How Intelligent Automation can prove resourceful for the healthcare sector

Intelligence Automation (IA) is the portmanteau of artificial intelligence and automation. By leveraging this, organizations can arrive at unparalleled levels of efficiency, excellence, and empower rapid end-to-end automation processes. PWC claims that this technology is ushering in the fourth industrial revolution or the second machine age by disrupting and creating new business models. Initially, it was limited to the manufacturing process but now promises enormous untapped potential in the healthcare industry too. Over the last years, healthcare bodies have welcomed the digital transformation by adopting technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Cloud, and many more. This change emerged since healthcare needs skilled frontline resources, especially during the COVID 19 crisis, and Intelligence Automation can help bridge the deficiency.

For instance, leveraging advanced capability within an Intelligent Automation solution, like Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Intelligent Optical Character Recognition (iOCR), healthcare organizations are empowered with capability to eliminate the repetitive and time-consuming admin surrounding referrals, processing health claims, and logging test results. This frees employees to use their skills and provide better direct patient care, while digital workers process at machine speed and eliminate errors. An article published in CIO states that though intelligent automation began with the payers, it eventually dispersed to other sectors of healthcare, including suppliers and distributors. But the lowest level of penetration or automation investment remains with providers. A study highlighted that only 33 percent of healthcare providers are likely to invest in this field.

The main reason behind this lag is from paranoia that artificial intelligence and robots pose a threat to jobs and that they have been designed to replace inefficient people. However, on the contrary, through artificial intelligence and robots, intelligent automation can work best in conjunction with humans. This confluence helps in boosting staff satisfaction. It also augments efficiency with streamlined processes. The most common use case is the integration of multiple disparate systems, and automation of any tool or application is achieved via IA. This implies one can digitize the form fill process, before running it through AI for validation and adjudication — then make a final decision on payment. Moreover, by automating this cycle, payers can stay assured that the right treatment reaches the patient through patient segmentation, irrespective of the number of patients handled at a time. Further, it enables hospitals to consolidate and enhance their standard operating practices and create sustainable advancements in performance.

Intelligent Automation also helps in regulatory and compliance maintenance, along with process standardization, by ensuring all pivotal steps are covered while defining the rules and workflows. This allows healthcare payers to create an improved system for monitoring & auditing of the system and devise role-based access controls to protect the privacy of patient's data & its transmission across different channels. Also, through digitalization, healthcare institutions can prevent potential leakage, provide higher transparency, thus better patient outcomes, and ensure profit for the provider.