COVID-19 has unleashed challenges unlike any that our healthcare system has experienced in at least 100 years. Hospitals and health systems are tasked with serving more patients than they are designed to handle. While our healthcare providers have demonstrated a steadfast commitment to ensuring their patients’ health along with the financial health of their organizations, all are overworked and many face burnout.
As we gear up for a new year and the raging Omicron COVID-19 variant, let’s look at how digital technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) can help drive organizational financial health and reduce pressure on internal staff.
Supplementing the Workforce
Digital revenue cycle solutions that leverage AI can foster efficiencies with the speed, flexibility and scalability needed to meet the demands of the current environment. Digital and AI technologies work best in parallel with human staff. By working around the clock, these technologies can take on repetitive tasks to support a workforce that has suffered reductions by attrition, illness and burnout.
Reducing Costs
Digital and AI technologies created for revenue cycle tasks reduce enterprise costs. Full-time employees can be redirected to handle more complex tasks while technology handles rote jobs. As an example of how these technologies can reduce cost, in one case study Meduit’s SARA (Supervised Autonomous Revenue Associate) picked up the work of 10 employees for a single organization and created an annualized value of $500,000 for that provider.
Driving Efficiency
Innovations and advancements like those offered by digital technologies and AI reduce human touches, improve accuracy and drive greater revenue to the bottom line in a shorter time. This increased efficiency helps organizations become more flexible and resilient, preparing them for future challenges.
Organizations that are able to most effectively utilize digital and AI technologies will be better positioned for long-term stability and success by supplementing their workforce, resolving accounts at a lower cost and accelerating cash faster due to a more efficient process.