Pain Treatment Centers of America:
Automating medical practices network with an army of bots and generating +$400K savings in year one
Location:
Arkansas, USA
Technology:
UiPath
6 FTEs
Monthly saved
10 bots
Built so far
Client
Pain Treatment Centers of America (PTCoA) is Arkansas’s largest fully comprehensive pain management practice network, with 13 clinics in Arkansas and Mississippi.
PTCoA offers cutting-edge pain management techniques by trained professionals and several of the most advanced Surgery Centers in the region. They also offer IV sedation monitored by trained anesthesiologists.
The initial collaboration:
PTCoA initially came to us with a very specific mission of automating the insurance claims submission process. We have delivered this project swiftly - in two weeks we have written a bot that would process insurance claims automatically, cutting down the time needed for the execution of the process to 45 seconds.
This MVP project achieved a 100% return on investment in 23 days, projecting $180,000 worth of savings after year one.
Our bot automatically processes and submits insurance claims in PrognoCIS software.
You can read more about this project in THIS separate case study.
This one automation left PTCoA hungry for more.
Scaling it up:
After the undisputable success of the first automation, PTCoA decided to expand the collaboration and automate the next processes. We proceeded with the UiPath RPA development platform, which was initially selected for the MVP.
A cross-functional team from the PTCoA side gathered together and created a rich backlog of process automation ideas. Representatives of operations, finances, human resources, and other vital decision-makers listed various processes that they perceived as painful, time-consuming, and mundane.
Next, our team of process consultants took over. We have analyzed all the processes from the backlog and determined their automation potential, easiness, and predicted ROI (here are more details on how we are doing that). That led us to create an automation roadmap with the Project Owner.
Over the course of the following months, we were meeting every 3 weeks, pulling the processes from the backlog and automating them one by one.
Here is the army of bots our RPA developers have built for Pain Treatment Centers of America so far (still growing!)
CLAIMS PROCESSING BOT: The process consists of completing insurance claim forms by providing information about referring providers, adding relevant ICD codes, selecting locations and business units, and sending them to insurance providers. (the first bot build as an MVP, with increased capabilities later on)
LAB ORDERS BOT: Automating the process of creating new lab orders for patients in the EHR system based on multiple sources of data
ELIGIBILITY CHECK BOT: Verifying insurance details in order to determine the copayment amount for which the patient is eligible.
ADJUSTMENT BOT: Automatically adjusting patients' advance payments.
APPROVAL BOT: Approving patient receipts in the EHR system.
PRICE COMPARE BOT: Comparing prices of medical products of the same category (e.g. gloves, bandages) on two given suppliers' websites for finding the best deals and decreasing the cost of purchases
PROCEDURE LOG BOT: Automatically retrieving medical appointment details for reports, treatment orders, prescriptions, and other operational purposes.
WRITE-OFFS BOT: Developed to clear a backlog of Bulk Insurance Write-Offs.
DATA BOT: Retrieving historical (since 2019) medical appointment details for data-driven marketing and sales purposes.
SCHEDULING BOT: Scheduling Random Drug Testing based on patient's risk. During each run, data from about 350 patients are analyzed. The bot only takes a minute to decide if any action is needed to make an appointment.
AUTOMATED COMMUNICATION BOT: Automated sending of two types of letters to referring provider. The bot uses two separate logins to collect data from various systems (for new and established patients) and is processing items one by one, sending e-mail communication.
CLINIC LOG MRI BOT: The bot is outputting the last date of the MRI check for future appointments.
Where are we now:
Our RPA bots are now an integral part of the PTCoA team, delivering the work of 6 full-time employees month by month.
They do not take any physical space - just one orchestrator and two virtual machines with a high utility rate on the server. They usually work nights, making sure that everything is ready for the day shift.
Based on the overall costs of the projects (including two RPA developers and licenses) and financial value delivered the ROI for year one is predicted to be at 449%, with a total savings of more than $400,000.
The work is ongoing. We are still adding new processes to the backlog, validating their automation potential, and planning new bots to add to the network. PTCoA is set to scale, with happier employees, satisfied customers, and a strongly improved bottom line.
PTCoA - thank you for your trust!
6 FTEs
Monthly saved
10 bots
Built so far