Addressing Preventative Care Gaps Using Robotic Process Automation at Bedside

Purpose: The implementation of robotic process automation can assist ambulatory providers addressing preventative care opportunities at bedside during an office visit

Background: Inconsistency in education, training, core staffing, standardization of workflow, and chart preparation to support a value-based care model has created a need for robotic process automation at bedside. Robotic process automation has not been utilized to automate tasks at bedside. Robotic process automation can assist providers identifying patient populations that are eligible for breast cancer screening, colon cancer screening, hemoglobin A1C, tobacco cessation education, and pneumococcal vaccination by standardizing the orders, diagnoses, and documentation for clinicians to successfully address preventative care opportunities during the office visit.

Methods: This study was a retrospective pre/post analysis of clinicians in family medicine and internal medicine clinics addressing care gap opportunities for patients eligible for breast cancer screening, colon cancer screening, hemoglobin A1C, tobacco cessation education, and pneumococcal vaccination. Robotic process automation was leveraged along with EHR functionality to identify patient populations eligible for preventative care gap closure. Robotic process automation was configured to pend standardized orders, diagnoses, and discreet documentation for the ambulatory care provider 48 hours ahead of an office visit to address patient populations eligible for breast cancer screening, colon cancer screening, hemoglobin A1C, tobacco cessation education, and pneumococcal vaccination. Clinicians were measured from three different regions of CommonSpirit Health on designated care gap compliance before and after the implementation of robotic process automation.

Results: The mean percentage of patients who were eligible and received discreet tobacco cessation education prior to bot implementation was 3.38% and 60.01% after bot implementation. The mean percentage of patients who were eligible and received pneumococcal vaccination prior to the bot implementation was 9.47% and 38.03% after bot implementation. The mean percentage of patients who were eligible for breast cancer screening and had an order signed for mammography during an office visit prior to the bot implementation was 30.99% and 65.76% after bot implementation. The mean percentage of patients who were eligible for hemoglobin A1C testing and had an order signed for mammography prior to the bot implementation was 30.99% and 65.76% after bot implementation. The mean percentage of patients who were eligible colorectal cancer screening and had an order signed for colorectal cancer screening prior to the bot implementation was 27.12% and 70.08% after bot implementation. Data is currently being validated for a larger longitudinal sample size.

Conclusion: Robotic process automation can be utilized to standardize the orders, diagnoses, and discreet documentation for providers addressing preventative care opportunities at bedside during an office visit. The implementation of robotic process automation resulted in an increase in providers addressing preventative care gap during office visits.