Healthcare, finance and payroll job openings are common in large healthcare organizations today. To fill these positions, more and more organizations are choosing to automate processes using Robotic Process Automation(RPA). But what can such a virtual “robot colleague” actually do and what are the benefits?

What are the possibilities with RPA?

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a broad term that refers to a variety of techniques. While improving specific processes within a single application is possible, the real power of RPA lies in its ability to perform tasks across applications and achieve complete end-to-end automation of processes.

As an example, let’s take the process of hiring a new client in a healthcare organization. Normally, the organization receives a referral letter from the primary care physician with all the client’s data. This data must then be manually typed into the Electronic Client Record (ECD), after which someone again manually sends an appointment or an e-mail to place the client on the waiting list. Using RPA, this entire process can be automated. The virtual colleague is able to automatically extract the correct data from the referral letter, transfer it to the ECD, check the agenda or waiting list and send an e-mail with all relevant information to the client. This automated approach not only saves time for the healthcare facility, but also significantly speeds up the processing of the referral, so the client is informed of the next steps sooner.

RPA: a solution in a tight labor market

Arjan Hoogendijk is team manager of the Financial Administration and Care Administration departments at Cure4. Cure4 is the financial business partner for healthcare by improving and optimizing the financial operations of healthcare institutions. They guide clients to optimized operations, solid financial foundations and efficient administration. Cure4 is part of Tenzinger. In the care sector – elderly care, care for the disabled, youth care and GGZ – Tenzinger is a decisive player in improving care.

Arjan says: “We are growing rapidly and are therefore constantly looking for new employees. But you have to look for those employees with a light, especially in the current labor market. “In addition, with some customers we can hardly achieve any efficiency improvements because we have already fully optimized the processes and automated them to the maximum“.

Cure4 decided to have Tacstone Technology create a virtual colleague: Petra. Petra performs several valuable tasks completely independently. These tasks mainly consist of repetitive actions that take a lot of time for “physical colleagues,” such as checking and processing invoices. The advent of RPA is an asset to the team in which it is used. The least challenging tasks in their set of duties are now taken over by Petra.

The benefits of deploying RPA

A virtual colleague – like Petra – offers a number of advantages over physical colleagues. Namely, a virtual co-worker is never sick, so there is no absenteeism and work is continuous. There is no need for breaks or vacations. Therefore, work can continue day and night. Finally, no mistakes are made, unlike physical colleagues.

Are there any disadvantages of deploying RPA in a team?

Yes, however, there are limitations to working with RPA. It is essential to provide clear and detailed instructions on what it should do. Tasks must be precisely delineated and consistently performed following the same steps. Moreover, maintaining requires regular updates to work instructions as systems are updated or changes in processes occur. While a regular employee is trained on the new procedures after such a change, a virtual colleague is updated on the RPA script. Therefore, adjusting RPA works differently than educating and training an employee.

The possibilities with RPA in healthcare are endless

Although Cure4 is currently starting to automate simple and straightforward tasks, the possibilities extend much further. With Task Automation, for example, a virtual colleague can serve as an individual employee’s personal assistant. Over a period of time, the virtual colleague observes how specific tasks are performed, after which it can perform certain tasks independently. This makes use of self-learning machine learning technology, allowing more complex tasks and actions to be automated. In addition, tools such as ChatGPT can be integrated, allowing the virtual colleague to generate text suggestions for emails, for example.

Healthcare uses many standard tasks that are sometimes repeated tens of thousands of times a month. By automating these with Robotic Process Automation, a great deal of time can be saved. Because of this, the possibilities with RPA in healthcare are endless.

Want to know more about RPA?

By deploying a virtual colleague, standardized work is taken over from your staff, allowing work to continue day and night and significantly increasing your employees’ productivity.

Are you curious about the possibilities of robotization for your organization? Then contact Mark de Poorter, partner Tacstone Technology.