Referral Intake: Clean up before you automate

Q. What needs to be true operationally for automation to actually improve a DME intake process? 

A. Automation is an amplifier. It speeds up what is already working or exposes what is not. If intake workflows rely on tribal knowledge, outdated SOPs or inconsistent naming, automation will only make those problems move faster. 

Teams need to start by cleaning up before they automate. That means documenting the intake workflow end to end, agreeing on what “done” means and standardizing the basics like payer names, order types and required documents. A team is ready when its workflows are clearly defined and repeatable. You should be able to clearly answer what triggers the process, what decisions are made at each step, and what the expected outputs are. If a step depends on “just knowing” what to do, it is not ready for automation. 

DME leaders should evaluate how they apply automation into their workflows based on how it handles real-world conditions, not ideal scenarios. Intake is rarely clean. Missing documents, contradictory information, partial faxes, and payer-specific quirks are the norm. Automation should surface these exceptions clearly and allow for easy human intervention and correction. 

A lot of providers today (and a lot of software vendors) are hoping for a one-size-fits-all tool that plugs into any messy process and makes the problems go away. That’s not realistic, but it’s also not a good goal. Automation does not make problems disappear, it applies a defined set of decision-making rules consistently and at scale. 

The true ROI comes from consistency, accuracy, speed and efficiency. When applied thoughtfully, automation reduces cognitive load, creates predictability and helps teams scale without compromising quality or compliance. 

Bruna Dos Santos is director of clinical intelligence at Tennr.