Top 3 challenges in healthcare Accounts Payable departments—and how automation solves them

The healthcare industry operates under constant pressure to deliver exceptional care while maintaining strict regulatory compliance and operational efficiency. For Accounts Payable (AP) departments in healthcare, reliance on manual processes or outdated technology creates a challenging environment. Some of the common challenges include large invoice volumes piling up, strained vendor relationships, and delayed payments caused by prolonged approval processes. 

These challenges can overwhelm AP teams, resulting in inefficiencies, compliance risks, and even financial losses—all of which can ultimately affect the quality of care delivered to patients. It’s a heavy burden, but there is a better way forward. An advanced AP automation solution offers a transformative approach, streamlining processes, reducing manual work, and mitigating risks effectively. 

With over 17 years of experience helping healthcare organizations overcome these challenges, Cevinio is committed to empowering AP teams to turn obstacles into opportunities. Our AP Automation solution is equipped with features designed to address the unique needs of healthcare organizations, enabling them to thrive in a complex and demanding environment. Our proven track record with our current clients provides us with valuable insights every day, helping us continuously improve. 

Let’s explore the top three challenges healthcare AP departments face and how automation can revolutionize their daily operations—allowing them to focus on what truly matters: delivering quality patient care.

Do these healthcare Accounts Payable challenges sound familiar?

Healthcare AP departments often face obstacles that disrupt operational efficiency and financial accuracy. Issues like duplicate payments, lack of visibility in the process, and time-consuming tasks such as manual data entry are all too common. The good news? The right AP automation platform can tackle these challenges head-on. Cevinio offers features that enhance accuracy, streamline workflows, ensure compliance, and improve overall performance. 

Challenge 1: Ensuring compliance with regulations

Healthcare organizations operate in a highly regulated environment, with requirements including HIPAA and other healthcare-specific financial regulations. Manual processing of invoices is prone to errors that can lead to non-compliance, resulting in costly penalties and reputational damage. 

AP automation minimizes compliance risks by efficiently managing and streamlining compliance checks. Key benefits include: 

• Secure data management: Automated systems encrypt sensitive data and enforce role-based access controls, ensuring compliance with data privacy regulations like HIPAA. 

• Comprehensive audit trails: Every action within the system is automatically recorded, making it simple to demonstrate compliance during audits and investigations. 

By automating compliance-related tasks, healthcare organizations can effortlessly meet regulatory requirements. 

Challenge 2: Duplicate payments, overpayments, and underpayments 

Payment errors, including duplicate payments, overpayments, and underpayments, are common challenges in healthcare AP departments. With hundreds or even thousands of invoices processed each month, manual systems are particularly vulnerable to errors. Duplicate payments or overpayments can result in significant financial losses, while underpayments may strain vendor relationships and disrupt supply chains critical to patient care. 

Automated AP systems are designed to detect and prevent these issues by identifying errors before payments are processed, protecting your organization from unnecessary expenses and potential relationship challenges. We achieve this by providing clear, specific instructions to the AP agent processing the invoice, ensuring that no mistakes are made. 

AP automation platforms like Cevinio leverage advanced technologies to address these payment challenges through features such as: 

• Three-way matching: Automation systems cross-check invoices, purchase orders, and delivery receipts to ensure accuracy and consistency, preventing overpayments and underpayments. 

• Duplicate invoice detection: Real-time alerts flag potential duplicate invoices, allowing AP teams to review and resolve issues before payment is made. 

• Approval controls: Automated workflows route invoices through the correct approval channels, adding an extra layer of validation to ensure accurate payments.

By addressing duplicate payments, overpayments, and underpayments, AP automation not only saves money but also strengthens vendor relationships and ensures smooth operations critical to delivering quality patient care. 

Challenge 3: Streamlining approval processes to ensure timely payments

Timely payments are crucial in healthcare AP to avoid late fees, maintain strong vendor relationships, and capitalize on early payment discounts. However, manual processes often result in delays caused by bottlenecks in approval workflows, misplaced invoices, or human error. These inefficiencies can lead to financial penalties, strained vendor trust, and missed opportunities to optimize cash flow. 

AP automation addresses these challenges by streamlining invoice processing, expediting approvals, and ensuring payments are made on time. The approval process, in particular, is a significant pain point for many healthcare AP departments. Key features that help overcome this challenge include: 

• Automated approval workflows: Invoices are routed directly to the appropriate stakeholders, reducing approval delays and ensuring smooth processing. A fully flexible workflow that is easy to set up and maintain ensures an efficient process. 

• Notifications: AP teams and approvers receive timely alerts for pending approvals or approaching deadlines, ensuring no invoice is overlooked.  

• “Ask for Advice” feature or escalation options: Approving invoices isn’t always straightforward. When additional details need verification, Cevinio’s "ask for advice" feature facilitates quick collaboration, speeding up resolution. 

• Delegations: When an approver is unavailable due to vacation or illness, designated backups can take over seamlessly, preventing invoices from getting stuck in the process. 

By automating these critical steps, healthcare organizations can avoid late fees, strengthen vendor relationships, and enhance overall efficiency in their AP processes.

Cevinio: Over 17 years of streamlining healthcare AP 

With more than 17 years of experience supporting healthcare Accounts Payable teams, Cevinio has developed an Autonomous AP automation solution that addresses the unique challenges of the healthcare industry. Trusted by leading healthcare organizations, our platform empowers teams to: 

• Enhance supplier relationships 

• Reduce operational costs 

• Leverage data analytics for strategic insights 

• Streamline payment reconciliations 

• Mitigate compliance risks 

• Optimize supply chain processes 

Seamless integration with your ERP and accounting systems 

Cevinio's AP Automation platform is designed to integrate seamlessly with leading ERP and accounting systems, including SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, and more. This compatibility ensures that healthcare organizations can leverage their existing infrastructure. 

Security and compliance designed for healthcare

Our solution is built with healthcare compliance in mind, ensuring adherence to regulations such as HIPAA, anti-fraud laws, and financial reporting standards. Robust security measures, including data encryption and role-based access controls, protect sensitive information, giving healthcare organizations confidence in our technology.

Proven results in healthcare AP 

Organizations using Cevinio have reported measurable outcomes, such as: 

• A 3-5x productivity increase, enabling timely payments and improved vendor trust. 

• Significant cost savings by eliminating duplicate payments and taking advantage of early payment discounts. 

• Enhanced compliance with a 100% audit-ready system, simplifying regulatory reporting and ensuring peace of mind. 

Commitment to the healthcare sector

Our long-standing partnerships and success stories demonstrate our commitment to transforming AP processes for healthcare organizations of all sizes. By automating manual, time-consuming tasks, Cevinio allows AP teams to focus on strategic initiatives that create value, drive efficiency, and enhance patient care delivery. 

Conclusion 

While the challenges are real, AP automation technology provides a clear path forward by addressing common pain points, boosting efficiency, and ensuring compliance. For healthcare organizations striving to balance operational demands with strict regulatory requirements, AP automation has become essential—not just a luxury. 

Ready to transform your healthcare AP processes? 
Visit our Healthcare AP Automation page to learn more and take the first step toward a smarter, more efficient AP solution. Experience our system in action! Request a live demo today.