The concept of digital healthcare puts patients, their personal needs and demands for convenience and speed at the centre, which is why investing in custom software solutions is such a popular business strategy today. But digitisation in healthcare is so much more than just a passing trend. Instead, it is a vital ingredient of the success of each healthcare company as it helps reinvent existing processes, making them more cost-effective and efficient in the long run. Besides, implementing some of the newest software technologies allows healthcare companies to gain a competitive advantage and secure market positions.
Working in a healthcare software development company allows me to see all the unexplored potential of today’s technologies. In 2022, the chances that there is an IT solution for each impending healthcare challenge are quite high. Technological advancements already help us tackle complex processes such as automated compliance with laws and regulations, remote patient monitoring, enhanced diagnostics or even pharma supply chains.
1. Software Solutions to Reinvent Healthcare Delivery
McKinsey reports that in just a year, from February 2020 to February 2021, the demand for telemedicine has surged, reaching 38 times higher volume. The Covid-19 pandemic acted as a powerful accelerator for innovation, and as a result, leading countries such as the USA, Germany, the UK, France already use digital healthcare delivery options that are partially or fully covered by insurance providers. For example, patients and doctors can arrange video consultations, prescription medications can be ordered by mobile apps, mental health services can also happen remotely.
By transforming the way patients receive healthcare services, healthcare companies tackle multiple problems at once. First, digitisation makes healthcare more affordable and more easily accessible. Second, systematic reviews from the US Agency for Healthcare and Research confirm the evidence-based benefits of healthcare to support remote monitoring of patients with chronic conditions. Third, telemedicine also helps boost patient engagement, making it easy to stick to prescribed treatment with built-in reminders, notifications and tracking options in mHealth apps.
Let’s take a closer look at the last aspect of patient engagement. As we all know, trust and cooperation are the foundations of a good doctor-patient relationship. However, digital technologies help deepen this relationship by boosting patients' engagement. New software solutions offer simple but efficient UI/UX design, explaining complex medical conditions, providing 24/7 medical guidance, while contributing to higher personal responsibility, increased prevention and cultivating a healthier lifestyle.
2. Software Solutions to Perform Data Analytics
Investing in a compliant software solution that has data analytics capabilities is one of the most promising paths for healthcare companies to leverage available medical data. Statistics from the Royal Bank of Canada claim that nearly 30% of all available global data originates from healthcare and its proportion is predicted to reach 36% by 2025. However, it’s often the case that healthcare has access to tons of data, but companies struggle to find meaningful ways to utilise it and make sense of it. Intelligent software solutions with built-in data analytics modules help healthcare companies and individual professionals make the most of their patients’ data. Here is how exactly.
An HBS article nicely summarises the four main data analytics types applied to healthcare. They can be developed depending on the particular goal of a software solution. For example:
Descriptive analytics helps medical practitioners see connections between past events, e.g. determine how contagious new Covid-19 variants are by examining positive tests;
Diagnostic analytics on the other hand help doctors perform a better diagnostic process based on symptoms. Then, we have
Predictive analytics making future predictions based on data from past trends or personal medical history and finally,
Prescriptive analytics can assist healthcare organisations to reach their goals by providing specific actionable insights and minimising risk factors.
Data visualisation is another powerful tool that needs to be integrated into data analytics. Each respectable healthcare software solution should be able to provide easy to understand graphical illustrations that help demystify complex topics, boost patient engagement and increase user satisfaction. Above all, when handling personal medical data, healthcare providers shouldn’t forget that software solutions must be compliant with region-specific laws and regulations, e.g. HIPAA and NIST (USA), GDPR (EU), DPA (UK), PIPEDA (Canada), etc. This is why it is important to work with an experienced healthcare software development company within this particular industry.
3. Software Solutions for Healthcare Marketing
One of the best strategies for success in digital healthcare is to seek market gaps, evergreen problems and an expert IT partner that can help you solve them through technology. Healthcare marketing is an essential pillar and represents an ongoing challenge for many providers. Usually, users need to be addressed and engaged before they become actual patients. The key here is comprehensive and reliable medical advice that builds trust. This not only promotes the patient's positive attitude towards possible later treatment but also actively encourages prevention and early detection of diseases in public health.
In this way, modern digital healthcare marketing doesn’t simply begin in the late phase of the marketing funnel, e.g. targeted search for treatment options, but it already starts in the early phase, in which users google their current symptoms or want to proactively inform themselves about preventive measures.
Even at this point in time, healthcare professionals should position themselves as trustworthy and reliable partners with specific medical content, appropriate non-promotional offers, videos, expert guides or blog posts. Above all, addressing the target group and incorporating UX optimisations are key elements. Depending on the offer and target group, different healthcare marketing strategies involve patient-centric platforms, web tools or mobile applications.
In a Nutshell
Innovative technologies offer enormous potential to design future-driven healthcare services with the help of software solutions. Not only do these optimise essential healthcare processes in a patient-oriented manner, but they’re simultaneously key drivers for improved care, better diagnostic processes and optimised disease management. Further, digitisation can provide significant support so that doctors and patients and different clinics and medical facilities can communicate better and make the most of medical data.
As a result of a flawless and secure communication process, everyday treatment processes become easier, diagnoses and therapies are more precisely aligned and have a better effect on patients. Last but not least, healthcare software solutions open up extensive possibilities for taking good care of the growing number of chronically ill, remote living or elderly patients, while relieving the burden on specialists and making better use of available resources.
Author Biography Aleksandrina Vasileva
Aleksandrina is a Content Creator at Dreamix, a custom software development company, and is keen on innovative technological solutions with a positive impact on our world. Her teaching background mixed with interests in psychology drives her to share knowledge. She is an avid reader and enthusiastic blogger, always looking for the next inspiration.
