Three ways automation will improve your health care facility
September 19, 2017
By Chris Byers
Every health care facility has countless tasks that need to be accomplished on a daily basis.
Patients need to be registered, scheduled for appointments, prescribed medication and slated for surgeries. Office staff must process paperwork, handle billing, get patient consent for record releases and fill out equipment requests. The work never ends, and there is so much room for error.
According to HIMSS, 86 percent of mistakes made in the health care industry are administrative, costing organizations over $19.5 billion per year. This extraordinary cost is why many facilities have begun moving toward automation technology to make common processes faster, more accurate and efficient. However, the health care industry has been slower than most when it comes to automation adoption, and some facilities still need to catch up. If your organization hasn’t fully embraced automation yet, here are three factors you should consider:
Frequent paperwork errors
Nothing is more frustrating than having to do something over again because it wasn’t done correctly the first time. Incorrect information is a common issue when it comes to processing paperwork. Patient handwriting can be hard to decipher, and it’s easy to make the occasional error while processing paper forms during busy waiting room times. Unfortunately, in the health care industry, a simple paperwork error can be deadly. According to a recent study, medical errors contribute to over 200,000 patient deaths every year.
In order to eliminate these high-cost errors, consider replacing your paper-based processes with online forms and other health care automation tools to ensure your patients get the proper care they need in a timely manner. This can also improve patient satisfaction, since your patients won’t have to worry about filling out stacks of paper forms every time they visit your office. Instead, you can use online forms to collect patient information before a visit and create a positive first impression of your facility.
HIPAA-compliant online forms also come with a lot of extra benefits, including easy customization, multiple field types (like electronic signatures) and confirmation emails that can be sent to patients or staff upon submission.
Disorganized or misplaced information
Paper-based systems cause problems that reach beyond simple data entry errors. Filling out a paper form and transferring the data to your database is tedious enough. To make matters worse, the systems used to store collected information are often disorganized and disjointed.
Health care IT solutions like electronic medical records have helped take data management to the next level, but there are still gaps that need to be filled. To address this issue, many organizations have adopted a hybrid system that includes paper filing.
According to ReferralMD, 30 percent of patient charts cannot be found during a patient visit. It’s one of the reasons facilities started implementing automation in the first place.
If your organization is still using paper filing systems (in addition to a health care IT solution), look for areas that can be easily automated. Some good places to start include patient acquisition, patient intake, incident reporting, patient referrals and record releases.
Miscommunication between patients and caregivers
The problems inherent in paper-based systems often lead to miscommunication — both with patients and among staff. The federal government enacted the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) in 2015. This changes the way participating providers are paid. Instead of focusing on patient volume, payment is now based on the quality and effectiveness of care provided. This means if you’re experiencing communication issues with patients, you’re going to see a major drop in profits.
The goal of MACRA is to put greater emphasis on value and get patients through the door faster, because the sooner your patients are healthy again, the better job you’ve done providing effective care. If your staff and patients are not communicating well, the time a patient spends in your care can be significantly prolonged.
If your facility often deals with communication issues, there are automation solutions that can help. An online form builder can improve patient care and communication by letting you safely collect patient data, store it, route it to the appropriate providers and send out email communications upon submission. Health care organizations are also starting to adopt mobile apps that allow patients to connect with doctors via live video for medical assessment, diagnosis and prescriptions. These apps provide patients with alternative options for participating in their care and communicating with providers.
Creating a more automated system for your health care facility will save time and effort while improving the quality of care for your patients. It’s time to embrace health care automation.
About the author: Chris Byers is the CEO of Formstack, an Indianapolis-based company offering an online form and data-collection platform. Prior to Formstack, Byers co-founded an international nonprofit that was built via remote relationships among partners in Europe, Africa and the U.S.
Every health care facility has countless tasks that need to be accomplished on a daily basis.
Patients need to be registered, scheduled for appointments, prescribed medication and slated for surgeries. Office staff must process paperwork, handle billing, get patient consent for record releases and fill out equipment requests. The work never ends, and there is so much room for error.
According to HIMSS, 86 percent of mistakes made in the health care industry are administrative, costing organizations over $19.5 billion per year. This extraordinary cost is why many facilities have begun moving toward automation technology to make common processes faster, more accurate and efficient. However, the health care industry has been slower than most when it comes to automation adoption, and some facilities still need to catch up. If your organization hasn’t fully embraced automation yet, here are three factors you should consider:
Frequent paperwork errors
Nothing is more frustrating than having to do something over again because it wasn’t done correctly the first time. Incorrect information is a common issue when it comes to processing paperwork. Patient handwriting can be hard to decipher, and it’s easy to make the occasional error while processing paper forms during busy waiting room times. Unfortunately, in the health care industry, a simple paperwork error can be deadly. According to a recent study, medical errors contribute to over 200,000 patient deaths every year.
In order to eliminate these high-cost errors, consider replacing your paper-based processes with online forms and other health care automation tools to ensure your patients get the proper care they need in a timely manner. This can also improve patient satisfaction, since your patients won’t have to worry about filling out stacks of paper forms every time they visit your office. Instead, you can use online forms to collect patient information before a visit and create a positive first impression of your facility.
HIPAA-compliant online forms also come with a lot of extra benefits, including easy customization, multiple field types (like electronic signatures) and confirmation emails that can be sent to patients or staff upon submission.
Disorganized or misplaced information
Paper-based systems cause problems that reach beyond simple data entry errors. Filling out a paper form and transferring the data to your database is tedious enough. To make matters worse, the systems used to store collected information are often disorganized and disjointed.
Health care IT solutions like electronic medical records have helped take data management to the next level, but there are still gaps that need to be filled. To address this issue, many organizations have adopted a hybrid system that includes paper filing.
According to ReferralMD, 30 percent of patient charts cannot be found during a patient visit. It’s one of the reasons facilities started implementing automation in the first place.
If your organization is still using paper filing systems (in addition to a health care IT solution), look for areas that can be easily automated. Some good places to start include patient acquisition, patient intake, incident reporting, patient referrals and record releases.
Miscommunication between patients and caregivers
The problems inherent in paper-based systems often lead to miscommunication — both with patients and among staff. The federal government enacted the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) in 2015. This changes the way participating providers are paid. Instead of focusing on patient volume, payment is now based on the quality and effectiveness of care provided. This means if you’re experiencing communication issues with patients, you’re going to see a major drop in profits.
The goal of MACRA is to put greater emphasis on value and get patients through the door faster, because the sooner your patients are healthy again, the better job you’ve done providing effective care. If your staff and patients are not communicating well, the time a patient spends in your care can be significantly prolonged.
If your facility often deals with communication issues, there are automation solutions that can help. An online form builder can improve patient care and communication by letting you safely collect patient data, store it, route it to the appropriate providers and send out email communications upon submission. Health care organizations are also starting to adopt mobile apps that allow patients to connect with doctors via live video for medical assessment, diagnosis and prescriptions. These apps provide patients with alternative options for participating in their care and communicating with providers.
Creating a more automated system for your health care facility will save time and effort while improving the quality of care for your patients. It’s time to embrace health care automation.
About the author: Chris Byers is the CEO of Formstack, an Indianapolis-based company offering an online form and data-collection platform. Prior to Formstack, Byers co-founded an international nonprofit that was built via remote relationships among partners in Europe, Africa and the U.S.