Healthcare providers are under significant pressure due to chronic diseases becoming more prevalent among aging populations and a growing general population. As patient needs evolve and technology trends and tools become more accessible, healthcare providers are adopting them to improve patient care.
If reports are to be believed, the telehealth market is projected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24.0% from 2023 to 2030. With this substantial increase, technology-driven solutions have become increasingly important in the healthcare industry, especially in the context of home care.
But what are the opportunities in home care processes, and how can automation become a part of them? Let’s explore more about the home care processes and how automation can accelerate patient care experience.
How can AI and Automation Reduce the Administrative Burden From Homecare?
As per the report, Home Healthcare Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.96% from 2023 to 2030.
With higher adoption of Home healthcare services, home healthcare teams currently grapple with unnecessary inefficiencies. Hindered by outdated technology and disjointed systems that have persisted for decades, it’s imperative to reconsider how these teams handle the overwhelming administrative workload.
Excessive and laborious hours devoted to monotonous tasks are not only leading to staff burnout but also resulting in subpar patient outcomes, diminished revenue recognition, and notable operational drawbacks. But here, AI and Automation can be saviors to home healthcare teams and help them automate administrative tasks and offer on-time patient care.
Let’s have a look at some of the home care processes to automate using AI and Automation.
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Electronic Visit Verification Process
An electronic visit verification system requires tracking a variety of information, including the type of service performed, the location of the service, the medical notes generated, the location and date of the service, who provided the service, who received it, and when the service began and ended. Caregivers often miss to clock in/clock out and enter the service provided to patients, and with missing information, it gets challenging for home care providers to create billing and initiate payments.
Here, instead of the administrative team following up with caregivers and patients, the AI bot can connect with them via SMS/Call to record input and update the system. This helps homecare agencies improve compliance, get paid and improve the cash flow cycle.
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Patient Referral
Don’t let an incident make a greater impact than your response. In the case of emergency patient referral, home care providers must be on their toes to reduce the time spent on administrative tasks and offer faster patient care. Right from patient data extraction and entry, referral form processing, and appointment scheduling, there is a lot of work the homecare team has to handle manually.
Here RPA and AI chatbots can be used to extract the patient data record and help home care providers to further execute the patient referral form. Also, once all the verification is done using the EHR system, home care providers can share all the patient details to caregivers and offer on-time patient care.
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Revenue Cycle Management
At homecare, revenue cycle management is a complex and multifaceted process that involves numerous challenges like medical billing errors, claims rejection, slow reimbursement cycles, inefficient manual processes and a lot more. Performing all these processes manually is time-consuming, and high-volume records make it more challenging.
By employing AI and automation tools, home care providers can offer patients more efficient and trouble-free care, which in turn can lead to quicker revenue generation for the agency. These tools streamline various processes such as pre-claim assessment, pre-visit preparations, insurance verification, and patient record keeping. With medical coding and error-free submission of insurance claims, homecare providers can process incoming payments and manage claim denials on time. Also, this RPA bot analyzes rejections and provides valuable insights through dashboards.
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Patient Intake
It is another time-consuming process that requires high manual efforts and time from home care teams to proceed with patient intake. From collecting the electronic health record to verifying the insurance details before patient intake, the homecare team has to manage faster to make sure on-time patient care is given. A minor error or delayed patient care can lead to a lower patient care experience.
Here, automation and AI technologies can alleviate the patient care experience by utilizing ready workflow to collect, manage, and process patient information. This entails pre-registration, sending appointment reminders, obtaining consent forms, verifying identity and insurance details, syncing patient data with the Electronic Health Record (EHR) system, gathering medical histories, processing payments, and seamlessly connecting with other systems to facilitate information exchange. The faster the information process, the easier the patient intake.
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Medical Record Management
Managing patient medical records can be a complex task, especially when these records exist in various systems and formats. Also, integrating with your existing IT infrastructure eliminates the need for a costly overhaul.
Here, automation and AI can offer medical coding in Electronic Health Records (EHR), ensuring precise OASIS (Outcome and Assessment Information Set) submissions to iQIES (Integrated Quality Improvement and Evaluation System), facilitating timely physician and staff notifications, efficient order processing with built-in quality checks, sending orders for digital signatures, and conducting thorough pre-claim reviews.
By utilizing the automation approach to medical records management, healthcare organizations can enhance their operational efficiency while maintaining data accuracy and compliance. Our solution helps bridge the gap between multiple systems and formats, facilitating smoother healthcare workflows and ultimately improving patient care.
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Caregiver Point System
Implementing an automated point system through an AI bot serves as an effective strategy to recognize and incentivize caregivers. This system rewards positive behavior, ultimately contributing to the retention and longevity of caregivers within the organization. This AI bot seamlessly integrates with various data sources, offering live dashboards that enable providers to monitor performance in real time.
The automated point system enhances provider outcomes by improving hiring rates, enhancing reporting capabilities, and facilitating precise tracking of caregiver performance. Additionally, it empowers providers with insights into top-performing caregivers and offers a multitude of other benefits for optimizing caregiver management and overall healthcare service delivery.
Conclusion
Automating routine and manual tasks is an absolute necessity in today’s competitive healthcare market. Hospitals and other health agencies that engage in in-home care need to embrace this phase of their digital transformation. With reasonable effort and investment, your medical facility can become significantly more agile and resilient, ready to weather any new storm that may come your way.
The post Automating Home Care: Streamlining 6 Key Processes appeared first on AutomationEdge.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://automationedge.com/blogs/home-health-care-process-automation/
