Introduction
The healthcare sector has rapidly changed over the last few decades, and this trend will continue in 2023. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the need for digital transformation in the healthcare industry.
More healthcare organizations are investing in custom healthcare software development to streamline medical operations, deliver quality care, and improve the patient experience.
Custom software applications in the healthcare industry automate various operations, including EHR, EMR, medical billing, appointment scheduling, inventory management, and more. Thus, it enables hospitals, physicians, and other care providers to focus on patient care.
Statistics
With many stakeholders from hospitals and medical centers, doctors, pharmaceutical and research companies, and patients, the need for healthcare software solutions is naturally significant.
According to the Deloitte Global Health Care Outlook report, the global valuation of the healthcare industry stands at $7.724 trillion, making it one of the most significant contributors in the worldwide market.
- The healthcare industry’s global IT sector is expected to reach USD 662 billion by 2026.
- 90% of care providers use cloud-based software development to deliver better patient care and improve outcomes.
- Healthcare automation can solve 80% of the critical medical errors during care transitions due to miscommunication.
- Automating healthcare practice management can reduce missed appointments, thus, helping save over $150 billion yearly spent on missed appointments.
What is Custom Healthcare Software Development?
Custom software development in healthcare refers to creating unique, tailored software solutions to meet the specific needs of healthcare organizations. These software solutions address unique challenges, including patient data management, appointment scheduling, clinical decision support, and more.
Custom software development in healthcare helps to streamline processes, improve patient care and outcomes, and support regulatory compliance.
Examples of Healthcare Software solutions: Electronic Health Records (EHRs), Electronic Medical Records (EMRs), telemedicine platforms, patient management systems, and more.
What are the different types of healthcare software solutions?
Electronic Health Record Software
Electronic Health Records (EHR) is the essential healthcare software used in clinics and hospitals. EHRs reduce the need for paper medical records as it stores complete patient data. The information includes medical and family history, prescribed medications history, and laboratory and other test results. EHRs offer a convenient, quick, and cost-efficient way of storing data and avoiding the risks of data replication or loss.
E-Prescription Software
E-prescription software lets physicians write prescriptions, track prescription history, and renew or cancel any medication. Physicians and patients can directly send the prescription to a pharmacy of their choice and thus save time. Tracking previous records and prescriptions enables doctors to check for already taken medications and suggest changes quickly.
Telemedicine software
Telemedicine software enables patients to get remote or virtual care consultations from physicians. The need for telemedicine software solutions boomed after the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Patients can get required care consultations virtually without regular face-to-face appointments.
The software offers in-app video conferencing, in-app messaging, file transfer (for patient test results), and in-app payments.
Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM)
Remote patient monitoring (RPM) software solutions enable patient data collection outside healthcare institutions (clinics or hospitals). For example, heart rate and blood pressure monitors, glucose and blood oxygen meters, wearable ECG monitors, etc. Similar to telemedicine software, RPMs gained momentum during the pandemic.
Hospital Management Systems (HMS)
Hospital management software has two panels- one for hospital administrators, including doctors and authorized healthcare professionals, and the other for patients.
The management panel enables hospital administrators to manage entire hospital operations seamlessly. It covers food and medicine management, room booking and scheduling, doctors’ timetables, and scheduled appointments.
On the other hand, the patients portal allows them to book and schedule appointments with a patient registration form. Also, it covers all admittance information, billing information, insurance, procedures, doctor appointments, and all meds and prescriptions information.
Thus, Hospital management systems improve hospitals’ productivity, streamline routines, and improve patients’ experience.
Healthcare CRM
Healthcare CRM software helps hospitals maintain good relationships with clients as it automates many tasks, including registration for services and personalization based on provided data.
Medical billing software
Medical Billing software enables healthcare organizations to create and manage patient invoices, receipts, insurance claims, and other financial transactions. Healthcare organizations can integrate this software separately if their Hospital Management Systems do not offer this feature.
Remote medical training
Technology is benefiting physicians, care providers, and patients alike. Remote Medical training software solutions enable medical students and physicians to get virtual medical training. The software integrates technologies like Virtual or Augmented Reality to help students interact more directly with the subject material.
Medical imaging
Medical imaging technology enables the extraction of accurate data and information from images. AI and ML technology makes data extraction quick.
What are the benefits of Custom Healthcare Software development?
- Should I invest in custom software development services?
- How will custom software development benefit my organization?
If you are concerned about the above questions, read the benefits of investing in health tech for your organization.
Higher patient satisfaction
Patient satisfaction and quality care are paramount in the healthcare sector. Automating operations improves efficiency and speed, enabling providers to focus more on patient care. Also, technology has made instant care and remote care possible for emergent situations.
Also, patients don’t need to wait in long queues for appointment bookings or to purchase drugs. Healthcare mobile apps facilitate convenience and speed.
Enhanced Data Security
Healthcare data is sensitive, and every day a significant amount is produced. Healthcare software solutions enable greater security for patient and hospital data. The cloud-based custom healthcare software solutions eliminate unauthorized access and provide secure data storage.
Increased Efficiency
Healthcare software solutions automate operations and thus save time for physicians. The need for paperwork, repeated manual tasks, and errors reduce, thus increasing operations’ efficiency and overall productivity.
Fewer mistakes
Enormous pressure, long working hours, and sudden external forces like the pandemic lead to more severe healthcare mistakes. Automating operations and repetitive tasks help reduce or eliminate errors and deliver better care.
What are the Steps for Developing Custom Healthcare Software Applications?
So, if you have decided to build custom healthcare software, you must be wondering about the process and steps that go in. To build top-notch healthcare software, you must partner with a leading custom software development company. Outsourcing a software development agency is highly cost-efficient and beneficial.
Here are the Stage of Custom Healthcare Software Development:
Planning
The planning stage involves research about the target audience and competitors. The major concern is to align the app design, prototype, and features with your business objectives.
Wireframes & Design
The next step is creating the application wireframes and finalizing the design. A friendly and simple user interface provides a better customer experience.
Development & Testing
The stage where actual development happens. The software development team implements the required technologies to turn the app idea into dynamic healthcare software.
Debugging goes hand in hand with development to eliminate errors for a polished product. Once the app is developed, the custom software development agency performs rigorous testing before the final launch.
Launch
Now is the time to deploy the app on app stores for users to install and use.
What is the cost of building custom healthcare software?
The next big concern while developing custom software every organization faces is the cost. The cost of developing custom healthcare software depends on many factors, including:
- Type of App;
- App Size & Complexity;
- Design Complexity;
- Third-party Integrations;
- Development Team Location.
The total cost amounts to the hours required to build a custom software multiplied by the developer’s hourly rates.
Cost of Software Development = No. of Hours * Developers’ Hourly Rate
The cost of hiring software developers from different locations of the world differs. So, if you want a cost-efficient software development team to build quality software, you can consider countries from the Asia Pacific like India.
The average hourly rates for software or application development in various locations are as follows:
| Eastern Europe | Hourly Rate | Latin America | Hourly Rate | Asia | Hourly Rate |
| Ukraine | $37 | Bolivia | $30 | Bangladesh | $25 |
| Bulgaria | $34 | Brazil | $40 | China | $25 |
| Czech Republic | $34 | Chile | $50 | India | $30 |
| Poland | $40 | Mexico | $55 | Malaysia | $30 |
| Croatia | $25 | Peru | $35 | Philippines | $25 |
Conclusion
How Can SkyWinds Help You Build Healthcare Solutions?
The demand for custom software development in the healthcare sector is constantly rising. Advanced technologies like Artificial intelligence, machine learning, Big Data, and others are changing the healthcare scenario. After the pandemic, the shift in healthcare organizations’ operations has even surged the demand for custom healthcare software solutions.
Healthcare organizations find healthcare software solutions as prerequisites to improving operational efficiency and patient experience. If you are looking for a top custom healthcare software development company in India, we can provide you with our expert services.
SkyWinds offers customized healthcare software development services that help you automate day-to-day operations, reduce paperwork and manual errors, and enhance patient satisfaction. With a team of proficient healthcare developers with deep knowledge of advanced healthcare technologies, we ensure you only get superior software solutions.
Are you interested in discussing your healthcare app idea with us? Book a free consultation call and validate your app idea. Get in touch with us to advance your healthcare services innovatively.
