Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic the healthcare industry has been under enormous pressure. An urgent need for efficient solutions to the present-day problems demands turning to healthcare software development companies that help to perform such operations as keeping track of medical history, collecting patients’ personal data, storing personal information in a digital format, accessing a vast medical database. This article will substantiate the necessity of investing in custom healthcare software development and clarify the pros of outsourcing it to third-party developers.
Custom Healthcare Software: Main Tools and Solutions
The present-day challenges in the system of healthcare demand agile solutions and expansion of traditional approaches to treating patients. Medical institutions should cooperate with leading IT companies in search of new possibilities and tools.
Custom healthcare software development offers highly efficient web and mobile applications which facilitate the doctor-patient relationship and help to analyze the medical data in the most successful way. Here are some important examples of healthcare software decisions that demand further development and financial support:
- Electronic Health Record Software (EHR)
provides access to medical portals where both doctors and patients can find all necessary information concerning the state of health and the ways of treatment. It also helps to maintain communication and facilitates the exchange of important data between medical institutions.
- Hospital Management System (HMS)
provides an opportunity to control and manage data related to key departments of health organizations, including clinical, financial, inpatient, and outpatient ones, and others. HMS efficiently deals with the paperwork making it easier for the medical staff to arrange and analyze the data.
- Telehealth solutions
make it possible for patients to get in touch with doctors from any location and provide an opportunity for remote patient monitoring. Healthcare workers can deliver their services via phone and video calls or with the help of special chats.
- Health Tracking Apps
are elaborated to keep track of such important data as pulse rate, blood pressure, calorie count, average steps per day rate, and others.
- Health Insurance Software
covers mission-critical processes such as claims processing or benefits administration. Automation in this field leads to reducing costs as compared to manual processes.
- Patient Engagement Software
helps to establish online communication between medical professionals and patients, including booking appointments, paying bills, or accessing health records.
Advantages of Custom Healthcare Software
- Custom-made software.
In most cases, tailor-made solutions are better than A one-size-fits-all approach. Hospitals and clinics may have special demands for software, depending on their profiles. Custom software elaborated in cooperation with leading IT specialists will meet all the requirements of certain institutions providing healthcare.
- Personalization.
Patients prefer highly customizable apps allowing them to control their health by themselves.
- Data security and privacy policy.
Engaging reliable developers will ensure patients’ personal data protection and confidentiality. Custom software must comply with the standards set by The Open Web Application Security Project.
The benefits of outsourcing custom healthcare software development
- Cost reduction.
By handing over certain operations to third-party developers, companies can significantly reduce working expenses. One no longer needs to keep professionals whose area of expertise is highly tailored software and invest money in hiring and training staff, providing insurance, onboarding, and other benefits. Outsourcing will also allow attracting highly skilled professionals from the regions with lower salary rates.
- Suitability factor.
In some cases, software development needs an extended staff of specialists, in others, it may demand one-time activities only. It is not reasonable to hire IT professionals and release them after the project is over. In cases of non-recurring projects, it is better to confide the responsibilities elsewhere, to a team of experienced developers who will carry out all the tasks promptly and most efficiently.
- Increased in-house productivity.
Outsourcing the development of healthcare software will allow in-house employees to concentrate better on their core activities instead of performing tasks that are not needed on a regular basis. A healthcare company may focus on its key services and thus achieve the best possible results. It will not need to perform operations that demand laborious research and software development, especially when it comes to occasional or infrequent tasks.
- Cooperation with leading professionals.
Outsourcing allows attracting the best overseas professionals with rich experience in elaborating software for special needs. It may also strengthen international cooperation and help to establish long-term relations between healthcare institutions and development companies.
