Robotic Process Automation in Healthcare: Benefits and Use Cases

As the report from the World Health Organization shows, global spending on healthcare has been continually rising in the last 20+ years. At the same time, hospitals are expected to integrate the latest advancements in technology while trying to keep prices as low as possible. On top of that, the healthcare industry is notorious for personnel shortages caused by challenging working conditions. Juggling all of these factors is a tough undertaking that many providers struggle with. Robotic process automation (RPA) systems can help alleviate some of the stress and allow workers to devote more time to patients. In this article, we’ll delve into robotic process automation use cases in healthcare, explore its benefits, and discuss which challenges this technology can combat.

What is RPA in Healthcare?

Manual tasks have always been prone to errors and inconsistencies. Moreover, they distract employees from their primary duties and stifle their creativity. Instead of directing their energy towards analytical thinking and complex problem solving, workers are tasked with paperwork and data entry. This leads to a downfall in productivity and creates a stressful work environment. But what is RPA in healthcare, and how can it help?

Let’s begin with a more general definition of the technology: RPA in business. PRA is a technology that eliminates repetitive tasks through process automation. By leveraging software bots, RPA tools allow companies to delegate routine activities to a machine while focusing on core business processes. This is especially vital for the healthcare industry, which is notorious for numerous strict regulations and compliance requirements. When the cost of error is high, utilizing automation tools can alleviate stress and give organizations peace of mind.

In conjunction with other prominent technologies like artificial intelligence solutions, machine learning algorithms, and natural language processing, robotic process automation can go beyond simple automation. Firms that properly apply these tools can unlock new business opportunities, make data-driven decisions, and increase revenue.

Challenges of the Healthcare System

The healthcare sector can be hard to navigate due to extremely high stakes. Even a small error can cause harm to human beings and jeopardize their health. As a result, this industry comes with a wealth of regulations and data protection laws. Before we discuss the benefits of RPA in healthcare and dive into concrete use cases, let’s investigate the obstacles across the industry.

Data Exchange Issues

With most US hospitals still using fax machines, healthcare institutions are not optimized for quick and efficient data exchange. Even with the implementation of Electronic Health Records (EHR) technology, sharing patient data across systems, let alone across hospitals, seems to be difficult. The lack of automation also poses a threat to diagnostic processes as some information never makes it to the EHR files. As a result, clinicians can’t provide the best services to their patients.

RPA in healthcare can break down silos within medical applications and allow doctors full access to patients’ health data.

Legacy Systems

Many institutions still use outdated software that takes too long to load, breaks down, and disrupts workflows. As a result, employees waste their valuable time and work with incomplete information. Patients, on the other hand, also suffer from subpar medical care, which leads to frustration and distrust.

Robotic process automation in healthcare is capable of optimizing workflows and offers workers time and energy to focus on their primary duties.

Personnel Shortages

Staff shortages are at the top of the list of the biggest challenges in the healthcare sector, according to the American College of Healthcare Executives’ annual survey. Current working conditions are not conducive to a healthy lifestyle and can lead to major burnout. On top of that, nurses—the most sought-after personnel—often share their frustrations with the compensation for their work.

Implementing PRA in healthcare will create cost savings that can be used to increase salaries and improve the work environment. Automation systems can also facilitate a better work-life balance and reduce resignations across the industry.

Care Disparity

Deloitte research concludes that, in the US alone, the costs of healthcare inequities are reaching $320 billion per year. If nothing changes, this number will only increase in the following years. The disparities are mostly caused by underlying socioeconomic inequalities and various gender and racial biases. Millions of people simply cannot afford to get the care that they require.

The placement of robotic process automation in the healthcare industry can begin to break down such disparities and allow access to medical services to more people. Cost savings, workflow optimization, and process optimization can potentially help hospitals provide their services to everyone in need.

Patient Safety

The number one goal of any healthcare institution is patient safety and satisfaction. Unfortunately, clinicians often struggle to prevent errors, reduce hospital-acquired infections, and deliver equal services to everyone. These issues trigger even more distrust and discourage patients from seeking medical attention.

The adoption of RPA in healthcare can streamline processes and grant physicians more time and energy for their patients. Automating daily routines will also reduce diagnostic and surgical errors and improve overall satisfaction with medical services.

Benefits of RPA in Healthcare

Automation tools can be highly beneficial by lowering operational costs, eliminating routine actions, and improving overall satisfaction among patients and medical personnel. In this section, we’ll take a look at the benefits of RPA in healthcare to determine how such systems can improve your business.

Manual Task Automation

Healthcare institutions deal with plethoras of time-consuming, administrative tasks that can be easily delegated to bots. Checking patients in and out, managing appointments, handling insurance regulations, and other daily activities eat away hours of valuable time. Not only does this reduce the number of appointments nurses and doctors can take, but it also impacts overall patient satisfaction. Implementation of a robotic process automation system allows employees to hand over some of the manual tasks to a software solution while focusing their efforts on patient care.

Improved Compliance

The healthcare sector can be hard to navigate due to tightened restrictions and privacy laws. Regulations like HIPAA and GDPR force organizations to comply with a wealth of various requirements to ensure the highest possible level of data protection. Software bots can be programmed to follow predefined rules to a tee, lowering the chances of error. As a result, businesses can take advantage of flawless processes and avoid costly and reputation-ruining penalties.

Enhanced Data Security

Data breaches pose serious threats to the safety of patients’ sensitive information. Healthcare institutions collect and store an abundance of private data, including banking details, addresses, health history, and more. A small mistake in data storage can lead to devastating consequences and destroy an organization’s reputation. Another common issue is poor permission management, which allows access to unauthorized employees. Having fully-fledged software that takes care of data entry and protection allows businesses to improve the safety of their information.

Better Patient Experience

Another application of RPA in healthcare is boosting patient satisfaction and facilitating a more pleasant and efficient experience. To this day, millions of people worldwide have little to no access to proper healthcare. Whether it’s wealth disparity, remote locations, or technological disadvantages, many patients struggle to receive the services they need. Improvements like self-check-in kiosks and online portals help patients get in touch with clinicians and treat their conditions.

Increased Employee Satisfaction

Aside from patients, employees can also greatly benefit from RPA systems. People go into the healthcare industry to help and treat patients, not to spend hours filling out paperwork. Such repetitive manual tasks lead to burnout and overall dissatisfaction with the chosen profession. According to the 2023 Healthcare Experience Trends Report from Qualtrics, healthcare ranks lowest in employee satisfaction out of 27 industries. Automating at least some daily routines aids companies in creating a healthier work-life balance. Using PRA tools, physicians and nurses can devote their time to patients and let machines deal with typing, completing forms, and setting appointments.

Standardization of Health Data

Adopting robotic process automation in healthcare for collecting, exchanging, and storing patient health records can aid in generating a unified format across institutions. Whenever a physician requests information from a different doctor, data exchange will occur faster. Instead of translating one format into another and extracting vital information, hospitals can arrange a quick and efficient knowledge exchange. In the future, this system can facilitate state-level population health management that can help improve the overall well-being of citizens.

Cost Reduction

The robotic process automation of everyday, mundane tasks will also bring substantial cost savings. By eliminating manual labor on time-consuming actions, you can lower administrative expenses. On top of that, reducing human error and possible cases of non-compliance is likely to minimize potential fines and penalties in the future.

Use Cases of RPA in Healthcare

In this part, we’ll delve into examples of RPA in healthcare by discussing concrete use cases for this technology.

Appointment Scheduling

Even though appointments can be booked online in most doctor offices, a lot of work is still required from the medical staff. Someone needs to confirm the date or reschedule if something occurs. The patient’s information also needs verification to make sure insurance and medical history data is complete. These actions can be delegated to an RPA system.

Using bots, hospitals can collect and process patient data without any manual effort. The system will check the clinician’s schedule to avoid double-booking, verify insurance information, and forward the request to the specialist if needed. One of the robotic process automation use cases in healthcare is setting up alerts to inform patients in case of a sudden change.

Billing

The medical billing process is notorious for its complexity that often leads to confusion and misunderstandings. Especially when insurance gets involved, the billing process becomes even more cumbersome. The total medical bill includes a plethora of tests, procedures, doctor’s fees, accommodation, and more. Keeping track of each item on the list can be quite challenging.

Much like with RPA use cases in banking, this technology can aid in optimizing the medical billing system. Integration of robotic process automation in the healthcare industry can streamline accounts payable and digitize the entire billing system. Besides reducing human mistakes, digitization allows for consistency and transparency and improves efficiency. Using RPA systems, hospitals can also send out notifications to remind patients to pay their bills to prevent delays.

Claim Management

RPA systems also drive innovations in health insurance. Hospitals are tasked with handling claims that involve complex procedures, in-depth knowledge about insurance plans, and data entry. Leaving these activities to a human will inevitably lead to burnout and mistakes.

Using RPA for healthcare allows clinicians to automate claim management and reduce error-induced complications. Besides this, managing insurance claims requires a deep understanding of how different plans work. A system can be programmed to know all the nuances and make the right calculations.

Workflow Management

Hospitals usually carry out numerous processes, including data entry and processing, scheduling, payroll, claims, patient care, and much more. Someone needs to organize the processes and create an efficient and consistent workflow. Traditionally, nursing staff is in charge of a lot of planning, but they also deal with patients and visitors. Juggling these duties creates a challenging work environment and leads to frustrations and even resignations.

Implementing an RPA in healthcare allows nurses to focus on their patients, thus providing them with better care. An automation system can evaluate the current workflow and streamline internal processes to enhance efficiency. On top of that, an efficient workplace usually translates to cost savings, which can be allocated to salaries, better equipment, and other vital expenses.

Post-discharge Care

An important example of how robotic process automation tools can improve the healthcare system is post-treatment services. After hospital discharge, patients often need to follow a treatment plan on their own. Whether this includes medication, exercise, diet, or other aspects, patients are expected to self-monitor their health. However, in reality, people sometimes become busy, overwhelmed, or confused, and fail to adhere to the treatment plan.

Using robotic process automation in healthcare, your patients can receive regular alerts to remind them to follow their treatment. The system will also notify the patient to make a new appointment and measure their health data. Not only does this ensure that people take their medication upon discharge, but also facilitates at-home recovery.

Health Data Exchange

Nowadays, health records can be transferred between various sources and in different formats. Coming from third-party platforms, insurance firms, and databases, the information needs to be standardized, processed, and stored. All of these actions require time and energy that eats away at the resources that should be devoted to patient care.

Adopting RPA in healthcare allows hospitals to create a unified source of information. On top of that, such systems provide permission controls that allow medical staff to keep sensitive data protected. As a result, you can have a single source of patient data that can be swiftly shared across the organization while being protected from unauthorized personnel through access management.

Asset Monitoring

Another item on the list of examples of business process automation is asset management. A survey from MGM Solutions shows that nurses spend about 6,000 hours per month searching for missing equipment. Not only does this waste valuable time that can be dedicated to medical care, it also poses a significant threat to patients’ health. When an emergency occurs, every second counts, and wasting hours on locating equipment can lead to devastating consequences.

Asset monitoring is another application of RPA in healthcare as it offers efficient and error-free inventory management. In combination with IoT sensors, RPA systems enable easy asset location, timely inventory restocking, and equipment condition monitoring.

Data-driven Diagnostics

Diagnostics is a complex process that requires accurate health data, proper equipment, and doctors’ expertise. Through years of practicing medicine, hospitals generate vast amounts of data that can be applied to improve their diagnostic capabilities. Collecting and analyzing this information can be extremely useful in automating patient incoming data and deriving insights from their medical history. A seasoned data science team can help you in structuring and analyzing data to unlock valuable findings.

One of the most prominent examples of RPA in healthcare is telemedicine solutions. These can perform patient check-in and initial screening and even aid in the diagnostics process.

Conclusion

Robotic process automation is a technology that can optimize and accelerate numerous procedures and allow medical workers to devote more time to their patients. If you think your organization can also benefit from this solution, get in touch with NIX professionals. We deliver patient-oriented software for all types of medical institutions, including hospitals, private practices, clinics, laboratories, and more. Our years-long expertise and acute understanding of the industry specifics make us a reliable and knowledgeable partner. Reach out to our experts to discuss your idea and begin your journey through digital transformation.

FAQ

How Much Does Robotic Process Automation Cost?

The cost of a single bot depends on its complexity, configuration requirements, maintenance needs, and vendor pricing. You may pay somewhere between $5,000 to $15,000 per unit. However, a hospital might require more than one bot to automate internal processes. On average, one bot can replace two employees. Depending on the size of your organization, you might end up spending a significant amount of money. At the same time, RPA for healthcare will deliver considerable cost savings in the long run.

How Do You Calculate the ROI for an RPA Solution?

ROI is calculated by dividing the investment’s net benefits by its costs. When calculating ROI, you should consider how many processes will be automated and how many resources are required to complete the automation. Aside from that, take into account the time spent on task completion and the cost of deployment.

How Does RPA Integrate With Existing Healthcare Information Systems?

The optimal way of integrating RPA into an existing platform is by connecting it to the database. Unlike more sophisticated solutions, RPA does not require enterprise-level changes to current IT systems. Instead of replacing the software in place, robotic process automation tools simply serve as a bridge between different systems. By teaching a bot to perform a certain action, you can swiftly benefit from process optimization. However, in case a major change is required, RPA applications can also be utilized for new functions.

Are There Any Limitations to What RPA Can Automate in the Healthcare Sector?

RPA systems are suitable for rule-based tasks and cannot perform any actions that require judgment. These tasks are more appropriate for AI and ML-based solutions. Another significant limitation is the inability to work with unstructured data. Unfortunately, most businesses deal with vast amounts of unstructured data, which poses a large obstacle in the adoption process.

How Does RPA Contribute to Better Compliance With Healthcare Regulations?

Unlike humans, RPA tools never slip up or forget a certain process. After the bot has been taught a procedure, it will repeat it in the same exact way every single time. Moreover, RPA systems keep logs to ensure transparency and accountability. You can always trace a certain action back to identify the source of a mistake. The log system also provides a single source of truth for auditing processes, thus ensuring a high level of compliance across the organization.