What will drive mobile adoption in Healthcare?

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.

What If EHR Doesn’t Live Up to Promises?

Many doctors upgrade from their paper patient records to store, manage and access the data in a smooth and convenient way. The federal mandates also require medical practitioners to use electronic health records (EHRs) to avail several incentives. The growing popularity of EHRs has further encouraged many companies to launch new systems with additional features and functionality. But many EHR models become obsolete within few months of their release due to rapid change in technologies.

A number of doctors also hesitate to use EHRs due to lack of adequate support from the provider, and compliance issues. According to a report posted on Ehrintelligence.com, “Failed EHRs are a growing concern for providers. A white paper by Coker Group and Greenway Medical Technologies states that half of EHR systems sold today are intended to replace unsatisfactory software, up from 30% last year, and many practices are changing their systems due to compliance issues or discontinued packages. For some companies, discontinuing a system is simply cheaper than trying to revamp it, leaving practices to choose between significant migration fees or searching for a new EHR provider all together.” EMR EHR Software development thus is picking up steam.

A medical practitioner has a number of options to replace his existing EHR system, if it does not live up to promises. Along with installing another EHR that meets the compliance requirements, you can also consider some of the meaningful alternatives to electronic health record keeping systems. However, you must keep in mind certain points, while transitioning to a new EHR system. When you prepare a proper strategy to choose the right EHR system, it will reduce the operational costs, and improve your productivity while making you eligible for government incentives.

Points You Must Keep in Mind while Transitioning to a New EHR System

• Time Required for Implementing the New System: You have options to choose from a variety of EHRs to suit your specific needs and budget. But you must remember that transitioning to a new system often takes times. So you must prepare a schedule to incorporate the advanced features and technologies. You can a save time by upgrading your existing system through additional development and remediation. Once you decide the timeframe to implement the new system without affecting the way you manage the valuable health data of your patients.


• Option to Integrate with Other Systems: Often your EHR system has to be integrated with other systems to get better results. Also, the EHR system that can be integrated with other seamlessly will make it easier for you to overcome certain performance issues. You can easily integrate the EHR with any internal or external infrastructure to avail the advantages of the advanced systems available in the market. Further, the feature will help you in using the same EHR system over a longer period of time by connecting it with advanced devices and solutions.


• Amount of Training Needed to Use the New EHR System: Often people need specialized training to use a new system smoothly. Also, your employees will need guidance in the initial stages about various aspects of the new EHR system. So you must consider the amount of training required to help your staff in seamlessly using the system. Based on your choice, you can train your employees in a number of ways. You can always ask the vendor to conduct training sessions to explain your staff about the features and functioning of the new EHR system. Also, you can include the EHR training as part of your employee induction process to properly prepare the new employees.


• Constant Support: Unlike other information and data, the medical history and health information of your patients are very crucial. In case your EHR system does not operate for a few minutes, it will have a huge impact on your professional reputation. So you must buy the new EHR system from a vendor that offers immediate support to resolve the issue. At the same time, you can also evaluate the information collected from various sources to determine if the provider is concerned about your issues, and how he responds to your service requests. You can always improve your productivity if the vendor provides you quick solutions along with suggesting the best alternatives.

Many experts even recommend medical practitioners to consider several meaningful and inexpensive alternatives to the EHR systems available in the market. You can even consider using some of the inexpensive and less-disruptive IT components to avail the advantages of an EHR system. It is also advisable to choose an EHR system that does not offer you loads of features, but it is customized to meet your specific needs.

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.