As anyone who has tried to schedule a doctor’s appointment knows, the process can be fraught with difficulties. One of the biggest challenges is insurance verification and benefit checks. Because appointments are often scheduled two months in advance, it is crucial to check for benefits and eligibility on the day of the appointment.

RPA (Robotic Process Automation) can help with this challenge by automating the insurance verification and benefit checking process. This can free up time for staff members to do other tasks and improve efficiency. RPA can also help reduce errors and keep staff members happy.

If you are considering using RPA in your practice, it is essential to remember that it does not replace your human staff. RPA can help optimize their days and increase efficiency, but it cannot replace the skilled staff members who bring value to the table.

Current Problems In Insurance Verification And Benefit Checks

The current insurance verification and benefit checks system is manual, time-consuming, and prone to errors. It can lead to appointment cancellations and frustrated patients.

Considering how often your staff has to check for benefits and eligibility a day, it quickly becomes apparent that there is potential for error. Even a tiny mistake can cause a significant problem.

The current system is also inefficient. Staff members must stop what they are doing to check for benefits and eligibility. It interrupts their workflow and can lead to lost productivity.

Historically, a lot of the burden for insurance verification and benefit checks has fallen on medical assistants’ shoulders because they often schedule appointments.

The problem with this is that medical assistants are not always familiar with the ins and outs of insurance. As a result, they may not be able to properly verify benefits and eligibility.

A poor insurance verification process can lead to appointment cancellations and frustrated patients.

What Constitutes RPA?

There are a lot of misinterpretations of what RPA actually constitutes. For instance, you can have different types of bots in RPA, such as chatbots and digital workers.

Chatbots are used to interact with customers or patients. They can answer questions, provide customer service, or even schedule appointments.

Digital workers, on the other hand, are used to automate tasks, including anything from insurance verification to benefit checking.

Furthermore, many people think that RPA is only for large organizations. It’s not the case. Practices of all sizes can use RPA.

How RPA Can Help With Insurance Verification And Benefit Checks

RPA can help with insurance verification and benefit checks in a few different ways. First, it can automate the process meaning your staff will no longer have to stop what they are doing to check for benefits and eligibility.
Second, RPA can help reduce errors. Staff are swamped and often multi-tasking and rushing through tasks leaving room for error. Automation ensures that information is appropriately filled out and verified before submission.
Last, RPA can help with your staffing issues. Automation makes the process more efficient, allowing staff to focus on other tasks.

Process Automation

Clinical settings are complex. There are many moving parts, and it is easy for things to fall through the cracks.

It’s why process automation is so important. It can help take some of the burden off your staff and improve efficiency.

RPA can automate many tasks in your practice, such as insurance verification and benefits checking. The efficiency of this process relies on the user interface. You need to ensure that it’s designed to make it easy for your staff to use. If it is too complicated, they will not be able to use it properly, and it will defeat the purpose of automating the process.

Reduce Errors

When a process is manual, there is always the potential for error. We as humans are not perfect. We make mistakes.

However, when a process is automated, there is less room for error because a machine will handle the process.

For example, it often takes human staff members several tries to get insurance information right. It’s a complicated process with many moving parts making it easy to make a mistake. With RPA, the automation creates consistency and ensures you get the correct information returned.

Solving Staffing Issues

Often, the true value of each staff member becomes undiscovered and underutilized because they have to burden themselves with repetitive tasks leaving them overwhelmed. It’s a huge waste of time and resources, leading to frustration and burnout. When staffing shortages are common, practices need to keep employees happy and productive.

Challenges Ahead For Implementing RPA in Healthcare Settings

Though the benefits are obvious, implementation is still not without challenges.

Interoperability

One of the biggest challenges for implementing RPA in healthcare is interoperability. Healthcare data is spread across different systems, and getting them to talk to each other can be challenging.

It’s why it is essential to partner with a vendor specializing in healthcare interoperability. They will be able to help you overcome this challenge and ensure that your data flows smoothly between different systems.

Change Management

Another challenge in implementing RPA is change management. Automating tasks can require changing the way that your staff does things.

For example, if you are automating insurance verification, your team will need to know how to use the new system, and often staff can be reluctant to learn a new system.

It can be a challenge for some organizations. However, it is essential to remember that change is inevitable and critical for providers to remain profitable. Embrace it and make the most of it.

The benefits of RPA are too great to ignore. You can improve efficiency, reduce errors, and solve staffing issues by automating tasks.

Final Thoughts on RPA in Healthcare

RPA is a powerful tool that can help healthcare organizations improve efficiency and solve staffing issues. However, some challenges come with implementing RPA in healthcare settings. Interoperability and change management are two of the biggest challenges.

Despite these challenges, the benefits of RPA are too great to ignore. If you are considering implementing RPA in your healthcare organization, partner with a vendor specializing in healthcare interoperability. They will be able to help you overcome these challenges and ensure a successful implementation.

Finally, remember that change is inevitable. Embrace it and make the most of it. RPA can help you transform your healthcare organization for the better.

We’re here to help your practice lower eligibility-related denials and improve the accuracy of benefits verification through RPA. To learn more, click here to request a demo.