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Hospital Automation – Eleven Processes You Need to Automate

by Andres Felipe Valencia - October 16, 2024

Automation is a word that nowadays is getting more and more recognition, not only in the banking industry, but even on healthcare processes and facilities, where you wouldn’t have thought to hear those two words in a sentence 10 years ago unless it was a fiction movie, but with hospital automation the future is here, today.

Health systems are embracing the future of healthcare through automation, from Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to Artificial Intelligence (AI) enhancements, this industry is constantly challenged with trying to provide better care at a lower cost. To achieve this, the data needs to be accurate and collected in an efficient, secure and economical manner.

Challenges Faced in Healthcare Facilities

Completing daily task can be compared to a juggling act: from calling patients to remind them about their appointments to manage your reputation (and everything that comes in the middle), makes it look that 24 hours are not even enough to achieve all. It is important to be mindful but also ensuring that your practice processes are correct, without sacrificing patient experience level.

Medical professionals can be very easily caught up on answering a lot of calls or even organizing patient’s paperwork to provide the attention needed when they come to their offices, which can lead to a practice that feels less personal, attentive or even unfriendly.

Building patient loyalty depends highly on their satisfaction, which requires time to nurture patient relationships, but time is not something that can be found below a rock. So, what can you do to assist your medical professionals in this regard?

Hospital Automation- Top Eleven Examples

From improving patient outcomes to streamlining manual tasks, healthcare automation helps hospitals automate day-to-day operations while leading them to achieve high safety and compliance ratings. Here are eleven examples of how you can enable hospital automation:

Admission Processes
During a patient admission, the back-office workflow process often has to go from one desk to another, which translates in longer wait time for patients. Automating admission processes can save time, improve patient experience and enhance effective operational procedures.
Read Full Story of Automation of Patient Intake Fax Data into eClinicalWorks.
Appointment Reminders
Instead of having a doctor or a nurse to call every patient that has an appointment, an appointment reminder software service can automatically remind the patients of their upcoming appointments, and even allow to customize the message and delivery time based on patient’s preference or legal normativity.
Automated Bed Occupancy Alerts
When this process is automated, the data sharing capability means that everyone that needs visibility has it instantly, patients will get allocated in a bed in a timely manner allowing medical staff to treat patients as soon as possible, enhancing patient experience.
Transfers to Other Hospitals
Patients who need to be transferred may end up experiencing delays due to lack of a reliable workflow system between hospitals. For inter-hospital and care referrals and transfers, hospitals can resolve this by using process automation software (g.e. Salesforce) to automate their transfer processes and collaborate with each other.
Missed Appointment Notifications
Even if a reminder is sent to a patient, there can always be a chance of a patient having a reason to not show up to an appointment (maybe an emergency or something more important required their attention). Something that can be used is a system that can send a notification indicating the missed appointment with an invitation to reschedule it using a platform that has a convenient online scheduling tool. This increases patient satisfaction and removes the headache of manually creating the appointment from the medical professionals.
Medical Documentation
Taking and keeping patients’ medical records can be a burden both for patients and medical professionals. Automating this process improves patient care management due to its accessibility, quality, improved accuracy, adaptability, less storage costs, and faster retrieval.
Patient Waiting List
An automated system where waiting lists on healthcare systems are updated constantly could possibly start automated workflows that allow the patient to be informed of their next appointment, while patient data is updated via automated healthcare solutions.
Patient Surveys
Gathering patient feedback is critical for maintaining a patient-centered practice. This is something that can be automated, so the medical professionals don’t have to worry about manually sending surveys or filling up forms at the final minutes of the appointment. This kind of tasks are the ones that might be overlooked, but it’s one of the most important things that can let you know if you are moving in the right direction.
Medication Supply
Hospitals should have their medication easily available, however that is not usually the case for some patients. By automating inventory, storage and supply of medication, shortages and errors can be minimized, while also improving patient experience. Managing the inventory process manually can lead to inefficient operation and unproductive utilization of resources and time.
Targeted Care Campaigns
Patient education is key for maintaining and obtaining healthy outcomes, however, sending the right information to the right patient can be a tedious process by matching all the data. By automating this process, you will not only free up valuable time to the medical professionals, but also the patients will receive health-specific information that is important for their individual health goals.
Automated Revenue Cycle Management
There are tons of man-hours being used on sending multiple statements that may not even conclude in a payment. By implementing an automated revenue management tool, you can completely eliminate this issue and help you streamline the process, while also improving the collected revenue.

What are the Key Benefits of Healthcare Automation?

Enhanced Efficiency and Productivity
By reducing the time required for healthcare processes, such as data entry or patient scheduling. This leads to an increase in efficiency that allows healthcare staff to focus more on patient care instead of the time-consuming administrative tasks.
Read How Automation of Self Paid Claims Process Led to 1.5x Overall Productivity.
Enhanced Patient Experience
By streamlining patient-related processes like scheduling, reminders and follow-ups, this leads to a more efficient patient experience. This translates into a faster processing of patient data, which can enable a quicker diagnosis and possibly a faster treatment.
Improved Accuracy and Compliance
By having access to better accuracy in data handling and information storage. Since automated systems are less prone to errors compared to manual processes, which can be crucial in this industry, where mistakes can have terrible consequences. Additionally, automation helps to maintain compliance with healthcare regulations and standards. Automation in Healthcare Streamlines Pharmacy Operations, Reduces 30% Backlog in Just One Week!
Data-Driven Decision Making
By collecting and analyzing large amounts of data, this gives healthcare providers valuable insights that can be used to improve patient care, optimize allocation of resources and make informed decisions regarding treatment plans and healthcare policies.
Cost Reduction
By automating repetitive and time-consuming tasks, this reduces the labor costs and operational expenses. Automation will also minimize the cost associated to errors and inefficiencies, such as duplicated work or claims processing.
Scalability and Flexibility
By automating processes, they can easily scale up or down based on the needs of the facilities. This flexibility ensures that healthcare providers can adapt efficiently to changing demands, regardless of an influx of patients or the need of integrating new technologies and treatment methods.

How to Select the Correct Automation Software?

Based on the information discussed previously, it is important to note that there are solutions that are more oriented to Robotic Process Automation (RPA), others that follow a “Workflow” pattern, and others that might require Artificial Intelligence (AI) to achieve the best results. However, those tools are great in their own specialties. Think of it as if you have a hammer, but not every problem in the world is actually a nail. I suggest you keep in mind the following:

Integration Capabilities: Ensure that the software can integrate seamlessly with your existing systems and tools.
User Experience: The software should be user-friendly and intuitive, with a clean interface that allows users to easily navigate and complete tasks.
Scalability: Choose a solution that can scale your business as it grows, accommodating increased invoice volumes without sacrificing performance.
Vendor Support: Consider the level of support provided by the software vendor, including training, implementation assistance, and ongoing technical support.
Cost: Evaluate the total cost of ownership, including upfront costs, licensing fees, and ongoing maintenance costs. Compare this with the expected ROI from automating your processes.
Security and Compliance: Ensure that the software meets your organization’s security standards and complies with relevant regulatory requirements.

Resolve Healthcare Challenges and Deliver Quality Care

If you need effectiveness, efficiency and enhanced customer satisfaction, you should consider the benefits of hospital automation. The goal of medical professionals is ultimately to enhance patient experience rather than performing administrative and repetitive tasks, which can be prone to errors. Automation will reduce the time spent on these activities while staying withing the budget.

For patients, automation means that they will be getting the proper care and treatment, which also improves patient participation. When they are more involved in their treatment, they will be more likely to adhere and come back for follow-up appointments.

Automation is becoming increasingly common in healthcare. However, a common myth is that hospital automation will lead to reduced staff. Since healthcare relies heavily on human interaction and expertise, it’s important to address this concern and reassure medical professionals that their skills and knowledge will remain essential, helping to dispel the “fear of being replaced.”

About Andres Felipe Valencia

I'm a Senior Business Analyst for RPA projects with a major as a Process Engineer, however, my interest in technology and how it impacts today's world switched my passion from chemistry, allowing me to transform the world little by little by participating worldwide in projects from multiple industries, from banking to mortgage and even healthcare, being the bridge that facilitates communication across the teams while keeping the focus on the desired results. Outside of work, I like to exercise, play videogames, play piano and travel across different villages of Colombia.