Anyone who touches the healthcare industry also touches the burdensome administration and management issues that erode the resources that could be applied to patient care. Patients struggle with confusing forms and tasks, while approximately 40% of healthcare workers spend at least a quarter of their workweek on repetitive tasks. Thankfully, the industry is embracing intelligent automation (IA) as a solution to streamline operations and improve patient experiences.
Freeing Administrative Resources
Administrative tasks essential for healthcare operations often involve repetitive processes that consume valuable time. However, workflows are being optimized with intelligent automation, which leverages AI-powered software and machine learning. For instance, automated patient scheduling systems minimize missed appointments while significantly enhancing efficiency. According to Deloitte, automation can save schedulers between 38% and 47% of their time, approximately 700 to 870 hours annually.
AI-powered chatbots with advanced natural language processing capabilities further reduce administrative burden by handling common health queries, appointment scheduling, and medication reminders around the clock. This automation frees healthcare professionals to spend more time on critical care and meaningful patient interactions.
Streamlining Medical Claims Processing and Reducing Errors
Traditional claims processing, long a burden of the industry, involves labor-intensive tasks such as verifying patient eligibility, submitting claims, and following up with insurers. Manual handling of these processes frequently leads to errors and delays. Studies show that 17% of claims were denied even when patients used in-network physicians, with some insurers experiencing denial rates of up to 80%.
Intelligent automation transforms these processes by instantly verifying patient eligibility, retrieving current coverage information, and accurately completing claim forms. Real-time tracking systems keep healthcare workers informed about necessary actions and automatically follow up with insurers. Intelligent Automation can also predict denial risks by analyzing historical data, allowing providers to address potential issues before submission.
Automating Text Transcription to Enhance Documentation
Automated transcription of patient-doctor conversations converts spoken dialogue into written text, resulting in faster and more accurate documentation. This reduces, if not eliminates, the need for manual corrections.
Today, software tools automate the transcription of patient-doctor interactions, summarize conversations, and update electronic health records in real time. The tools integrate with AI-powered assistants and clinical decision support systems to facilitate immediate access to patient information and provide evidence-based recommendations.
The implementation of these solutions resulted in a 50% reduction in healthcare documentation time (approximately 7 minutes per patient encounter), improved productivity among healthcare workers, reduced burnout by 70%, and enhanced documentation accuracy, with 75% of physicians reporting higher-quality clinical records.
Advancing Text Extraction Capabilities
Managing large volumes of documents presents another challenge in healthcare. While extracting data from typed documents has become straightforward with Optical Character Recognition (OCR), recognizing handwriting remains challenging due to variations in fonts, messy handwriting, misaligned text, and poor document quality.
However, advances in picture-to-text technology overcome this challenge with sophisticated handwriting recognition capabilities that leverage machine learning, deep learning, and computer vision technologies, achieving accuracy rates up to 85% for handwritten text. These systems excel particularly with printed documents, extracting data with an accuracy of 95% or higher. Today’s modern solutions incorporate robust verification models that automatically identify anomalies and cross-check information against existing databases, enhancing overall reliability. Perhaps most importantly, these technologies implement intelligent warning systems that flag fields with lower confidence scores for human review, creating an efficient hybrid approach that combines technological efficiency with human oversight where needed.
Mobile Applications Enhance Healthcare Delivery
Mobile applications are playing an increasingly important role in healthcare automation, transforming how patients and providers interact with medical systems. Patient-facing apps now enable users to schedule appointments with healthcare professionals and clinics without making phone calls or filling out paperwork. They further streamline the experience by tracking medical expenses and making payments directly through secure platforms, and can access lab results and radiology reports as soon as they become available.
Automation efficiencies empower providers as well. Mobile applications allow healthcare practitioners to streamline their workflows by tracking fees and payments across multiple patients and insurance providers, filing electronic certification letters instantly to relevant authorities, and monitoring patients’ test results and diagnoses in real-time. They can also collaborate with other caregivers, regardless of location, to ensure continuity of care.
Today, mobile applications, built on centralized databases, offer improved patient experiences while ensuring the integrity of information throughout the care journey. They also alleviate administrative burdens, enabling healthcare providers to deliver more personalized care.
The Path Forward
This digital revolution in healthcare management is creating unprecedented efficiency and transparency in medical services while empowering both patients and providers with convenient access to critical information.
Healthcare organizations must continue to implement automation successfully, invest in employee training, undertake organizational restructuring, and adopt thoughtful budgeting practices. By prioritizing these elements, companies can harness automation and AI effectively to drive meaningful improvements in both operational efficiency and patient care quality.
About Pravin Twari
Pravin Twari is the Executive Vice President of FPT Software USA and leads and supports FPT employees globally to create sustainable long-term value for our customers and partners. With two decades of senior management experience with the House of Tatas and FPT Software, he has developed many technological solutions for bettering people’s lives in healthcare, media, and manufacturing.
