ranged from approximately 83% to 85%, while unperformable verification (UTV) rates ranged from 2.8% to 3.7%. Proof-document requests and candidate follow-up added administrative work and introduced potential document-fraud risk. Ensemble needed a more source-driven approach that could improve outcomes without adding work for its internal teams.

Solution

On April 20, 2026, Ensemble began participating in First Advantage’s Premium Verification Workflow pilot. The redesigned approach focused on completing more employment and education verifications directly with the source and reducing unperformable outcomes through:

• More persistent outreach to employment and education verification sources.
• Expanded research to identify additional viable sources and verification paths.
• A dedicated, source-first workflow designed to reduce proof-based closures and manual exceptions.

Results

Results at a glance

• 96% peak primary-source verification rate
• <1% unperformable verification rate
• ~100% success rate

More verifications completed with primary sources

The primary-source verification rate climbed as high as 95.8% during the pilot, an improvement of at least 10 percentage points over the pre-pilot range. In June 2026, the rate remained above 90%.

Fewer unperformable outcomes

UTV rates fell from a pre-pilot range of approximately 2.8% to 3.7% to below 1%, including periods in which the rate reached 0%. That meant fewer searches ending without a completed verification and fewer exceptions for Ensemble’s team to manage.

Near-perfect success rate

The success rate increased from approximately 96% to nearly 100%. Employment verification success reached 100% during portions of the pilot, while education verification success consistently ranged from approximately 99% to 100%.

* Success Rate = The combined rate of “Clear” or “Consider” searches where we can complete the verification, but the data received may or may not match what the candidate provided.

Why The Workflow Worked

• More source intelligence
  Expanded research helped identify additional viable verification sources and paths.
• More persistent outreach
  Additional touchpoints created more opportunities to complete verifications directly with the source.
• A source-first approach
  Prioritizing primary-source verification reduced reliance on proof documents and manual exceptions.

Together, these changes reduced friction for Ensemble’s internal team and candidates. According to Ensemble, improved turnaround times also supported a faster time to hire.