How RPA Creates More Organizational Capacity

Healthcare is the largest employer in the United States, with over 20 million workers across the nation. Despite being one of the biggest industries in the country and around the world, the number of individuals choosing and maintaining a career in healthcare is quickly diminishing. It is estimated that the healthcare workforce has shrunk by nearly 100k workers in the past two years, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

While many factors can be attributed to the rapidly declining number of professionals entering the healthcare field, the truth is that being on the frontline of battling COVID-19 and adapting to the rapidly changing field of medicine has taken a toll on workers, leading to high rates of burnout. In a study conducted in 2021, it was reported that more than half of all healthcare workers are experiencing severe burnout, with 95% of nurses experiencing the phenomena themselves. 

According to the study, 6 in 10 healthcare workers said the stress they experience in the workplace was a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and was severe enough to cause extensive harm to their mental health. Additionally, a survey conducted by AHA’s American Organization for Nursing Leadership reported that the biggest obstacle for healthcare workers and the leading cause of healthcare staffing shortages reported by nurses was “emotional health and wellbeing of staff.” High rates of burnout plus the ongoing challenges raised by the pandemic have left medical care facilities across the United States to deal with unprecedented staffing shortages. 

Critical staffing shortages at medical centers like hospitals have led to the closure of operating rooms and severe delays for patients needing care. This not only harms patients who are in critical need of care, but has had a severe impact on hospitals’ finances as operating rooms bring in roughly 50% of revenue for many major medical facilities across the nation. 

Staffing shortages occurring at this rate have resulted in a need for a major shift in the way that work is done. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is giving healthcare organizations and their employees around the US the option to put work in the hands of technology, freeing people up to focus on more diverse, creative, and valuable activities, which has the strong potential to decrease rates of employee burnout. As a strategic imperative, RPA and intelligent automation have the potential to increase organizational capacity, decrease burnout impact, and reduce the healthcare workforce challenges.  Annually, up to 12 billion hours of current healthcare tasks can be eliminated with intelligent automation, giving individuals in the workforce the ability to focus on higher-value work.

In addition to decreasing rates of burnout and other issues among staff, RPA and intelligent automation can automate most tasks for employees to simplify their workload, as well as automate executive tasks including payroll and onboarding. RPA can also be an efficient tool for employers as it allows for more work to be done in less time, and with less manpower. RPA can automate most tasks for employees, as well as executive tasks including payroll and onboarding.

At Amitech, we allow healthcare providers and payors access to automated processes that are capable of reducing their workload and costs while simultaneously improving patient outcomes, creating the best work environment possible. Contact us today to learn how Amitech can help your organization utilize automated healthcare solutions to decrease healthcare costs, combat labor shortages, meet regulatory requirements, improve patient care, and more.