One of the most common causes of data breaches, tax audits, noncompliance and several other significant issues is manual entry of information into systems, as several studies have indicated that human error is one of the more challenging risks to avoid in business. When it comes to health care information governance and management, providers that find ways to eliminate data entry leveraging advanced automation tools might be able to avoid inaccuracies that lead to more substantial problems.
When looking through the research that has looked at the rate of error and subsequent damages, it should quickly become clear that the risk is widespread and extremely relevant in the modern market. All organizations must be accurate and efficient, but considering the fact that lives are on the line in the medical sector, health care providers must use every tool at their disposal to bring the risk of error down as far as possible.
Why automate?
Some decision-makers might believe that automating data entry, as well as e-invoicing, data and document capture and other functions would be more risky, not relying on or trusting the technology. On the other hand, human error comprises such a high rate of problems in the health care sector – across the board – and this can lead to substantial problems when trying to give patients the best care possible.
One study published by the National Institutes of Health revealed that inaccuracies can and do become a major issue in medical research, with analysis showing an error detection rate of roughly 2.3 to 26.9 percent. Even at the low end of that spectrum, this can lead to problems in care, pharmaceutical manufacturing, insurance management and myriad other practices within the medical sector, while it is simply unnecessary in the modern era.
As a note, manual data entry errors are far from being contained to only the health care industry, as myriad sectors have the same issues in accounting, reporting and more.
Other benefits of eliminating data entry
Yes, the most important and advantageous aspect of automated data entry is the reduction in errors, but the increased free time among employees can also make a big difference in a company's bottom line. When staff members are not tasked with conducting data entry tasks on a daily basis, they will inevitably have more time to focus on strategic matters, leading to even stronger performances in an indirect fashion.
