Can you believe this - several healthcare providers are found struggling or unable to cope with the administrative pressure? Yes, the healthcare industry seems to have undergone a massive transformation due to technological changes. Unfortunately, off-the-shelf generic software is no longer in vogue since patients these days crave highly customised on-demand care. Not picking the right technology often leads to slowing down the process and making the physician burn out unnecessarily.
As a solution, you need to conduct a healthcare software development project where you can offer a hyper-efficient infrastructure with unmatched services for your valuable patients.
What is healthcare software development?
Healthcare software development is a special process featuring lots of stages, including designing, developing, maintenance, and so more. These solutions are created specifically for medical, clinical and administrative purposes only. The global healthcare market is expected to reach $981.5 billion by 2032.
Several digital healthcare technologies, such as SaaS, cloud computing, telemedicine, and wearable technology, as well as health monitoring apps and more. What else, you will also see a rising adoption of disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence, telemedicine software, and generative AI.
It is a safe bet to say that the healthcare software landscape is evolving at a frantic pace. Take a look at telemedicine; the concept definitely has substantial growth and is expected to generate over $400 billion by 2030. Wondering why? Well, by conducting one healthcare software development project, you can receive several benefits, including:
- Streamlined communication
- Enhanced care quality
- Ensuring absolute privacy
Accuracy of records among different areas such as hospitals, clinics, research labs, financial services, medical equipment providers and the list goes on.
Type of Healthcare software development
Electronic medical records - Electronic medical records are basically a digital version of a patient’s chart. These records are mainly used by clinicians to store all patients’ medical and treatment histories for diagnosis.
Electronic Health Records - An EHR software assists well in managing patients’ data in the most accurate and electronic manner, featuring medical history, allergies, lab results, as well as taking care of different demographics. These records are well integrated with different ERP systems to broaden functionality.
E-Prescribing software - This type of healthcare software development app is where allows healthcare providers to send prescriptions directly to relevant pharmacies. By doing so, you can definitely make things convenient for end patients and strengthen connections within the healthcare system. No wonder e-Prescribing software can not just streamline workflows but also result in enhanced patient care.
Urgent care software - As the name implies, this category features patients to receive emergency care on a remote basis. So there is no need to make any in-person visits to a doctor’s office.
Hospital management software - Healthcare software basically streamlines operations, accurately bills, processes insurance, manages patient data, takes care of all administrative tasks, and a lot more.
Healthcare CRM software - Healthcare software, such as CRM systems, is not simply about gathering but about maintaining strong patient relationships.
Telemedicine software - This kind of healthcare software enables professionals to successfully diagnose as well treat patients on a remote basis. Be it via video conferencing or file-sharing, it enhances quick access to care. So here it is possible for professionals to conduct real-time monitoring and follow-up, resulting in enhanced patient engagement and continuity of care.
Lab information management software - Healthcare software such as LIMS enhances the accuracy of lab results.
Radiology information systems - RIS successfully streamlines the radiology department.
Pharmacy management software - Healthcare software can work wonders in managing pharmacies, leading to smooth operations. Wondering how? Right from tracking inventories to managing expired medications, and offering proper reminders for accurate patient safety and efficiency.
Health information exchange software - Another type is HIE software, where it is possible to exchange patients’ health-related information in the safest and secure manner. The information can be shared among healthcare providers, improving collaboration, care speed, and reliability through custom platforms.
Billing and revenue cycle management software - Software keeps accurate tabs on the billing and revenue and not just for a while, but this happens throughout the patient lifecycle. What else, the procedures can be streamlined via smart software development integration.
AI-powered healthcare software - AI technology is no longer relatively new; slowly and steadily, it seems to be revolutionising every industry, and healthcare is no longer an exception. Some of the common benefits of incorporating AI in the healthcare organisation are predicting outcomes, optimising administrative tasks, and making clinical processes easy and efficient.
Wearable health devices integration - Smartwatches are found everywhere, enabling caregivers to offer personalised services as well as keep tabs on health in real-time.
Blockchain for healthcare data security - Security breaches shouldn’t be ignored at any rate. With the help of blockchain technology, enhancing patient data security is easy to do. Here, you can make sure there is an encrypted, tamper-proof data exchange between healthcare providers.
Virtual health assistants and chatbots - AI-driven chatbots and virtual assistants are enhancing patient engagement by answering health questions, scheduling appointments, and offering basic medical advice.
I am sure you must be well aware of the fact that earlier, the healthcare industry featured paper record systems and data; now it’s time to incorporate a digital makeover. Let us figure out how else healthcare software development is beneficial.
Absolute patient care
One of the obvious benefits of considering healthcare software development is that you are bound to receive the utmost patient care. With more and more digitisation, you will find an absolute reduction in medical data entry errors. Caregivers can now offer more personalised care. In addition, decisions can be made pretty quickly and in the most accurate manner.
Increased efficiency and cost savings
Of course, you might not agree with me on this, but yes, by incorporating digital aspects, you can increase efficiency as well as at the same time save lots and lots of money. By conducting a healthcare development project, several tedious admin-based jobs can be streamlined, enabling healthcare professionals to focus on the primary requirements. And since everything is done digitally, there is no scope for any mistakes or issues.
Quick patient access to healthcare services
Another benefit of conducting a healthcare software development project is that it ensures quick patient access, so there is no delay in terms of treatment. Moreover, with the help of the app, patients can directly book appointments with their preferred doctors.
Enhanced decision-making and patient care
If you have come up with a kickass software development idea, it means you have taken a step ahead towards enhanced decision-making and patient care. This makes it relevant to view health records, schedule appointments with preferred doctors and keep tabs on their ongoing healthy journey.
Competitive edge in no time
Last but certainly not least, conducting a healthcare software development project enables organisations to gain a competitive edge in no time. No one would dare to ignore an organisation that is more trustworthy and offers absolutely transparent and convenient services.
Must-have Key Features of a Healthcare Software Solution
Quick Registration and profile management - The software must be able to create as well as manage several patients ’ profiles simultaneously. In addition, it must be capable of updating personal information and tracking health history in no time.
Easy appointment schedule - This feature of the software enables patients to book appointments with specific caregivers. In addition, staff can manage schedules like never before.
e-Prescription - Unlike earlier, patients no longer have to keep on visiting the doctor now and then; they can have quick and easy access to their prescribed medications and even manage dosage whenever needed.
EHR/EMR integration - An ideal healthcare software should be capable enough to integrating seamlessly with EHR and EMR services.
Predictive analysis - Now, for quicker and accurate outcomes, healthcare professionals can make the most of predictive tools to forecast outcomes beforehand.
AI-powered healthcare chatbot - Another amazing healthcare software development aspect is offering 24/7 assistance via chatbots at least first-level assistance, so that the patient no longer feels paranoid and stays calm.
Operating Theatre (OT) Management - This feature is accessible to surgeons or OT staff as well as admin staff members. This feature is ideal since it ensures quick scheduling, staffing, and smooth operations.
Fraud Detection - Fraud is happening every now and then; healthcare systems now need to be pretty much upbeat to not just detect but even safeguard the data and prevent unwanted fraudulent activities.
Inventory management - Another crucial aspect used by admin and supply chain managers is inventory management. In addition to managing inventory, this feature tracks supplies and ensures the use of required actions and equipment.
Automatic Alerts - Here, it is possible to offer timely notifications, especially in regards to critical lab results, sudden deterioration of patients’ health, adverse drug reactions, patient falls, sepsis, and code blue.
Step-By-Step Guide To Conduct Successful Healthcare Software Development
Step 1: Define clear objectives and requirements
First and foremost, you need to define the type of healthcare software that you are willing to develop. I mean, are you considering seamless patient management or EHR or telemedicine or anything else?
Here, make sure you involve everyone, including doctors, nurses, caregivers, admin staff, and ask for the end objectives and requirements. In addition, do not forget to consider the compliance standard; it is very important for the healthcare software to meet the required compliance standards HIPAA, GDPR, HL7 and more.
Step 2: Try gaining relevant market insights
As soon as you have chosen the specific type of healthcare software you are willing to develop, it's time to look further into relevant market insights and what is in vogue and what’s not! Make sure to figure out strengths and weaknesses whenever required.
For quick outcomes, keep conducting relevant surveys and interviewing end-users so that you have a clear idea of your focus group’s needs and spot pain points and offer relevant solutions.
Step 3: Time to delve into details
Once you are done with the market research, you need to proceed further with having a detailed understanding of the project scope, deliverables and numerous milestones.
Here’s the list of relevant tech stacks to consider:
Web App Frontend Tech - HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript Frameworks (React.js, Angular, or Vue.js)
Mobile App Frontend Tech - Kotlin for Native Android App, Swift and Swift UI for Native iOS App, Flutter or React Native for Cross-platform App
Backend Tech - Python (with frameworks Django, Flask, or FastAPI), core PHP or Laravel
Database Management System - PostgreSQL, MySQL, or MongoDB
AI/ML Technologies - TensorFlow, PyTorch, spaCy, NLTK, Apache Spark, Pandas
Cloud Infrastructure - Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
DevOps Tools - Jenkins, GitLab CI, CircleCI, Prometheus, Grafana, ELK Stack
Video Conferencing Tools - WebRTC
Step 4 - Time to Conduct the Development
Now it’s time to conduct the development project. You need to watch around for relevant experts who have knowledge and experience in designing as well as developing healthcare software projects and can even offer relevant ideas and updates regarding how to deliver the best user experiences.
The key to any successful healthcare development project is to strategise using agile and DevOps methodologies. Ask them to come up with alluring, robust healthcare systems, including EHRs, billing systems and lab systems. Having clear ideas right in the beginning means you no longer have to panic ahead or worry about unwanted mishaps.
Step 5 - Secure the software
Last but certainly not least, an important step in any healthcare software development project is securing the software. So, try implementing encryption for data and make sure to protect patients’ information as much as you can. Security is a must these days, so try end-to-end encryption or two-factor authentication or role-based permissions so that no one else can do the work.
Once all the necessary software quality checks are done, time to deploy the software in the live environment and see what happens next. After deployment, keep monitoring the software for potential issues and offer relevant support.
Conclusion
And we are done for now! This is what healthcare software development is all about. I hope you did find the following post worth taking into account. In case you have any kind of doubts or concerns, feel free to mention them in the comment section below.
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