Introduction
2001: A year of breakthrough for the healthcare industry. Why?
It’s because there was the conduction of a remote surgery on a patient by a US-based physician in France. Now, after 20 years, the widespread utilization of technology is making healthcare more accessible even remotely!
Today, the world is moving towards digitalization, and even healthcare development is not untouched by its wave. On the other hand, experts believe that the global healthcare market will soon reach over $500 billion by the year 2025.
Note: These predictions were made when COVID was still in its nascent phase!
Nevertheless, such a bold forecast led to a surge in the field of healthcare software solutions. Therefore, healthcare startups including digital transformation solution providers are increasing their footprint to offer various solutions for diagnosis, patient monitoring, appointment scheduling, prescription, and pharmaceutical and be the best healthcare solution company.
However, before moving forward, it becomes crucial to know various types of healthcare software. Though it sounds like icing on the cake, it will give you a good headache!
So, in the given article, we will help our readers to get to know about the most common and most potential types of healthcare management software solutions that will facilitate building a successful healthcare product.
Most Popular Types of Healthcare Software
Before going into details, we will classify healthcare software into three different sections, and they include:
- Software and applications focusing on patient-oriented solutions
- A solution developed for hospital management
- Software for diagnostic and research
Though not a strict division, it reflects the products that emphasize physicians and hospitals. After all, every product aims to save the lives of people and prevent the spread of diseases.
However, the given classification is crucial as it will help readers understand the procedure of creating healthcare software apps in the best possible way. Now we venture more into it:
1. Patient-Oriented Healthcare Software
While there are tremendous opportunities for healthcare app products to outshine their rivals, experts are amazed that it has taken little time to achieve it. Why so? It’s because of the yearning among people to get easier and safer medical aid to lead a healthy lifestyle.
The menace of COVID-19 has proved to be a blessing in disguise for healthcare providers. Now, with a tight grip on offering healthcare app services, they are successful in breaking the shackles of the dominance of traditional healthcare services.
So, let’s dive into some of the notable patient-based healthcare app software solutions:
A. Telemedicine App and Telehealth Software Solution
Admittedly, there is a misunderstanding among people that telemedicine and telehealth are the same. But, in fact, they are completely different terms. Yes, it’s true! How?
In broader terms, telemedicine app development solutions focus on remote monitoring via remote consultation with the physician. Here, the role of telemedicine becomes more crucial.
In addition, the telemedicine app is a healthcare software solution that optimizes the use of e-information to support distant communication between patients and doctors remotely. Equally, it is a booming industry; a fact that is supported by the following facts:
- Global market insight predicts the high value of the telemedicine market at US$175.5 billion by 2026 from a mere US$49 in 2019
- About 60% of patients are likely to give more prominence to telemedicine above traditional healthcare post-pandemic
What do these figures suggest?
They reveal that telemedicine apps are a craze among patients and doctors alike due to their easy convenience. Nevertheless, how do they work in real life? Let's take an example!
For example, Doxy.me is one such telemedicine software that offers healthcare solutions for clinics, patients, and even health service providers. Likewise, the given startup ensures direct accessibility of medical services on the web.
B. E-Prescribing Software
Today, there is significant churning in the healthcare industry due to the arrival of digitalized technology. Such is its impact that the doctors now are switching to electronic prescriptions. Why?
Actually, it is offering a helping hand to healthcare professionals to renew, track, and cancel prescriptions for their patients with just a click! In many instances, doctors can utilize it to directly contact a pharmacist to deliver medicines with no sign of errors (or even misunderstanding).
Similarly, many experts gleefully predict the rise of the e-prescribing market from $885.6 million in 2018 to $4,152.7 million by 2026. The major reason for the rise of a given software is due to certain factors:
- Improved patient safety
- Lower use of handwritten prescriptions that lowers medication errors
- Scarcer faults due to misunderstood phoned-in prescriptions
- Lesser risk of lost prescriptions
What does it deliver?
It conveys the message that the given software will boost the growth of paperless prescriptions to make medical facilities safe and secure from man-made errors.
Now, do you want a real example of the given software? Here is it!
To illustrate, RXNT is one such e-prescribing software that vouches for the highest level of healthcare to the patients by their physicians. Its best part is a cloud-based system that reduces workloads for physicians and enhances productivity to create a better cordial relationship with patients.
C. Appointment Scheduling Software
Consequently, managing the appointment online is now possible, all thanks to scheduling software. It has given a sigh of relief among clinics, hospitals, and other medical practices to a great extent. What does it comprise?
It has an exclusive feature called a patient panel that permits any individual to schedule an appointment through the medical app. Often, it also includes some exciting features like email notification and automation remainders that come in handy for patients and doctors to book future schedules.
Why is it so crucial for the healthcare sector?
There is an important fact that points towards its importance. Every year, the US healthcare system faces a loss of $150 billion due to missed appointments with doctors. After all, with appointment scheduling software, there is a substantial reduction in canceled appointments thus not only saving lots of money but also offering care needed by the patients.
For instance, one effective example of healthcare scheduling software is SimplyBook.me. It permits users to make an online appointment from its official website, widget, social networks, and even Google Maps. Whenever there is a posting of clinic info, patients can immediately make an appointment.
2. Hospital Management Software
A. Electronic Health Record (EHR) Software
EMR and EHR integration services are some of the most popular healthcare software in the healthcare industry. Moreover, it collects valuable information related to the patients, such as taking medication, recommendations by the doctors, past procedures, etc.
Further, it includes various programs such as a financial module (payment and invoicing) and a separate patient portal to check medical records, consultation history, and prescriptions. Afterward, let's come to evaluate the two most popular types of EHR software:
- Electronic Patient Record Software (EPR): It finds usage in hospitals to store and process information about the patient information internally.
- Electronic Medical Record Software (EMR): It stores data such as dosage and medication type, planned procedure, and past medical reports on the recovery course of the patient online.
One prominent example of EHR software is eClinicalWorks which sells EMR and personal health record services to healthcare providers. Likewise, they help physicians to view and utilize personal wellness data as they want (but not without patient consent).
B. Medical Billing Software
It is one of the most cherished healthcare software applications that is becoming an integral part of each healthcare department present across the world.
However, what is their functionality?
This Medical Billing Software development offers featured solutions, especially for hospital accounting departments. It focuses on keeping track of payments, invoices, and other financial operations for the patient.
Besides, it works best by integrating it with a bigger system like hospital management software. Additionally, technological advancement will play a crucial role, and the inclusion of AI will make medical billing go fully automated by the end of the year.
Also, the market for medical billing software shall grow at a CAGR of 5.1% from the period 2020 to 2027. Particularly, the growing demand for healthcare service providers will escalate the need for medical software (especially on the cloud) manifold.
One noteworthy example of medical billing software is EpicCare which includes clinical and financial metrics in its dashboard. Above and beyond, it also supports the telemedicine option to permit doctors to discuss with their patients via a video platform.
C. Medical Equipment Management Software
The given software emphasizes the removal of manual stocktaking and equipment maintenance thus, relieving hospital management from wasting too much time on manual work. In addition, it comes with exclusive features such as inventory alerts and automatic maintenance scheduling.
One path-breaking trend that is carrying the legacy of medical device software development forward is the inclusion of Femtech. Further, it is special medical equipment for diagnosing and offering treatment for diseases unique to women. Investors believe that its market will reach the US $50 billion by 2025.
To demonstrate it, Sortly is one such software. It is super inventory cloud-based tracking management software that uses QR codes to track and monitor medical stocks and records quickly. It is easy to use and navigate, and the exciting part: it comes free!
3. Research and Diagnostic Software
Healthcare IT solutions for diagnosis enable doctors to diagnose faster, better, and in a more precise way. In such a scenario, the most noticeable fact is the development of technology that comes in handy, especially in the field of robotic surgery. Altogether, there are certain types of research and diagnostic software development. Some of them are as follows:
A. Medical or Clinical Research Software
It is the same as EHR software that gathers information about personal data, medication, and also medical history. At the same time, they serve two purposes: research sharing and education awareness about the diseases. That’s the difference between them and EHR. So, different databases cater to the cure of different diseases.
One crucial example of medical research software is PubMed software which is free of cost software that provides various biomedical and science topics to get information about common as well as, rare diseases. Similarly, the best part of the given software is the presence of 33 million+ abstracts that aim to improve health (physically and mentally) both personally and globally.
B. Imaging & Visualization Software
The usage of medical tools such as MRI and CT scans has saved the lives of millions. However, there is always scope for improvement, and many medical startups and healthcare management are looking for newer solutions. Meanwhile, the arrival of visualization software that comes with AI has become a game-changing phenomenon. After all, they have proved to be beneficial in diagnosing suspicious cysts that even powerful CT images fail to see.
What’s more, the easy availability of mobile apps assists doctors to spot a stroke symptom within 30 seconds of its occurrence. Thus, the chances of saving the patients’ lives increase to a greater extent. They have become well-known because:
- Offers human anatomy 3D modeling
- Design & print elements of body parts online for medical surgery
One example that completely defines the given software is Vepro which is cloud-based EMR software that is suitable for all healthcare sectors. They automate clinical operations by storing medical records at a single online location. Besides, such info also shows their utility during interrogation by insurance companies.
C. Medical Diagnosis App
These are the IoT-based applications that prevent the wrong diagnosis and instead, share a collection of the patient's data (about their treatment, disease, and recovery) accurately.
Furthermore, it is just like a database that facilitates information exchange so that numerous medical specialists can access it easily.
Another important fact about the given software is that it leverages AI, ML, and Big Data to speed up diagnostic procedures and make them more fruitful. The inclusion of Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics will help healthcare software development and mobile app development be more innovative and help the digital transformation of the healthcare industry in the future.
One crucial example is StethoMe which is positive to those patients who have the habit of Google for every symptom of the disease. Further, research has found that it is 25% more accurate than the diagnosis made by the doctor by just examining the patients.
Digital Acceleration in the Health Sector in 2022 & Beyond
Thus, it is safe to say that the healthcare market is blooming to a larger extent post-lockdown era. No doubt, digitalization in the world of healthcare has come with notable benefits:
- High Efficiency
- Cost Reduction
- Better control of financial expenses
- Proper utilization of patient data
Therefore more medical services will be available online; more users will get access to better medical services to live a rewarding life. So, the healthcare sector is likely to see reform and digital transformation and is certain to grow substantially. The aim of healthcare app development is to bring more joy, and good health among the people.
