For years, hospitals had no choice. The only way to test EHR and other integrated applications was manually. That meant accepting all the drawbacks that came with it, including the consumption of tens of thousands of employee work hours, high costs, disgruntled teams, and the increased risk of workflow disruptions and patient safety issues.
All of that was acceptable when there was no alternative, but now there is. SureTest delivers powerful test automation in a fully managed, turnkey solution, minimizing virtually all the drawbacks of manual testing without adding operational burden to your teams.
Enterprise application testing has evolved.
Automation now gives health systems a faster, smarter, and more reliable way to test. It’s an amazing leap forward from where testing stood just a few years ago.
So why keep pouring time, money, and energy into manual testing when you don’t have to? It’s a question every healthcare leader should be asking.
The Real Price of Manual Testing
Most health systems don’t realize how much manual testing costs them each year because many of the associated costs are difficult to track.
However, SureTest’s analysis across multiple health systems found that, on average, manual testing consumes nearly 25,000 hours per year, representing more than $1M in employee expenses.
While these stats jump off the page, they’re only part of the story. Manual testing also introduces the potential for human error, which can impact patient care, workflows, and revenue cycle outcomes. With the amount of testing required every year, even a small mistake can cause major disruptions across multiple departments.
Manual testing also takes a toll on morale. During testing events, analysts are often pulled away from more strategic initiatives to perform repetitive tasks that underutilize their skills and expertise. Over time, and through countless testing cycles, this can lead to burnout, frustration, and slower progress across the health system.
Why Health Systems Can’t Afford Outdated Testing Processes
Today, health systems are under constant pressure to do more with less. With costs rising and margins tightening, decision-makers are tasked with maintaining an exemplary level of patient care while also keeping costs under control. That’s no easy task.
Even though manual testing has long been considered standard practice, health systems now have access to far more efficient and cost-effective technology.
Automated testing is the way forward.
| The Problems with Manual Testing | ||
|---|---|---|
| ⌛ | 25,000 Hours Per Year | The average time spent on manual testing per health system. |
| | Overextended Employees | Analysts are solving testing issues instead of performing higher-value work |
| 💥 | Cracks in Morale | The churn of manual testing adds up, and culture breaks down |
| ⚠️ | Disruptions to Care | Mistakes by human testers can force clinicians to pause patient care to submit support tickets |
Smoother Transitions, Fewer Headaches
They’re called manual testing “events” for a reason. When they occur, normal workflows pause, employees are routinely pulled away from system build work to answer questions, address and resolve issues, and the intensity to get everything right ramps up. That’s a manual testing event in a nutshell.
Automated testing creates its own rhythm. Instead of weeks-long marathons with all hands on deck, testing becomes a routine, predictable part of operations. As a result, workflows remain intact, and analysts can spend more time on high-value initiatives and build work.
SureTest client Erlanger Health System witnessed this shift firsthand:
“Before implementing SureTest’s automation solution, our monthly testing took a full week. Now, if it takes more than a day, it’s a shock.”
– Epic Analyst, Erlanger Health System
“We used to have hundreds of tests that would keep one full person off my team for an entire week. Now that person is back to focusing on analytical tasks instead of testing, which is a huge win for us.”
– Epic Analyst, Erlanger Health System
A managed test automation solution, like SureTest’s SureManage®, doesn’t just speed things up; it makes updates far less of an intrusion, allowing analysts and staff to stay focused on strategic priorities to build, optimize, and improve the EHR while SureManage handles the testing work in the background.
Fewer Distractions. More Focus.
Every health system’s goal is to deliver excellent care. But with each EHR release comes the risk of disruption because manual testing relies on people to identify issues before they go live, something that becomes increasingly difficult at scale.
Many issues don’t surface immediately. It’s only after multiple rounds of testing, a process that is difficult to maintain manually over time, that system breaks reveal themselves. That means they’re likely discovered after updated scripts go live, which can cause real-time disruptions in patient care.
Automated testing provides an invaluable safety net. Scripts are tested multiple times, so problems are far more likely to be identified before they reach production.
The SureManage solution runs scripts continually, so issues are caught before they ever reach clinicians, reducing risk and protecting care continuity.
“The automation gave us an alert that prevented an issue from reaching production. It’s been instrumental in identifying problems early.”
– Epic Analyst, Erlanger Health System
“At the end of the day, we’re all here for one reason: to put the patient at the center.”
– Laura O’Toole, CEO, SureTest
Regression Testing: The Safety Net
Even small EHR updates can disrupt workflows in unexpected ways. That’s where regression testing becomes an invaluable automated exercise. It confirms that recent upgrades or changes haven’t created new defects elsewhere in the system. Put simply, regression testing verifies that what worked yesterday in the EHR system still works the same way today, even after changes have been made.
It’s important to note that regression testing does not test every change in an update, only the ones that affect the EHR system’s core functionality.
For example, if the EHR system changes the font color from blue to green, it’s unlikely to break anything critical. But if there’s a change that touches a core workflow, even a minor tweak can cause problems.
Regression testing prevents scripts from becoming too bloated with unnecessary changes and makes it easier to pinpoint problems if they do occur. It also offers invaluable peace of mind that an EHR system is operating as it should, so there are no unexpected surprises down the road.
Staff Impact: From Resistance to Relief
Introducing automated testing isn’t always easy. Some levels of cultural resistance is natural. Analysts may wonder how an automated system will affect their roles, responsibilities, and job security. The key is communication and collaboration.
At Erlanger Health System, workflow capture sessions at the start of their SureTest partnership helped build trust and clarity:
“The workflow capture sessions were incredibly efficient. The sessions were thorough in capturing the necessary details for automation. We walked through various scenarios and addressed potential errors, which helped create comprehensive design documents.”
– Ross Thibodeaux, Professional Billing Team Lead & Revenue Cycle Analyst, Erlanger Health
Once employees see automation in action, and how it frees them to do the higher-level (and more gratifying) work they were hired for, buy-in happens quickly.
Automation isn’t here to replace people but to help them do their jobs better, and to help organizations like Erlanger Health get the most value from their teams.
The Proof is in the Numbers
The benefits of automated testing are undeniable, as evidenced by these numbers from various SureTest partnerships:
- Erlanger Health System cut testing time by 98%.
- Novant Health achieved a 91% reduction in testing hours and reallocated 20 FTEs to more strategic initiatives.
- Across most SureTest clients, hospitals see a positive ROI within the first year, and up to 200% over three years.
These results reinforce a consistent theme: automation delivers measurable value quickly.
A Better Path Forward
Manual testing has been the default in healthcare for decades, not because it’s effective, but because there was no alternative. Health systems had no choice but to put up with the time, expense, and risk.
SureManage changes that narrative. It delivers immediate ROI and time savings, reduces testing burdens by 80 percent or more, and eliminates human error from repetitive testing cycles. It offers regression testing as a safety net to help make sure systems are functioning as expected after every change.
Sticking with manual testing is like using a huge paper map when your car has GPS. The GPS gets you to your final destination faster, easier, and with significantly less stress. So does test automation.
Until now, manual testing has been the only game in town. Now, there’s a better way. Health systems, their employees, and the patients in their care are all better off with an automated solution. You can’t meet the testing demands of today and tomorrow with yesterday’s methods.
Key Takeaways
- Manual EHR testing is costly and inefficient
- Automated EHR testing significantly reduces time and cost
- EHR upgrades require continual validation – not one-time testing
- Regression testing is critical for protecting core workflows
- Manual testing increases risk to patient care and staff productivity
- Automation improves staff experience and reduces burnout
- Automated testing delivers measurable ROI for health systems
- The future of EHR testing is automated and continual
Contact us to learn more about what SureTest’s fully managed test automation solution can do for your organization, employees, and patients.