According to data released by the American Healthcare Association, over half of the hospitals in the United States will run into losses by the end of 2020. One can’t just chalk down these loses to Covid 19 – as healthcare organizations were running into losses thanks to the reduction in elective surgeries long before the pandemic struck.

The answer to navigating this issue lies in better cost control. With millions of jobs on the line, the possibility of the pandemic staying for a long period, and a myriad of patients who will require treatment for non-Covid-19 ailments (which will further lead to the healthcare system buckling under the pressure), it is imperative to consider better solutions to save cost.

Use innovative technology to increase profits

With new technology such as AI, virtual assistants, and IoT on the rise, hospitals can benefit greatly from employing the same. Apart from handling day to day tasks with ease, AI can also help you identify problems in health reimbursement claims long before you even submit the same, thereby saving you time and money. It can also help you manage operational tasks such as scheduling, patient in-takes, onboarding for new staff members and so on. Arguably, you can cut down on the human manpower required for these tasks by automating them. This can help you save a lot of money in the long run.

Use Digital Tools for better productivity

Using Digital Twins, that is, a virtual version of your hospital that you can run through a myriad of scenarios, can offer a range of benefits. For starters, it can help you identify exactly the amount of pressure your healthcare organization can sustain before running into losses or bankruptcy. It can help you run various solutions through simulations to understand what works for your specific hospital, and what doesn’t. Above all, it can bring you valuable data sets that you can use to create new policies and implement sustainable change that helps you save money.

For instance, you may find through your Digital Twins that your OR procedures require a major revamp. Through such simulations, you may learn of measures that you can take that not only cut down on OR time, but also reduce costs and overheads, thereby increasing profits. The possibilities are, frankly, endless.

Digital tools can also help you identify areas where you are losing money. Often, such areas are clouded by other metrics, making them hard to spot. For instance, by using an automated expense management tool, you may discover that employees are to cut down on needless expenses once there is an automated approvals system in place that runs on predefined scenarios for approval.

Similarly, through an expense management system, you may learn that the specific brand of healthcare equipment may be the leading cause of your financial losses in the E.R. Replacing the equipment with a more durable alternative may help you plug that financial drain and improve your profits on the whole.

Gain Access to Pertinent Data

Of the many technological advancements of this past decade, Big Data is one of the most valuable ones for healthcare providers. By accessing data, you can make more informed decisions about the insurance providers you wish to work with in order to improve your bottom-line. You can also use AI to collect data on on-going clinical trials and researches to apply similar learnings to your treatment procedures.

Create an Efficient System

Often, with large organizations, the problem is that different teams tend to work in silos. By adopting new technologies, you can create a brand-new system from scratch to ensure that every single process undertaken in your organization works towards a single larger purpose – increasing profits.

Healthcare organizations must now reimagine how they work in order to successfully navigate the pandemic and find ways to survive. As we move into a new world, older systems must be shed in favor of technological advancements and automation that ultimately cut down on needless human resources, and replace them same with computer intelligence, leading to higher company profits.