Benefits Of Automation In healthcare Industry

The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted some nations so adversely that their healthcare systems have reached the point of exhaustion. In fact, the pandemic has been an eye-opener, forcing leaders and healthcare providers to focus on the dire need for automation in the healthcare sector to lessen the burden on the industry as a whole.

Automation is the future of healthcare, without it, the whole system is bound to crumble. Today, we are going to be talking about the benefits of automation in the healthcare industry, and why we heavily rely on it nowadays. Read down below to find out all about it.

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What Benefits Does Automation Provide For Healthcare Services?

According to Deloitte, in 2021, the health tech industry is expected to hit $280 billion with a CAGR of 15.9% between 2016-2021. Curious to know how technology helps healthcare services? Let’s see.

1. Quicker data retrieval 

Data retrieval holds critical importance in the medical world. Retrieval and analysis of data allow doctors and physicians instant access to the electronic health records of patients. The different functions of data retrieval and analysis directly impact different aspects of health care including billing procedures and medical diagnosis.

Though data retrieval used to be a time-consuming task a few years back, electronic health record (EHR) machines now allow real-time data retrieval effectively, within minutes. This has not only helped make the whole data extraction process easier but has also improved patient care. 

2. Improved ordering

The manual ordering process can take a lot of time and effort. Thanks to the EHR machine, it is possible to complete orders only with a few clicks. It is expected that the efficiency of the ordering process will increase further in the coming years with the help of predictive artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies.

3. Faster billing

Billing in healthcare used to be another hectic task before the advent of smart machines. But now, healthcare institutions can quickly generate bills through AI machines. This reduces the wait time for patients, improves patient care, and increases customer satisfaction.

How Does Healthcare Automation Help Patients?

The global EHR/EMR market is expected to reach $38 billion by 2025. Automation provides countless benefits for patients. Some of them include:

1. Early disease detection

There are hundreds of benefits of early disease detection in patients. Not only does it allow doctors and physicians to get started with the treatment early, but it can also be a life-saver most of the time. Thanks to technologies like AI and machine learning, it is now possible to diagnose illnesses and diseases within days and even minutes.

Moreover, advanced technology can even detect whether a patient is affected by a particular disease even before its symptoms appear. For example, early-stage lung cancer can be detected through neural networks. The earlier the disease is detected, the quicker it can get treated, and catching cancer at its first stage can significantly increase a patient's survival rate as compared to diagnosing in its last stages.

2. Precision and speed in medical diagnosis

Time is a critical aspect when it comes to healthcare. If a disease is not diagnosed on time, there are more chances that it becomes fatal quickly. However, a speedy diagnosis can save a patient's life. At times, medical practitioners can make serious mistakes and blunders trying to diagnose a patient’s illness. On the other hand, the chances of errors are dramatically reduced with automated systems in healthcare.

Other than this, through healthcare automation solutions, it is also possible to detect patient deviation from prescribed health plans, allowing doctors to take care of the situation in real time. Also, automation has helped make it easier and more convenient for patients to buy drugs from automated dispensing machines in hospitals, rather than having to wait in long queues.

4. Improved patient management and participation

Telehealth and telemedicine mobile apps have made it much easier for patients to get quality healthcare and medical attention on time. In fact, mobile apps have even made it possible for people living in remote locations to get the medical care they need without having to visit the hospital.

The benefits of mobile apps in the healthcare industry include faster access to healthcare, better communication and collaboration between patients and doctors, improved medication adherence, an easier appointment booking process, and much more.

5. Minimal errors

Even the slightest possible error in health care provision can result in a huge problem later on. At times, doctors and physicians tend to make errors due to inattentiveness and fatigue. However, automated machines don’t suffer from the weakness that humans do, and hence the chances of errors are also very less. This means precise results, quicker diagnosis, and improved quality of healthcare.

6. Improved healthcare quality

The biggest all-encompassing benefit of robotic process automation in the medical industry is that it promotes superior quality healthcare. Through quicker diagnosis, reduced error occurrences, and more time for healthcare providers to focus on patient-centric activities, the effectiveness of healthcare has more than doubled over the past few years.

Moreover, since a lot of processes in healthcare have been automated, the excessive burden on healthcare providers reduced dramatically, allowing them to pay attention to more patients simultaneously.

7. Better communication 

According to Jackson Healthcare, 64% of Americans prefer to communicate with their doctors via video telehealth.

Enhanced communication is another major benefit that automation in healthcare has provided. It is now possible for doctors and patients to stay in contact with one another 24/7 without having to visit the hospital every day. 

Moreover, with the help of daily reminders and notifications, the number of missed appointments and meetings has also been reduced for patients. Appointment booking, cancellations, and rescheduling can also be done much quicker and conveniently. This helps streamline the whole system and allows patients to get care at the right time.

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Takeaway

Considering its positive aspects such as helping save time, money, and effort, it can be accurately said that automation is revolutionizing the healthcare industry. Robotic process automation is helping healthcare providers focus on patient outcomes, allowing patient care to be improved as a whole.

When it comes to delivering accurate, fast, and reliable results, the human workforce can’t be compared with the digital workforce. Automation in hospitals and healthcare helps input, analyze, and organize huge amounts of healthcare data within minutes, streamlining and improving medical processes significantly.