A Step-by-Step Guide to Custom Healthcare Software Development
Before diving deep into the custom healthcare software development process, let me ask you a question!
Why do you want to develop healthcare software with EHR, EMR, and telehealth platform integration?
The baseline answer would be to take your practice digital, right?
Well, now let’s take a look at it from a different perspective. In 2022, on an average almost 22% adults in the US are using telehealth on a regular basis. Apart from that, electronic health records (EHR) software adoption in the US hospitals and clinics have reached an all time high with more than 72% and there is a high chance that your healthcare practice might be one of them.
If you could connect the dots then it is clear that healthcare software solutions are going to become an integral part of the modern day healthcare landscape. And being a healthcare provider, you must have sniffed the future trends in healthcare and that is one of the factors you are looking for in practice-specific custom healthcare software development.
However, developing healthcare software solutions is not a walk in the park, it requires proper planning, and execution so that after the healthcare software deployment, it comfortably aligns with your practice and satisfies all your needs and requirements.
Let this blog be your comprehensive guide to step-by-step healthcare application development. So, without further ado, let’s get started!
Defining your Needs & Goals
The step to developing healthcare software solutions is to ask the following question: ‘Why do you want this healthcare software solution?’
Once you start finding the answer to this question, you will recognize some of the pre-existing challenges in managing your practice. Some of the most common challenges faced by healthcare organizations include inefficient appointments and difficulty in establishing a proper communication channel between patients and care team members.
Apart from that, if you are already using a software system, then healthcare software integration for seamless transfer of data is something that many healthcare organizations struggle with. This is where asking the above question comes in handy. It will help you understand the pain points in your practice.
The next thing you need to do here is define the goals of your program with custom healthcare software. Start by understanding what specific problems you want the healthcare software systems to solve. Considering the above-mentioned problems, your custom healthcare software must be able to improve and streamline patient appointments. This way, the software will help you manage your in- and out-patient population better.
Along with that, the software should provide you with effective communication channels to make it easy for both patients and providers to connect with each other. Since most of the system will store, manage, and generate loads of data, the software should enhance its security to instill integrity and trust in your practice.
Last but not least, know your user, aka audience, and develop the software with respect to that. For instance, people who will be using your custom healthcare software will be doctors, nurses, patients, and administrative staff. Understanding their needs and pain points can help you in developing the ideal healthcare software solutions for your practice.
Planning & Research
Once you know why you need the healthcare software, you’re almost ready to hit the market in search of a perfect healthcare software vendor. However, the first step involves conducting thorough market research. Start with some of the existing healthcare software solutions available in the market that fully or partially meet your needs.
Don’t rush with the decision of healthcare software deployment of the selected software, but critically analyze what are the strengths and weaknesses of the software you’ve selected. This will help you get an idea about the essential features you need for your custom healthcare software for your practice.
Another thing to consider at this stage of development is to recognize the compliances you need for your software. Some of the important compliances your custom healthcare software requires to adhere are HIPAA, GDPR, HITECT, etc.
Ensure that during the custom healthcare software development process the software adheres to the regulations and other relevant data privacy laws. Depending on the region you’re practicing, the data privacy laws may change; knowing and adhering to those can help you curate the custom healthcare software development process accordingly.
HIPAA Compliance Checklist for Custom Healthcare Software
Free DownloadFinding the Right Development Partner
Once you have researched and planned about the needs and requirements for your custom healthcare software, it is time to find the person or IT vendor who will develop the software for your practice. The market is filled with healthcare IT professionals, but finding the right development partner is where it gets tricky.
Making that process easy for you, here are some of the things you should consider while choosing the right development partner for your custom healthcare software development:
1. Experience & Expertise: When it is time to choose from a pool of vendors, make a choice depending on their experience and expertise in the given field. Check and verify if the development team has experience in building healthcare software solutions and what their customers’ responses are.
2. Portfolio Review: Ask for the development team’s portfolio and healthcare software solutions that they have developed. Carefully evaluate these projects to assess their capabilities and understand their design aesthetic to get the desired result.
3. Communication & Collaboration: As a healthcare professional, you know that the key to everything is communication. Which is equally true in this scenario. Choose your development partner with excellent communication skills and take up a collaborative approach during the healthcare software development process.
4. Project Management: Last but not least, before moving ahead with the chosen vendor, ensure that the development team has a proven track record of timely healthcare software deployment. This will help you understand their methodology to keep things on track and how they achieve their target in a given time frame.
Design Phase – Bringing Ideas to Life
After finalizing your custom healthcare software development partner, the real work starts at this stage. Many healthcare software developers call this stage the design phase because this is where you design the blueprints-—wireframes, UI/UX, etc—of your software.
Start with designing an intuitive and interactive user interface for your software. While designing, this focuses on accessibility and ease of use of the software. The interface should be planned in such a way that it helps the user easily navigate through the different features and functionalities of the healthcare software.
Once the prototype is ready, roll out a demo version, if possible, to the stakeholders—providers, physicians, nurses, and administrative staff—for their feedback. Take the necessary suggestions and incorporate those changes into the design to bring an ease-of-use factor to the software.
Ensure the custom healthcare software development team adheres to the necessary compliances and industry standards and regulations. After that, wireframes and mockups will be developed to visualize the software’s functionality and layout and to make sure that the software is being developed the way it was planned.
Development & Implementation
After designing your wireframes, designs, and software layout, you enter the last stage of your custom healthcare software development – development and implementation. This is where the development team will code your software and make it a reality. Being the most complicated stage, it can further be divided into four stages.
Let’s have a look at those steps briefly and understand what is done at which stage:
1. Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC): Before even writing the first code of your custom healthcare software, have a look at the SDLC methodology adopted to develop your software. There are two major best practices: agile and waterfall. Both of these methodologies have their unique features and advantages; choose the one that suits your needs. To give you an idea, in agile software development in healthcare, sprints are created where every feature and functionality of the software are developed, and if there are any changes in the requirements, those are taken up in the next sprint so that you get the complete software. However, it can have an impact on healthcare software deployment. On the other hand, in waterfall methodology, your custom healthcare software is developed on the go, where there is less room for including additional requirements. However, it is the best methodology for the timely deployment of software.
2. Testing & Quality Assurance: After the software is developed, it enters the testing and quality assurance phase. Here, rigorous testing of the software is done to ensure it is bug-free and offers a rich and user-friendly experience.
3. Training & Support: After testing, your custom healthcare software development is ready for deployment. However, before rolling out the final version, develop a comprehensive training program for your staff to ensure they can easily adapt to the software and the new workflow that it might bring with it.
4. Ongoing Maintenance & Updates: After the healthcare software deployment, plan for ongoing maintenance and software updates to address bugs that might occur while using the software. Along with that, stay updated with the evolving regulations and implement necessary changes and new features as per requirements.
Conclusion
Custom healthcare software development can literally change the face of your healthcare practice. It can bring a transformative change in the way you deliver care with enhanced accuracy, communication, and collaboration. Follow this five-step comprehensive guide for your custom healthcare software development and ensure data-driven care practice by improving efficiency and streamlining your clinical workflow.
Custom Healthcare Software Development Needs Assessment Checklist
Free DownloadFrequently Asked Questions
Here is a brief overview of the custom healthcare software development process:
- Define needs: Identify problems your software will solve (e.g., appointment scheduling, patient records).
- Regulations: Ensure compliance with HIPAA and other data privacy laws.
- Development Partner: Choose an experienced company that builds healthcare software.
- Design and Build: Work with the developer to design user experience and functionalities.
- Testing: Rigorous testing ensures the software functions smoothly and securely.
- Launch and Maintain: After launch, ongoing maintenance is crucial for updates and bug fixes.
The advantage of choosing a custom healthcare software solution over off-the-shelf solutions is that it offers unique propositions that are specific to your clinical needs and requirements. Here, you can mold your custom healthcare software according to your needs, whereas an off-the-shelf has limited features and may lack important healthcare software integrations.
Custom EHR software perfectly fits your clinical workflow, boosting efficiency by streamlining tasks and integrating seamlessly with existing systems. Furthermore, you can design the software for optimal user experience, making data entry and retrieval easy for staff. Custom EHRs prioritize security and can be tailored to meet specific compliance needs, ensuring the best protection for sensitive patient information.
Here’s how to ensure your custom software meets regulations like HIPAA:
- Identify Requirements: Understand the specific regulations (HIPAA, in this case) and how they apply to your software’s function.
- Build with Compliance: Integrate security features, data encryption, and audit trails into the software’s design.
- Testing and Validation: Conduct rigorous testing to ensure the software meets compliance guidelines.
- Documentation: Maintain detailed documentation of your compliance efforts for audits.
Custom healthcare software costs vary greatly based on complexity. Simple apps can take 3-6 months and cost $8,000-$20,000, while feature-rich systems can exceed $30,000 and take over a year to develop. Complexity also impacts timelines, with intricate projects reaching upwards of 6 months for planning, development, and deployment.
Track cost savings (reduced errors, admin time) and revenue gains (faster billing, increased patient visits) to calculate ROI. Monitor user adoption and satisfaction alongside clinical improvements (reduced readmissions, better diagnoses) to gauge the overall success of your custom healthcare software.
Ongoing support for healthcare software often includes bug fixes, security updates, performance monitoring, and ensuring compliance with regulations. It’s basically keeping your software healthy with check-ups, fixes, and upgrades to run smoothly and securely.
Here are some key practices for building healthcare workflow software:
- Understand healthcare workflows: Talk to providers to identify pain points and areas for automation.
- Prioritize compliance and security: Ensure HIPAA compliance and robust data protection.
- Design for users: Make it intuitive for busy medical staff, minimizing extra clicks.
- Integrate seamlessly: Connect with existing EHRs and avoid data silos.
- Offer mobile access: Allow staff to access schedules and patient info on the go.
Pick a partner with proven healthcare software experience. They should understand patient data privacy rules and have a history of happy clients. Look for good communication and a clear development process. This ensures a secure, functional tool that meets your needs.
Building HIPAA-compliant custom healthcare software requires a secure foundation. This includes encrypted data storage and transmission, controlled access with user roles, and regular audits. Train staff on security procedures and obtain patient consent for data use. Remember, ongoing vigilance is key.
