Administrative tasks have long been a source of frustration for healthcare administrators and providers. If left unchecked, the time-consuming record-keeping and billing complexities can hinder care delivery and divert valuable resources from patients and staff. So, as artificial intelligence (AI) envelops and aims to streamline every aspect of our daily lives, it makes sense that the technology will also play a role in healthcare.
The key for healthcare leaders is to find positive ways to incorporate the technology and not become inundated by unnecessary interventions. Graduates of Lamar University’s online Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Healthcare Administration program explore emerging technological trends and how incorporating technology and data analytics can improve clinical decision-making and their organizations. Specifically, the program’s Healthcare Information Systems course allows students to evaluate the effectiveness of various IT-enabled applications.
How Does Technology Support Healthcare Administrators’ Goals?
AI-enabled technology supports administrators’ overall goals of providing high-quality, effective care in a convenient and affordable manner. Automating tasks and workflows can reduce repetition and errors, freeing healthcare professionals to focus on patient care and improving outcomes. Plus, AI systems can enhance patient communication, making the process less frustrating and keeping patients more engaged in their care.
Technology can also improve care coordination and access, particularly in rural areas with limited specialty physicians. For example, instead of a primary care physician referring a patient to an ophthalmologist, the physician can use AI image analysis to diagnose and treat an eye condition, reports The Brookings Institution. AI image-analysis systems can support physicians in reviewing radiological findings as well.
Using AI to Automate Healthcare Administrative Tasks
Healthcare professionals spend a significant portion of their time on administrative tasks, including documenting patient records, billing insurance and scheduling appointments. Increasingly, healthcare administrators may look to AI-enabled applications — frequently part of electronic health records (EHRs) and software-as-a-service (SaaS) systems — to streamline these processes, reduce expenses and boost efficiency.
Consider that the average patient visit with a primary care physician lasts 18 minutes, reports Healthcare IT News. However, a physician spends 49% of that time on EHR documentation. Just one-quarter of the visit — approximately five minutes — is spent face-to-face with the patient.
Alternatively, a physician using speech recognition and transcription, part of AI-based Natural Language Processing (NLP) technology, can spend less time documenting patient encounters and more time counseling the patient. Improving the quality of patient-provider interactions can go a long way toward strengthening patient satisfaction scores, reducing physician burnout and creating better health outcomes.
According to the National Institutes of Health, “NLP systems can analyse unstructured clinical notes on patients, prepare reports [on radiology examinations, for example), transcribe patient interactions and conduct conversational AI.”
Other administrative tasks that AI can automate and streamline include:
- Appointment scheduling and reminders
- Patient registration
- Insurance verification
- Medical coding and billing
- Claims processing
- Revenue cycle management
- Inventory management
Can AI Provide Data-Driven Insights for Healthcare Administrators?
While many health facilities utilize a variety of systems for patient and administrative processes, advances in EHRs allow for more task management and data aggregation within the medical record. With this information, administrators can use AI algorithms to identify new patterns among employees and patients and ensure accurate billing and reimbursement.
Areas where data-driven insights may guide today’s healthcare administrators:
- Predictive analytics. Using historical data, AI can predict patient admission rates, readmission risks and disease outbreaks. This information enables administrators to allocate resources efficiently, plan for staffing needs and proactively address public health challenges.
- Population health management. AI can assist in identifying high-risk patient populations and recommending interventions to improve health outcomes.
- Physician decision-making. AI systems like computer-assisted physician documentation (CAPD) can support physician decision-making and increase the amount and accuracy of information recorded in the medical record. CAPD software offers reminders to physicians in real time, generating feedback on the quality of data recorded and prompting them to review potential documentation errors.
By adopting automation technologies that maximize operational efficiency and provide data-driven insights, healthcare administrators can refocus their organization’s efforts on what truly matters — delivering high-quality care to patients. Students can build their understanding of these resources in Lamar University’s online MBA in Healthcare Administration program.
Learn more about Lamar University’s online MBA in Healthcare Administration program.
