From electronic health records to medical billing software, technology has revolutionized the way healthcare is delivered. In this article, we'll take a deep dive into the different types of software used in hospitals and clinics, and how they improve patient outcomes and streamline workflows.
A QUICK SUMMARY – FOR THE BUSY ONES
Remote Patient Monitoring
Allow doctors and medical staff to monitor the health of patients outside the medical facility.
Telemedicine
Allows patients to get medical help without leaving home, reduces queues at hospitals, and increases the efficiency of medical staff.
Electronic Health Record Software
Collects and organizes the complete medical history of patients and allows data exchange between organizations.
Patient CRM Software
Improves the quality of patient communication with the medical facility and increases customer satisfaction.
Hospital Management Software
It’s a tool that organizes the work of the entire hospital: doctors' schedules, administration, room management, supply control, etc.
Appointment Scheduling Software
Allows patients to book medical appointments on their own, and saves hospitals administrative staff time
Health Tracking Apps
Encourage patients to observe their health regularly and support their education.
IoT Devices
Allow for continuous health monitoring and synchronize data with EHR systems.
AI-based Diagnostic Tools
Give doctors access to huge databases of symptoms, allowing for faster and more accurate diagnosis.
Blockchain Solutions
Are a breakthrough in healthcare cybersecurity, as they prevent information theft and falsification.
Virtual Reality Medical Solutions
Support therapy for people with dementia, Alzheimer's, PTSD, movement disorders, and phobias through interactive simulations.
Medical Education Software
Improves the quality of medical education for students and practicing physicians, and facilitates memorization and surgical practices.
E-commerce Solutions for Healthcare
Allow customers to buy medical services, tests, and treatment packages as simply and conveniently as clothes or electronics in an online store.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Is it worth developing digital healthcare solutions? Let’s just say that up to 83% of patients search for health information on websites and browsers, and the value of the IT healthcare sector is growing by 19.8% per year. It's not only worth it – it's a must synchronizing article, we will discuss the 13 most important software solutions for healthcare.
Digital medical services today are not just an add-on, but the core of effective daily work of hospitals. Their main goal is to optimize the work of medical facilities and support the treatment process for patients. The covid 19 pandemic has accelerated the inevitable process of digital transformation, and today it is difficult to find a medical company that does not use technological solutions.
Specialized tests require a visit to a facility, but many health measurements can be taken from home, saving the patient and doctor time.
Remote patient monitoring is currently one of the most important trends in modern medicine. This broad term encompasses all tools, systems, and procedures that allow a person's health to be observed without direct interaction with a medical professional.
Remote monitoring allows patients to easily update information about their condition and encourages them to follow up regularly. Medical personnel, meanwhile, can use their time more efficiently and focus on emergencies instead of performing routine examinations. In addition, remote patient monitoring ensures that doctors have the most up-to-date information about the patient's health status and can respond immediately to alarming symptoms.
Clinics, hospitals, and patients.
They allow observation of health conditions outside the facility, reducing costs and examination time.
According to the CDC – the national public health agency of the United States – more than 50% of visits to medical facilities are for primary care. In the face of overcrowded hospitals and staffing shortages in the medical industry, solutions that allow primary care consultations to be provided effectively outside of a medical facility are crucial. Fortunately, such a solution already exists and is gaining popularity in the healthcare sector.
Telemedicine is a form of providing medical services through digital communication channels, such as phone calls, video calls, or chats. In this way, patients can get advice, a prescription, or a referral without leaving home.
According to the CDC, 37.0% of adults used telemedicine at least once in 2021. Moreover, 65% of physician practices with a telehealth solution already in place plan to make further investments, up from 45% in 2018. This kind of software solution for healthcare is also a valuable support for the elderly as even 43.3% of adults aged 65+ use it (compared to 29.4% of adults aged 18-29).
Medical facilities and patients
Telemedicine increases the efficiency of doctors by allowing them to more quickly give a routine consultation, prescribe a prescription or refer for further tests. Patients do not have to drive to the clinic when they are sick or need brief advice.
EHR is probably the most important software used in hospitals because it allows them to store and update patient data, treatment history, diagnoses, prescriptions, medical records, allergy information, and more. EHR software maintains the continuity of treatment and significantly reduces administrative work. What's more, different facilities can use a common database to keep patient information complete. This solution also reduces the risk of data loss or duplication common with paper records.
The EHR system often also has a financial module for billing and invoicing. The software is usually integrated with CRM and remote patient monitoring software.
Clinics and hospitals.
Storage and organization of medical records and the exchange of data between medical facilities.
Healthcare customer relationship management (CRM) software enables patients to manage their appointments, documents, medical history, and prescriptions. CRM software solutions for healthcare are often used by private medical facilities to build relationships with customers and improve their user experience. Patients appreciate convenient and intuitive technological solutions and are more likely to entrust the care of their health to a company that allows them to freely manage and monitor their medical data. Such a solution also has a benefit for medical staff, as it reduces administrative work.
Patients.
Patients get quick access to medical history, treatment data and prescriptions. They can check all the necessary information on their own instead of calling the reception desk of the medical facility.
Private medical care such as Medicover, Bupa, or Cigna offer their customers advanced CRM panels for booking appointments, following a treatment plan, checking doctor's orders, viewing medical history, prescriptions, and sick leave notices.
Hospitals are large and complex organizations where a huge number of processes need to be kept under control. HMS is a tool for optimizing the work of the entire hospital and managing administration, supplies, doctors' work, room booking, etc. HMS, together with EHR, is the most important medical software used in hospitals and the backbone of an effective health service.
Hospitals, clinics, and medical facilities.
It optimizes hospital operations, increases the productivity of the medical team, and prevents errors.
Managing patient appointments and physician availability is one of the most time-consuming tasks of medical facility administration. Fortunately, the days when all appointments and availability had to be organized manually are behind us. The appointment booking tool is an essential software solution for healthcare. It allows a clinic or hospital to work smoothly and automatically update appointment data. As a rule, such a system has two panels – for patients, who can book the services of specialists at selected facilities, and for medical staff, who can enter the availability of doctors. Data in the system is updated in real-time to prevent several people from booking the same appointment. The tool can be integrated with EHR and CRM systems.
Patients, clinics, and hospitals.
Reduce queues in the facility, managw the availability of specialists, optimize staff time.
Mobile health monitoring apps provide a quick and easy way to update information about one's condition and well-being and encourage patients to check-ups regularly. In 2022, 77% of young adults (18-29) used their smartphones to monitor their health conditions, while 84 million people in the U.S. used healthcare apps. Health tracking apps send reminders to take measurements, generate periodic reports and support medical education through tips, videos, and posts. They can connect to IoT devices and patient monitoring software.
Medical IoT devices are used to collect information on a patient's vital functions, such as blood pressure, glucose levels, heart rate, sleep quality, body tension, etc. They’re a great way to continuously and automatically monitor a patient's health and analyze their results under different conditions, such as during sleep or after exercise, which helps doctors to diagnose more accurately. 32% of consumers who purchase wearable technology use it for health and clinical reasons. Modern accessories of this type are small and convenient, so patients like to wear them which support regular checkups. Data collected by IoT devices can be synchronized with the software used in hospitals and healthcare mobile applications to provide a broader view of the patient's condition.
Patients and medical facilities.
The patient can easily and effortlessly measure his vitals, and the doctor has access to up-to-date information.
Diagnostic software based on Artificial Intelligence uses machine learning to collect and process data on the symptoms of specific diseases. This allows the software to indicate a patient's condition using information about previous accurate diagnoses. This type of software solution for healthcare is a tremendous support for doctors during diagnosis because it gives them access to far more data and experience than one person would be able to gather during their entire practice. AI-based diagnostic tools are particularly useful when diagnosing rare diseases with non-specific symptoms and enable knowledge sharing between partner units around the world.
Clinics, hospitals, specialists.
AI-based software used in hospitals increases the accuracy of diagnosis and reduce its time.
Diagnostics.ai is a provider of AI-based software used in hospitals and medical facilities to ensure safe and automated diagnosis of diseases. The effectiveness of this multi-patented algorithm is confirmed by a peer-reviewed clinical study.
Blockchain technology-based solutions are gaining popularity in industries that operate on sensitive data, such as finance, law, retail, and healthcare. The global blockchain technology in healthcare market accounts for $1.97 billion. Blockchain is of great importance in cybersecurity because it records the full history of operations, and the data it contains cannot be manipulated or falsified. Private blockchains act as closed databases that can only be accessed by verified users, and their activity is reported in the system. Since medical records are some of the most sensitive data, and their theft can have colossal consequences for patient protection, medical companies are among the main adopters of such solutions.
Hospitals and medical facilities.
They enhance data security, ensure transparency of actions taken and prevent information falsification or hacking.
We associate VR mainly with entertainment, but the possibilities of this technology in medicine are blooming. According to a PWC report, the annual growth rate of VR technology is 30.3%. Virtual Reality makes it possible to design a simulation tailored to the specific needs of a case and to go through the therapeutic process under controlled conditions. Such solutions are long-term cheaper and easier to carry out, as patients can train at home. In addition, VR can also be used to educate doctors, for example, in performing surgeries. According to a Harvard Business Review study, VR training improved students' overall surgical performance by 230% compared with traditional methods.
Patients and medical staff.
Supporting the therapeutic process of patients and educating physicians.
Medicine is one of the most difficult fields of study in the world, and the healthcare industry is evolving rapidly so doctors need to constantly expand their knowledge. For this reason, custom medical education software can be a tremendous support for students and practicing professionals to improve their skills. E-learning platforms with tests, online lectures, quizzes, and memorization apps help to improve the quality of medical staff education.
Students, practicing physicians, clinics, hospitals, and medical schools
Improving the quality of education in health care.
Companies such as SimplyBook.Me, Clinicminds, or Setmore allow you to book appointments at selected medical facilities and implement in hospitals and clinics.
Between 2019 and 2020, the e-commerce sector grew by as much as 43%! The medical industry has also benefited from this explosion in the popularity of online sales. And it's not just about medications, supplements, and equipment. Healthcare providers are increasingly expanding the potential of e-commerce to offer their customers packages of tests and services tailored to their needs. Patients through an online store can book an appointment with a specialist, purchase a test or examination, a package of appointments with a physical therapist, comprehensive dental treatment, and much more.
Patients, healthcare providers, clinics, and laboratories.
It improves the user experience of healthcare patients, and increases the customer base of healthcare providers.
You don't have to deal with it by yourself. Check top healthcare software development companies that offer consultations and team augmentation services.
It won’t be an exaggeration to say that the digital transformation of healthcare is a process that everyone has been waiting for years, even decades. At first, many companies were afraid of innovation, but once the progress took off - it could no longer be stopped. Today, almost all medical facilities use some form of software to optimize their work. Solutions such as AI-based diagnostic tools, VR software, EHR, CRM, and HMS systems make it possible to significantly increase the productivity of medical staff, avoid administrative errors, save time and money, and, most importantly, improve the quality of patient care. The future is now. And it's remarkable to see what it will bring!
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Software development enthusiast with 6 years of professional experience in the tech industry.
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