Half of Hospitals to Invest in Non-Clinical RPA, AI by 2021

By Fred Donovan

August 08, 2019 - Half of hospitals plan to invest in robotic process automation (RPA) and artificial intelligence (AI) for non-clinical uses by 2021, a recent survey of 115 hospital leaders by Sage Growth Partners and Olive found.

In addition, close to one-quarter of hospital leaders are planning to invest in RPA and AI for non-clinical uses today.

Hospitals are looking to advanced technologies, such as AI and RPA, to reduce burgeoning administrative costs.

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Survey respondents said they see high growth potential in automating high-volume, repetitive tasks in supply chain management, revenue cycle management, finance, and human resources.

“As an industry, healthcare is united by a mission to deliver better patient care, and a huge barrier to delivering that promise is the challenge that 1 in every 3 dollars is spent on administrative expenses. Imagine what could be done if more resources were available to focus on patient care,” said Rebecca Hellmann, chief marketing officer of Olive.

For survey respondents, purchasing approaches vary. Forty-three percent of hospital leaders prefer to hire a company to build, deliver, monitor, and support automation; 26 percent would rather select the platform themselves and hire consultants to build their solution; 18 percent would rather choose the platform themselves and have their employees build the solution; and 13 percent prefer to hire consultants to both choose the platform and build the solution.

Improving efficiency and reducing costs remains a top priority. Other top priorities include improving quality of care and patient satisfaction/engagement.

At the same time, only half of hospital leaders said they were familiar with AI/RPA, and more than half of hospital leaders were unable to name an AI/RPA vendor or solution.

Those familiar with AI/RPA are two times more likely to implement AI to solve workflow challenges than leveraging existing systems.

“With AI becoming more mainstream and offering a clearer path to value, hospitals no longer need to build out a massive technological infrastructure before benefiting from the efficiencies that it can create,” Hellmann concluded.

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Half of Hospitals to Invest in Non-Clinical RPA, AI by 2021

Half of hospitals plan to invest in robotic process automation (RPA) and artificial intelligence (AI) for non-clinical uses by 2021, a recent survey of 115 hospital leaders by Sage Growth Partners and Olive found.

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