Healthcare services around the world are now struggling to cope with the sudden spread of the devastating pandemic. The havoc caused by the Covid-19 virus has shaken the entire traditional structure of healthcare. In order to cope with the current situation, healthcare services are looking for solutions to ease operations and reduce paperwork.
Furthermore, with the demographic changing at a significant pace, our healthcare needs to be more robust. This means that our near future will demand better and efficient healthcare services.
Statistics show that almost 36% of the healthcare operations, primarily managerial and back-office operations are automated. Therefore, it’s time we seek assistance from machines and streamline our healthcare operations. This will enable many healthcare workers to put their human ingenuity and capabilities to good use.
Want to know more about ways to optimize our healthcare costs and address the scarcity of resources we face today? Keep reading to better understand the role of Robotic Process Automation in healthcare services.
Use Cases of Robotic Process Automation in Healthcare Services
Many healthcare service providers have already opted for Robotic Process Automation in their institutions. It’s no surprise that they have seen an exponential increase in the efficiency of their everyday operations. A few of such use cases are explained below:
Management of Insurance Claims:
The entire process of insurance claim processing is a difficult task. It also consumes a lot of time that could be put to better use elsewhere. Furthermore, human errors in these processes can turn out to be expensive mistakes.
This is where we could use RPA bots for such tasks. With automation at hand, we could avoid these human errors while performing the task much faster than any human.
Organizing Patients:
RPA bots are trained and well equipped to study the schedule of doctors, and book appointments accordingly. These bots can seamlessly streamline the front office operations with minimal human intervention.
In such situations, RPA bots can be programmed to determine the location of the doctor and schedule appointments without any hassle. Once the booking is confirmed, the bot can retain such information in the database and provide timely reminders to doctors and patients.
Excellent delivery of healthcare:
An RPA bot is capable of automating the entire process of a healthcare unit. From analyzing medical records, processes of extracting the data, to detecting both structured and unstructured data.
It then provides best-in-class diagnoses by comparing the information with previous health records from the database. Using predictive analysis, the bot then quickly identifies at-risk patients while also checking the downtime and maintenance of medical equipment.
Healthcare Cycle:
Various healthcare institutions are using RPA bots for analyzing big data. These bots can analyze the data at a much faster pace with better accuracy and fewer errors. It allows doctors to ensure proper diagnosis and reduce unnecessary complications and deaths. Healthcare institutions can use the insights generated from the data for better diagnostic methods and treatments.
How Robotic Process Automation Makes Your Hospital More Efficient?
After a hospital implements a Robotic Process Automation solution, there are a few tangible effects such as:
- RPA rewards the patients with transparency and provides them with all their relevant information at a single point. Patients can easily access their billing information, appointment dates, medical histories, and more with ease.
- Hospitals can reduce their operating and claim processing costs drastically by automating most of the tasks.
- Gain access to faster and automated activities and workflows. This also helps hospitals to reduce human errors and get access to accurate information whenever required.
- Keep better track of inventories and due downtime or maintenance dates of medical equipment to avoid shortages and machinery mishaps.
What are the challenges that come with successful RPA Implementation?
Robotic Process Automation is not different from many other technologies used by humans today. Therefore, it is best to acknowledge that even Robotic Process Automation implementation can bring about a few challenges. However, these challenges are essential to address and might include challenges such as:
Hefty Investment:
Robotic Process Automation is one of the latest and cutting-edge technologies that does not come cheap. The initial development of RPA can pull in a lot more investment than expected. Also, the ROI usually takes a while, but this investment will basically pay for itself and enhance the profit simultaneously in the long term.
Tedious Process:
The overall process of implementing an RPA solution may consume some time. The entire process of analyzing and developing bots usually takes time and effort from both the development and operations teams.
Complicated Implementation:
Implementing an RPA solution is not an easy task and requires a lot of effort. It is often seen that the entire process of implementation comes up with some significant challenges. However, once these challenges are dealt with, the results will be better than one can expect.
Risk to employment:
As commonly seen in various other technologies, RPA has the potential to pose a risk for repetitive jobs. These threats can often hamper the development and implementation of RPA technology.
Conclusion:
With all the recent advancements in technologies like Robotic Process Automation and Artificial Intelligence, the world is evolving. Healthcare services are no exception and are bound to leverage the capabilities of these machines sooner or later. RPA is not a technology to be avoided or delayed.
Migration to such technologies will lead to a world where everybody can enjoy a superior and healthy ecosystem. Robotic Process Automation will be the next stepping stone for healthcare services all around the world. Collaboration with any SAP consulting company can go a long way in making healthcare more easily accessible by everyone.