Clinician onboarding needs a revamp: How automation can boost satisfaction, revenue

Many tasks in the medical provider onboarding process are ripe for automation, but many health systems still use manual tools and paper forms, creating a slow, labor-intensive process. 

During a April 7 webinar, sponsored by KPMG and hosted by Becker's Hospital Review, two health industry experts discussed the challenges systems face while onboarding clinicians and a solution that can speed time to productivity, improve revenue generation and boost the provider experience. 

The presenters were:

  • Brad Bach, principal of healthcare and HCM, KPMG. 
  • Vishakha Sant, global head of healthcare provider industry solutions, ServiceNow. 

Five key takeaways from the webinar:

1. The provider onboarding process is complex. From certification and credentialing to payer enrollment activities, the physician onboarding process is often complicated and time-consuming, Ms. Sant explained. In fact, for many organizations the average time to complete all the onboarding tasks end-to-end can take six months. This lengthy process can result in up to $200,000 in lost revenue per month per physician as well as provider dissatisfaction, Ms. Sant said.

2. Moving away from disparate systems to a single platform has many benefits. Currently, many health systems use several systems or tools that do not easily connect in their onboarding process, leading to inefficiencies and bottlenecks, Ms. Sant said. However, moving to a single platform has many benefits. "It's really [about] being able to have a platform and being able to connect these disparate systems to effectively onboard clinicians, reduce turnover, decrease recruitment costs and improve time to productivity," Ms. Sant said.

3. Many tasks in the onboarding process are primed for automation. By automating tasks in the onboarding process, the right message will appear for the right person at the right time to keep the process moving forward. This allows providers to start patient care sooner, compresses the time it takes for physicians to bill payers and helps lessen audit exposure.

4. An effective onboarding solution should prioritize the clinician experience. A solution should work to identify the moments and items that matter most to providers starting new jobs, Mr. Bach said. Designing a solution based on this provider experience can help engage clinicians in the process and lead to better adoption of tools and the process, Mr. Bach said. 

"This isn't about making the process as efficient as possible, it's about making it as ideal as possible and generating a great experience that results in a better experience and better adoption," he said. 

5. The KPMG and ServiceNow medical provider onboarding solution is effective. KPMG Provider Onboarding and Credentialing solution, enabled by ServiceNow's HR Service Delivery module, helps automate provider onboarding, credentialing and enrollment tasks to help health systems optimize revenue, reduce time for provider onboarding and connect disparate systems into one platform, Mr. Bach said. One integrated health network client of KPMG was able to save $500 million annually, see a 30 percent reduction in advanced practice provider onboarding time and cut down the 30 different systems they used into one platform, Ms. Sant said. 

To learn more about the onboarding solution, listen to the full webinar here

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