Healthcare’s Current State vs Perfection:
Which is Best?
Saving time and reducing costs, discover how AI and automation will play a key role in solving healthcare’s problems.
Healing the System: How Automation Offers the Solution
Imagine a society where citizens spend the most on healthcare per person but experience the highest rates of preventable deaths. Adding to the problem, patient care is often inaccessible because not only does this high-income country have the highest number of people with multiple chronic conditions, but it also has one of the lowest numbers of practicing physicians.
Unfortunately, you don’t have to imagine this situation because “The Commonwealth Fund” reports this is the current state of healthcare in the United States. Staffing shortages, complex processes, and disconnected communication systems all paint a bleak picture of the industry; however, according to Shereese Maynard in “Hospital of Dreams: If You Build Efficient Patient Access Departments, They Will Come,” automation and AI can make a difference. “It’s not new,” Shareese explained. “It’s been here the whole time. We’re just visiting an old friend.”
AI’s Benefits vs the Pursuit of Perfection
Research shows that automation and AI are immensely enhancing productivity across industries with:
- 126% more projects completed per week for programmers
- 13.8% increase in customer support inquiries per hour
- 59% more business documents written per hour by business professionals
In healthcare, where accuracy is crucial and can influence life or death, it’s worth questioning whether increasing productivity alone is enough. What happens to patient care when technology doesn’t deliver perfect results? John Lynn, Founder and Chief Editor of Healthcare IT Today, in the podcast “Eliminating Manual Work,” raised another important question: “Why are we comparing AI against perfection rather than AI against the current state of reality?”
Given that today’s healthcare system has many flaws and human performance has its limits, technology holds the power to transform hospital operations. When automation handles mundane, repetitive tasks, hospital teams can deliver faster, better patient care. “[We should be] using AI to make things better, not perfect,” agreed Shereese.
Creating New Opportunities, Not Taking Them
History shows us that technological advances don’t lead to unemployment, but often create new jobs in areas previously unimagined. Applying this idea to healthcare reveals exciting possibilities for the patient experience. With technology helping hospitals offer highly personalized visits, staff can foster deeper, more empathetic connections, addressing patients’ needs more effectively than ever before.
Now is the Time to Invest in Technology to Transform Healthcare
Fortunately, hospitals and health systems can begin transforming their operations today as solutions are already available to enhance patient care and save time for busy healthcare professionals.
Bogged down with repetitive, manual administrative tasks, patient access departments have proven to be the ideal starting point for hospitals looking to implement automation. By adopting the right technology, these busy teams can excel with streamlined workflows and improved accuracy, ultimately delivering a higher return on investment.
Consider the potential impact the following solutions that harness automation can have on a hospital’s front-end operations:
- Cloud fax technology: Simplifies the management of incoming and outgoing faxes by integrating with the hospital’s EMR system to electronically transmit a multitude of outbound lab results, orders, automated reporting, and release of information requests for enhanced productivity
- Business Automation Services: Automatically processes and sends incoming orders and critical patient data to the EMR system to create a touch-free workflow that reduces traditional manual efforts
When hospital teams spend less time on busy administrative tasks, they can devote more attention to personalizing care and creating the experiences both patients and overworked staff deserve.
Proven Solutions Making a Real Impact
The technology from Vyne Medical® provides hospitals with healthcare-specific solutions to automatically capture, manage, and share critical data from virtually any source. By harnessing automation and machine learning, our suite of products can significantly reduce the front end’s repetitive, manual tasks, cutting the time to process just one fax or document from:
- 5.1* minutes down to seconds
While the current state of healthcare may seem discouraging, it doesn’t have to stay that way. Instead of expecting technology to create a perfect world, we should focus on leveraging its benefits now to avoid being left behind.
Visit vynemedical.com to see how our solutions are making a difference in healthcare.
Explore Further
Want to dive deeper? Discover more on the topics covered in this blog:
- Hospital of Dreams: If You Build Efficient Patient Access Departments, They Will Come
- Key Factors to Consider When Introducing Automation to Your Teams
- Advancing Automation: Why Embracing Change is Now a Must in Healthcare
*Statistical information contained herein represents results compiled using data from Vyne Medical customer case studies using the Trace and Refyne platforms from 2020 to present.
Sources:
U.S. health care from a Global Perspective, 2022: Accelerating spending, worsening outcomes. Global Perspective on U.S. Health Care | Commonwealth Fund. (2023, January 31). https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2023/jan/us-health-care-global-perspective-2022
Nielsen, J. (2023, September 20). AI helps Elite Consultants: Higher productivity & work quality, narrower skills gap. AI Helps Elite Consultants: Higher Productivity & Work Quality, Narrower Skills Gap. https://jakobnielsenphd.substack.com/p/ai-elite-consultants-productivity
Nielsen, J. (2023, June 21). AI vastly improves productivity for business users and reduces skill gaps. AI Vastly Improves Productivity for Business Users and Reduces Skill Gaps. https://jakobnielsenphd.substack.com/p/ai-vastly-improves-productivity-for