Singapore soars past APAC in intelligent healthcare automation: poll

The majority of healthcare organisations in the city-state have automations in place.

Singapore leads the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region in integrating intelligent automation in the healthcare sector, according to a poll by SS&C Blue Prism.

The report showed that Singapore was the most effective in utilising intelligent automation to improve the efficiency of their operations, with 53% of healthcare organisations polled already having an automation process in place. The respondents said they also integrated the tech into their daily activities to boost performance. 

Singapore’s adoption of intelligent automation edged above the APAC average of 50% as other developed countries like Australia scored lower at 38%.

Nearly half of healthcare organisations in Singapore said the decision to adopt the automation process was directly in response to challenges in the sector, believing that the technology can improve outcomes, positively impact patient experiences, among others. 

Reducing admin ranked as the sector’s biggest challenge in the city-state when integrating intelligent automation, reporting that too much time is spent on administrative processes that ultimately take away time from patient care. 

“Singapore has a world-leading reputation for healthcare, where new technology is constantly embraced to enhance operational excellence and patient outcomes,” said James Lucas, SS&C Blue Prism’s vice president. 

“Intelligent automation is no different, empowering firms to stay ahead of the curve to relieve clinicians from tedious and mundane administrative tasks, thereby allowing more focus on patient care. Additionally, it paves the way for new and innovative patient experiences,” he added.

Cultural challenges and staff resistance, lack of skills and expertise, quality of workforce-assisting technology and miscommunications between staff and patients also rank high among the challenges faced by the firms in adopting automation.

In the report, healthcare firms revealed that they would be prioritising the improvement of operational efficiency, maximising financial sustainability and increasing patient satisfaction in the next 12 months. They stated that they believe that utilising intelligent automation can help meet these targets.

“With the sector emerging from a once-in-a-generation pandemic, and facing an uncertain global economic outlook, Singapore firms’ willingness to embrace intelligent automation will hold them in good stead to deliver world-class healthcare regardless of any challenges along the way,” Lucas said.

The poll surveyed 164 healthcare firms from Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, India and Thailand.