How to Ease Staffing Burdens for Healthcare Professionals

Many talented individuals are leaving or have already quit their jobs during the “Great Resignation” in the aftermath of the GCOV pandemic. According to an article from Forbes, healthcare industry has lost approximately 20% of its workers. Yet, the demand for healthcare services with an emphasis on patient safety, disease control and public health has never been greater.

Owners and managers of medical organizations will keep their eyes peeled for innovations and solutions that can help give them a competitive edge, function more efficiently, and address fluctuations in the supply of the local labor market.

For many, the focus will be on automation, such as using artificial intelligence, outsourced billing, and revenue cycle management software to shore up the gap when experienced, qualified labor is in short supply.

Automation

Automating patient data entry is one of the best ways to relieve some of the burden on your staff. Creating a patient portal that connects with your electronic health records system can streamline this process, freeing up staff members so they can focus on their other duties, such as counseling patients and providing care.

This can help you streamline your billing process. With a portal, you can allow your patients to sign in and type in their details, rather than having them fill out paper forms, which your busy staff will have to carve out time for to input themselves into the computer system.

We love self-scheduling with our patients: It’s more convenient for staff and patients alike. As noted by Experian, self-scheduling can be a huge time saver for busy practices.

Artificial Intelligence

As you begin to consider the possibilities and challenges of incorporating artificial intelligence in your organization, you may be confused about how AI can help improve patient care. The answer is simple: AI can do an incredibly wide range of things for your medical practice.

Intelligent assistants are growing in popularity, and can help you access information on your phone or through a smart speaker. For example, you may speak to your phone or an “intelligent” speaker in your home to ask basic questions about the world. Or, you have a conversation with an artificial agent when making travel plans or checking on account details when calling your bank.

AI systems are being used throughout the healthcare system to help hospitals and other interested parties manage reimbursement, regulatory affairs and compliance. Med City News explains that artificial intelligence systems have been helping hospitals with “AI-aided documentation” for reimbursement and regulatory adherence. They are also deploying chatbots to communicate with patients, answering routine questions when nurses are busy.

AI is being used in medical billing information so that it’s easier for an epidermal to provide. You can even see AI being used to help triage patients under very busy circumstances.

Revenue Cycle Management Software

One proven way to speed up the flow of cash in a medical practice or other healthcare organization is to install specialized revenue cycle management software that helps you track revenues and generate billing approvals.

Of course, you should not deploy an RCM application until you’ve done some comparison shopping and checked out a demo of the software to see if it meets your needs, but we shouldn’t sit around doing nothing until then.

With the right RCM software, you can spend less time on the paperwork and more time on providing care. From addressing patients who are slow to pay their bills, to cutting down on errors, you’ll have a better functioning financial system to support your healthcare business.

Outsourced Billing

Billing is a critical area of health care management that can have a significant impact on your bottom line. If you can’t maintain a full in-house team to handle all your billing tasks, you are doing your organization a disservice. Amid a mounting labor shortage, it makes sense to outsource billing to third-party professionals. Make sure that the service you go with offers complete transparency in how they handle data and billing

Outsourcing the process of billing will ensure that you get more money from insurance carriers, fewer claims and better statistics in getting patients to pay for their portion promptly. You can grow your practice, while experts handle the billing process.

Automation, Software, and Outsourcing Billing to Pick up the Slack

Improving your branding and forging partnerships with schools to attract new recruits can be very effective strategies when you are attempting to boost business. But such tools can only take your business so far

Healthcare organizations that are suffering from difficulties in sourcing new job applicants will need to make some changes in how they address chronic shortages in the labor pool. Whatever solutions you come up with, it’s important to ensure that they include enough incentives for candidates who want to work for you and value your brand as much as your clients.

But in order to remain truly competitive, you’ll want to make sure you are using the right kind of software, such as patient/claims handling and claims and reimbursement management. It’s also beneficial to learn when it’s right to outsource tasks, such as handing this chore over to third-party experts instead of continuing to do it in-house less effectively.

Key Takeaways:

• We want to hear from you. The “Great Resignation” has hit the healthcare industry particularly hard after the terrible experiences of workers during the worst of the coronavirus pandemic, leading to labor shortages.
• Find the right employee for your organization. Automate your processes to make up for the gap in qualified labor in your area.
• Enable your employees to focus on the things that matter by deploying artificial intelligence to take care of routine processes, freeing them up to do what they do best.
• Use this checklist to assess your revenue cycle management strategy, and consider deploying RCM software in your organization as soon as possible.
• If you’re running a medical practice, consider outsourcing your billing to EMR Solutions. This is a perfect way to get it done and out of the way so you can focus on your patients.