Healthcare Automation Benefits

Automation can help healthcare organizations run more efficiently, improve employee productivity and boost patient satisfaction. But does automation replace human care?

Despite popular beliefs, automating processes does not mean that employees lose their jobs. Instead, it frees up team members to focus on more therapeutically important duties.

During Gary’s stay on the COVID-19 ward, the staff saved time by using a CC&C system to send his CT scan results instantly. That speedy process helped clinicians diagnose him quickly and prevent complications from worsening his condition.

Increased Efficiency

Healthcare automation is a critical tool for the industry, as it helps staff complete tasks that otherwise require human intervention. It also reduces the workload for employees, reducing stress and allowing them to focus on patient care.

With the increase in patients, staffing shortages, and COVID-19 issues, automation is more important than ever before. In fact, a recent Mayo Clinic Proceedings study found that 13.6% of nurses and 6.8% of administrative staff plan to reduce work hours or resign in the next two years due to high workloads.

By automating repetitive tasks, healthcare organizations can reduce their costs and improve efficiency. In addition, automation helps providers maintain quality and accuracy in data-driven decisions. These benefits result in lower costs and higher customer satisfaction.

More Accurate Diagnosis

More accurate diagnosis means that patients receive the right treatment. This can lead to less complication, better health outcomes and lower risk of medical malpractice lawsuits.

The Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine estimates that more than 12 million American adults receive an incorrect diagnosis each year. These errors happen when doctors make mistakes such as misplaced samples, missing test results or analyzing data incorrectly.

To explore whether combining multiple physician and medical student diagnoses (or a “collective intelligence” approach) could increase diagnostic accuracy, researchers analyzed data from the Human Diagnosis Project, an online community that allows physicians and medical students to solve user-submitted cases. They found that combining independent differential diagnoses into a weighted list significantly outperformed individual diagnoses across a range of clinical cases and common presenting symptoms, with accuracy increasing with group size.

Reduced Risk of Errors

The human element is always needed in healthcare, but automating a number of tasks can help reduce errors. This enables staff members to focus on more important tasks, such as patient care.

Moreover, the reduced risk of errors can also save the organization money by cutting back on overtime and employee payouts due to medical errors. It also reduces stress, which can cause burnout in the staff and erode their morale.

Healthcare automation enables providers to access critical data and information in real time. This translates to less time spent waiting for test results and treatment plans, ensuring that patients get the care they need as quickly as possible.

Automated workflows can also support case management and patient engagement. This enables a safe journey for patients as they move through the healthcare system, from primary to secondary care and into community care.

More Time for Patients

Healthcare automation gives back time to front-line staff so they can spend more time with patients. This allows healthcare workers to give more personal attention and build better relationships with their patients.

Automated processes can also improve the patient experience, which in turn boosts patient satisfaction and retention. Satisfied patients provide great feedback and recommend your facility to others.

One of the biggest benefits of healthcare automation is that it allows patients to be more self-sufficient in their treatment. Whether it’s accessing and updating their medical history, reminding them of medication or sharing their test results with their providers, AI-driven solutions make this much easier for patients.

Another benefit of automated processes is that they can help healthcare teams respond to emergencies more quickly. For example, with the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, healthcare managers are leveraging robotic process automation to streamline the testing and diagnosis process.