The current state of the labor market is imposing obstacles for employers across many industries to fill open positions – health care being chief of them. The global shortage of health care workers has forced practitioners into undertaking additional duties such as manual data entry alongside their general patient care duties. When practitioners shift their time and energy to repetitive tasks instead of devoting time to their patients, organizations miss out on opportunities to generate revenue and provide the best care. 

Technology like workflow automation contributes to better work environments, eliminates monotonous tasks from providers’ daily routines, and increases revenue to ensure HIPAA compliance. Here’s how workflow automation can help scale your business and reduce the stress your teams face. 

Manual Data Entry Eats Time and Money

The use of outdated technology forces top-tier health professionals like doctors and nurses to perform manual data entry. Last year physicians spent an average of 16 minutes and 14 seconds per patient interaction logging data into electronic health record (EHR) software. Time spent on data entry reduces the hours providers could spend on billable services and assisting patients. 

Health care organizations need solutions to streamline processes and allow their top talent to focus on their main priorities. But many touted technologies can’t fully solve the problem. 

For example, the recent digital transformation in health care has pushed organizations to transition to electronic fax systems, also known as e-fax. E-fax allows providers to receive insurance claims or patient referrals in a HIPAA compliant email instead of using telephone lines and printer paper. 

While e-fax supports quicker point-to-point electronic PHI (ePHI) transmission, it still requires a human endpoint to work with the data. Insurance claims need filing, and information must be transmitted into a patient database, meaning someone must transfer data from e-fax to additional systems manually. Data entry remains an added responsibility for nurses and doctors when an administrator is unavailable. 

Workflow Automation Restores Time and Money

Providers can integrate workflow automation with e-fax to save both time and money. Workflow automation is a branch of artificial intelligence (AI) that utilizes rules-based logic to direct manual tasks without human intervention. Email AI that incorporates workflow automation for health care organizations can automatically recognize and log patient data into a database while preserving HIPAA compliance.

Zapier shows that automation software benefits 96% of people who use it at work, enabling them to complete projects faster and reduce errors. When health care professionals spend less time on day-to-day tasks, they can focus on treating patients and generating revenue. 

While the global shortage of health care workers continues to require practitioners to take on additional tasks, new technologies can help solve the problem. Providers should adopt modern technologies like workflow automation to create better work environments by eliminating their practitioners’ fatigue from mundane data entry. Let your nurses and doctors allocate their time doing what they know best – taking care of patients.