Event / HFMA South West Branch: lunch and learn - What is robotic process automation (RPA) and what can it do to help finance staff?

Hosted by Fiona Boyle, HFMA Policy manager.

VIA Teams : 11:00 - 12:00
Robotic process automation has been talked about a lot, but are trust finance departments actually using it to streamline their routine tasks? Are they an opportunity for finance teams? Or a threat for finance staff?

The session will give an overview of RPA, including a look at how it works and the benefits of having ‘bots’ helping your finance processes. There will be examples of where RPA is already in use for finance tasks: and the session will get you to consider where you and your teams might benefit from similar work. If you have experience with RPA, you will be able to contribute your own understanding and top tips.

We will look at some examples of how the systems are implemented, and share some of the challenges in getting the bots established.

The session will also take a look at how RPA is helping colleagues in administration teams for patient facing services, increasing that valuable patient contact time. 

For example – 

• does your radiotherapy system talk to your electronic patient record? 
• Do your community staff spend time going into multiple systems to find out who they need to monitor? 

RPA can help with both these tasks – giving staff more time to liaise with patients that need more complex support.

By the end of the session, it is hoped that you will have ideas about where RPA might help you in finance processes, some tips on how to start or get involved in the conversations, and an idea of whether there might be opportunities in the wider organisation too.