Transforming Healthcare Operations with OCR Technology

Given the evolving challenges of healthcare, optimizing processes to reduce costs, save time, and improve patient outcomes has become increasingly important.

Healthcare organizations should strive to implement technology solutions that streamline administrative tasks so their teams can focus on delivering high-quality patient care. Healthcare professionals don't pursue medicine with the intent of dedicating significant portions of their workday to data entry.

In an effort to tackle healthcare workers' excessive administrative workload, advancements have been made in document processing and data entry automation.

Advanced document processing often utilize optical character recognition (OCR). OCR technology makes it possible to identify and extract data from a variety of unstructured and raw text formats (e.g. handwritten notes, PDFs) and convert that data into machine-readable and structured file formats (e.g. HL7, CSV, JSON). In an industry where a disproportionate amount of data is still transferred through paper documents, OCR makes it possible to pull key data from paper documents and transform it into digital forms.

* At Plenful, we are proud to be at the forefront of advancements in these technologies *

Document Processing Return on Investment

The return on investment from utilizing document processing automation and OCR technology is substantial, providing healthcare organizations with a competitive edge.  Specific examples of the positive ROI and positive outcomes created by OCR document processing include:

Labor Cost Reduction: Manual and administrative workflows are costly, requiring staff to spend significant time manually entering data into systems. OCR technology assists with automating this process, reducing the associated time and costs. With OCR, healthcare organizations streamline processes resulting in significant savings

Increased Accuracy: Manual document processing is prone to human errors. OCR technology reduces the potential for errors by more accurately extracting data from unstructured and paper documents. By improving the accuracy of data entry, healthcare organizations reduce errors in patient records, insurance claims, and billing, resulting in improved patient experiences and enhanced compliance

Increased Efficiency: OCR technology boosts document processing efficiency by its ability to analyze large volumes of documents and increasing processing speed, resulting in quicker  turnaround times for patients.

Improved Patient Outcomes: Ultimately, the use of OCR technology improves patient outcomes by giving healthcare teams more time back in their day and reallocating staff to higher value work. By improving the efficiency and accuracy of document processing, healthcare organizations reduce the costs associated with readmissions and other adverse events

Document Processing for Providers, Health Systems, Pharmacies and More

OCR technology is leveraged by various healthcare stakeholders including providers, health systems, and pharmacies among others:

• Doctors and nurses leverage OCR to scan and process patient intake forms, automatically adding information to patients' electronic medical record
• Health systems benefit from OCR technology by more efficiently processing large amounts of documentation, making it easier to identify trends and patterns in patient data
• Pharmacies use OCR to automate their time-consuming tasks: processing claims, preparing financial aid, and managing medication orders. OCR reduces the potential for errors and speeds up the time it takes to fill prescriptions and get patients on therapy

At Plenful, our OCR document processing solution is powered by a proprietary AI and machine learning engine to ensure optimal speed, accuracy, and efficiency. The Plenful platform continuously learns and adapts to new data. Plenful will continue to drive the acceleration of AI's impact on healthcare by leading advancements in OCR development, innovation, and  adoption. Our team is excited to continue expanding the use of this technology and working with our partners to leverage OCR to optimize their document-based workflows and unlock more time for patient care.