Using Robotic Process Automation In Healthcare: Opportunities And Obstacles

Using Robotic Process Automation In Healthcare: Opportunities And Obstacles Howard Rosen, Forbes Councils Member

Founder LifeWIRE Corp | CEO Nova Insights | Digital Health Exec | Strategic Advisor | Fellow, HITLAB (Columbia University) | Inventor.

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In my continuing exploration of emerging artificial intelligence technologies, I wanted to take a deeper dive into the unseen cousin of AI chat tools, robotic process automation. RPA technology uses software to automate repetitive and rule-based tasks that involve data manipulation and integration across different systems. It can help healthcare organizations improve efficiency, reduce costs, enhance quality and compliance, and ultimately improve patient outcomes and satisfaction.

As I discussed in a previous Forbes article, RPA can also be combined with artificial intelligence to create intelligent automation solutions that can handle more complex and unstructured data sets, such as natural language processing and optical character recognition. Collectively, this can enable healthcare organizations to leverage cognitive capabilities such as machine learning, computer vision and natural language generation to further enhance their automation potential.

Opportunities Of RPA In Healthcare

RPA has the potential to offer various benefits for healthcare providers, payers and patients, such as:

• Streamlined administrative processes: RPA can automate tasks such as patient scheduling, billing, claims processing, reporting and data entry, which can help reduce errors, save time and free up staff for more value-added activities. For example, RPA can enable patients to schedule their appointments online without human intervention and send automated reminders to reduce no-shows.

• Improved clinical documentation: RPA can assist clinicians with documenting patient encounters, diagnoses, treatments and outcomes by capturing data from electronic health records, voice recognition systems and other sources. It can also be used to help with coding and billing by applying appropriate codes and modifiers based on clinical documentation. This can help improve accuracy, compliance and revenue cycle management.

• Enhanced patient care: Key to it all is the value to the ultimate customer, the patient. RPA can support patient care by facilitating the coordination of treatment, case management and remote patient monitoring. It can help with tracking patient progress, sending alerts and notifications, providing personalized recommendations and enabling communication between patients and providers. In addition, it can analyze data from various sources and identify high-risk patients who need proactive interventions.

As providers have started to use RPA tools, I've observed examples of outcomes posted by companies that provide RPA in healthcare, such as IBM, New Dawn Robotics and Telus International.

Challenges Of RPA In Healthcare

Despite the potential benefits of RPA, there are challenges that also need to be considered before implementing the technology in healthcare settings. Some are likely familiar, as they're possible issues I have previously noted with emerging AI tools, but it is important to always keep these guardrails in mind. These challenges include:

• Data security and privacy: Healthcare data is highly sensitive and regulated by various laws and standards, such as HIPAA and GDPR. RPA solutions need to ensure data is encrypted, anonymized, stored securely and that access is restricted to authorized users only. RPA solutions also need to comply with audit trails and reporting requirements to demonstrate accountability and transparency.

• Integration and interoperability: Healthcare systems are often complex and fragmented and involve multiple applications and platforms that might not be compatible or standardized. RPA solutions need to be able to integrate with existing systems and processes seamlessly without disrupting workflows or compromising data quality. RPA solutions also need to be able to handle different formats and sources of data, such as structured and unstructured data.

• Digital transformation and governance: Implementing RPA solutions in healthcare requires a cultural shift and a clear vision of the desired outcomes. Healthcare organizations need to involve stakeholders from different levels and functions in the planning, design, testing, deployment and monitoring of RPA solutions. Healthcare organizations also need to establish clear roles and responsibilities for managing RPA solutions, such as defining ownership, maintenance, updates, performance evaluation and risk mitigation.

Although somewhat early days for these emerging technologies, there are some lessons learned from implementations to date. Organizations must understand the following.

• Using RPA is about more than simply investing in the technology; it's about business transformation as well.

• Build the competencies gradually, and remember that this is a change like anything else; it needs to be facilitated and managed.

• Start small with a pilot process to understand the scope of the internal process, areas of friction and, equally as important, the potential for your organization to use RPA.

• Engage and empower all the key stakeholders affected by the transition early in the process.

• Engage your legal team early to understand potential regulatory roadblocks, if any.

RPA is an emerging technology that can transform healthcare operations and outcomes by automating tedious and error-prone tasks. However, it also poses some challenges that need to be carefully considered before adopting RPA solutions in healthcare settings. Healthcare organizations need to assess their current processes and needs, evaluate the feasibility and suitability of RPA solutions for their specific use cases and implement best practices for ensuring data security, integration, change management and governance.

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