Business process automation for the Healthcare sector : Recent Views

Roy Aishwarjyo
4 min readMar 16, 2021
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Business process automation (BPA), also known as business automation or digital transformation is a profound concept of technology-driven automation which is used in complex business functions to achieve improved digital transformation and efficiency.

With the advancement of AI and machine learning, automation is being enabled to conduct and recognize patterns in unstructured data to cope up with the relentless environment. The proliferation of BPA in Healthcare sectors including software applications and restructured resources is used to increase service quality.

The repulsive characteristics of human-driven aspects get reduced by the major investment of BPA within Healthcare sectors. Enriched data management, PACS in radiology, billing system, improved patient experience, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) ,etc for efficient data handling play a significant role to indicate the potential of BPA. Considering the impact of BPA, clearly, it can be stated that prodigious possibilities of automation for the Healthcare sector are essential for a better outcome.

Although the context of the range of BPA is vast enough to estimate, Here are some reasons why business process automation is essential for the Healthcare sector.

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Faster and less complicated data management to enrich the performance of Electronic Health Records

The more the civilization is getting enhanced the more the medical sector is trying to put modern technologies to reduce patient’s frustration to ensure the utmost comfort. Firstly, new application programming interfaces are used to modernize the capabilities of EHRs, in addition, it is also helping practitioners to extract and handle data as fast as possible. With the faster analysis of data, physicians would be able to finish multiple tasks to process orders in the EHR using the help of predictive technologies and AI. (Josh Gluck,2018).

Using automation can also reduce the primary cost induced by the healthcare institutions as well. In particular, automation will reduce redundancy by removing repetitive tasks which would be handled by the staff and would proceed to overhead decrement. (Process,2021)

Picture archiving and communication system In Radiology and Improved Billing process using Automation

In Radiology, picture archiving and communication systems are used for faster performance. For example, in crucial operations like worklist optimization and hanging protocols, AI is being used. The approach will specifically upgrade the workflow and productivity in the area of radiology. Which translates to a constitutional strength for the healthcare organizations.

On the other hand, To generate payments more quickly for organizations, AI deployments can be used a lot more specifically in revenue cycle applications. Already researchers are trying to automate decision making for example pre-authorizations. In that case, machine learning plays a vital role. As a result, patients and their families would be able to have the bills in time, and in a critical situation where high-deductible health plans with higher patient payments are included, a smarter billing process will make it easier to work on (Josh Gluck,2018).

Adjusting and adaptive staffing for a well-ordered patient experience in the emergency room

To create a better environment for the patients, machine learning is used to estimate and provide fluctuating emergency department patient volumes, which will also decrease the waiting time in ambulatory services. Interpretation of maximum data advantage through multiple sources will result in a better understanding of handling an influx of patients for the upcoming diseases and be prepared for that as well (Josh Gluck,2018).

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) for clinical data extraction and to transfer extracted data more efficiently

With the help of RPA, the healthcare industry also used several use cases that involved data transfer and clinical documentation. RPA tools could be used to extract clinical documents and patient data and provide them to the staff in their needs, which will enable self-service terminals so that the customers can use them for their facilities. RPA tools also help to improve the Processing of Healthcare Credentials and Payroll. (Niccolo Mejia, 2019)

Revenue cycle management that benefits from AI specifically claims combat

Along with tremendous possibilities of white-collar automation use cases, Revenue cycle management plays a significant role in the sector of midsize hospitals. In this process, CognitiveScale’s AI solution takes sampling and compares them with successful and unsuccessful claims. Upon response to the resulting pattern, determining the chances of a claim being denied would be more specific. However a proper assessment of Revenue cycle management needs to be consistent and the coordination between the staff and the applications should be plausible enough to make changes later (Heeks, Richard, Mundy, 1999).

Consequently, automation can seamlessly integrate with a variety of backdated programs and make them much more robust, efficient and interactive systems for the benefit of both the medical professionals and the patients. While adopting the culture of continuous transformation, BPA provides a clear process mapping, accountability, valuable insights, faster turnaround times, and standardized operations. Hence to ensure the utmost customer satisfaction, BPA is essential for the healthcare sector and it needs to be identified to enable growing business efficiency. Clear understanding, defined goals, investing adequate time, and adopting a long-term outlook will make automation a success. For the future healthcare industry, BPA thus holds a significant place indeed.

References:

  1. Heeks, Richard and Mundy, David and Salazar, Angel (February 18, 1999), Why Healthcare Information Systems Succeed or Fail. Information Systems for Public Sector Management Working Paper no. 9, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3540062 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3540062
  2. Josh Gluck (2018). How Automation in Healthcare is Boosting the Bottom Line. Why Automation in Healthcare is Improving Patient Care — HealthTech Magazine
  3. Niccolo Mejia (2019)Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in Healthcare — Current Use-Cases .Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in Healthcare — Current Use-Cases | Emerj

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Roy Aishwarjyo

A Computer Science and Engineering student. Interested in Computer Science, business analytics, project management, research and editing.