Improving healthcare productivity with automation and opportunities for startups

COVID-19 has changed the healthcare workforce, but automation could be the future.

It's possible to define automation, evaluate why and where the healthcare industry has invested in it, and cite examples of leading startups that leverage this technology to transform healthcare operations. This has changed in light of operational challenges brought about by the pandemic, and since 2020 the healthcare industry has not only accelerated their adoption of this technology, but has actually led all industries in increasing their investment into automation programs. Providers, whose productivity challenges have been exacerbated by large declines in operating margins, job losses and clinical burnout, now list automation as a top technology priority, with three times as many hospitals having deployed the technology in 2020, compared to 2019. A handful of automation platforms are focused on these opportunities today, including Olive AI, which is expanding upon its roots as a provider billing-workflow automation solution by automating clearinghouse and payer claims workflows in order to support more integrated billing and payment activity.