How AI and automation can alleviate the workforce shortage in healthcare

• The World Health Organization projects that the global healthcare workforce gap will reach 10 million by 2030. Low- and middle-income countries are expected to be hit the hardest.

• According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the healthcare sector will need to add 2.6 million jobs by 2031.

• The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) estimates that there will be a 6% shortage — or 207,980 full-time equivalents (FTEs) — of nurses in the U.S. in 2037. The physician shortage is expected to reach 197,130 FTEs in 2037, with 31 of the 35 specialties studied by the HRSA falling short.

The demand for healthcare professionals outpaced the supply prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The challenges have accelerated since, as resignations and burnout further strained the industry.

• Chronic diseases: Almost 95% of adults ages 60 and older have at least one chronic condition, according to the National Council on Aging. Nearly 80% have two or more. The World Economic Forum projects that the cost of chronic disease will reach $47 trillion by 2030.

• Aging population: By 2030, one of every 6 people in the world will be 60 or older, according to IDC’s U.S. Healthcare Provider IT Survey.

• High turnover rates and staff burnout: The decline in labor supply is most significant among primary care physicians, nurses and advanced practice providers. Wage stagnation, exhaustion and pandemic-induced trauma have contributed to the workforce shortage.

• Outdated infrastructures: Legacy technology often struggles to keep up with increased demand. This leaves gaps in service delivery and prevents the seamless integration of advanced technology that can enhance patient care and improve operational workflows.

• Geographic disparities: Health systems in rural and underserved urban areas often find it more difficult to attract and retain skilled professionals.

• Increased wait times: Fewer workers can lead to treatment delays, which can produce worsening conditions for patients who require urgent care.

• Reduced time with patients: If doctors and nurses are forced to manage more patients than usual, the thoroughness of care they provide can be impacted. This can negatively affect patient outcomes.

• Increased risk of errors: Overworked workers are more prone to make mistakes, increasing the risk of payer payment denials and adversely impacting cash flow.

• Patient dissatisfaction: Longer wait times, less time with trusted providers and potential declines in care negatively affect the patient experience — and their trust in the organization.

• Financial strain: The need to provide higher wages and bonuses to attract limited staff has exacerbated financial challenges, contributing to many hospitals operating at a loss.

Staff shortages have a wide-ranging impact on the industry. Patients delaying or declining to get necessary care can lead to negative outcomes, increased costs and a worsening of chronic conditions. In addition to finding new ways to attract and retain talent, healthcare organizations can utilize technology to automate time-consuming tasks, reduce costs, increase efficiency and free staff to take on more meaningful work.

During a Becker’s Healthcare webinar presentation, Mitzie Dodge, the corporate IT manager at Baptist Health, offered five ways to address the workforce shortage.

• Use AI to automate processes: Baptist Health has deployed Hyland OnBase to automate more than 20,000 email and paper invoices each month. The health system is also leveraging AI-based machine learning to automatically process 4,000 non-purchase order invoices, saving 67 hours per month and allowing staff to work on strategic projects.

• Eliminate manual tasks with RPA: Via Hyland RPA, Baptist Health has two bots that can run automated processes across the enterprise. One of the best examples is the health system no longer has to manually look up patient data on a military payer portal. This has saved staff 68 days per year. The bots have helped Baptist Health reduce costs and are “a lot of fun” to use, Dodge said.

• Connect disparate data with workflows: Health systems spend an inordinate amount of time searching for information outside of core systems. Baptist Health nurses, for instance, spend about two hours per week looking for data for their annual review of research studies. The solution: Hyland integrates more than 8 million unstructured patient records stored in OnBase and 20-plus ancillary devices for access within Epic workflow. The result: Baptist Health has enabled its 11,000 clinicians and staff to make more informed decisions.

• Use low code to simplify development: With WorkView, Hyland’s low-code application development tool, Baptist Health has built more than a dozen applications. For example, one of the applications saves the health system $60,000 annually and has reduced paper costs by $15,000 with improved fax management. The technology is easy to use and makes all information about a person, transaction or task accessible in a single view, regardless of the source, Dodge said.

• Utilize managed services in the cloud: Moving to the Hyland Cloud has meant that the health system only needs to worry about testing the system, Dodge said. And Hyland Managed Services is covering day-to-day application management, allowing Baptist Health staffers to focus on more impactful tasks.

IDC’s provider IT survey shows that U.S. healthcare providers expect to significantly increase their spending on generative AI (a projected rise of 51% from 2024 to 2025), traditional AI (31%) and RPA (33%).

To get the most out of AI, though, healthcare organizations must unlock their vast amounts of data. Structured and unstructured data, such as medical images and clinical documents, need to be transformed into actionable insights, IDC notes in a recent InfoBrief.

> IDC InfoBrief | Future-proofing healthcare: How AI can be a catalyst for change

By 2027, IDC estimates that the industry will save up to $382 billion by significantly optimizing clinical, operational and administrative workflows through intelligent automation. Intelligent automation can:

• Automate routine tasks and streamline workflows

• Drive efficiency and cost savings

• Accelerate medical research

• Improve patient care and diagnostic accuracy

• Drive innovation

AI-powered intelligent document processing (IDP), meanwhile, can reduce the administrative burden on staff by automating the management of medical records and other documents. This speeds processes, improves data accuracy and security, enhances efficiency and increases scalability.

IDC’s research indicates that AI and IDP can produce major gains in enterprise imaging. More than half of survey respondents (59%) view generative AI as critical to dramatically improving enterprise imaging, and 56% see it as critical to major improvements in medical imaging analytics.

“Innovation is a mindset,” Dodge, Baptist Health’s corporate IT manager, said.

The health system — which has almost 23,000 employees and 1,500 providers — uses technology and services to innovate, “and to save time and money,” Dodge said.

Workforce shortages are only going to intensify. Advanced technologies and managed services can enable staff to be more efficient and allow health systems to be agile and resilient in the face of constant change.

By prioritizing AI, data governance and infrastructure modernization, “healthcare organizations can ensure they are well-equipped to adapt to the evolving landscape and deliver high-quality care to patients,” IDC says in its InfoBrief on the future of the industry.