How to conduct automated document processing in the health sector and why you need outsourcing!

For years now, the healthcare sector has seen an exponential growth in the amount of data generated and processed. As a result, there is a significant need for efficient and accurate document processing to ensure the delivery of high-quality patient care. However, manually processing these documents can be time-consuming, labor-intensive, and error-prone. This is where automated document processing comes in.

By automating certain tasks and processes, healthcare organizations can streamline their document processing workflows, reduce errors, and improve the accuracy and speed of data processing.

While automated document processing has many benefits, implementing it in-house can be a daunting task for healthcare organizations. It requires significant investment in technology, infrastructure, and personnel, as well as ongoing maintenance and training. This is where outsourcing comes in.

Outsourcing automated document processing to a third-party service provider can bring many benefits to healthcare organizations. In this article, we will explore why outsourcing automated document processing in the healthcare sector can be a smart move, and what benefits it can bring to your organization. We will look at the advantages of outsourcing and more.

If you are a healthcare organization looking to improve your document processing workflows, reduce costs, and improve patient care, this article is for you. 

Steps usually required to automate document processing for the health sector

• Identify the documents that need to be automated
  Healthcare providers deal with a large volume of documents, including medical records, insurance claims, and billing documents. Identify the documents that are most frequently used and are candidates for automation.
• Choose a document management system
  A document management system (DMS) can help to automate the processing of healthcare documents. Choose a DMS that can integrate with other healthcare systems, such as electronic health records (EHRs) and billing software.
• Implement optical character recognition (OCR) technology
  OCR technology can be used to extract data from paper documents and convert it into a digital format. This can help to reduce the time and resources required for manual data entry.
• Use automated workflows
  Automated workflows can help to streamline document processing by automating the routing, review, and approval of documents. This can help to reduce errors and ensure that documents are processed more quickly.
• Integrate with other healthcare systems
   Integrating the document management system with other healthcare systems, such as EHRs and billing software, can help to improve efficiency and accuracy. For example, automated document processing can help to ensure that medical records are up-to-date and that insurance claims are processed more quickly.
• Train staff
  Staff training is essential to ensure that healthcare providers are comfortable with the new system and can use it effectively. Provide training on how to use the new system and how to access and retrieve documents.
  Doing all the above, however, will cost you time, money, and resources. With that being said, let's take a look at all the advantages of outsourcing this process.

Benefits of outsourcing the automation of document processing in the healthcare sector

Handling the automation of document processing to third parties in the health industry can bring a range of benefits, including:

• Easier and faster scheduling

Manual appointment scheduling has proven problematic because of the high likelihood of scheduling conflicts and the numerous regulations that must be followed to match the correct patient with the right provider and location. Appointment scheduling software automates this activity extremely well, allowing healthcare firms to plan and cancel appointments considerably more efficiently.

There are, however, crucial factors to guarantee that the software successfully and efficiently manages the needs of your clinic and patients. This involves integrating with your EHR platform to determine scheduling rules so that schedulers and patients can easily book appointments.

• Reducing costs

Outsourcing document processing can be more cost-effective than hiring and training in-house staff to perform these tasks. Third-party service providers can often offer economies of scale and cost savings through automation.

• Data transfer and access made easy

Numerous facilities are automating patient data transfer and access. Once acquired, these automated solutions add patient data to a database, allowing institutions to easily exchange that data between departments and other facilities. This advantage of automation is especially beneficial because data exchange is now a big difficulty in the healthcare industry.

Automation connects every device in a facility to the same network, making information from one device available from another. This feature saves time by lowering administrative overhead.

Of course, information security and cybersecurity are vital with any information, so you'll want to ensure that your technology partners and solutions have the necessary security certifications, in order to meet certain security standards.

• More efficiency, less error

Automated document processing can help reduce processing times and increase the speed of document retrieval. This can improve efficiency and reduce the burden on healthcare providers.

BPO companies have the necessary infrastructure, technical tools, software applications, professional staff, and experience to accomplish such tasks quickly and at a lesser cost than your in-house staff.

• Improved patient satisfaction

This is one of the primary reasons why organizations continue to outsource their services and aim for the automation of processes.

Some hospital operations, such as medical billing and coding, insurance claims processing, and medical transcribing (among others), will be delegated, allowing the core personnel to provide a more personalized care experience for patients.

This allows doctors and the medical staff to spend more time with each patient. When doctors are not burdened by non-core activities, they can focus on their patients and provide the best care possible.

• Improved decision-making

 Automated document processing can provide healthcare providers with real-time access to data, allowing them to make informed decisions more quickly.

• Compliance with regulations for more privacy and safety

 Healthcare providers must comply with a range of regulations, including HIPAA and GDPR. Outsourcing providers can help to ensure that document processing is compliant with these regulations, reducing the risk of legal and financial penalties.

• Access to expertise

 Outsourcing providers can offer access to specialized expertise in document processing and healthcare regulations. This can help to ensure that documents are processed correctly and that healthcare providers are able to focus on their core business.

• Scalability

Outsourcing providers can offer scalable solutions that can grow or shrink based on the needs of the healthcare provider. This can help to ensure that document processing remains efficient and cost-effective over time.

A few statistics to prove all you read until now

According to a survey by Black Book Market Research, 93% of healthcare providers said that automating document management would improve their overall efficiency and productivity.

The same survey found that 84% of healthcare providers believe that outsourcing document management and imaging solutions can reduce costs.

A report by MarketsandMarkets estimates that the global healthcare IT outsourcing market will grow from $50.4 billion in 2020 to $73.1 billion by 2025, with document management outsourcing being one of the key areas of growth.

A survey by Ardent Partners found that 41% of healthcare organizations use outsourced document management services, with an additional 14% planning to outsource in the next 12 months.

The same survey found that organizations that outsource document management report higher levels of satisfaction with their document management processes than those that do not outsource.

According to a report by Everest Group, healthcare providers that outsource document management can achieve cost savings of 20-30% over five years.

In conclusion, these statistics indicate that outsourcing the automation of document processing in the health sector is a growing trend that can help healthcare providers improve efficiency, reduce costs, and achieve higher levels of satisfaction with their document management processes.

Automation itself is becoming more frequent in healthcare, and many tasks in the health sector lend themselves to automation, making it critical to prioritize those that will gain the most from it.

Let us help you!

Are you struggling with the time-consuming and error-prone process of manual document processing in the healthcare sector? Are you looking for a way to streamline your workflows and improve the accuracy and speed of data processing? Look no further than We Are Fiber.

At We Are Fiber, we offer reliable and efficient automated document processing services to healthcare organizations looking to improve their data processing workflows. Our team of experts uses cutting-edge technology such as OCR and NLP to automate the process of document classification, data extraction, and data validation.

By outsourcing your automated document processing needs to We Are Fiber, you can benefit from all the advantages mentioned above and more.

We Are Fiber is committed to providing high-quality and reliable services to healthcare organizations. We understand the unique challenges and complexities of the healthcare sector and can provide tailored solutions to meet your specific needs.

Don't let manual document processing hold you back from delivering high-quality patient care.

Contact us today to learn more about our automated document processing services and how we can help your organization become more efficient!