Imagine having a legion of virtual employees do the most tedious and repetitive work in your healthcare business. That is essentially what robotic process automation is. It's like having an ultra-efficient, never-tiring assistant. It takes care of paperwork and checks for compliance – flawlessly and without tired eyes.
Healthcare companies are overwhelmed by administrative tasks. Administrative costs are nearing 30% of the total healthcare cost, a McKinsey report added. RPA has the capability to reduce such costs by automating patient scheduling and claims. That means satisfied patients and lower operating costs. Let us look at a few examples in the real world where RPA is having a positive influence.
Max Healthcare's Claims Processing Optimization
For India's leading hospital chain, Max Healthcare, handling claims was a nightmarish drag. Handling scores of claims a day, glitches and delays were unavoidable.
After deploying RPA, the turnaround time for claims fell by 50%. The reconciliations and compliance checks were all done by the bots, freeing some of the workload from human staff. The result? A faster, more efficient process and a better cash flow.
Major U.S. Health Insurer's Appeals Process Improvement
Insurance appeal processing is a labor-intensive activity, with extensive documentation review and data extraction. A major U.S. health insurer experienced delays and inefficiency, leading to customer dissatisfaction.
Using RPA, they could automate 85% of the manual processes. Appeal cases were processed faster, errors were reduced. This resulted in more satisfied customers. Even data extraction accuracy reached up to 99%.
Automating Electronic Invoice Audits at Chi Mei Medical Center
Manual invoice auditing is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Taiwan's Chi Mei Medical Center was faced with the same issue, with hundreds of invoices to be audited.
Software robots downloaded invoices automatically after RPA was implemented. They scanned documents for discrepancies, and flagged potential errors. This cut audit time significantly and allowed finance teams to focus on resolving discrepancies rather than manually reviewing docs.
Streamlining Operations at a Healthcare Provider
One U.S. healthcare provider collaborated with Coherent Solutions to automate internal workflows. Before RPA, employees spent countless hours on repetitive tasks such as scheduling, and manual data entry.
After implementing RPA, processing time decreased by 85% and operational costs dropped by 92%. Employees could now focus on patient care instead of paperwork.
Simplifying Administrative Work with Laguna Insight
Administrative work takes up hours that could be spent on patient care. Laguna Insight used RPA to automate scheduling and compliance reporting.
The result? Administrative tasks were completed in less time than ever before. Healthcare workers were able to focus on what matters most - patient care.
Cognizant's Order Automation Processing
One of the highest-rated New York-based healthcare payers had issues managing purchase orders due to discrepancies in data and manual processing errors. They collaborated with Cognizant to implement RPA solutions. The new technology reduced the time needed to process credit memos. The healthcare provider could do them more quickly with RPA cutting down on time spent on manual data entry by eight minutes. The RPA system handled various data formats, improving accuracy of decisions.
JOLT's Insurance Claims Handling Upgrade
A top-performing hand therapy company based in America with over 200 outpatient clinics wanted to automate the processing of insurance claims and prevent human errors. They partnered with JOLT and designed nine various automation solutions. Within a period of 12 weeks, they deployed control, monitoring, records verification, performance reporting, and release management systems. As a result, they verified the eligibility of over 5,500 clients and achieved estimated savings of $570,000 in 2020.
When to Apply RPA in Healthcare
If your healthcare company is dealing with high-volume, rule-based processes, it's time to consider RPA. Some of the key signs are:
- Regular delays in claims processing;
- High data entry error rates;
- Rising administrative expenses;
- Employees spending too much time on paperwork instead of patient care.
RPA is particularly valuable for processes with rigorous compliance demands, like billing and insurance processing. If your personnel are devoting more time to forms than to patients, that's a clear sign that automation can help.
Having said that, effective implementation of RPA must be systematic in nature. Healthcare organizations must decide upon the scope of automation, and work with mature RPA vendors to ensure a seamless transition. The key is proper selection of the right automation tools. Their integration with existing workflows is crucial to derive maximum efficiency.
Use Cases Where RPA Won't Help Your Healthcare Ops
While RPA is powerful, it is not a magic bullet for everything. It will not replace complex human decision-making or tasks that require deep medical expertise.
For example, RPA will not be helpful in:
- Diagnosing disease or interpreting medical images;
- Personalized patient care that requires human interaction;
- Unstructured processes without clear rules;
- Handling unpredictable or dynamic medical procedures.
Artificial intelligence and human knowledge are still required for these areas. RPA excels at processes that are purely rule-based and do not require human judgment. For decision-making that entails complexity and medical reasoning, though, human healthcare professionals cannot be substituted.
That is why healthcare organizations should view RPA as a way of supplementing their workforce - not replacing it. Tactically utilized, RPA frees up valuable human capital so that healthcare professionals are able to focus on the delivery of exceptional patient care rather than being bogged down by bureaucratic burdens.
In a Nutshell
RPA is transforming healthcare through reducing costs and liberating medical professionals from paperwork. If redundant tasks are affecting your business, the time has come to think about RPA. With its efficacy established in real-world applications, automation is no longer an option but a necessity for a thriving healthcare business.
But to succeed, it needs to be well planned. Selecting the right processes for automation, ensuring good integration, and training employees to use automation are all required. Organizations that approach RPA strategically will not only save costs but also improve patients' experiences. Achieve long-term success in the evolving healthcare landscape with RPA.
