Exploring the implications of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) on operational efficiency in public health care in South Africa

Abstract

According to the constitution, access to healthcare is a fundamental right for all citizens in South Africa. More than 25 years since South Africa became a republic, majority of its citizens still do not enjoy their rights as enshrined in the constitution due to the dire conditions of public health institutions. Systems in public health institutions are still outdated, manual and paperbased, leading to high operational inefficiencies and worse cases death of South African citizens. The research purpose was to explore adoption of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in the South African public healthcare sector and its implications to operational efficiency. The Technology-Organisation-Environment model, a technology adoption framework was adopted in this study. A qualitative study was conducted with insights obtained through semi-structured interviews with medical practitioners in both the private and public sector, senior management administrative personnel in both public and private healthcare and RPA Industry Experts. The Technology-Organisation-Environment (TOE) framework was adapted to highlight the main research findings on adoption of RPA in the South African public healthcare, namely, stakeholders aspects (environment context), Processes (technology context) and People (Organisation context). This RPA adoption model could be used as a guide to public healthcare sector on aspects to consider for adopting RPA.