How Much Does It Cost to Develop a Hospital Management System

According to Statista, the health management solutions market is estimated to grow to over 50 billion dollars by 2025. Health institutions are increasingly investing in custom software development to take their practice to new heights, create a better patient experience and streamline care delivery.

But how to create hospital management software? What features of custom hospital management software to include, and is it worth it? Let's dive deeper into details and talk about HMS (Hospital Management Systems), its features, design, development process, and cost.

What Is Hospital Management System Software

A hospital management system software is an independent or cloud-based medical management infrastructure that captures and integrates all data to automate internal and external activities. It accumulates information about doctors and patients, laboratory results, medical supplies, appointments, bills and insurance, and reports. At its core, HMS aims to reduce the workload, reduce administrative costs, diminish errors, increase capacity, and provide a better patient experience.

Basically, with the help of HMS, you can manage all aspects of any health institution workflow, bring and manage all the data in one place, automate the majority of day-to-day tasks and functions, and forget about paper-driven manual processes. One of the most critical features of hospital management systems is their ability to integrate with multiple platforms and tools simultaneously, being quite a flexible module-based constructor itself.

Types of Hospital Management Software

Hospital management systems differ from one health institution to another. It is a compilation of multiple modules with diverse functions created to meet specific demands, so it depends on the functionality and goals you want to achieve. But some primary types are considered the most common.

• The administrative systems are the most important and are required for all healthcare facilities. It provides patient information, reports, and statistics and manages all the interactions between patients and doctors.
• The operational ones are all about ordering and classifying information about a patient, medical equipment, and hospitalization reservation.
• Task-based systems help categorize work tasks, and it automatically prioritizes and distributes tasks among staff depending on the current workload situation in the facility.
• Subject-based systems work is focused on storing patients' data digitally. The hospitals used these systems to manage and store patients' Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) or Electronic Health Records (EHRs) compared to the administrative type.
• Financial or Billing systems are used to track the healthcare facility's finances.

You can combine different types of systems (modules) in one hospital management software to find the one that will solve users' needs and serve a specific hospital's requirements the most effectively.

Benefits of Custom Hospital Management System

Here is a list of benefits that you will get using HMS.

• Better Decision-Making

A good-quality HMS ensures that the clinical and operational decision-making processes are efficient, accurate, and fast.

• Fewer Errors

Automated management software will help avoid mistakes and lawsuits and perform far better than a manual system.

• Better Revenue Management

In addition to helping people and serving humanity, we should not forget that business is business and should bring money. HMS will help to manage all the finances, create accurate reports fast, and always know how your business is performing.

• Seamless Communication

Integrating HMS into every department will improve overall customer satisfaction and reduce turnovers through faster, more secure, and easier retrieval of patient data.

• Faster Operations

Faster processes, analysis of patient histories, access to real-time reports, appointment scheduling and tracking, and a bunch of other functions can provide better care for your patients and significantly reduce the workload of medical personnel.

• Security

With HMS, all data will be protected, interconnected, and secure via cloud-based software. Only authorized personnel will have access to data storage and retrieval.

• Cost-Effectiveness

No more risks of improper billing, fraud, and other finance-related problems. More automation means fewer people, fewer mistakes, and lower costs. Storage costs will also be reduced by utilizing human capital more effectively and letting experts focus on more high-level tasks.

• The reputation of a high-tech facility

Top-tier hospital management software will help you establish your hospital or clinic as a modern high-tech facility and improve your reputation and visibility among competitors.

Custom Hospital Management Software Development offers even more benefits to achieve the institution's specific goals

When created from scratch, custom HMS will perfectly serve the demands and requirements of a specific healthcare facility. Here are the main characteristics that distinguish a custom hospital management system from a ready-made one:

• Uniqueness

The customized hospital management system is unique because it is created from scratch to fit specific goals, rules, and brand needs.

• Scalability

Custom HMS can be easily scaled and developed to meet the growing needs of any medical institution in case of expansion.

• Deployment Time

The HMS goes through various creation, testing, and refining stages before reaching the deployment phase. Typically, completing it takes 6-12 months, but the result is always worth the time and money spent.

• Integrations

Custom HMS will let you Integrate as many third-party connections as you want. The main thing is not to add too much and find a balance between the number of functions and the system's performance.

Core Features of Hospital Management Systems

The exciting thing about HMS is that when you create it, you actually work on three parts, focusing on one for each stakeholder - patient, doctor, and administrator (hospital). Here's the list of must-have features of the hospital management system for each of them.

Patients

A good HMS can increase the consistency, scalability, and dependability of the healthcare facility and improve patient experience, making operations more efficient. It is especially important for people who need immediate medical attention, as proper data management can help avoid complications like delayed care. As a result, the management system will also increase the effectiveness and appeal of healthcare services to their target audiences.

Also, a full-fledged HMS protects all data from unwanted access to the last bit because the medical industry has long recognized that hospitals with manual systems are more vulnerable to data breaches and information theft than digital ones. The access-control system removes the possibility of an error, which increases the likelihood of unauthorized access to sensitive information. This is the main reason for the increased frequency of hospital management systems.

	List of specific in-app features for patients
Home page	Login (email, Face/Touch ID)	Calendar with appointments
Upcoming events	Reminders	Missed messages
Latest updates on other screens/sections	Care team	Chats (1-1, group)
Appointment & Scheduling	Treatment Plan	Check-ins/surveys
Payment	Health reports	Telemedicine solution (Video chats)
My logs	Notifications	Support

Doctors

The hospital management system can reduce stress and workload by automating a lot of day-to-day activities like paperwork and inventory management. As a result, hospital employees will be more productive and engaged without the risk of burnout.

Another crucial feature is patient management when a specialist can view patients' data in real-time, access their conditions, and ensure that they get their treatment on time. Doctors don't have to walk to the lab to collect the lab results because they bring them instantly once the reports are created on the hospital management software. Moreover, a virtual patient care option allows doctors to connect with their patients in real-time and hold a meeting anywhere and anytime.

	List of specific in-app features for doctors
Login	Missed messages	Patient's calendar
Profile	Latest updates on other screens/sections	Patient's care team
Home page	Manage Patients	Treatment history
Upcoming events	Patient's card	Logs from Patients
Reminders	Notes about patients	Telemedicine solution (Video chats)
Basic Chat (1-1, Group chats, media)	Notifications	Calendar with appointments
	FAQ

Hospitals

A key feature of hospital management system software lies in managing the staff, finances, and inventory. It helps ensure that the hospital employees are checking in and out on time, their work is organized, and all the necessary processes are followed. The functionality's financial and inventory parts enable hospitals to track everything from revenue, expenses, payments, and salaries to medicines, equipment, and furniture.

	List of specific in-app features for administrators
Login	Add notes to user profiles	Calendar & Scheduling
Admin Profile	Create a Treatment program	Schedule surveys/check-ins/tasks for patients
Manage Team Members	Create a Care team group	Schedule online meetings (video calls)
Link with patients	Create chats with the care team	Reminders
Create chats with a care team and patients	Manage Check-ins & Surveys	Log Forms & Quizzes
Set up appointments	Dashboard with treatment progress by patients	Notifications
Manage Patients	User Groups

Hospital Management Software Development Steps and Costs

The cost of hospital management system software varies greatly depending on the direction of the business and the required functionality, so that it can be tricky to overline the average price. However, if there is an accurate description, experienced developers can provide you with estimates of the costs after a thorough analysis.

Discovery Phrase

The most certain way of figuring out how much the development of hospital management software will cost is to conduct a discovery phase. The discovery phase will not only provide you with the most accurate estimates of future costs. Still, it can deliver you a product concept from the product manager, prototypes from a business analyst, a visual concept from a UI/UX designer, and an architecture concept from a system architect. As a result, you will know the price and have accurate blueprints of a future product, which could be used to develop a custom software solution for your medical facility.

UX/UI Design

When we talk about hospital management software, it means it will be used not only by patients but also by doctors and administrative personnel, so it should be intuitive, user-friendly, and functional for all of them. In this case, more than just a well-working, good product is needed. That's why UI/UX design is so important, as it helps to create a product that meets users' needs or resolves their problems with maximum efficiency.

Development Phase

Creating the MVP with the most critical system components when making a hospital management system is a good idea. An EHR platform and a patient CRM will immediately impact your operations, so try starting with those. You will see which direction development should go further and what should be added to improve the system's efficiency.

Testing Phase

The more complicated the healthcare solution is, the more frequently the tests have to be performed over the development lifecycle. And once your product is ready, you need to test everything thoroughly. It will help you identify errors and problems at an early stage and fix them in time. Also, testing will help you understand how well your design is understandable and convenient for users.

Tech Stack of Hospital Management Software Systems

The technology stack choice is quite flexible and depends on the type of hospital management software development company you choose. Here is just an example of a tech stack for custom hospital software development.

Frontend

JavaScript, TypeScript, Vue.js, Angular, React, HTML, CSS

Backend

Node.js, Next.js, Nest.js , Koa.js , Express.js, PHP, Laravel, Python, Django, Java, Spring Boot, Ruby, Ruby on Rails, Go, Fiber

Database

MySQL, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Oracle, Firebase, SQLight

Cloud Storage

Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud

DevOps Tools

Docker, Kubernetes, Jenkins, Puppet, Azure DevOps, GitLab CI, Grafana, Prometheus, Azure SQL database, Google Cloud SQL, Google Cloud Datastore

Android App Development

Java, Kotlin, Android SDK, Android Studio, Android Jetpack

iOS app development

Objective-C, Swift, iOS SDK, Xcode, Cocoa Touch

Cross-platform app development

React Native, Expo, Flutter, Ionic

Desktop app development

Electron, WPF, UWP, React Native, Expo

Factors Affecting Development Costs

• Timeline

  When developing healthcare software, it is rarely possible to save money and get by with a cheap option, as it frequently needs third-party integrations and works with patients' personal information that must be encrypted. But a basic version with a limited feature set, simple design, and no integrations can be created in months. Building some meat on this carcass and developing the program's necessary aspects, like improved design and complex features, can take up to 6 or more months and raise the overall development cost.
• Complexity

  The complexity of the project can be further divided into three distinct classes.

  • Tech complexity
  • Design complexity
  • Feature set complexity

  Based on these parameters, software development costs also rise with an increased development timeline. In addition to the existing features you want to develop, healthcare software also requires the integration of health APIs, which, for example, facilitate healthcare data interoperability, health records management, processing of payments, and integration with payment gateways. And again, depending on the complexity of the features you choose to integrate, the software development costs will also increase.
• Team Size

  The skills and experience of the team working on your project will significantly impact the overall costs of your software development. So here, you need to find your balance because having a larger team will be more expensive but likely shorten the development timeline. On the other hand, a team too small may actually be counterproductive and end up costing more in the long run. It hampers productivity and results in more errors during the development process, which causes extension of the deadlines and failures.
• Software Development Company Location

  As you know, the cost of services varies depending on the country in which the team is located. The location also affects which specialists you can expect to find, how qualified they are, and most importantly, what kind of product they can help you create.

How much does it cost to develop HMS

Here is a rough example of calculating HMS development at the cost of $40 per hour for a better understanding of the whole picture.

Product discovery

Simple project - 20-30 hours — $800-1200

Average project - 40-60 hours — $1600-2400

Complex project - 70-120 hours — $2800-4800

UI/UX design

Simple project - 25-50 hours — $1000-2000

Average project - 60-120 hours — $2400-4800

Complex project - 100-300 hours — $4000-12,000

Development

Simple project - 160 - 200 hours - $6400-8000

• technical documentation - 9-10 hours
• frontend - 60-80 hours
• backend - 90-110 hours

Average project - 230-440 hours - $9200-17600

• technical documentation - 10-20 hours
• frontend - 110-200 hours
• backend - 120-220 hours

Complex project - 750-1500 hours - $30000 - $60000

• technical documentation - 30-50 hours
• frontend - 300-600 hours
• backend - 400-700 hours

Testing

Simple project - 30 hours — $1200

Average project - 30-70 hours — $1200-2800

Complex project - 70 hours — $2800

As you can see, everything here depends on multiple factors. Good software developer partners usually carefully consider each step, justifying certain development costs and offering options. We at Devico focus on the initial discovery stage a lot to offer our clients the most time- and cost-efficient solution.

Wrapping It Up

The modern healthcare sphere is on the verge of complete digitalization, entering a space where patients, doctors, and clinics are connected seamlessly. A way to ensure you are a part of this process is to create a hospital management system for your facility.

You will provide better patient service and improve treatment effectiveness by building smarter, more efficient healthcare management software and partnering with healthcare app development companies. It gives so many benefits for every side of the process that it cannot be overestimated. It is hard to imagine running a healthcare facility without having any management software. And you are just one click away from having one.