Helping Moms and Babies with Robots
Category: News
June 21, 2024
Robotics Process Automation
Partnering directly with parents and children is at the core of our mission. This involves a lot of work behind the scenes. One time-consuming, but critical task is entering data in database systems. This data entry helps us track progress, update families, evaluate our work and make improvements.
Our Nurse-Family Partnership program explored ways to make data entry easier and found a tool called Robotics Process Automation, or RPA. RPA uses automated software to input information in multiple places. Previously, our staff spent hours entering the same information into three different databases: our Any Baby Can database, the National Service Office database, and the Texas Health and Human Services database.
This triple data entry was time-consuming, prone to errors, and took our nurses away from what they do best: helping families.
Background
Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) is a nation-wide program for first-time pregnant mothers. Due to reporting requirements, our NFP program has to keep all three different databases updated.
Our nurses enter data into our system after visits, which helps them keep track of individual family needs, goals, and health metrics.
Then our program assistants move information from our agency database into a nearly identical database used by the national office. In addition, nurses also needed to replicate some of that information into the state database.
Our Solution: Software Robots
We discovered Robotics Process Automation (RPA), a technology that uses software "robots" to handle repetitive data tasks.
We teamed up with two key partners: UiPath provided the software robots as an in-kind donation, while InterImage programmed the robots to move data between our systems.
While it’s exciting to be one of the first nonprofits to utilize Robotics Process Automation with government agencies, it also presents unique challenges. We had to get approval from the NFP National Service Office and Texas Health and Human Services before starting the project. In early 2021, we embarked on this process. Everyone had a lot to learn along the way! Who needs to approve this technology? What are the standards? What do we need to document and report?
There is no machine learning or artificial intelligence involved in our robotics automation. This fact has eased objections and made conversations much easier within our organization and for external partners.
We made progress through education, advocacy, and many conversations with people in IT, legal, programs and more. Ultimately, the buy-in was there and both the NFP National Service Office and the state were excited about this opportunity.
Testing and Implementation
Once we integrated the robots with the databases, we started testing the process and ironing out the little details. We're checking the robot's work, updating processes and code, and problem-solving. Since our database and the NFP National Service Office database are so similar, we were able to implement this step more quickly. However, it took longer to work with the government database. That database has different fields and is time-dependent based on the mom’s pregnancy and age of the child.
In January 2024 we started the last part of the testing period. In the last five months, our nurses and program assistants have been able to step back from data entry! We still have staff overseeing the robot’s work and expect to see more staff time shift from data entry to family services.
The Results: More Time for Families
Through the Robotics Process Automation, we predict cost savings and efficiency gains. And importantly, more time for what we do best: working with families! We estimate a reduction in data entry time for program assistants of up to 75%, and 5-10% for our nurses. The result would be an estimated cost savings of $156,000 to $212,000 each year.
Since data entry can be a pain point, this also improves staff morale and retention. We also expect to see a reduction in data errors.
Ultimately, this innovation will free up staff time for more fulfilling client-focused work. Success of this project paves the way for wider adoption in the future.
Paving the Way
We look forward to an expanding relationship with UiPath as we hope to roll out similar automation projects in other departments.
We’re also serving as a leader, advocate and teacher as we share learnings with other organizations. Many groups have been deterred by start-up costs, lack of awareness, and the general “newness” of using this technology. But as it becomes more common and successes more visible, the entry costs will go down and robotic automation will become accessible.
By embracing innovation, we're streamlining operations and dedicating more resources to what matters most – the families we serve.
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