For any business, accounts payable is one of the most tedious processes when done traditionally, without automation. Because healthcare accounting requires attention to detail and multiple steps per invoice, manual accounts payable management is a notoriously slow process.
Managing accounts payable in the healthcare and wellness sectors presents its own set of challenges. These include:
- Adhering to complex compliance requirements
- Accurate invoice capture over multiple locations
- Following strict approval rules based on clinics and/or departments
- Difficulty generating accurate audit reports
- Lack of visibility into the invoice approval process
Problems that started out as mild frustrations can quickly turn into major headaches for growing organizations. When your AP process isn't running efficiently, it can keep your entire accounting department from getting their work done.
AP Automation is Key to Modern Accounting for Healthcare and Wellness Organizations
AP automation is technology used by businesses to pay their vendor invoices efficiently and streamline the entire accounts payable process. Automated invoice processing helps modern organizations reduce costs and save time so they can focus on mission critical tasks.
With invoice process automation, healthcare accounting departments can quickly extract data from invoices, enter them into accounting software, route invoices and payments for approval and post the payment into the general ledger. In fact, the right software properly implemented has been shown to reduce the cost of processing an invoice by as much as 80% compared to traditional AP processing. Learn More: How Much Does it Cost to Process an Invoice?
How Invoice Processing Automation Works
Most automated invoice processing technology uses the following features:
- Invoice data extraction
- Approval routing workflows
- Automatic reminders to approvers
- Applies electronic signatures
- Pay fulfillment including ACH & Check fulfillment
- Auto-pay
- Scans for invoice duplication
- PO matching
- Scans for errors
- Audit tracing
- ERP Integration
Six Smart Ways to Streamline AP for Healthcare Accounting:
1. Automate Everything
Accounts payable automation software is easier to implement than ever and it will help support the entire financial team with timely and accurate data entries.
2. Rethink Approvals
With sophisticated AP workflows, invoices get routed automatically and signed faster.
3. Go Cloud and Stay Agile
Cloud-based AP automat software is highly scalable and you never have to lose on licensing costs as you grow or shrink your staff.
4. Go Paperless
Implementing the right cloud-based software can help you greatly reduce time and costs associated with paper-based processes. The right AP automation will support paperless processing.
5. Invoice Data Capture
Getting invoices scanned in and accurate on the first pass is a major headache reducer and it can help ease the strain of a major bottleneck in your accounting processes.
6. Always Improve to Stay Ahead of the Curve
There is more to streamlining healthcare AP than getting the right software. Improving your accounting processes is an ongoing effort, not a one-off project.
You can get an in-depth look at each of these 6 tips in our recent post: 6 Simple Ways to Streamline Healthcare Accounts Payable
5 Fantastic Ways AP Automation Saves Time and Costs
- Cut the amount of time spent on invoice data entry down
- Eliminate costly and timely errors
- Reduce number of exceptions per month
- Improve time between approval submission and signature
- Lower the number of lost invoices per month
Are You A Microsoft Dynamics GP User?
If you are currently utilizing Dynamics GP, you can address the complexities of modern healthcare accounting with an easy-to-use, AP automation system.
