It is common knowledge that there is a glaring shortage of healthcare personnel. The current workforce is overworked and the workload will only increase with the growing demand for care. Instead of investing even more money in recruiting and training staff, it is time to consider other strategies. This type of change requires a bold leadership vision to step outside traditional methods.

In May 2022, Gupta Strategists released a report entitled “Way out of scarcity,” which examined how technology can be used to solve workforce problems. This solution requires boldness and vision, and starts with removing key barriers.

Lack of urgency and the knowledge gap are 2 critical issues

The traditional method of recruiting staff and deploying additional financial resources is still somewhat effective, so it does not feel an immediate need to change course. Nor is it realistic for a healthcare facility to keep abreast of all new technological developments and then translate them into its own processes. But if you know how technology can help improve efficiency within your organization, you will eventually start using this tool.

Collaboration creates synergy

Although healthcare organizations realize that technology is useful, they often want to test it themselves rather than collaborate with others. This method holds back innovation, because success among neighbors cannot help your organization if this knowledge is not shared.

In most cases, the processes are not that different from each other. When healthcare organizations work together, they can create solutions on a larger scale and implement them better. This is much more effective than if everyone started working it out for themselves. Unfortunately, competition among healthcare organizations has made it very difficult to pursue collaboration effectively. Instead, the parties involved should share experience and knowledge about technology so that synergy is created.

Change is always scary

It is not only distrust between organizations that causes problems with technological transformation, but also fear of change. If employees think new technologies will make their jobs more difficult or lead to layoffs, they will hesitate to embrace transformation. Change is easy to resist if people see it as a threat. Take the time to explore the possibilities to paint a clear picture of its use and impact on the company.

Here’s why RPA is the solution

The deployment of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has shown that new technology can help address workforce shortages. Software robots (RPA) act as digital workers who operate existing applications exactly as a regular employee would.

RPA improves job satisfaction and gives caregivers more satisfaction by taking over repetitive tasks. It also leads directly to time and cost savings. RPA can also reduce the processing time of tasks, giving caregivers more time to work client-centered.

A concrete example: sending referral letters

A great example of how software robots can help is the processing of client referral letters at mental health facilities . Previously, this was a repetitive and time-consuming process for human employees. A software robot can take over this task: it receives the referral letters from the physician and reads the information.

Verification of client information and referrer is done exactly as a real employee would. Then the client is registered and enrolled in the EHR system. Automating this process with RPA saves healthcare workers an average of 50 hours per month. More importantly, clients are served much faster.

Take advantage of the knowledge out there

Interest in the applications of this new technology is growing. Leverage industry knowledge and implementation partners. With targeted deployment, this could well be the main way out of the workforce shortage.

Ready to start the RPA journey at your company? Or do you have another question? Then get in touch.