Advanced Technologies that are Driving the Healthcare Industry

A decade ago, had anyone imagined that smartphones and advanced technology would drastically change the way businesses work? If we consider the healthcare industry, today there are numerous medical app solutions for doctors and patients in the market. These solutions are time and effort-saving systems for hospitals, clinics, and similar medical organizations. These systems help manage the appointments, save medical records safely in digital format using Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) and Electronic Health Record (EHRs), enable instant payments, provide online assistance, e-Prescription, etc. They ensure better connectivity, transparent processes, and efficient operations.

Technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), Wearables, etc. are bringing something new every year to enrich the healthcare industry. As per Statista, a leading business data platform- revenue generation from just artificial intelligence systems since 2013 to 2021, globally, will be 6.7 billion U.S. dollars. Huge scope!  

These emerging technologies have given promising solutions to handle the routine healthcare-related tasks and overcome other challenges in medical organizations. In this article, we will learn about the latest technologies influencing the healthcare industry.

Technologies Used in Medical App Solutions for Doctors:

Wearable Technology

Smart-watches, fitness trackers, etc. are very useful in monitoring and gathering essential health data of the patients. These devices and systems can be life-saving as the doctors can give proactive medical care in dangerous health situations. The wearable devices, when merged with medical app solutions for doctors, provide accurate and real-time information of the patients which helps the doctors/physicians take informed-decisions.

Internet of Medical Things (IoMT)

Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) is another new-age technology that provides digital health solutions to increase patient engagement. IoMT uses sensors and similar systems to collect and transfer health information like blood pressure, weight, oxygen levels, heartbeat, blood sugar levels, ECGs, etc. It allows remote examining of patients and thus, reduces the costs of healthcare solutions.

Artificial intelligence (AI)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been a game-changer in healthcare. For instance, after performing a medical test, it used to take at least a week to get the results. However, AI has dramatically improved services like body scans, diagnostic capabilities, customized treatment plans, predicting diseases, and other tests. AI plays a vital role in enhancing the practice management system in healthcare. It improves the capacity to store and process large amounts of medical data.

Other Technologies:

Blockchain, Chatbots, AR and VR

Blockchain technology has influenced online transactions while improving transparency and reducing financial business costs. This technology secures important data like Electronic Health Records (EHRs), insurance claims, etc. from breaches.
Chatbots are trained and programmed messengers which are used to chat with customers in real-time and provide information as the humans do. They help to enhance service delivery and provide faster responses to customers.
Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies are taking the healthcare industry to the next level of advancement. These technologies are already being used in different treatments. For instance, to remove the tumors safely, neurosurgeons use AR technology.

Conclusion:

The motive of advanced technology is to provide preventive care, personalized medical treatment, reduce the expenses, enhance patients’ experiences, and big data processing. Using the above-mentioned technologies, healthcare IT service providers in Texas have helped several hospitals, medical practitioners, medical institutions and patients and improved care.
For instance, a practice management system in healthcare has proven to be an efficient tool in streamlining the workflow, enhanced automation and improved productivity, which has ultimately led to quality patient care. Likewise, a doctor on-demand solution helps needy patients to instantly find and book a doctor. Also, for the safety and security of the sensitive healthcare data, these solutions are made HIPAA compliant.
The future of healthcare will inevitably rely on cutting-edge technologies like wearables, IoMT, AI, blockchain, AR and VR. Many outstanding discoveries are awaited that will shape various healthcare solutions.

Why Every Hospital Should Have A New-Age Healthcare Management System

A hospital or practice requires a strong management system to perform day-to-day tasks on time and to provide outstanding service to their patients. When it comes to providing excellent care to the patients, medical practitioners should ask themselves the following questions:

Is your patient scheduling process self-automated?

Is your management system or mHealth app or other healthcare solution HIPAA complaint?

Is your sensitive medical data secure from threats?

Are you providing online assistance/e-prescriptions to your patients?

Are the medical reports and health data of patients saved digitally?

If the answer to all these questions is yes, then chances are that you can reach the highest standards of patient care. Along with good quality treatment, there are many aspects that the hospitals and clinics need to consider.

In this modern era, advanced technology is influencing every sector of life and healthcare is no exception. Technological developments have not only saved countless lives of patients but also ensured the proper management of patients and staff.

A Healthcare Management System (HMS) is a comprehensive solution to several management needs of patients as well as physicians. It helps in scheduling the appointments online, saving electronic medical records (EMRs), doctor-patient communication, providing e-prescriptions online, maintaining billing records, managing the doctors and their schedules, etc. A practice management system (PMS) also has similar functions that are advantageous to healthcare organizations.

Let us dive deep to see how an error-free and advanced management system benefits hospitals.

Significant Benefits of Healthcare Management System

  

Digitalization of Health Records- EHRs And EMRs

Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) have replaced the out-dated system of paper records by digital ones. These systems also ensure the proactive collection of all the medical data. The patient data like their reports, prescriptions, their medical history, etc. are stored in a central system, and it can be accessed as required. As every single record is tracked and manual errors are avoided, the data is much accurate. To assure the safety of the sensitive data and to avoid data violation, these systems are made HIPAA compliant.

Scheduling the Appointments Online

The HMS performs multiple functions. It works like a patient scheduler system. It allows the patients to book appointments as per the slots given by doctors. The patients can cancel or re-schedule appointments. Using Doctor appointment app solutions, the doctors can view their weekly calendar of appointments and they can book appointments themselves for any referral.

Strong Doctor-Patient Relationship

Doctor-patient communication is very important for gathering more precise information from the patients. It builds trust amongst the patients and the psychological support makes the patients feel cared for. Good communication effectively establishes a caring relationship between them which helps to accomplish the best outcomes in treatment. HMS acts as a platform for personal chatting, calling, etc. of the doctors and patients.

Calendar for Doctors

In any hospital or healthcare practice, managing the doctors and their appointments is a crucial task. A management system is a perfect solution for this. It has a section for physician schedule management in which the physicians can see the updates of their and other doctors’ appointments. Doctors can add, reschedule or cancel their appointments. The system also sends them reminders of their appointments in advance. This amplifies the productivity of the work.

Improved Decision-Making

Operational decision-making becomes more accurate and efficient when a hospital uses a practice management system in healthcare. Many factors are responsible for this, for instance, tracking of important medical data, reduced errors in documentation, better security of the data, automated processes like sending reminders, scheduling in available slots, monitoring patients’ health, etc. Better decisions lead to the success of the hospital.

Conclusion

When a hospital or a practice is managed using a highly-advanced Healthcare Management System, handling of mundane operational processes becomes easier. Relying on computerized systems for management and automation of the healthcare operations has immense benefits as mentioned above. It is crucial in this competitive world to remain modern and tech-savvy to provide better patient care and engage more patients.

If you are looking for healthcare IT service providers in Texas, we can help! We build requirement-specific medical practice management system for hospitals and medical practices in Texas. Contact us today

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HIPAA Compliance- A Mandate for mHealth Apps!

Today, data is the most valuable business resource. When it comes to the healthcare industry, medical data of the patients is of utmost importance. Theft of data can lead to severe losses and also cost penalties. So, whenever one wants to develop a healthcare app, the first thing that must be considered is HIPAA compliance. HIPAA compliance protects the health information of patients and so, a healthcare app must be HIPAA compliant.

What is HIPAA compliance?
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or HIPAA was passed in 1996 by 104^th United States Congress, with the aim of protecting the personal health records and medical data of the patients. Initially, the intention of the HIPAA was to reduce and ease the administrative work and to modernize the way of managing the health data. Gradually, the medical data was increasingly being recorded electronically which led to healthcare reform.
HIPAA compliance are a set of national rules that set the standard for the protection of sensitive patient health data. These regulations ensure the integrity and confidentiality of electronically protected health information (ePHI).

Why HIPAA compliance is necessary for healthcare mobile app development?
Privacy and security of medical data have become necessary today. There are many reasons why a healthcare app should be HIPAA compliant. It ensures that the patient health data security management systems are optimized for the threats and data violation risks. Let us dive deep into its vital benefits.

Best Practices of Handling Patient Information are Applied
Maintaining HIPAA compliance simply means that the medical data of the patients is handled appropriately and remains safe. How this data is stored, accessed, shared or transmitted has a huge effect on its security. The regulations in HIPAA compliance support best practices in data security.  How the data moves through the systems, who is accessing it and where will it be stored? All such points are covered to ensure security from persistent threats.

Trust of Patients Increases
With extended use of the internet, chances of data breaches have increased. It can not only harm the reputation of the clinic or hospital but, also affect the trust of patients. HIPAA compliance in a health app ensures a robust data security infrastructure by reducing the risk of data violation. In case any violation occurs, the damage is comparatively lesser. Also, any probable risk is noticed in advance which reduces the scope of threats and violations. It helps in reducing medical errors and thus increases patient satisfaction, which impacts the brand reputation.

Proactive Protection of Data is possible
When an organization implies HIPAA compliance in their mHealth app, the sensitive medical data is proactively protected against the threats and risks. HIPAA compliant apps have better cyber-security features. A good data protection plan lets the app to adapt quickly to new threats. It ensures that active threat measures are in place. The organization does not need to buy any expensive add-on security services when the app is already HIPAA compliant.

Staff Awareness and Competitive Business Benefits
Being HIPAA complaint has many benefits. It teaches the staff that protection of the patient medical data is as important as keeping them safe from any other diseases. It teaches the staff about “the right way” to handle patient health records. Thus, it increases the healthcare awareness of staff and provides correct instruction about how the staff should keep the patients’ health data safe and secure. It allows the organization to be better than the competitors, as a HIPAA compliant app is looked upon as more secure towards patient data.

Conclusion:
Data breaches can result in penalties and legal action against the organization. The medical data of the patients can cost enormously if it gets stolen or misused. Making the apps HIPAA compliant assures that best efforts are being taken by the organization to protect their patients’ medical data. The healthcare IT services have already started developing HIPAA complaint apps. It ensures higher profitability to the organizations in the long term.

How On-Demand Apps Are Enhancing the Healthcare Industry?

Imagine a scenario which explains the significance of on-demand healthcare apps.

A boring hall, full of gloomy faces of patients, getting frustrated in pain and waiting to enter the doctor’s cabin! This used to be the scene a few years back, but, it has completely changed after the on-demand healthcare apps came into the picture. People can now fix the doctor’s appointment in advance while saving their time and efforts.

The innovation, the efficiency and the profitability that these apps offer are bringing a revolution in the healthcare domain. Many medical practitioners, healthcare institutions and even pharmaceutical agencies have already started using these apps for ensuring better patient experience and thus, higher business profits. Some apps are specially designed to benefit the patients as well. Due to these advantages, the on-demand healthcare mobile app development is in high demand all over the world.

Significant benefits of on-demand healthcare apps

Immediate medical guidance using a doctor on-demand app

There are apps through which the health experts can immediately connect to the patients anytime and anywhere. A medical emergency response app connects the patients to doctors or medical experts immediately in case of life-threatening emergencies. The medical experts can reach the patients instantly or they can guide them remotely to take the right action to reduce the pain or even save their lives.

Phlex65, a user-friendly on-demand healthcare app helps the senior citizens to hire professional caregivers in their area. The caregivers assist them in their daily care activities like taking medicines on time, personal care grooming, cooking healthy food, assistance with bathing, housekeeping, etc. If needed, the caregivers will also take them to hospitals. Phlex65 is a HIPAA complaint app that is very helpful to senior citizens.

Fix the appointment with doctors in available times

Gone are the days when patients needed to wait in long queues for treatment after visiting the doctors. Advanced apps are developed using healthcare IT serviceswhich allow the patients to book online appointments with the doctors in their available time slots. The patients can book the appointments sitting at home anytime and visit the doctor just before the appointment. It saves time and reduces the panic caused by waiting for long hours. The patients can also cancel the appointments in case of any complexity. These apps also benefit the doctors to manage the appointments better and accordingly decide their tasks.

Patient-doctor relationship improves

An on-demand healthcare app additionally manages tasks like sending reminders of appointments or for taking medicines, monitoring symptoms of health conditions, keeping records of medical data, etc. Nowadays, patients and doctors don’t have to be at the same place to gather the required health information. Medical apps help in better patient-doctor communication which increases transparency and ensures better treatment. In remote locations or in emergency situations, such apps are like a blessing, as remote patient monitoring is possible. The doctors can guide the patients without being actually present there.

Brand value improves

mHealth apps, healthcare professional finder apps, emergency response apps, etc. enhance the band value of the clinics and hospitals. More and more customers can be targeted to use the services. Using these apps, contact details and personal information can be collected to advertise any benefits or offers related to enticing the patients. The patients can take advantage of attractive discounts or free services and spread the word to their near and dear ones. This helps in creating brand awareness.

Conclusion:

On-demand healthcare apps are drastically improving the healthcare industry. They enhance the experience of patients as well as doctors. The apps are designed to respond immediately to various medical needs in case of an emergency. The trends of using healthcare IT services in clinics and hospitals are growing at a fast pace as they help better communication and management of resources. These apps have the potential to enhance the entire hospital ecosystem.