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The medical world is constantly changing and evolving, which often leads healthcare professionals attempting to make sure they are able comply with the latest regulations. This can be challenging if they recently invested in technology and systems that automate various processes in the workplace. Finding a way to succeed at implementing medical devices automation technology while complying with regulatory agencies is essential for all medical professionals.
Things seem to be moving quickly when it comes to adapting new technology into healthcare practices, even with a lot of regulatory restrictions. These new updates make it easier for healthcare professionals to do their job and provide their patients with the care that they deserve. With that said, things might be moving a lot faster without the stringent regulations on healthcare automation. Let’s take a look at a few ways that regulatory agencies impact healthcare automation below.
Restricts Streamlined Processes
There is absolutely a need for regulation in the healthcare world, but it is seriously slowing down how we improve medical processes. For example, healthcare automation allows for the streamlining of certain processes like drug development. That might mean that patients can get life-saving drugs and treatment quicker than ever before. With an automated system, technology and doctors can interpret patient information without spending too much time trying to dig through and decipher individual data sets. However, regulation can really slow down these processes and prevent the industry from moving forward as quickly as it should. Finding a balance between healthcare automation and regulatory controls is the key to better care and more streamlined processes.
Efficiency Impacts
One of the main goals of healthcare automation is to increase efficiency in the healthcare world. That means initiatives that allow for more efficient prescriptions, higher cost-savings, and being able to get patients the care that they need as quickly as possible. To some extent, regulation limits the amount of efficiency that can be gained from healthcare automation. One example might be pharmacists making dispensing errors as a result of regulation preventing them from using Artificial Intelligence and machine learning for assistance. Manual processes that are prone to errors can be improved with automation as well. With lots of regulatory requirements, the healthcare world simply won’t be able to make a dramatic shift towards increasing efficiency until we find a nice balance between regulation and automation.
Less Revenue
The truth is that the potential for healthcare automation is boundless. Computers can help to track and monitor hospital processes and make life easier for staff and doctors. Automation can reduce the amount of repetitive and manual tasks that healthcare professionals have to take care of every day. These types of productivity improvements will ultimately affect revenue for hospital and healthcare practices around the world. Unfortunately, we have a long way to go from a regulatory standpoint before hospitals and healthcare professionals really start seeing the large revenue benefits that are possible through automation.
It’s important to remember that although regulation is a major roadblock in automating the healthcare industry, these regulations are in place for a reason. Some automation in healthcare even makes it easier to comply with external compliance rules like Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA. It will be interesting to see where things go as healthcare technology becomes more automated and efficient going forward.