The penetration of mHealth Technologies has been quite significant in areas like vital signs monitoring, health tracking and telemonitoring. There are enough indications to suggest that patient centric care, which is going to be the focus of the healthcare industry moving forward, will have mobile technology playing a huge part in it. However, certain important things will have to be kept in mind so as to follow the right approaches while rolling out initiatives. For example it is common place to assume that a certain breakthrough in technology will automatically get people to adapt their behavior so as to derive benefits from using it. The reality is more often than not far removed. We see that happening in health IT as well. It has been observed that more than 80% of the mHealth apps which get made are not used beyond a month. The main reason for this is that they were never designed at the first place keeping patient in mind. Design plays a very important role here. Generally good design takes in to account human factors and thus easily motivates them to use the apps. Also another thing to be kept in mind is that no matter how well designed they might be, mHealth apps cannot operate in isolation. If they are to be successful, they will need to be integrated in the workflows and made part of the care delivery system of healthcare setups. Only then would it lead to an increase in their acceptance and usage.
The ubiquitous use of smartphones and mobiles has brought in a huge shift in the lifestyles of people. Healthcare being an intrinsic part of our lives is expected to undergo changes as a result of this. Thus, there is an overwhelming demand from people to gain access to their health data over their handheld devices and use apps which get them to participate in their healthcare across all important settings, namely staffed beds, face-to-face, in-home and virtual. Meaningful Use has different connotations for providers and patients. For the former, it means doing things which will result in providing quality and effective healthcare in a cost effective manner. The rewards for achieving it are in the form of incentives. For the later however, there is no need for incentives to use technology. All they want is something useful, something which would seamless merge into their lives offering enhanced convenience and value and not require them to make a lot of changes to accommodate it. This is where providers can also help but leveraging the data explosion from Meaningful Use to make sense for their patients.
There is also this section of people from the industry who are keen on giving the use of mobile technology in Healthcare a bit of more time before jumping onto any conclusions related to its benefits. These are industry veterans and have seen many such interventions in the past which were reckoned as path breaking but ended up falling miserably short of expectations in terms of actual benefits; in the case of a few the outcomes were even detrimental. One such expert feels that there is potential of mobile technology helping two broad areas i.e. management of chronic diseases and diagnosis of acute illness. Besides the obvious benefits, it will eventually result in reducing the number of unnecessary visits of patients to physicians and increasing convenience tremendously. Thus, moving forward the aim is to reach a stage where hospitals would be needed only for intensive care, operating rooms and pre- and post-operation recovery purposes. Indirectly it would also go a long way in reducing the risk of infections resulting out of frequent visits to hospitals. Finally, the success of mHealth depends a lot on how evidence gets validated over the next few years on its effectiveness. Because it is new age it does not necessarily have to be the correct or define the future. Rather than illusions, it will require those hard found facts, collected over a reasonably long period of time, to propel its acceptance and eventual success. Also, a certain degree of regulations will need to be in place to avoid some well-intended apps and devices ending up being dangerous. Healthcare mobile app development teams can help you build projects within allocated budgets and time schedules.
We provide healthcare it services. If you would like to get your application tested by our certified healthcare software testers, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.
If one were to dig down and understand the real intent of implementing EHR and meet Meaningful Use criteria, it would be nothing but to achieve improved outcomes, better efficiencies and lesser healthcare costs. The healthcare delivery mechanism is expected to become much better as a result of this. However, somehow the focus seems to be revolving more around evaluating healthcare setups to determine their incentive payment eligibility, based on Meaningful Usage, rather than understanding the core issues which stand in the way of its implementation. In its current state, it is becoming more and more difficult for hospitals with limited resources to attain MU eligibility. The ones who fall into this category include smaller critical access hospitals and community health centers which generally treat patients with lower income and are more often than not uninsured. Although they seem to be using EHRs which are in some shape, it is in attaining MU certification where they seem to be falling short - primarily due to lack of availability of resources to invest, low patient volume and difficulty recruiting qualified IT personnel .On the contrary, the bigger hospitals with deeper pockets and superior resource access seem to be having a better ratio of eligibility.
The matter is likely to get worse when eventually hospitals start getting penalized after a few years. It will result in job losses of physicians and hospitalists employed by the smaller setups. This will ultimately lead to the whole purpose of implementing MU EHRs going for a toss. At the current rate of progress, it will be the patients who will suffer at the end of the day. This consequence was not preempted before the roll out started and hence some short-terms solutions are being suggested in order to handle the situation. For e.g. extending the last date for stage 2 implementation is one such option. The other one being mooted is that of the extending help to the struggling medical setups to expedite the process of full implementation of EHRs. Without concrete steps it would not be possible for the government to reach the stage it envisages to i.e. that of sharing patient data across providers and have clinical information following patients wherever they receive care.
One of the major stumbling blocks while attempting to qualify for the incentive program is that of meeting the requirement for computerized provider order entry. This issue seems to be more pronounced in the cases of hospitals which have failed to qualify for the incentive. It is not just the technical gaps but also the cultural and organizational ones which contribute to it. For the setups which achieved MU, the concerns hovered more on the technical front; related more towards providing patients secure and easy access to their data , identifying the factors that contribute towards the calculation of the quality measures and generating the data for the same. In a broad sense though, all this has cast a shadow on the pace at which Health IT adoption was expected to pick up and given its detractors an opportunity to hit back. Meaningful stage 2 adoption seems to be bane of many such groups. One such feels that there is not enough time available to validate the e- measures and so just implementing the software in practices will not necessarily mean that the objectives will be met automatically. Also, not every measure is of equal importance or value to every practice. For the physicians which have successfully completed stage 1, vendor readiness is posing a problem .Without the appropriate software updates and required support, Physicians will be unable to meet the Stage 2 requirements and get penalized without apparently any mistake from their end.
The general consensus is thus on extending the date for Stage 2 implementation by a year to avoid outstripping the capacities of vendors and physicians and risking complete derailment of the overall Health IT adoption process. This will allow the some exemplary practices to successfully implement Stage 2 requirements by 2014 and share their experiences and learning with vendors and providers for faster and efficient adoption at a broad scale subsequently. Healthcare software development teams can help you build projects within allocated budgets and time schedules.
We provide healthcare testing services. If you would like to get your application tested by our certified healthcare software testers, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.
In its current state, the healthcare industry can be best described as a combination of valuable care, overuse of some costly interventions with little proven benefit, and underuse of some vitally important therapies. The care provided in a broad sense is fragmented and has a lot of scope for being better coordinated. An ideal healthcare setting should be removed from the extremes of either a single-payer system or an unfettered marketplace - with the former having failed already and the latter highly unlikely to go the long distance. Unless strongly regulated, the private insurers are bound to have an inclination towards shedding the enrollees which cost them dear in order to avoid making a dent on their profitability. Without social insurance of some shape the interests of patients are not likely to be protected by private insurance companies for the obvious reasons that they are business entities first. Besides the point mentioned above an optimal insurance structure also needs to be a deviant from a typical high-deductible plan. It has to be one which subsidizes high-value care while imposing a greater cost sharing on care of lower value. The later step would ensure that patients do not indulge in availing treatment which is not necessary or ones with limited benefits. Infact, providing people with the flexibility to decide from a host of variants seems be the best way to cater to their actual needs.
Moving forward, health reforms will have a need to focus on increasing the value that people can draw from health insurance and health care, instead of depending upon self-financing expansions of coverage. Thus, the concept of pay for performance is gaining steam as an emerging movement in health insurance. In this arrangement, Providers are rewarded for meeting pre-established targets for delivery of healthcare services. Hence physicians, hospitals, medical groups, and other healthcare providers are all required to meet certain performance measures for quality and efficiency. Disincentives, such as eliminating payments for negative consequences of care, which could be medical errors, or increased costs also get included as part of the deal.
A research done recently on profitability of hospitals in US came up with some very interesting data. Incidentally, the hospitals with high performance scores in patient care seemed to be the most profitable. This can serve as a very encouraging factor for providers who are skeptic about the new model. Effectively, the survey was a proof of the fact if patient experience (which has a direct link to the quality & and efficiency of care provided) is positive; there is a high possibility of financial profitability for the corresponding institutions. Thus the core of the model has to lay emphasis on providing the best of care to patients. In addition to it, there has to be strong focus on scoring high on publicly reported clinical measures. With these 2 factors taken care of, financial success becomes an automatic spin-off.
Agreeing to the fact that a value-based model shows a lot of promise and is worth investing in is one thing. But to assume that such a model would automatically ensure a higher quality of healthcare delivery would not be appropriate. Overall any new model to succeed, a couple of deliverables need to be ensured - extension of insurance protections to those who lack them and a constant improvement in the manner in which care is offered to those who are already insured. Thus, in order to successfully implement this new idea some major changes to certain otherwise archaic approaches and methods need to be made. For e.g. insurance coverage needs to be extended so as to allow more people to benefit from the protections that insurance affords and ensure that those protections are secure for those who fall ill. And, last but not the least, there is a need for people at the core of the establishments i.e. Physicians, nurses, hospitalists to bring in a few changes in the manner in which they go about performing their activities. They will need to ask the patients, which they presently do not do adequately, about their expectations. To attempt to serve them without being aware of their expectations would be utterly futile otherwise. Once this is done, then there would be the subsequent task of identifying vendors who provide healthcare IT services and then subsequent stages would involve developing the healthcare apps which is truly ‘pro-user’.
We provide healthcare mobile app development services. If you would like to talk to one of our expert healthcare software developers, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.
Embracing mobile technology in their everyday working life seems to be second nature for the new generation of physicians – especially the ones who have graduated post 2000. It has provided them with the privilege of staying connected with their work outside the medical premises. It has given them the flexibility to access patient charts through their Electronic Health Records (EHRs), use clinical decision support systems, refer online drug information, take relevant notes, check references and do many more things on the move. The biggest benefit has been in terms of the improvement which has happened in terms of provider-patient communication.
With the healthcare norms incentivizing the push towards use of EHRs, mobiles have enabled the young generation of physicians to have a better work-life balance than their older peers. One cannot gainsay the obvious benefit this generation has over the older ones - for having been born in an era in which the use of technology in medicine has been the most pervasive. However, this does not mean that all young physicians are upbeat about their nature of work or life. It is common to hear about the medical school debt being quite a burden for the first few years of their lives. Seems like they have a few more points added to the list. Feedback received from surveys indicates a certain percentage wish they had not taken up this profession. Their concerns include:
- Unhappiness with third-party interference
- Lack of adequate insurance coverage for patients
- Lack of time to adequately educate patients on better health strategies
- Inability to provide quality care to patients amid the demands of a convoluted billing and coding system
Although the ease of adoption is higher, their overall analysis of the healthcare reforms and the push for EHR use also has had mixed feedback. The positives cited are as follows:
- Ability to remotely access patient information
- Improvements in quality of care
- Improvement in their ability to provide guideline-based care and track patients' markers of disease control over time.
- Better provider communication as a result of having everyone on the same EHR system
The main concern however is that EHRs are more expensive than expected, threatening the financial sustainability of their practices. Other negatives shared are :
- Poor usability
- Time-consuming data entry process
- Less time availability for face-to-face patient care
- Degradation of clinical documentation by trying to force it into structured fields
- Information overload, as having more EHR functions--such as reminders, alerts, and messaging capabilities leads to lower professional satisfaction
Amidst all this, one area which has seen a lot of enthusiasm amongst the young generation of physicians in the use of smartphones and apps. Although the debate for how much real value apps bring to the table continues, its use has been on the rise. From using them to attend medical education training online to prescribing them to patients as an alternative to a face-to-face meeting, most of them do not seem to have any hesitation is trying out various available possibilities. Infact there is a strong belief that judicious use of smartphones and apps will result in saving millions of dollars otherwise spent in unnecessary hospital visits and surgery.
As Healthcare industry undergoes major changes, for the better, physicians are also required to develop new skills and acquire new competencies so as to not fall behind expectations. With the push of healthcare financing more towards value-based payments rather than volume based, clinicians will have 3 major objectives.
- Improve quality of care
- Promote greater efficiency in care delivery
- Improve Patient safety
In order to achieve the above, they will be required to better utilize evidence-based practices, work in inter-professional teams and coordinate care across settings which would also include other providers. Hence moving forward, the need of the hour is to have physicians who are excellent in interpersonal and communications skills and an penchant towards collaborating with others to provide cost effective care. On the part of the hospitals, it has become imperative now to invest in the training of their existing staff in order to address the gaps and avoid the risk of becoming redundant. To leverage maximum benefits of healthcare software development, it is highly essential to spend proportionate amount of budget and efforts in training.
We provide healthcare software maintenance services. With a large team of certified programmers & healthcare software testers, working with us with ensure near-zero training costs. To speak to one of our developers, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.
mHealth and broadly speaking e-health is proving to be a boon to low and middle-income countries because it offers a suitable solution to two of their most compelling issues in healthcare delivery – reach and cost. People in these countries for all these years have been deprived of access to valuable healthcare information because of where they live. It is upto the governments of these countries now to figure out ways and means to hasten the adoption and removal of all possible roadblocks - the chief among which is proving to be lack of adequate expertise in the area.
Inspite of all the concerns related to privacy and regulations, reports indicate that mHealth market is expected to reach around $9 billion by the end of 2014. For the subsequent 6 years, the market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 40 percent. The biggest thrust to this growth will come from the following factors:
- Increased penetration of 3G and 4G networks
- Better engagement and awareness of chronic diseases
- Push for cost efficiency
- Higher adoption of smartphones
Besides the above four factors, mobile network operators also see a lot of business opportunity in mHealth as the field allows them to offer a range of services over and above the basic ones which they provide.
mHealth software development projects for hospital setups create applications which are found to be highly effective in tracking valuable equipment, managing inventory, tracking patients and hospital staff, as well handling medical emergencies. A latest breakthrough has been in the area of handling combative patients - through devices which can be used by the hospital staff to alert their co-workers in the event of their confronting such a situation. New solutions are also finding ways to address temperature monitoring, hygiene compliance etc.
Many countries with an aging population find mHealth a commendable platform to reduce the cost of treatment and increase convenience and reach. However, in order to achieve this, the population has to be trained so as to enable them to manage their condition independently. Also, devices have to be more to sophisticated to handle a range of conditions effectively. Efforts towards developing capability to handle the second factor have already had its inception. Moving forward, the market for using wearable devices connected to smartphones is expected to grow. These devices are going to be expected to handle a host of functions in a stand-alone manner or in conjunction with third-party platforms. Since internationally the population of diabetic people is increasing rapidly, diabetes management devices market is expected to grow and so is the market for accompanying healthcare applications.
The applications market for Healthcare is shared between medical apps and health apps. The former includes segments medical reference, disease specific apps etc. whereas the later includes ones for weight loss, meditation exercise to name a few. The Healthcare apps market is currently dominated by exercise apps and moving forward the download volume in this category is expected to increase multifold. But the same cannot be said about the impact it will have on revenue. So the fitness app market is expected to reach maturity quicker than the rest and only those apps in this category which are significantly innovative might make a relatively better revenue contribution.
FDA, in the meanwhile, has released its latest guidance which it expects to provide clarity and predictability to manufacturers of mobile medical apps. Quite a lot of these companies/developers were holding on to their development work which were risky. These apps are termed so as they can pose a risk to the patient’s safety if they do not work as they are expected to. The delay in releasing the guidelines was acting as a deterrent since they weren’t sure how the final draft would affect the outcome. Although industry stalwarts have expressed their personal opinions to the outcome, there is a consensus on the fact that apps involved in direct patient care need regulation and having a set published guidelines is a step in the right direction.
We provide Healthcare IT Services. If you would like to talk to a software tester or certified Healthcare software developer from our team, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.
In an ideal scenario, caregivers would like to be able to share health information with one another. Driven by a need, if a patient were to shift to a new caregiver, the later would at once like to have access to the medication, lab reports, discharge summaries etc. This would only be possible if electronic health records could communicate with each other through an information exchange infrastructure. This is not only going to improve the quality of care but also increase the efficiency levels besides saving healthcare costs. The current scenario is far from ideal because of lack of interoperability of EHRs and exchange infrastructure.
For the Healthcare industry to take the giant leap and reach the state its leaders envisage, a break-through on interoperability is a must. Unless handled on a priority basis, this a stumbling block which every big IT initiative in this industry will hit at some stage. It is only by bringing in fluidity in the information flow that the industry stands to draw the biggest benefit. Otherwise, the healthcare software development services industry cannot expect to bring about a transformation by just working in an efficient manner in silos. Real benefits will be harvested only with seamless data exchange. Collaboration is imperative and so is safety and security of data that is shared across the industry. It will not only enable providers to manage their workflows better in their clinics but also make it possible to send and receive healthcare related data across disparate EHRs used by various other healthcare setups.
To make interoperability a reality, massive amount of work needs to be done in a synchronized manner. Public-private coalition holds the cue here and the pace of adoption depends on strict adherence to the agreed upon national standards with no allowance made to variations. It is only when disparate EHR products and HIEs agree to strictly follow the same standards that the capability can be achieved. States being awarded grants to setup Health information exchanges is definitely a step taken in the right direction since it will provide the backbone for interoperability. There are concerns however shared from some of the stakeholders who feel that too much of emphasis on regulations while setting up or running HIEs will only jeopardize things more. The key areas to be handled here include Patient matching and finding solutions to the variances of safety and privacy rules followed across states. It thus calls for innovative approaches to work around these issues rather than strict adherence to policies which might eventually result in deadlocks.
On the EHR front, realizing the need of the hour, a group of otherwise competing vendors has decided to get their act together to promote their data exchange standards to facilitate information transfer. The new alliance is expected to result in:
- Cross entity Patient linking and matching
- Patient consent and data access matching
- Patient record locator and query Services
This is an initiative which moving forward is expected to draw in more vendors, especially the ones which intend to be in the business for the long haul, since there is no future without interoperability. The most important outcome of such an initiative is that it will expedite the process of drawing a map to reach the destination in an efficient manner. This also will bring about a change in the landscape for vendors whose products will now have to compete in terms of their adaptability towards cross-vendor exchange and interoperability.
The impetus provided by the Federal grant might have got the adoption of HIEs rolling but moving forwards these organizations will have to figure out ways of being financial afloat beyond the grant money. On the other hand the adoption of HIEs will pick pace only if the standards and certifications are concrete and get defined such that interoperability is completely achieved. It would result in any EHR product receiving data to be able to work on it straightaway.
We provide Healthcare application development and Healthcare software testing services. If you would like to talk to one of our software testers or one of our certified healthcare software programmers, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.
The universal adoption of Electronic Health Records in a Meaningful way is the backbone on which all Healthcare reforms are hinged. Based on figures shared by HHS, incentive payments under the Medicare and Medicaid Meaningful Use programs have reached more than half of all eligible professionals, and 80 percent of eligible hospitals. Expected to be responsible for better healthcare outcomes, it is the implementation which has been the cause of a lot of bane. Apart from the operational changes that are required to be brought in, the whole process takes a lot of financial toll on healthcare setups. There is infact a strong belief which is gaining ground that the net cost outweighs the benefits of using an EHR. The independent physicians rather than the employed physicians are more likely to hold this view. Another complaint held by the physicians’ fraternity is that the EHRs have been built without keeping their requirements in mind. Some physicians have actually gone to the extent to build EHR products to exactly suit their clinical requirements and also to handle the common issues they otherwise face in using the standard products available.
But do physicians actually have the know-how to design EHR Systems? The answer to this question is not a simple one. At the end of the day, EHR systems are used by physicians and so, they are in a position to share the real-time issues which crop up during usage. But because they face issues in say handling certain features or are in the business of providing care it does not automatically qualify them to build new healthcare IT systems for many reasons. For e.g.
- Some of the features which they otherwise find troublesome or, even worse, as stumbling blocks to their normal flow of work might actually be highly essential ones; identified and implemented in the system based on industry based practices.
- It might also so happen that the features have been included to ensure interoperability with other systems for data exchange
- There is a high possibility of the complaints having arisen because of the inconvenience of physicians in adapting to a new workflow more than anything else.
As a solution, some of the physicians have been recommended to go the open source way in which they get in touch with Health IT experts and take their help them to make changes in standard EHR systems to meet their requirements keeping in mind adherence to the Meaningful Use criteria all-throughout.
The market for EHR adoption was $20 billion in 2012 and is expected to grow in the coming 2 years. However, the market of EHRs is likely to undergo some major change this year. Federal push for Meaningful Use led to a race among HealthCare software development vendors to create standard EHR products. They did not initially bother to customize their systems to meet the requirements of individual setups. Over a period of time this approach led to various complaints to the vendors. However, with the focus of the vendors more towards selling their products and reaching out to more clients, severe issues pertaining to implementation, support and specialty features, to name a few, started talking a toll on the performance of healthcare setups . This tolerance has reached a boiling point in 2013 with healthcare setups actively looking to switch over to EHR systems offered by vendors who were willing to address their concerns on an ongoing basis.
For the vendors, the short-term revenue growth was triggered mainly by the Federal stimulus. For a sustained long-term market they will be required to focus their energies on usability and interoperability. A survey done across industry experts reflected that eventually most of the EHR vendors are likely to acquired, merged or thrown out of business ; simply because most of them were targeted at the retail mass. As high cost of implementation independent practices are expected to merge with larger setups i.e. hospitals. This is bound to have an impact on the number of vendors in business. Pressed by deadlines hospitals will be compelled to quickly look out for vendors which provide an integrated platform with stable functionalities to ensure ease of use and interoperability across affiliated physicians. Thus the times ahead auger well for those EHR vendors which provide holistic and easily customizable systems and are quick to resolve issues which their clients face.
We provide Healthcare application development and HealthCare application testing services. If you would like to talk to one of our software testers or one of our certified Healthcare software developers, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.
MHealth which is essentially delivery of healthcare services using mobile devices. Given the pace at which smartphones, tablets etc. have pervaded are day-to-day lives, it is normal to see the traction building around the mHealth industry. Use of mobility is expected to increase the time spent by Physicians to address their patients besides allowing them to take real time decisions. Their energies, a lot of which was earlier spent going through a large amount of paperwork, can now be entirely channelized towards providing care. But there seems to be something very essential which is missing in the manner in which the industry is shaping up. Currently, the number of companies investing in developing effective apps and gadgets is growing by the days. But what is missing unfortunately is the focus towards interoperability. Unfortunately, this is likely to lead to people to a state where they have to deal with multiple stakeholders to meet their needs – a state not very different from what it has been all throughout except that a lot of paper work/manual processes are going to be replaced by electronic processes.
The use of Mobile health for delivering customized healthcare services seems to have significantly gone up. A case in point is that of apps being used for treatment adherence. It has been noticed that an individual’s belief system related to the illness and the prescribed medication determines the degree of adherence that a patient shows. Changing the belief system requires application of numerous psychological techniques. Mobile apps have been found to provide an effective channel for executing those initiatives. It has been noticed that information gathered during enrollment – which includes personal data and disposition towards treatment, and collected subsequently, provide matter that help in finalizing and implementing the correct interventions. Given the nature and seriousness of a disease there are also specialized apps available to track vitals aspects of patients with some allowing patients and physicians to hold video conferences.
Recent developments in the healthcare industry have set very high standards for the providers. Not only are they expected to operate at higher levels of efficiency, but also achieve capabilities of superior care in an environment which is highly regulated. All these factors put together have catalyzed the adoption of mobility in healthcare. Providers have started looking at mHealth as a means to achieve the required levels of effectiveness in the setups. The push for mobility is also because of the following factors:
- Desire among patients to get more involved in their care
- High number of cases of chronic illness among the ageing population
- Shortage of resources in healthcare in general
- Issues related to communication
Healthcare providers have always had to jostle with issues related to communication. Paper work made it the most difficult. Advent of electronic systems reduced the problems to a considerable extent as the stakeholders were not anymore expected to physically carry or reach out to artifacts to get the required information. However, mHealth took things to a different level altogether. Since Physicians and other hospitalists are required to be mobile, usage of devices which could enable them to access information on the move increased their productivity tremendously. Given the volume and the dynamic nature of healthcare data that gets generated and needs to be transmitted, mHealth makes it possible for anywhere access to relevant data with high reduction in the chances of error.
Among devices, Tablets, owing to the larger screen size are favored by physicians. It offers them with outmost convenience to view and analyze reports and images. The important thing to keep in mind while providing mobility solutions in the healthcare industry is that, there is a high level of intersection between the needs at the end user level and at enterprise . The benefits accrued at the enterprise level have a rub off effect on the end users. For e.g. improvements made in efficiency and quality of care through the right mHealth interventions at healthcare setups result in better safety and care outcome for the patients. You can hire developers from top Healthcare software development companies in india who can help you build mobile apps within allocated budgets and time schedules.
We provide Medical software development services. If you would like to discuss with a certified healthcare software developer from our team, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.
It is not just by actively using electronic health record systems or patient portals for example can the true value of IT be harnessed in a healthcare setup. Healthcare testing services India can equally help in this regard. In order to bring about a marked improvement in healthcare outcomes, IT systems have to contribute significantly in the following three areas:
- Clinical decision support
- Clinical workflow support
- Care coordination
From managing medication, improving documentation, enhancing communication - both among providers and between providers and patients, health IT can equip physicians to provide evidence-based preventive and chronic care. Multiple surveys done across medical setups to understand the usage of such tools have shown positive outcomes. For example one of the researches indicated that using clinical decision support predictive tools along with electronic health records can bring about a considerable decrease in the use of antibiotics for infections related to the respiratory track. This results in reducing the cost of treatment and also chances of over treatment. The facility to using alerts in workflows has been found to result in highly valuable outcomes. EHR alerts have made it possible for physicians to facilitate end-of-life discussions with patients who are terminally ill. It makes it possible for them to understand the preferences of such patients before they are admitted or in crisis mode. CDS alerts have also shown wonderful results in reducing the need of conducting repeated tests in cases of heart failure. The norm otherwise is to generally perform multiple tests in order to measure the severity of heart failure.
The cost incurred in implementing an EHR system is quiet high. The system offers multiple functionalities to its users. However, what is being seriously debated is the possibility of EHRs to achieve both - reduction in care costs and in parallel improve care for patients. Research done in this area has again shown that providers can expect the best return on investment if they are using the clinical decision support provisions in EHRs. The solutions provided by Clinical Decision Support systems are used across multiple areas. Some examples include diagnosis decision support, drug databases, care plans, disease/drug reference tools, surveillance software etc. All these tools need to be aligned both with the EHR and the clinical workflow to be completely active. Given its relevance, it is not a surprise that the emerging healthcare models like ACOs (Accountable Healthcare Organizations) have high demand for Clinical decision support systems. In order to draw the maximum possible benefit out of the systems, ACOs are gearing up by developing capabilities in terms of trained workforce who know the art of optimally using them to their benefit. For physicians, using CDS brings about a whole lot difference in their daily activities. Rather than having to refer to notebooks and keep in mind information related to drugs and health conditions, using the support tools helps them save a lot of time and make better decisions during encounters. CDS systems are broadly divided into two categories- Standalone & Accessory. The standalone software runs on a computing platform and provides diagnostic or treatment recommendations. Accessory software on the other hand supports the functionality of a particular medical device.
One of the challenges on adapting CDS to clinical workflows has been that of adjusting to its sensitivity. The alert fatigue surely seems to be an area of major concern. Having to deal with large number of alerts, at any given point in time, makes it very difficult to respond to the most urgent ones. This has resulted in some serious consequences leading to loss of life in many cases. Today’s healthcare environment is undergoing a lot of change. To expect physicians to cope up with the demands without using efficient CDS systems seems highly impossible. However relevant changes need to be made to reduce the obvious loopholes which exist. Infact all healthcare IT systems generally offer multiple functionalities. Barring the ones which have to be mandatorily used, the trick for a provider is always to identify and use those functionalities which have a higher likelihood of improving healthcare outcomes with least negative fallouts.
We provide Medical software development services. We are glad to share that all our healthcare developers are certified. If you would like to hire healthcare software developers from us, we would be glad to assist you at Mindfire Solutions.
Patient Portals fit in well in the process of enabling providers to meet the Federal Incentive Program guidelines for using certified EHRs. Providers, in order to stay profitable, are always in the lookout for ways to improve their operational efficiency, reduce costs and improve their patient satisfaction. Patient Portals, through the various features it offers, makes it possible for providers to progress towards achieving the aforesaid needs. On the face of it, a Patient Portal might appear like a web-sight. The similarities however end there. It acts as a gateway for patients to medical practices. There are many self-service options available for patients to initiate HIPPA complaint 2-way communication between patients and providers. It results in bringing in a lot of flexibility to the otherwise long drawn and tedious communication processes besides increasing the degree of involvement of patients in their treatment. Providing them with easy access to their records makes the patients feel thoroughly engaged. Over the years and based on feedback received in surveys, it has been found out that patients generally look for portals which are easy to handle – design and functionality wise. Irrespective of the complex workflows which might exist in the background, it is highly critical to offer patients a system which is convenient to use. Psychologically it has a better effect on them. Although portals may vary from one another, the common and important features that it offers include the following:
- Registration
- Medical History
- Appointment scheduling requests and confirmations
- Patient- Provider communication
- Prescription renewal management
- Laboratory test results notifications
- Access to medical records, history, allergy information
- Specialty referrals
- Electronic payment
- Financial clearance
There are numerous benefits that providers are likely to gain from offering their patients’ access to a well-designed and ease–to-use Patient Portal. For instance they might see a surge in the number of patients getting interested in taking appointments once it is online and is easy to setup. Practices can display relevant information in-terms of slot availability with respect to date and time for various physicians to make it convenient for the interested patients to setup an appointment based on their convenience. It also saves people in the administration department from a lot of mundane activities like having to take calls for setup appointments, sending reminders etc. Patient Portals go a long way in improving accuracy in operations. Rather than running a system where multiple handwritten forms need of be filled up during various stages of a patients visit, which consumes a lot of time and energy, the same can be achieved online and at the patient’s convenience. Information related to medical history, allergies, insurance, demographics – all this can be collated beforehand. Another advantage of doing this online is that it avoids repetition .Digital data once entered can be pulled out whenever needed. Also, it considerably reduces chances of errors because of manual work while entering patient or other relevant encounter details.
Patient Portals provide an excellent platform for collaboration. The referring and consulting physicians can share valuable information with their patients using Patient Portals. Besides, it also allows the referring physicians to keep a track of the progress made by their patients. Electronic transfer of information makes the whole process very fast and conducive without requiring physical proximity amongst the involved parties. Portals eliminate all hurdles related to distribution. Finally a tool like this goes a long way in forging a relationship between providers and physicians which was missing in a traditional setup. Real time access to information at one’s own convenience makes this model more popular among middle aged and elderly people. No more are they required to fetch their laboratories or wait in queue for their visits to their physicians. Regular communication which can happen between them and the physicians also ensures that timely actions can be taken during treatment as and when a need arises. It is essential that healthcare software testing is meticulously done for the patient portals because of the critical situations it addresses.
We provide healthcare software development services. We are glad to share that all our Healthcare developers are certified. If you would like to hire healthcare software programmers from us, we would be happy to help.
Is ICD-10 more difficult to use compared to ICD-9? Well, first and foremost there is no choice available; all stakeholders covered under HIPAA, e.g. Patients, Providers, Laboratories etc., are required to start using ICD-10 codes if they are to stand a chance of getting reimbursed for their claim after October 2014. Worker’s Compensation and Auto Liability claims are the only exceptions to the rule. The only similarity between these 2 approaches is the process of looking up for codes. The differences otherwise start right from the format. While ICD-9 codes uses are generally numeric with 3 to 5 digits, the ICD-10 codes are alphanumeric with 3 to 7 characters. Most important difference lies in the fact that ICD-10 will require additional documentation to be which in order to provide more information for the codes chosen. External circumstances and the location of injury or accidents need to be captured. Thus from a current number of 13000, when ICD-10 gets implemented the number of codes will go up to 68000.
All this is being done with the intention of capturing the exact details of the cause of ailments of patients. The higher the precision of diagnosis, the better the chances of administering the best possible treatment. Thus, rolling out an ICD-10 is not to be looked upon as an update to the ICD-9 code set. The lack of specificity in the former is what might have triggered of the need for the later but its implementation is a comprehensive process. A coder for example cannot necessarily handle the job in isolation unless all the relevant information is available in detail. In any case, the best person to program manage the roll-out of ICD-10 coding standards in a healthcare setup has to be either of the three - the physician, the practice administrator/office manager, or the billing manager. The concerned person has to have the confidence of all the staff and the required level of authority to ensure a smooth transition. Each of the stages - assessing, budgeting, planning, communicating, training, implementing, and monitoring requires good astute leadership to drive the implementation. Although there are mapping tools now available, they do not necessarily provide a definitive code for a situation because a one-to-one mapping is not always possible.
Surprisingly, inspite of its binding nature, the implementation of ICD-10 has not been at the pace at which it is expected to be. Practices have expressed their concerns, with the top three being:
- The high cost of implementation
- Need for changes in clinical documentation
- Loss of productivity
Some other concerns expressed include the difficulty of documenting patient encounter and the difficulty in choosing the right diagnosis code. One of the surveys conducted indicated that cost for a 10-physician healthcare setup to overhaul its practice management system and electronic health record software was approximately going to be more than $201,000. This can act as a huge deterrent, given the high amount of investment needed, for setups of similar or larger sizes. A few providers though are hopeful that their respective vendors for PMS and EHR would handle the cost of upgrading since they will not be left without a choice.
However, the starting point of all this – co-ordination among the stakeholders has unfortunately not at the level at which it is expected to be. ICD-10 implementation is not just changes to be made to software; it will require a lot of healthcare software testing and training on the part of providers. Unless enough time and effort goes into the last 2 areas , providers might have to deal with a shock when they take a look at their cash flow post Oct 2014.
One of the reasons why the implementation could be a tough one of achieve is because it is being planned simultaneously scheduled with the Stage 2 Meaningful Use of EHR and state Health insurances exchanges. Besides the financial angle, the sheer amount of time and energy that all such parallel implementation will require from all concerned people in healthcare setups is going to affect their ability to meet their primary responsibilities – that of providing good care to their patients. But inspite of all the uncertainties, physicians do not have a choice but to see that they themselves are aware of the coding fundamentals and are actively driving their teams towards a planned implementation. If not, a rude shock seems inevitable.
We provide healthcare software development services. If you would like to know more about our expert healthcare software developers, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.
True value from a healthcare ecosystem can be derived when there is a balance between the cost for care and the outcome from it i.e. Healthcare spend and Patient impact. What Information is expected to provide is better insight and feedback on what is most effective and is required to be done in the healthcare eco-system. For e.g. it should prompt patients to make healthy lifestyle changes by exercising on a regular basis and having healthy diet in addition to be more involved in their treatment in the event of their falling sick.
During care, information exchange should happen in a seamless manner across all the concerned stakeholders resulting in a coordinated approach and avoidance of duplication of efforts. The right type of provider should also be prompted given the nature of care needed. This will increase chances of better outcomes given that the skills of the selected provider would be ideally suited to the case in hand. In terms of provider better value, the care should be most cost effective without any compromise on quality. Finally information is expected to increase the pace of innovations resulting in newer and safer methods of handling care and finding path breaking solutions in areas which have proven to be impregnable. It is expected to lead to better R&D productivity is discovery and development. Thus inclusion of Big Data in the fold of healthcare is expected to bring all of the above mentioned changes in the existing setup and transform the way in which care is provided moving forward. The emphasis is clearly on providing better outcomes at minimum cost without compromising on quality in any capacity.
Implementation of the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs has led to widespread adoption of EHRs everywhere. With the prospect of adoption of Big Data in Healthcare Industry very likely , the impact on EHRs is going to be an important factor to consider. The ones in use are not actually built to store large clocks of data . Since they are primarily designed to facilitate day-to-day patient care they are also at this stage not capable of handling the capacity of data created by various medical tools. The obvious solution is to create more advanced EHRs moving forward. For the existing ones, a stop gap solutions being used by some stakeholders is that of using auxiliary systems for the storage of data. Another important thing to be noted here is that the potential benefits of Big Data is based on the assumption that that providers have readily available information and they make evidence-supported decisions using analytic tools.
Analytical tools are of no value if reality is far removed from this assumption. There is also this concern of ensuring privacy. With more real-time, personalized data from a range of sources available, having defined and proven methods of securing their safety, includes during transition as well, is of high priority. Some stakeholders have expressed that as much as they happy and upbeat about the potential opportunities, they cannot help but also be concerned about the scrutiny and potential law suits that are likely to happen related to data security issues . As a solution, defined steps will need to be identified , agreed upon and subsequently adhered to by all concerned stakeholders to ensure that likelihood of such risks are kept at a minimum. Also to be able to make optimum use of the opportunity Big data will throw up, strong expertise needs to be developed in the areas of Data Analysis, Data Management and Systems Management. This is bound to create a need for human talent, who are thoroughly trained, to take up important roles in the entire eco-system.
The early adopters who are keen on taking on the challenge of changing their mindset and embracing something which can redefine the future of this industry are going to benefit a lot from it. However back up from strong leadership is what will be the key in these organizations from a successful outcome. In addition, Healthcare software testing companies would play a major role as well in testing the solutions being rolled out. They will be required to be thoroughly involved in setting up goals, determining and closing the gaps, designing the approaches of rolling out initiatives and finally ensuring continuous improvement.
We provide healthcare software development services. If you would like to know more about our certified healthcare software developers, please get in touch with us at Mindfire
As we draw closer towards Oct. 1, 2014 the last date for compliance to ICD-10, achieving the target is proving to be an arduous task for the practices. The root cause of the problems being encountered has been identified as the lack of communication and coordination between practices and their partners which include clearinghouses, Electronic Health Record and Practice Management Vendors. The required software updates and testing which need to be done have not been happening at the pace at which they are required to. Since there are other federal policies which are scheduled to be implemented around that time, Stage 2 of Meaningful Use Incentive Program and Health insurance exchanges, the matter is getting complicated even further.
Practices fear being compelled to use systems which are not full proof and might potentially lead to their payment getting stuck or even worse not getting paid for some of the services rendered post Oct. 1, 2014. At the current stage if one were to actually make an analysis of where the project stands the results might not be too encouraging. There is a potential risk of disruption taking place in the healthcare system unless fast paced corrective measures are taken up.Of the many concerns which have been brought out through various surveys, the most disheartening has been the lack of confidence amongst the stakeholders to meet the deadline.
They seem to have almost reconciled to the fact that an extension is the only way out. For the practices, the overall cost seems to be a concerning factor. Not only will they have to account for the upgrades which will need to be made in the EHR and the PMS but also the required training and productivity cost involved. Also extensive changes are expected to happen in the mode of operation simply to accommodate dealing with 5 times the number of codes in ICD-10 compared to its earlier version.
The healthcare software development practices are under a lot of duress for having to handle activities such as coding, documentation and administrative tasks as a result of the changes which are expected to revolutionize the healthcare landscape. There is a strong belief that all is taking a toll on patient care which is where most of the time and energies are supposed to be channelized. Since there is no alternative to this, many practices are in the process of devising ways by which they feel they will be able to handle the situation moving forward .Some of the common approached being followed include adoption of better information systems, augmenting workforce, better billing and collection process. A recent survey done by the American Health Information Management Association, to gauge ICD-10 preparedness revealed certain startling facts. One-fourth of the companies have not even formed the steering committee considered as one of the first steps in the process. Also, fifty percent are stuck in the beginning phases of the migration. Followed by some analysis, AHIMA identified some of the focus areas which need to be addressed immediately if the timelines are to be met. They include
- Computer-assisted coding (CAC)
- Clinical documentation improvement (CDI)
- Education and staffing.
If these are not to be implemented religiously then it would only result in last minute rushes in either installing software upgrades or having to switch vendors both of which not necessarily can promise results given the lack of time. The national coordinator for Health IT however is not acknowledging any possibilities of an extension and feels that since there will be a lot of business proposition for healthcare vendors in helping physicians adopt ICD-10, the dynamics will ensure that the target is achieved on time. Also, in one of his addresses he emphasized on the greater benefits the various initiatives are going to bring in the industry. He feels that one has to look at them not just in terms of the investments that are being made but in terms of the transformation that will be brought about.
We provide healthcare software maintenance services. If you would like to know more about our certified healthcare app developers, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.
A gradual increase is noted in the number of companies moving their resources into the Cloud. Similar to other industries, healthcare also wants to avail a number of benefits offered by Cloud computing. Many medical practitioners, nowadays, use a specialized cloud computing service known as health care cloud. The innovative service makes it easier for health care providers to store, manage and access the personal health information (PHI) of patients.
The healthcare analytics further allow hospital administrators to carry out a variety of functions without putting any extra time and efforts. As many reports have highlighted, the health care analytics can be used for creating quality reports, capturing revenue and meeting specific requirements. Many clinics also use the analytics to exchange and use sensitive personal health information in different ways.
However, one cannot avail the advantages of Cloud healthcare analytics simply by investing in the technology. It is also important for each healthcare practitioner to use the analytics comfortably, and integrate these functions seamlessly into his operations. At the same time, the healthcare providers also need to comply with the security requirements according to the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
As the Cloud computing facilitates smooth exchange and access of crucial personal health information, it becomes more prone to various types of security threats. A number of recent rulings have further extended the medical security responsibilities to all concerned parties. The healthcare providers as well as their business partners will be responsible for keeping the personal health information of clients secure and inaccessible. So a company providing backup, support or any other IT services to the healthcare providers also have to implement a comprehensive strategy to safeguard the patient data.
It is also important for a Clinical software development provider to trust his business partners and technology vendors. The mutual trusts will make it easier for each party to keep the patient data safe and secure without putting much effort. Many healthcare business intelligence experts even advise healthcare providers to change their technology vendor, if they do not have faith in the information security strategy implemented by the company. However, each healthcare practitioner must monitor and evaluate the security strategy of its technology vendor constantly to ensure that it has put the required technical safeguards in place.
Along with building mutual trust, the healthcare providers also need to concentrate certain points. When you are hiring the Cloud analytics vendors, it is important to check if the patient data is stored and processed in encrypted format. You can even conduct periodic security audit to ensure that the vendor is consistently following the data security protocols. Also, you can consider availing the services of private Cloud analytics vendors based on your specific needs.
If your organization is handling a huge amount of personal health information on a regular basis, it is a good idea to store the data and access the analytic functions by setting up your own private Cloud. The process will require you to invest some amount of time, effort and funds, but the investment will make it easier for you to make and implement a comprehensive security strategy by including all key data security protocols.
But no one can deny the advantages offered by public Cloud. Once can avail public Cloud to configure, setup and run healthcare analytics without putting any extra resources. The public Cloud is also the most affordable option to smaller hospitals. So you can still hire one of the public cloud vendors, but the company must be selected only after evaluating its security strategy based on the information gathered from several reliable sources.
While evaluating the security policy of the Cloud analytic vendor, you also need to concentrate on the amount of storage space required to store all your patient data. As per legal requirements, you have to store the patient data securely over many years. Specific patient data even need to be stored for more than a decade without being accessed and used. So you must consider security protocols to keep the unused patient data secure and accessible. It is also advisable to implement a comprehensive data security strategy that includes measures to secure the regularly processed and used patient data.
We provide Healthcare software development services. If you would like to know more about our certified Healthcare software developers, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.
