Use Excel's AI to Analyze Claim Denial Patterns

What This Does

Excel Copilot lets you ask plain English questions about your denial data, without writing a single formula or pivot table. Instead of spending 2 hours building charts manually, you describe what you want and Excel builds it.

Before You Start

• Copilot access on your account (most organizations buy the Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on; smaller ones may have free basic access; ask IT if you're not sure)
• Your denial data is exported as a spreadsheet from your EHR or billing system
• The data has clear column headers (DRG, denial reason, amount, date, coder, payer)

Steps

1. Open your denial export in Excel

Open the exported spreadsheet. Make sure your data has clear column headers in Row 1. Excel Copilot works best when columns are labeled (e.g., "Denial Reason", "Billed Amount", "DRG", "Coder ID", "Payer", "Date").

What you should see: A table of denial records. Copilot now reads plain ranges as well as formatted tables, so formatting as a table (Insert → Table) is optional, though it keeps references stable as rows are added.

Troubleshooting: If headers are missing, add them in Row 1 before proceeding. Copilot needs them to understand your data.

2. Open the Copilot panel

Click the Copilot icon in the lower-right corner of the Excel window; Microsoft moved it off the Home ribbon in 2026. Press F6 to jump to it, or right-click the corner button and choose Move to ribbon if you prefer the old placement. A panel will open on the right side of the screen.

What you should see: A chat panel with a text field at the bottom labeled "Ask a question about your data."

Troubleshooting: If you don't see the Copilot button, your Microsoft 365 plan may not include it, check with your IT department.

3. Ask your first analysis question

Click in the text field and type your question in plain English. Start with the most important question for your current reporting cycle.

What to type: "What are the top 10 denial reasons by total dollar amount?"

What you should see: Copilot will generate a summary table or chart directly in your spreadsheet, and explain its findings in the chat panel.

4. Get trending analysis

Follow up with a time-based question to identify whether denials are improving or worsening.

What to type: "Show denial rate by month as a line chart for the last 6 months."

What you should see: A chart inserted into your spreadsheet showing monthly denial trends.

5. Drill into specific problem areas

Ask follow-up questions to investigate root causes.

What to type: "Which coder has the highest medical necessity denial rate?" or "Which DRG has the most coding-related denials?"

Real Example

Scenario: Your CFO wants to know why the denial rate jumped from 5.1% to 6.8% this quarter.

What you type: "Compare Q3 vs Q4 denials by denial reason. Highlight which reasons increased most."

What you get: A comparison table showing denial counts and amounts by reason, with percentage changes, ready to paste into your CFO presentation. What previously took 2 hours of pivot table work takes 3 minutes of questions.

Tips

• Ask one question at a time. Copilot responds better to focused queries than multi-part requests
• If the chart or table isn't quite right, ask a follow-up: "Add percentage of total to that table" or "Change to a bar chart"
• Save the Copilot-generated charts and tables directly into a separate "Leadership Report" tab by copying and pasting them

Tool interfaces change, if a button has moved, look for similar AI/magic/smart options in the same menu area.