by Nur Jeevan at TechENT – April 20, 2021
Automation seems to be all the rage nowadays; seeing implementations in a wide spectrum of industries. However, you’d never have thunk that automation could be the answer to one of the most pervasive issues that beleaguer companies – employee medical benefits. The current norm in administering medical benefits is through costly insurance plans which not only cover hospitalisation but also outpatient treatment. These plans can cause some undue financial strain on the company.
That said, automating the process through bridging companies and outpatient providers such as neighbourhood clinics could be the rosetta stone to solving the conundrum. With platforms like Mednefits, neighbourhood clinics and other smaller outpatient health providers can be linked directly to companies for the administration of these benefits. Platforms of the same creed allow companies to link directly with outpatient providers to better administer and optimise their spending for employee health benefits.
It may seem like we’ve gone a little too far into administering health benefits, but these platforms aren’t just about automating the administration thereof. They also allow clinics and outpatient providers to automate their own in-house administration processes. They will also empower these providers to adopt more current technologies in their day to day processes. Processes such as patient records and administration can be automated and digitized allowing them to focus on what matters – patient care. The hours spent on patient administration is also minimised with the implementation of automated registration. In addition, even when it comes to patient care, doctors can focus on treating the patient with automated voice notes.
In a system that has been ravaged by the current COVID-19 pandemic, the implementation of automation technologies can actually be a boon for the medical arena – even in neighbourhood clinics. Using things like artificial intelligence (A.I.) to help with analysing, recording and even consolidating patient data into actionable insights. According to Chris Teo, CEO of Mednefits, “Prioritising digitalisation for tasks that can be automated gives more time for healthcare workers to put patients first.” It may seem like a wide sweeping statement, but when the majority of menial tasks have been automated, doctors running neighbourhood clinics can spend less time administrating their business and focus on delivering effective care to their patients.
How then do companies benefit? With platforms like Mednefits, human resource departments need not engage insurance companies. Instead, they deal with a pay per use system which allows them to pay according to employee usage. These platforms provide a more seamless experience when it comes to employee benefits. The need for long lists of panel clinics is eliminated through the use of the Mednefits app which automatically highlights nearby panel clinics when employees need to get an MC or doctor’s note. A simple click of an icon for all the information at their fingertips. Co-pay arrangements can also be eliminated.