The Benefits of Automation in Healthcare

You may have an idea of what automation is and how it works in various industries, but simply put, automation refers to when you apply technology to minimize human input. In fact, many aspects of our daily lives have been improved greatly through automation—from transportation to agriculture to manufacturing. As a result, we have more cost-effective use of materials, better production quality, improved safety, reduced factory lead times and other various benefits.

With all that in mind, it’s no surprise that the healthcare industry, which deals with human life on so many levels, is taking advantage of the proven benefits of automation to streamline processes and proactively help people as much as possible. Keep reading to learn what you stand to gain by embracing automation as a provider as well as what automated healthcare means for you as a patient.

Data Generation, Business Intelligence and Machine Learning

Today’s healthcare organizations utilize technology-enabled solutions for clinical documentation, patient engagement as well as interoperable billing, all of which generate significant amounts of important data. In fact, according to recent estimates, a single patient generates 80 megabytes of data each year, with a projected 36% growth rate by 2025. As a provider, you can analyze that data with the help of powerful business intelligence tools and gather actionable insights that can help transform your organization’s measurable growth initiatives.

A great example is adaptive staffing, a term used to describe a new industry trend that uses machine learning (ML) to adjust the workforce and help compensate for fluctuating visit counts (an extremely familiar concept as of the beginning of COVID in 2020). Already, this approach has shown merits in helping emergency departments anticipate patient volumes as well as reduce wait times – and it holds promise for other areas in healthcare too! In particular, if you run an acute care clinic, adaptive staffing may let you know how many employees you should have accessible in order to be prepared for the influx of appointments during flu season.

What’s more, with every insight gleaned from data, you are better equipped with an ongoing feedback loop of automated business analytics that keep collecting and processing information that in turn, empower your system to continue improving upon itself. This means your staff can become even more accurate, efficient and actively available to spend quality time delivering excellent patient care

That being said, in order for analytics tools to deliver maximum value, they must be straightforward and user-friendly. That’s why, we focus on providing an easy-to-use business intelligence platform that is built to help you unlock the power of your data. For example, you can set parameters around financial reimbursements, map out geospatial data with location intelligence features and automatically monitor your net promoter score, among other benefits such as:

  • Configurable engagement settings
  • Compliance alerts
  • Marketing and survey tools
  • Real-time communication tracking 

Improving Quality and Consistency In Patient Care

Humans are subject to error and fatigue, which often reflects inconsistencies in clinical activities or unwanted administrative mistakes. High-level automation tools can allow your practice to improve and maintain consistent quality of care, optimize patient management as well as provide more accurate diagnostics. As one hospital study revealed, automation of medical records in addition to support for decision-making, appeared to reduce complications, deaths and hospital costs. 

Furthermore, automation makes storage and retrieval of information a straightforward, seamless process and aids your practice in streamlining data entry, patient indexing and medical history access. The benefits are clear – by automating tasks such as patient monitoring, appointment reminders or billing workflows, providers are able to focus on boosting engagement and patients are encouraged to foster collaborative relationships.

Delivering Quality Care To More People

Saving time by optimizing operational efficiencies is part of the value for any automated system and it all begins with eliminating repetitive tasks that take countless hours of manual labor. Whether it be internal task triggers, automated workflows, interactive reporting or simplified interoffice communication, when your team spends less time on paperwork and data entry, you can have more time to focus on personalizing patient experiences.

Here at Raintree Systems, we’re committed to humanizing healthcare through our industry-unique Software-as-a-Relationship approach and strive to not only improve profitability, but also maintain compliance as well as enhance the daily lives of your practice’s therapists and staff. Our flexible, powerful technology-enabled solutions allow you to customize clinical documentation and use data diligently to improve resource utilization, so that you can focus on the things that matter most—like delivering unparalleled care or building stronger bonds with patients, payors and referrals.

Table of Contents

Rehab Therapy Insights in Your Inbox

Consent(Required)
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Get Rehab Therapy Insights in Your Inbox

Consent(Required)
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Blogs are created for educational and informational purposes only.  The information provided does not constitute or, is not intended to constitute, legal or medical advice. When you read this information, visit our website, or access our materials, you are not forming an attorney-client, provider-patient, or other relationship with us.

A simple mockup of an eBook titled: The Impact of Customer Experience on Practice Revenue."

Wait! Want to boost your revenue and patient satisfaction?

Don’t leave without this free guide for PT, OT, SLP and multi-disciplinary therapy.

Name(Required)
Please enter a valid phone number. Do not include - or ().
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.