Contract ingestion in healthcare is the process of converting paper-based contracts into structured and standardized digital formats that can be easily ingested, stored, and analyzed. Streamlining this process is crucial for efficient contract management and results in faster turnaround times, improved compliance, reduced errors, and ultimately cost savings!

Moreover, as healthcare organizations continue to adopt digital technology applications and blockchain solutions in their operations, streamlining contract ingestion becomes even more critical. This is because smart contracts, which are programmable code representations of paper contracts, can be ingested to automate the execution and enforcement of contractual obligations.

Challenges in Contract Ingestion

The healthcare industry faces unique challenges in contract ingestion. Voluminous contracts and complex language can make it difficult to quickly and accurately extract important information. Compliance requirements and regulatory changes can also add to the complexity of contract management. Further complicating matters are manual processes and human errors that lead to delays and potential legal issues. These challenges can result in delayed payments, loss of revenue, increased legal risks, and a negative impact on patient care.

Implementing best practices can streamline contract ingestion and management, and help healthcare organizations overcome these challenges.

Best Practices for Contract Ingestion in Healthcare

While the US healthcare industry has been successful in integrating advanced clinical practices, it has not kept pace with administrative innovation. In the area of contract ingestion, it is critical to adopt the best practices to make the entire process more effective.

• Implementing a centralized contract repository can help healthcare organizations store and access contracts in a single location, making it easier

to find and manage contracts. This also ensures that all contracts are

up-to-date and compliant with regulatory requirements. Proper organization and categorization can help healthcare organizations quickly find the contracts they need, automatically extract key data points, and flag potential compliance issues.

• Utilizing contract templates and standardized language ensures that contracts are consistent and free from errors. This system also reduces the time and effort required to create new contracts and makes it easier to review, analyze, and process them.

A standardized contract review process also ensures that all parties involved understand the terms and conditions outlined in the documents.

• Establishing clear contract approval workflows and defining clear-cut roles ensures that contracts are reviewed and approved by the appropriate parties. Alongside this, automating the contract review process and using collaborative tools can help streamline the process and reduce the risk of errors and delays. By investing in the right tools and processes, healthcare organizations can drastically improve their contract management capabilities, ultimately leading to better outcomes for patients and providers alike.

Technologies for Streamlining Contract Ingestion in Healthcare

Utilizing the latest technologies also goes a long way in streamlining this process.

• Dedicated contract management software solutions offer a range of features and benefits, including centralized contract storage, automated workflows, and customizable reporting. These platforms can help healthcare organizations streamline their contract management processes and reduce the risk of errors and compliance issues. Automated contract ingestion and extraction capabilities can further enhance the efficiency of contract management by automatically extracting key data points from contracts and populating them into a centralized database.

• Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning (ML) can be leveraged to extract and analyze contract data, including key terms and clauses. This can help healthcare organizations identify potential compliance issues and streamline the contract review process.

AI-powered technologies can also enhance contract search and review by automatically categorizing contracts based on their content and providing relevant search results.

• Integration with Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems can offer several advantages, including streamlined data sharing and reduce duplicate entries.

By leveraging such cutting-edge technologies, healthcare organizations can overcome the unique challenges of contract management and unlock the full potential of their data.

Key parameters to look for in CI systems in the market

Onboarding new providers’ or hospitals’ contracts, renewals, and periodic updates from payors, all require meticulous review and translation to a contract management system. Numerous business rules are constantly changing; contracts are long and tedious and time is short – thus making it even more challenging to ensure that all contracts are updated and in line with payor rules quickly and efficiently.

It is important to pick an AI & Machine learning-powered system that enhances your current processes and works with your existing contract management system to deliver accurate results quickly. Here are a few things to keep in mind while choosing among the many contract ingestion systems in the market.

• Accuracy of Extracted Data – The healthcare industry heavily depends on data making the accuracy of the extracted data extremely critical. The industry standard for contract analysis via manual review stands at 75%. Organizations should therefore prioritize choosing an AI-powered tool that assures 100% coverage and accuracy.

• Processing in Seconds – While picking a contract ingestion software, organizations must center their choice around a tool that can process faster and proves to be efficient in terms of time, going through thousands of contracts a day as opposed to only a handful. By selecting such a tool that’s capable of processing more contracts in a shorter timeframe, organizations will also save millions in cost efficiencies annually in the contract loading processes.

• Operational Efficiency – Picking the right tool not only helps in saving money and refining processes but also enhances overall operational efficiency. It improves business continuity by ensuring the onboarding and renewal processes don’t get interrupted. This also gives the human team more time to focus on client interactions.

Conclusion

Streamlining contract ingestion is crucial for healthcare organizations to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements, reduce the risk of errors and omissions, and improve patient outcomes. Best practices and technologies such as AI-powered contract management software can help improve efficiency, reduce risks, and ensure consistency across contracts. To effectively manage their contracts, improve their bottom line, and ultimately provide better care to their patients, healthcare organizations should make adopting these strategies a top priority! For more information, please write to us at hello@felixsolutions.ai