We’re all familiar with the saying, “necessity is the mother of invention.” So when the healthcare industry is in crisis mode, with immense staffing needs across multiple positions—and the need to retain the professionals they already employ—what is the solution?
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Traditional processes in an ever-decreasing healthcare workforce
Now that the Baby Boomer generation is reaching the age of retirement, many professionals are phasing out of the workforce, especially in the healthcare industry. This is bad timing overall, as the need for healthcare services is at an all-time high as we deal with the COVID-19 pandemic fallouts of the last few years.
A study conducted by Mercer projected a shortage of almost 100 thousand technicians and more than 124 thousand nurses by the year 2025. Hundreds of thousands of additional healthcare professionals will need to enter the industry each year to even come close to plugging the gap.
Healthcare systems worldwide are notoriously over-leveraged and under-served—a reality that we can no longer ignore. Part of this comes from a lack of efficiencies within the industry. While medical treatments may be cutting-edge and use the newest technologies, oftentimes, the operations within hospitals are anything but.
Most facilities utilize traditional processes, which are manual, repetitive, and time-consuming. Organizing papers, logging which members completed specific compliance courses, and searching through old materials to determine what needs to be modernized is annoying and a massive waste of time for administrators.
Any facility with any number of employees understands the laborious task of manually tracking and organizing papers as well as coordinating everyone’s schedules for compliance training sessions.
As such, the healthcare industry must leverage technology and automation to ease onboarding, training, and working efficiencies in order to make medical care accessible to the masses.
Automation eliminates administrative burdens and streamlines efficiency
Trading in antiquated systems for digital automation will eliminate the burden of tedious manual data entry, streamline administrative work, and lighten the load for medical professionals and staff. Innovative health technology is bringing a range of benefits to millions of people around the world, from telehealth services to artificial intelligence (AI), and self-service options, and automation will only add to this trajectory.
In 2020, 90% of hospitals and health systems implemented an AI and automation strategy, up from 53% in 2019. With rising pressures to cut costs, increase efficiency, and facilitate a better patient experience, automating processes is the first step in supporting medical staff, so they can reach these goals.
Automation technology also brings with it an abundance of benefits, such as helping patients receive access to better treatment more quickly. As long as healthcare professionals feel confident in the technology chosen to help them upskill, gain additional credentials, and stay compliant, they can focus their efforts on more specialist requirements, making the future of health much more advanced.
Consider automation software solutions
Taking days to track down documents and send reminders to staff about training is not a productive way for administrators and industry leaders to spend their time.
Automation solutions enable healthcare leaders to outsource and offload their most time-consuming work to professionals who know how to optimize organization and support medical staff, so they can get more done. Moreover, automation solutions can help relieve administrative burdens and enable healthcare staff to refocus their energy on serving patients.
Moving forward with automation in healthcare
Every facility has its own set of challenges, but one thing remains clear. Improving the business and execution of the healthcare industry needs to be a priority to meet today’s and tomorrow’s challenges.
Automated systems for training, credentialing, and compliance can make the difference between finding a solution to the healthcare shortage with a modern, digital strategy or your organization buckling under the pressure. Digitizing and automating your processes will reduce busy work and enable physicians and hospitals to prepare ahead of time to maintain compliance and credentialing standards while flexing with the demands and census of their organization.
It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about a small clinic or a large hospital; the healthcare industry as a whole is overtasked, underprepared, and working with outdated administration tools that cause inefficiencies that translate into wasted time and money.
We all rely on healthcare services, some of us now more than ever. This is why now is the time to weave flexible technology into the fabric of these organizations to help improve HR processes and offload tedious administrative tasks.
About Steve Gallion
Steve Gallion is an experienced software as a service healthcare IT (SaaS HCIT) leader with a passion for people, technology, and outcomes. He currently serves as the CEO at MedTrainer.com. Gallion’s passion for people and eye for market opportunities have led him to build several companies over the past 15 years that have brought benefit to healthcare. Today, Gallion is directly responsible for the company vision and empowerment of the executive team to fulfill MedTrainer’s mission.
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