Customization vs. Standardization: Finding the Right Balance in EHR Development

The healthcare industry has made a smooth transition from traditional healthcare practices to digital healthcare practices. Though the digital revolution is yet to make a significant impact on the care delivery process, it has indeed changed the way hospitals, clinics or healthcare institutions work.

While practices are looking for healthcare software solutions for even the minute processes, the rise of custom healthcare software solutions is today at an all-time high. In the midst of the transition stage, practices have created a huge dependency on electronic health records systems.

Rather than just storing patient data, the touch of customization, and extending its functionality by introducing hospital management features, electronic health records software systems have become the epicenter of modern-day healthcare practices.

Furthermore, with more and more healthcare professionals looking to integrate EHR systems into their healthcare practice, the demand for customizable EHR has clearly been on the rise. However, the dark side of this high adoption tide is often known when the time comes for the implementation of the software. For instance, according to the Fox Group, 20% of the EHR system installations are considered a failure, and another study revealed that 50% of the EHR systems either fail or are not fully utilized.

Though there can be many reasons leading to that, let’s try to understand some of the basics of the healthcare IT market with respect to EHR systems.

When you first hit the market, you are presented with either off-the-shelf EHR software or custom EHR software development options. And the choice between two can be daunting. Though they both come with their own advantages and disadvantages, the right decision leads to the success of the practice or can be just another number making to the list of failed EHR software systems.

On that note, let’s try to understand the difference between custom EHR software systems and off-the-shelf software systems, and try to find the right balance for your healthcare practice.

So, without further ado, let’s get started.

Custom EHR Software Development – The Advantages & Disadvantages of Customization

In the last few years, there has been a surge in the demand for custom EHR software. Let’s simplify the choice for you and understand the intricacies of custom EHR software development and why is the right choice for your EHR software systems:

Advantages of Custom EHR Software

1. Tailored to Specific Needs and Requirements: The major advantage of custom EHR software, which is also its USP, is that it can be curated to meet the specific needs and requirements of healthcare organizations. This means that, as per your specific clinical and administrative workflows,  the custom EHR software can easily align with your needs and can be further customized to meet your evolving needs and requirements.

2. Feature Customization to Meet Diverse Demands: Every healthcare practice has a different way of working, and if they are focused on offering specialized services, then their needs are completely different. This is where custom EHR software can be extremely beneficial, as its features can be tailored to meet the diverse clinical specialties and patient populations.

3. Enhanced User Experience and Satisfaction: The user interface and user experience of the custom EHR can also be developed at your convenience. This has the potential to improve the user experience and increase the clinical satisfaction rate.

Disadvantages of Custom EHR Software

1. Higher Development Cost: Since the software is built from scratch, it usually has a higher development and implementation cost. Furthermore, depending on your specific needs, requirements, and customizations, the cost varies significantly.

2. Compatibility Issues with Other Systems: Custom EHR software might follow a different type of format or standards, which can make it difficult to be compatible with other healthcare systems. This can not only hinder the data exchange process but can also lead to other issues that can be related to interoperability, etc.

3. Difficulty in Maintenance and Updates: The system requires frequent updates and maintenance; while it can be easy to maintain that in one system, updating and maintaining it across various functionalities can be difficult, time-consuming, and, at times, costly.

Off-the-shelf EHR Software – The Advantages & Disadvantages of Standardization

While custom EHR software has shown an increase in demand, there are certain advantages that off-the-shelf EHR software offers, which makes it a favorable solution for many. Having said that, let’s have a look at the pros and cons of standard EHR software:

Advantages of Off-the-shelf EHR Software

1. Smooth and Seamless Interoperability: One of the biggest advantages of using off-the-shelf EHR software is its interoperability. Since every practice using the same software system has a common ground, data exchange becomes easier and without many complications.

2. Simplified Implementation and Maintenance: Due to the uniformity that is brought by the off-the-shelf EHR software, it becomes really simple to implement the system into a healthcare practice and maintain it with regular updates and support.

3. Economical Venture: Since the software comes with predefined features and functionality, it has a huge potential to reduce the overall costs associated with EHR development and its use.

Disadvantages of Off-the-Shelf EHR Software

1. Limited Flexibility: Due to the predefined nature of the off-the-shelf EHR software, it offers little to no flexibility. This can make it difficult to meet the specific needs of every healthcare organization and even patients.

2. Inability to Meet Diverse Workflows and Clinical Practices: While uniformity can be an advantage in some cases, it can also be a disadvantage in meeting the diverse needs of clinical practices or patient populations.

3. User Resistance: Standardization somewhere follows a one-size-fits-all approach. This is where many users may resist as every healthcare practice is different, and they have to deal with different sets of challenges that are unique to them and only to them.

Finding the Right Balance to Make the Right Choice

At times the choice between custom EHR and off-the-shelf EHR software can be very difficult. While interoperability becomes the USP of standardized software solutions, the flexibility and customization becomes the deal-breaker for customized software solutions.

In such cases, you can find the right balance between them with coordinated standardization. In this software development approach, the core functionalities of standardized EHR software are present to promote interoperability, while a specific gap is left to meet the specific needs of the practice.

Moreover, with emerging technologies like modular design and open APIs, customization can be easily facilitated within standardized frameworks. This gives you enough freedom to design the software the way you want, while having a standardized approach to easily share data.

However before making the final decision, keep your end-users of the software involved in the process so that there are not many implementation and adoption challenges.

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