| | AUGUST - 20218UTLOOKHealthcare Tech IN MY OPINIONIdentify the Benefits of Automation"If only we could cloneyou." That compliment is oftengiven to the most efficient and effective worker, and especially comes into play when a business has more work to do than their overall resources can accomplish. While cloning isn't an option, some businesses are turning to robotic process automation.Automation promises to streamline repetitive tasks by turning them over to computer algorithms, or "bots". In healthcare, that may look something like the following. Imagine a bot that reaches out to a patient before their upcoming clinic visit and does all the work of verifying contact and insurance information. Additionally, the bot may even ask the patient to describe the reason for their visit. Details about the present illness could be elicited and a list of potential diagnoses could be generated by the algorithm. Then, after the provider visits with the patient and reviews the suggested diagnoses and confirms the appropriate diagnosis, the bot could queue up appropriate treatment plans for the provider to easily select from. The opportunities for automation in healthcare seem endless. After all, bots never get tired or sick like humans do. They will continue doing as they've been programmed to do as long as technical systems are up and running. But what might be the risks of jumping head-first into this new era of bot-assisted delivery of healthcare? What do humans provide that bots cannot? Acknowledge the RisksLEARNINGOne thing we humans have going for us is our ability to learn and grow. Each person brings their own evolving knowledge, unique perspective and new ideas to the workplace. As we interact, we learn from each other and improve our overall processes as a result. While it is true computer algorithms can be built to learn from new data over time, this level of artificial intelligence is often not found in present day automation systems. Instead, most systems will generally continue running as originally built until a human being steps in and updates the underlying algorithm. With the rapidevolution of medical knowledge and ever-changing regulations, bots working in healthcare must be updated on a regular basisif they are to compete with the status quo. RESILIENCEAnother pro for humans is our resilience, especially when working as a group. A team made up of several people can make up for the intermittent deficiencies of any one How Bot-Assisted Automation Can Help Providers and PatientsJames HellewellBy James Hellewell, Informatics Medical Director, Intermountain Healthcare
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