Medcare implements RPA solution delivered by Finesse and UiPath

Delivered by Finesse and UiPath, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) will support Medcare’s fast-track key processes and harness health care data to improve care outcomes.

As a society we are undergoing the Fourth Industrial Revolution that as the World Economic Forum defines it, is a new chapter in human development, enabled by extraordinary technology advances that are driven by Digital Transformation.

Such a revolution will touch all aspects of our lives and healthcare is no different. Digital Transformation in healthcare will witness an integration of technology into all aspects of how healthcare providers interact with patients, society and regulators.  The results achieved through such integration are radical and can disrupt entire operational models.

Medcare is already opting for Digital Transformation at many levels within the organisation, having already introduced chatbots for front office procedures of booking appointments, and rescheduling and cancelling of appointments when required.

The Robotic Process Automation implementation by Finesse and UiPath for the Insurance Eligibility Process at Medcare will be the next big step in the company’s journey of transformation and help provide a customised solution for even better customer experience and value generation.

The implications are widespread as Medcare, as part of global healthcare group Aster DM Healthcare, oversees four multispecialty hospitals alongside four specialty centres and 10 medical centres, employing over 300 doctors.

Initial feasibility studies delivered insights into the number of layers and time consumed on the part of the backend team to complete the rigorous insurance eligibility paperwork and for patients to receive approval before a procedure can begin.

The automation platform will make the insurance eligibility process quick and accurate both at an organisational level and to customers.

Automating the long and repetitive routine work of the Insurance Eligibility Process will help Medcare provide a seamless experience for patients. Eliminating a tedious and mandatory task for patients indeed adds to ease of availability, facilitating time-savings and reduces stress. This implementation will help ultimately support customer retention and boost engagement.

“As an organisation committed to deliver the most personalised service and best clinical outcomes, we understand the value of time. In our mission to reduce waiting time and constantly improve upon evidence-based care, RPA will automate and streamline several tasks for our medical professionals and administrators in hospitals and clinics. With regards to insurance approval, RPA implementation will support our team to deliver an even higher level of service, with their time on paperwork reduced thanks to automation. We can use insights delivered by the tools to access and process data to deliver the best clinical outcomes and service excellence for our patients,” said Andre Daoud, Chief Executive Officer at Medcare Hospitals and Medical Centres.

Veneeth Purushotaman, Group Chief Information Officer at Aster DM Healthcare, said: “After the pilot implementation of RPA at Medcare, we will roll out RPA at a group level, with the aim to help process data in large volumes, improve interconnectivity with other systems and access data at more touchpoints. The tools will support key objectives in our Digital Transformation to leverage the most accurate results, reduce errors and accomplish even greater results with our pool of immensely talented team members.”

The process will support a seamless and conducive experience for existing patients who book an appointment online to see a doctor. The RPA implementation will ensure elimination of waiting time for these existing patients as Medcare focuses on pulling off the insurance eligibility process hours before the patient visits the clinic. Whereas, for new patients, this process will take place from their second visit at any clinic of Medcare.

Naushad Mohammed, General Manager IT at Medcare, understands that the current Insurance Eligibility Process is a tedious one. He explained that the process is very monotonous and time-consuming for both their front and back-office team. The team must scan a patient’s details through 10 to 15 insurance portals to ensure claim eligibility of a patient.

“It is a time-consuming process for the employees and strains patients to wait for insurance approval before commencement of their treatment. That’s why we have decided to automate the process to lead efficiency, and to effectively carry out the eligibility process,” said Mohammed.

“This is just a start to the RPA journey as we are planning to enhance and automate more processes that add value to both our team members and patients.”

Finesse will use the UiPath RPA platform to build a one-stop process bot which will gather information from different folios available on the Medcare portal. The bot will gather only the necessary and distinct information at one platform to conduct a thorough Insurance Eligibility Process.

For this process, it will gather the following:

• Emirates ID details of the existing patient
• In case of a new patient, it will scan the Emirates ID to fetch details such as name, date of birth, expiry date, ID number, etc.

The RPA bot will then login into each insurance portal listed to check for eligibility of the patient to claim the insurance for treatment. The same process will be repeated by the bot in case the first insurance portal doesn’t hold the ID number for insurance claim and so forth, till the eligibility is found.