Tag: healthcare technology
The world of technology keeps evolving and waits for no one, so it is our responsibility to keep up with it rather than fall behind. The healthcare industry has for a long time been using software development systems to monitor and ease work-lifestyles; now it is time to customize this software to make them function and run exactly the way you need it to. Custom software development has made life and business significantly easier for innumerable industries and is poised to revolutionize the Healthcare Industry as well. This article will tell you all you need to know about it.
Importance Of Healthcare Software Development
Healthcare software systems provide innumerable benefits to hospital management, from improved productivity to reduced medication errors. It streamlines the workflow, enhances data quality, drastically reduces errors, and boosts patient experiences. Rising technological advancements also help with hospital administration and operations.
Benefits Of Customized Healthcare Software Development
The overall benefit of using customized healthcare software is overall progress and betterment. This should be reason enough to convince anyone to adopt custom healthcare software but if it is not, listed below are a few of the other benefits of this type of software development:
- Increased security – Thanks to the inculcation of software in healthcare, hospitals are now sending, storing, and retrieving data through the web. Custom software solutions will guarantee the safety of this personal medical data.
- User-friendly experience – The target audience’s desired product is taken into consideration by software designers and user interface designers. Software designers can also consider specific aspects of an application to make it more alluring and interactive.
- Customizable features – Customization is the buzzword right now, and custom software provides it like no other. Customer feedback is prioritized, and the generated product is more streamlined and efficient. Customized software will handle specific problems, and this aspect makes it attracts and brings in more loyal customers or patients.
- Quality of diagnostics – Technology is well known for its brilliance in efficiency. Diagnostics run by a customized software solution have proven to have outstanding quality and accuracy because these solutions imbibe knowledge from innumerable sources and compare results faster. Hence, healthcare providers can proffer improved healthcare if they rely on custom software solutions.
Read more: How Can Custom-Made Software Provide Superior Customer Service In The Healthcare Industry?
Understanding Healthcare Software Development
Healthcare software development is the creation of any software for the healthcare sector to facilitate hospitals and improve equipment management. It also helps with administering electronic records, managing health records, providing diagnoses and treatments, improving patient care, and reducing costs.
Healthcare software development plays an important role in everyone’s life. For doctors – it reduces paperwork and increases collaboration with other specialists. For patients – it enhances patient outreach, improves healthcare quality, and eases access to medical data. Lastly, it improves medical business management and streamlines management processes for organizations.
Healthcare organizations, just like any other organization, have their own set of challenges that cripple them. Custom Software can address most of these challenges and fix them.
- Cyberthreats – The skyrocketing rate of cyber security attacks threatens to endanger the personal medical data of patients and, ultimately, the reputation of a healthcare center. Custom Software can fix this with its exceptional security firewalls and customized cyber security.
- Patient Experience – When patients experience favorable care, they are more likely to heed medical advice and this is essential for better healthcare outcomes, boosting patient retention rates and lowering malpractice risk. Custom software can help here, too by enhancing the user experience and user interface by creating more interactive, customized, and enticing products.
Key Considerations for Healthcare Software Development
Now that we have established the importance of custom healthcare software development, here are some key considerations:
1. Compliance And Security –
Medical records are very sensitive data, and it is the responsibility of the healthcare facility to protect them carefully. Abiding by the international security laws of HIPAA, PCI, and IOS is a must, along with deft investments in specialized medical data security. Ensure that your partner conducts adequate software checkups to detect any potential vulnerability.
2. User-Centred Design –
Customized healthcare software’s main target is its audience, so focusing on their comfort or ease is a top priority. Inclusivity of all kinds, from senior users to less literate users, is a crucial thing to keep in mind when designing an interface for the organization. Properly incorporated user-centered designs are vital for an intuitive and efficient workflow. Software Designers usually build a simple and easy-to-use user interface (UI) and a user experience (UX).
3. Interoperability and Integration –
Interoperability, in simple words, is the ability of a software or system to work compatibly with other products and systems. It helps facilitate organized and effective data exchange between data systems. To avoid complications with regard to personalized information or reports of customers while sharing data between systems, especially when introducing new versions of the same software to different platforms, efficient interoperability is important.
4. Scalability and Flexibility –
Scalability and flexibility are other critical considerations to remember. It is imperative to design a product capable of scaling up as your healthcare organization grows. Ensuring that your customized software developed is flexible and can change and segue according to wavering customer demands.
5. Data Analytics and Insights –
Data analytics is essentially the process of studying raw data in order to determine trends and enable enhanced decision-making. This transformation of data done by custom software into insights can drastically leverage data to enhance decision-making, patient outcomes, and overall operational efficiency.
Read more: AI in Healthcare – Know what’s trending and what’s upcoming!
Steps in Custom Healthcare Software Development
Let’s now get into the development itself. Here are some steps to ensure that the development goes smoothly and provides the best outcomes:
1. Requirements Gathering and Analysis –
It is always best to make a detailed analysis of your organization, its needs, and budgets before diving into a custom software development project. Consult well-versed software designers and healthcare professionals, jot the requirement details, and communicate with your team members to obtain an unbiased perspective.
2. Design and Development –
In this step, the analysis generated is used as input and software infrastructure for implementing software development. Software developers first draw a synopsis of the details for the application, including specific aspects such as User interfaces, System interfaces, Network and Network Requirements, and Databases.
Following close behind the design stage is the development stage. It is the stage where coding starts and all components of the software are implemented. The use of agile methodologies and interactive interfaces to improve user satisfaction, flexibility, and feedback incorporation is crucial during this phase of development.
3. Quality Assurance And Testing –
The testing period begins at the end of the coding stage. Here the modules are circulated for testing. Although testing may not seem like a necessary step, skipping it will ultimately result in the downfall of software. The developed software should be tested thoroughly, and developers fix any vulnerability discovered. There are various tests that need to be conducted after coding of software; these include – functional, usability, and security testing.
4. Deployment and Training –
After the product has been sufficiently tested, the software is deployed into the market or organization scheme. In the case of UAT (User Acceptance Testing), a production environment is created, and the customer, along with the developers, partakes in the testing.
Case Studies
Fingent has been a leader in custom software development for the healthcare sector and has created unmatched solutions for its clients. Here are a few examples:
A Data Analytics Solution for NHS: With the wide range of hospitals under its governance, the NHS required a data visualization tool that would help them compare healthcare performances across the hospitals and showcase the best ones. Fingent helped develop a solution that was customized to the NHS’s specific needs and designed an application with interactive visuals and real-time access to insights.
Fingent’s portfolio includes top-notch solutions like this, including an online engagement platform for NovitaCare and a patient care solution to promote effective communication in the healthcare ecosystem. Working with clients globally, Fingent has been able to have a direct impact on simplified patient care, operational efficiency, and cost savings for healthcare providers.
Future Trends In Healthcare Software Development
The future evidently holds great plans for healthcare software. We have only skimmed over the uses and possibilities that technology has introduced to healthcare; there are so many more possibilities.
1. AI in Healthcare
Artificial Intelligence is the most beneficial factor of technology for the healthcare industry. It can effortlessly mimic human cognition in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating complex medical data. AI can perform data analysis through the healthcare system and can be widely used to predict patient admissions and improve clinical workflows.
2. IoT in Healthcare
IoT (Internet of Things) has the potential to enable healthcare professionals to supervise their patients more accurately. It can equip healthcare workers and professionals with the tools to deliver excellent care and treatment to patients. Exploiting this technology and several tech-powered wearables that enable real-time tracking, end-to-end connectivity, and remote monitoring are some of the other areas that IoT will assist.
Summary
Healthcare Software Development benefits institution staff, patients, and administrators. Although it might seem quite diverse and may come across as a daunting task, with the right partner on your side your journey will be successful.
Look for a partner in Fingent, and we will help you navigate the complexities and compliances that come with the development of healthcare software solutions.
Reach out to us today, and let’s get talking.
With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the healthcare industry is spiraling at an unexpected speed and is continuously inventing healthcare solutions to drive streamlined operations. Medical organizations are now largely depending on custom healthcare software solutions to maintain medical history, electronic health records, patient’s personal information, and other medical data to provide better patient care and health services. This blog will take you through why your healthcare organization needs to invest in custom healthcare software development, and how it’s beneficial to outsource it!
What is custom healthcare software development?
Today, healthcare is driven by technological innovations such as big data, electronic patient record systems, interoperability, and machine learning. The need for this is to provide better patient experiences and improve health outcomes. To achieve this, there is a need for professionally designed tools and solutions that can help healthcare providers to deliver patient-first and cost-effective care.
Custom healthcare software development is the process of creating web or mobile apps for medical professionals so they can interact with patients better, use medical data analytics, and access patient health records.
Examples of how custom software development has transformed the healthcare industry include;
- Tools such as Hospital Management Systems (HMS) or Hospital Information System (HIS) are comprehensive integrated solutions that handle different aspects of hospital or clinic’s workflow efficiently.
- An Electronic Health Record (EHR) system collects a patient’s data and history and stores it in a digital format that makes sharing across different healthcare systems easy.
- Mobile apps and wearable devices are serving several health aspects.
Read more: Augmented Reality in Healthcare: The Industry Future!
Key benefits of custom healthcare software
1. Tailor-made solution
Software solutions built specifically catering to your organizational needs help deliver better customer services. Especially when it concerns providing patient-care services, it is always recommended to invest in custom or tailormade solutions. An off-the-shelf or packaged solution, in comparison to a custom software solution, may or may not be able to meet your organization’s requirements or even work well within a specific type of facility. A custom software solution will help solve your business-specific complexes and will help meet your business goals.
2. Streamline processes
Undoubtedly, technology enables us to get our work done efficiently and more accurately. A custom software solution can have a far-reaching impact. It frees your staff to allow them to focus on patient care.
3. Personalized care
Today, patients want to understand their health on their own and expect personalized services from their healthcare provider. This is why there is an increasing demand for telemedicine, at-home testing kits, and health apps.
4. Enhanced security
Custom healthcare software solutions are built in compliance with the industry standards and guarantee that personal data stays secure and confidential. An app must comply with Open Web Application Security Project standards and other certifications, to be approved.
When it comes to creating custom healthcare software, organizations can;
- Leverage any open-source platform to create a customizable solution without the need for coding
- Outsource the entire custom software development process to a reliable development agency.
Read more: Why Healthcare Prefers Prescriptive Analytics Over Predictive Analytics
Advantages of outsourcing healthcare software development
1. Economical and effective
By outsourcing to a third-party offshore company, you can save a lot of costs. It helps save largely on the cost of developing application infrastructure, recruiting professionals, training the recruits, and deployment and pre-installation set-up costs. Most service providers use advanced technology that would fit your budget.
2. Experienced team
While some projects require a large pool of software developers others may not. In such cases, it may be difficult to hire software developers and then relieve them after completing the work as it involves a huge cost to hire, set up infrastructure, and team. Therefore, outsourcing custom healthcare software development gives you the leeway to scale up or down resources as per your project requirements.
3. Agile and scalable solutions
In-house healthcare developers are usually burdened with several other tasks which cause them to lose focus and compromise on the delivery of the app. Collaborating with a third-party agency will provide you with the flexibility of managing the resources and whenever you need them. This will also help you include scalable software developers to build an app that is more agile and consistent.
4. Quick time to market
Outsourcing the custom development task will give you access to experts from healthcare domains to develop your applications. This will ensure your app be superior,well-grained, and reach the market faster so patients can be treated faster.
5. Increased productivity
As offshore developers are qualified and talented enough to develop your app, you won’t have to burden them with briefings and preparations. This will allow you to focus on improving the critical and core healthcare services of your organization thus improving the results significantly.
Read more: Healthcare Analytics Reaches New Heights with SAP HANA
Cost of outsourcing custom healthcare software development
When it comes to the healthcare industry, the average cost of an experienced developer is not cheap. That is why 59% of global companies outsource software development. While the costs vary from country to country, you will still save about 40-70% of the total costs. For example, the average hourly cost for a software developer in the US is $65–$130 per hour while the hourly cost of offshore developers in Asia and Africa is $20–45.
Why choose Fingent?
If you need custom healthcare software for your organization, Fingent top custom software development company is your trusted partner.
- We have a pool of experienced and skilled developers who can help you identify the right solution for your business complexities.
- Our agile methodology of development ensures client involvement at every stage so that the solution is scalable, cost-effective, as well as caters to specific client requirements.
- We offer transparent offshore development services in terms of overhead costs and recruitment fees.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for custom healthcare software development cannot be denied. Our developers are not only affordable but can add much value in terms of talent and skill to your organization. Connect with our experts today!