The healthcare industry is now turning to Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to save time and money

Knowing or unknowingly, technology has made its way into the healthcare industry at the right time. Today, due to increasing population and reducing workers, the healthcare industry is on a quest to improve and expand its functions. Healthcare leaders are now turning to Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to save the entities time and money.

The healthcare facilities that we experience today were not present over a year and a half ago. A lot of healthcare entities were unaware of the situation they were going to face in late 2019 and the whole of 2020. Yes, I’m talking about the Covid-19 pandemic, the disease that has changed the world for both good and bad. Since the healthcare industry started being in the spotlight, it is faced with operational challenges such as dealing with sensitive data, strict procedures that need to be followed. Besides, the sector is also limbed by improper handling of administrative tasks that connects doctors and patients. To end all this chaos, Robotic Process Automation is leveraged in the healthcare industry. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is the technology that allows anyone to configure computer software, or a ‘robot’ to emulate and integrate the actions of a human interacting within digital systems to execute a business process. RPA should thus take full advantage of the healthcare process to facilitate adequate medical care to a large number of people. According to Gartner, 50% of US healthcare providers will invest in RPA over the next five years. 

Enhances supply chain

Supply chain plays a critical role in the healthcare industry. The Healthcare supply chain is all about distributing workload equally, making people work efficiently and following the workflow cycle. With the help of RPA, the supply chain can further enhance productivity optimisation by redefining work and assigning employees to execute higher value-added activities. Bots are set to take over human labour activities that consume a lot of time, while healthcare workers are assigned with far intense works. Organisations that implement RPA for certain activities realise significantly more savings over traditional off-shoring and business process outsourcing (BPO). 

Implements remote monitoring

Healthcare success highly relies on monitoring patients and taking timely decisions on their health situation. It involves improvised patient records management, which is hectic without the help of technology. RPA helps healthcare institutions to track more standardised, patient-specific routes towards patients’ desire health objectives. RPA avails the facility to make timelier identification of patients who fall out of their routine schedules and medicines. It even helps in remote monitoring of individuals records at the level of population health.

Schedules patient appointments

Monitoring and balancing patient appointments are very important to run a healthcare institution. Even though small entities might find it easy to handle patient appointments and schedules, it is totally different in big organisations where numerous healthcare workers function. According to a report, 88% of all patient appointments and bookings are done manually, sometimes leading to over two months between a referral and an appointment. RPA can be the helping hand here. With RPA in place, the patient appointment process is eased. When a patient fills out a new patient appointment request online, RPA robot scans the incoming data, builds out a condensed report and directs the appointment request to the correct work queue based on its defining attributes such as location, diagnosis and insurance carrier. 

Optimises insurance claims management

The insurance claim process in healthcare is usually filled with errors, and especially, they are time-consuming. It doesn’t matter whether they are conducted manually or by generic process, insurance claims still remain in the mishaps zone. RPA in insurance claims management makes this process easier as robots fill the data in compliance with regulations, deal with appeals and monitor the entire process. It further helps achieve optimal automation level by filling insurance data, automating and speeding up enrolment and processing claims, thereby optimising the time spent by providers and payers. 

Automates billing and coding process

Medical coding and billing are very essential in healthcare as they help establish and categorise patient information that dictates the billing of medicare and insurance companies. However, managing the coding process is hectic. Medical coding and billing involve processes like changing codes, documentation requirements, and payment methods that are imperative for billion to ensure accurate and timely payment. If the coding update schedule is missed, then the whole system might collapse. However, AI-powered RPA bots can automate medical coding and billion processes for consumers. The bots understand and analyse each of the patient’s wound documentation to create billing codes that are then used to create invoices.