RPA in healthcare: use cases, benefits, and challenges

RPA in healthcare: use cases, benefits, and challenges

March 3, 2023

by Yanis Budreyka, RPA Business Analyst

The healthcare industry is grappling with high costs, growing volumes of data, tight regulations, and increasing patient expectations. Implementing robotic process automation tools can help healthcare providers cope with these challenges, decrease the load of back-office tasks, and significantly improve operational efficiency.

Robotic process automation in healthcare involves using software robots or bots to automate repetitive manual tasks and manage patient data. RPA bots emulate human interactions with the disparate digital systems of a hospital and help the staff accelerate various routine processes.

Table of contents

RPA in healthcare market statistics

of all healthcare provider tasks can be automated

McKinsey

of US healthcare providers will invest in RPA in the next three years

Gartner

RPA in healthcare market CAGR from 2022 to 2030

Precedence Research

Chart title: Robotic process automation in the healthcare market size, 2021 to 2030

Data source: Precedence Research

11 RPA use cases in healthcare

Appointment scheduling

Appointment scheduling is a tedious and error-prone activity when done on a bigger scale. Even with online booking instead of call-based scheduling, the process still calls for human supervision.

RPA can facilitate appointment scheduling by automating the majority of associated tasks. Based on the request, doctors’ availability, and clinic location, the bot can offer the patient time slots with the relevant doctor, estimate appointment duration, remove the appointment slot in case of cancellation, and notify both the patient and the doctor.

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Real-life examples of RPA in healthcare

Max Healthcare

Max Healthcare, the largest hospital chain in North India, has implemented RPA to streamline claims administration across all units. A robot designed by UiPath now captures customer information from emails and PDF files and inputs this data in CSV format. The bot can also log into government healthcare scheme portals, capture patient transaction records, and verify their statuses. Upon successful data validation, the robot automatically informs relevant departments via email. As a result, the healthcare provider has saved 65-75% of time spent on government healthcare scheme processing and decreased the turnaround time by 50%.

Popular RPA platforms for healthcare

Appian RPA is a low-code platform designed to build and configure bots for task automation in the cloud environment.

Key features
Clinical care operations
  • Clinical trial management
  • Patient journey management
  • Care coordination
Clinical personnel management
  • Clinician onboarding
  • Credentialing management
  • Medical student clinical rotation tracking
Healthcare regulations compliance
  • Complaints processing
  • Contract management
  • Fraud and waste investigation
Provider, network, and member services
  • Member enrollment, onboarding, and maintenance
  • Provider onboarding and configuration
Clinician onboarding home page

Image title: Clinician onboarding home page

Data source: appian.com — Clinician Onboarding & Credentialing Management

Implementation tips for RPA in healthcare

Examine the workflows beforehand

Since RPA developers are usually unfamiliar with the tasks healthcare workers perform, they can come up with unsuitable automation options. Therefore, healthcare providers should study their workflows through interviewing employees and observing their work to evaluate the time spent on common tasks, measure their impact on care costs, and prioritize critical processes for RPA.

Choose only suitable tasks for automation

Some operations are more suitable for robotic process automation than others. For a successful RPA implementation, healthcare providers should team up with RPA developers to identify processes that can not only improve care delivery but also be sustainably automated from a technical point of view.

Automate in iterations

Healthcare providers should focus on two or three critical processes instead of building an entire hospital-wide solution. After deployment, even the most thoughtfully elaborated RPA program will have room for improvement, and using feedback from the workers who use the RPA solution, IT teams can make its data-driven choice optimization. Moreover, implementing RPA in phases will prevent disruptions in a clinic’s workflow and negative impact on patients.

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RPA in healthcare implementation costs

Although RPA can be used in various healthcare organizations, it is not a turnkey solution and requires preliminary analysis, bot development, and infrastructure setup aligned with a particular hospital’s needs. Therefore, the cost of an RPA solution depends on the selected RPA platform and the number of bots you implement. Generally, the cost of a single bot varies between $5,000 and $15,000. RPA platform license fees comprise 25-30% of the total RPA expenses, while the remaining 70-75% account for other deployment factors. In the end, the total cost of an RPA implementation in healthcare can range from $5,000 to $300,000.

RPA cost factors
Platform license fee
The number and complexity of RPA bots
The number of automated processes
Third-party integrations
Staff training
Maintenance and support
Scaling up

10 benefits of RPA in healthcare

Lower administrative costs

By automating repetitive time-consuming tasks and handling large amounts of data, RPA can partially replace administrative employees.

Enhanced data security

RPA bots handle sensitive information without human involvement, reducing data exposure and vulnerability.

Faster processes

RPA completes mundane tasks several times faster than humans, creating a virtual workforce operating nonstop.

Data accuracy

RPA solutions reduce human error caused by manual data entry and ensure data consistency in all the organization’s systems.

Increased productivity

By automating manual tasks, RPA frees up employees’ time for complex problems requiring human judgment and helps maximize staff capacity.

Better compliance

Data processed by RPA bots can be easily tracked and audited, which ensures data consistency and decreases the number of compliance issues.

Improved patient experience

Relieved of routine workload, healthcare staff can devote more time to patients and address their needs with more attention.

Burnout prevention

By minimizing data-handling tasks, RPA helps increase employee satisfaction, preventing the staff from experiencing exhaustion and quitting.

Improved clinical outcomes

With data accuracy ensured by RPA, physicians can choose optimal treatments with fewer health risks for patients.

Scalability

Flexible and easily scaled up, RPA bots can quickly adapt to the ever-changing healthcare market.

4 challenges of RPA in healthcare

Challenge

Solution

Wrong RPA use case

Challenge

A clinic can select the wrong business case and suggest an unsuitable process for RPA development that is unlikely to bring positive operational results and expected ROI in the future.

Challenge

Solution

RPA is not a universal remedy for all healthcare providers as their needs vary significantly. Before implementing RPA, it is vital to correctly identify the organization-specific use cases and processes for automation. This way, you can select the best-fitting RPA functionality and implementation plan.
Siloed legacy systems

Challenge

Healthcare organizations often have data silos in their legacy systems, which can hamper data extraction and task execution for RPA.

Challenge

Solution

Before implementing RPA, healthcare organizations should review their disparate clinical data repositories and make sure data is available for RPA bots. Another important step is establishing a data governance policy for safe collection and storage of sensitive patient data.

Staff resistance

Challenge

Fearing RPA will take their jobs, healthcare employees can resist the technology.

Challenge

Solution

Organization’s management should impress upon the employees that RPA is there to augment but not to replace the staff. Proper training can also foster a better understanding of the technology, new skills acquisition, and efficient RPA use.
Post-deployment issues

Challenge

If an automated process is changed, for example, in line with new regulations, the RPA bot starts working inadequately.

Challenge

Solution

Healthcare providers should assign a responsible person to be the owner of the RPA solution and perform maintenance tasks, such as monitoring bot operation, making adjustments, running endurance testing, and more.
Streamline your healthcare operations with RPA

Streamline your healthcare operations with RPA

RPA is used in healthcare to streamline a plethora of administrative tasks and optimize care delivery. Comparatively easy to implement and providing quick returns, RPA solutions complement the clinic workforce, freeing employees for more intellectually intensive tasks. With RPA, your healthcare organization will be able to focus on delivering more personalized care to patients while maintaining efficient business operation. You can contact Itransition to get implementation advice or start a project for your hospital.

Streamline your healthcare operations with RPA

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FAQs about RPA in healthcare

Can RPA bots disrupt the current workflows at my clinic?

How quickly can an RPA solution pay off?

What are the downsides of RPA for the healthcare industry?

Can my employees create RPA bots themselves?

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