The COVID-19 pandemic has expedited the integration of digital technologies in healthcare. The necessity to provide remote patient care and efficiently handle a high volume of patients prompted clinics and hospitals to transition from traditional paper-based systems to digital solutions.
However, the effectiveness of this digitalization in healthcare is debatable. In their haste to adopt technology, many clinics opted for multiple independent systems. While this approach offered a quick solution, it also introduced new challenges for medical practices. The proliferation of third-party services has resulted in disorderly workflows within clinics.
How can your clinic benefit from an all-in-one management solution and clean up the mess left by third-party services?
By adopting an all-in-one management solution, clinics can achieve multiple objectives:
- This system significantly reduces human errors by eliminating the need for extensive data re-entry. With a smart data exchange system in place, clinic staff can allocate their time to other critical tasks.
- Moreover, clinics can efficiently serve more patients. Manual tasks such as data collection, sorting, and entry are minimized, allowing staff to focus on delivering quality service. Continuous data updates and automatic processes streamline the workflow, reducing the time spent on creating patient profiles.
- Additionally, automation features within the new management solution alleviate staff burden and save time. Tasks like sending notifications, updating data, and managing testing requests can be automated, freeing up valuable time for clinic workers and reducing the likelihood of errors.
- Lastly, the workflow optimization facilitated by the new system enhances efficiency and accuracy. Business analysts can identify and address workflow inefficiencies, streamlining processes and minimizing errors. This may involve simplifying report creation processes or automating data entry tasks, ultimately improving overall clinic operations.
- Unlock greater scalability opportunities. As your clinic expands and evolves, it may become reliant on numerous third-party services to meet its growing needs. Adopting an all-in-one management solution developed from the ground up is the optimal strategy to address this challenge. With such a solution in place, your clinic can seamlessly integrate new functionalities as the demands of your staff continue to grow.
- Digitize your archives for enhanced efficiency. Complete digitalization of your clinic inevitably involves addressing your archives. While digitizing these archives may require initial effort, an all-in-one solution enables you to securely and conveniently store patient medical data within a single system, eliminating the need for cumbersome paper documentation.
How to build an effective management solution for a clinic from scratch?
Before commencing development, business analysts will engage in investigating your clinic's current workflow.
When developing a clinic management solution, business analysts undertake a comprehensive analysis not only of the client's requirements but also of the overall business operations, needs, and alignment with stakeholder expectations.
With a deep understanding of the clinic's existing processes, business analysts formulate a plan for digitalizing these workflows. This plan includes a detailed assessment of processes requiring optimization, strategies for optimization, and identification of tasks suitable for automation. Such thorough investigation aids in defining the future platform's scope and functionalities.
The initial focus lies in addressing the issue of third-party services.
Streamlining third-party services and integrating essential ones
Transitioning to a comprehensive solution does not necessarily entail abandoning all previously utilized services. The primary objective is to ensure interoperability.
Often, end users may utilize only a fraction of a service's functionalities, which may not fully meet their needs. The cost of unused functionalities within third-party services may not be justified. However, this does not imply complete avoidance of third-party services. Instead, integration aims to incorporate critical functionalities efficiently, such as billing services, thereby saving costs and time.
Once integration challenges are resolved, business analysts and UX designers proceed to develop wireframes and UI, aligning with stakeholder requirements to optimize and automate existing workflows. The development team then initiates the creation of the MVP version of the solution. In some instances, a functional prototype may precede development.
Developing functionality to streamline clinical operations for all stakeholders
An all-in-one clinical management solution, equipped with fundamental functionalities, facilitates the digitalization of various processes and enhances efficiency for all stakeholders.
Key functionalities for medical and administrative staff include:
Dashboard with task management capabilities
Appointment scheduling features
Electronic Health Record (EHR) system
A user-friendly dashboard provides specialists with insights into their daily tasks, enabling efficient task allocation among different roles within the clinic.
Appointment scheduling
Appointment scheduling functionality is crucial for any clinical management solution. We can develop a user-friendly tool with the following capabilities:
Visualization of doctors' workloads.
Flexibility for administrative staff to modify schedules and rearrange appointments effortlessly.
Ability for doctors to add special notes regarding patients and seamlessly transfer them to the Electronic Health Record (EHR) module for comprehensive patient record management.
EHR
Utilizing an Electronic Health Record (EHR) simplifies the maintenance of patients' medical histories. While many EHR systems designed for extensive clinic networks boast extensive functionality, including numerous forms and tabs, which may be excessive for smaller tasks, we prioritize simplicity. Our approach involves crafting a streamlined EHR with essential functionalities tailored for doctors' needs while ensuring seamless data transfer to other departments, such as laboratories.
Given that your clinic's EHR system will handle sensitive patient information, obtaining ONC Health IT Certification may be necessary. Yalantis possesses the expertise to assist clients in obtaining this certification, allowing us to develop a solution that anticipates and adheres to its requirements.
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Role management and access rights
In our endeavor to develop a comprehensive solution to streamline operations across your clinic, it's crucial to establish distinct access rights for each user. This entails delineating permissions for:
Doctors, nurses, and administrative staff to access specific patient information.
Physicians and specialists to modify patient records as needed.
Doctors and administrative staff to schedule and manage appointments, including assigning and canceling them.
Integration with the EHR system for an in-house laboratory
This integration aims to mitigate the impact of human error on test outcomes. For instance, when a doctor issues a testing referral, it can be seamlessly transmitted via the EHR to the laboratory. Furthermore, the solution can integrate with software used in medical testing equipment, automatically inputting relevant data (such as the patient's name and analysis barcode).
As a result, lab technicians can initiate analyses automatically upon receiving a patient's biological sample. Subsequently, the equipment can transmit the results directly to the laboratory database. Once a laboratory officer electronically signs the test result form, the results can be sent back to the EHR system in a discrete, standardized format.
Integration with a reference laboratory
In scenarios where a hospital lacks its laboratory or specific tests cannot be conducted on-site, integration with an external laboratory becomes crucial. In such instances, our system can seamlessly connect with the internal system of an external laboratory, situated outside your medical facility. Upon receiving a request from a physician, the external lab can automatically access the patient's data. Subsequently, the test results can be transmitted back to the hospital's management system for further processing.
Functionality for patients
While functionality for patients remains optional, providing patients with the ability to interact with your clinical management system can be highly beneficial. Allowing patients to schedule appointments with doctors, access their test results, and view medical records enhances their overall experience. We can develop a user-friendly mobile app specifically for patients, enabling them to independently book appointments and access their medical information. Alternatively, this functionality can be integrated into the hospital's website as an alternative to building a separate mobile application.
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Wrapping up
An innovative management solution will enhance the efficiency of your medical facility and provide a user-friendly platform for managing daily operations. Given the sensitive nature of healthcare, meticulous attention to detail, adherence to technology advancements, and compliance with security standards are essential considerations in software development.
