An example would be dummying a hole, by having single elements across the diameter. I cant find a way to force APEX to do this without creating surfaces, curves and seeding each curve, which is time consuming and if the surrounding mesh changes, it can update those dummys to multiple elements. This is mostly for bringing across to Dytran for a fluid structure interaction model.
There isn't really a way to do that other than what you're already doing. Apex just isn't set up for that sort of thing.
I imagine you'll be moving the model over to Patran for final setup of the Dytran run? If so, your best bet is probably to generate the dummy elements there. If necessary, you could use the Mesh on Mesh tool in the vicinity of the hole to fix any problems with the mesh distribution.