How healthcare travel managers are healing T&E headaches with modern spend management software 

Travel managers in health care, hospitals, and health services have a tough job. Between complex regulatory landscapes, tight budgets, and the constant pressure to deliver quality care, managing travel and expenses can feel like a daunting task. 

From ensuring duty of care to managing TMC relationships to training employees, travel managers put in a lot of work to make employee travel happen. But fear not, there’s a cure for this administrative ailment: the right T&E management software.

Challenges faced by travel managers in health care 

The healthcare industry is unique in its travel challenges. There’s the constant juggling of complex itineraries, the need to comply with a maze of regulations, and the ever-present threat of unexpected costs. Not to mention the mountain of expense reports that seem to multiply like bacteria. It’s enough to make even the most seasoned travel manager reach for the aspirin.

Here are some of the most common causes of aches and pains for travel managers in healthcare:

Regulatory compliance

From HIPAA to state-specific mandates, healthcare organizations must navigate a complex web of regulations. On top of that, ensuring compliance with company travel policy can feel like walking a tightrope.

Outdated accounting software

Just because you’ve been using it for a long time and it’s integrated with your ERP, doesn’t mean your current T&E system is the best choice. Think about how far health care has come since your legacy software was installed — luckily, T&E solutions have also evolved.

Cost control

Healthcare budgets are stretched thin. Every dollar counts, and travel expenses can quickly spiral out of control if not managed carefully.

Time-consuming processes

Manual expense reporting, approval workflows, and reconciliation can be a massive time waster for both employees and finance teams. And when you’re in the business of saving lives, every second counts.

Data visibility

Lack of real-time data on travel spending makes it challenging to identify cost-saving opportunities and make informed decisions.

What should healthcare travel managers look for in a modern T&E management solution?

T&E management software can quickly become the cure to travel manager headaches. A modern, unified platform can transform the way healthcare organizations manage their travel and expenses. Below is a list of things to look for to make sure you can tackle the challenges your healthcare business is facing.

1. Modern travel and expense management solutions offer AI and automation to streamline processes. 

Automation is the key to efficiency. From booking to expense reporting, a robust T&E solution can automate many time-consuming tasks, freeing up staff to focus on more strategic initiatives. Modern expense management solutions can offer the ability to automate vendor payments, spend control, receipts, accounting, expense submission, and more.

Adopting a solution that can eliminate manual tasks (and the risk of error that comes with them) can save everybody a lot of time and stress. Look for virtual cards with features like mobile receipt uploading and automatic receipt matching to eliminate expense reports and make month-end reconciliation as painless as possible.

You can also automate recurring payments to vendors for the aforementioned software, or for regular shipments of medical or office supplies. This ensures that payments are not missed, and that the transactions are automatically added to the books when you sync with your ERP.

2. Look for T&E solutions that are built to reduce risk and simplify adherence to compliance.

It’s important to consider a T&E system that offers built-in policy enforcement and audit trails — these features will help healthcare organizations stay compliant with complex regulations, thereby reducing the risk of costly fines and penalties:

• Customizable, automated expense approval workflows based on employee roles. Having organized and automated workflows for expense management alleviates some of the pressure that healthcare organizations are already under. The ideal T&E solution allows for approvals and requests to be submitted and approved or denied from anywhere. If an exceptional expense is required outside the typical expense policies, finance managers can approve a request instantaneously. Likewise, if they receive requests for an employee to spend at an establishment that is unlikely to be work-related, they can deny the request immediately and suspend the card in question.

• Transactions that are automatically coded based on your custom mapping and local compliance regulation. The best solutions will allow you to customize and automate coding at the entity level, including local tax code support for streamlined reporting and compliance.
• Automatic receipt collection — no more chasing employees for missing receipts. Healthcare employees should be able to upload receipts for in-the-field or travel expenses as soon as the purchase is made, right from the mobile app. This eliminates the need to chase them down for receipts or to fill out expense reports, and automatically matches receipts and syncs with your ERP.
  

3. Make sure there’s flexibility with your current system, tools, and travel agencies.

Modern T&E platforms aren’t just user-friendly — they’re also built to work with other tools and processes. This includes:

• Integration with any ERP system
• Support for multiple TMCs
• Integration with any HRIS, SSO/SAML, or procurement solution

4. Calculate cost savings.

There are multiple ways a new T&E platform can cut costs across your company. Look for platforms with the ability to analyze patterns in employee spending or cost-saving opportunities to negotiate better rates with your vendors. With the right T&E solution, you can also cut costs by reducing or eliminating time and resources spent on manual, repetitive work in areas like:

• Receipt collection
• Auto-coding expenses for accounting and taxes
• Auto-syncing spend data to your ERP

See also: 7 Ways Automation Simplifies Invoice Coding & Processing

5. Pick a T&E platform that your employees will want to use.

A user-friendly platform that simplifies the travel and expense process can boost user adoption, employee satisfaction and productivity. Best of all, when a platform is easy to use, it means less training for travel managers!

The pain-free future of T&E for the healthcare industry

By embracing a modern T&E solution, healthcare organizations can not only alleviate the pain points associated with travel management but also drive cost savings, improve efficiency, and  enhance compliance. So, why continue to suffer from the pains of T&E? It’s time to prescribe a dose of T&E software and experience the modern miracle of automation.

Do you want to learn more about how T&E software can specifically benefit your healthcare organization? Let’s chat!

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