healthcare
December 28, 2022 - by Devico Team
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.
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.
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.
Here is a list of benefits that you will get using HMS.
A good-quality HMS ensures that the clinical and operational decision-making processes are efficient, accurate, and fast.
Automated management software will help avoid mistakes and lawsuits and perform far better than a manual system.
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.
Integrating HMS into every department will improve overall customer satisfaction and reduce turnovers through faster, more secure, and easier retrieval of patient data.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
The customized hospital management system is unique because it is created from scratch to fit specific goals, rules, and brand needs.
Custom HMS can be easily scaled and developed to meet the growing needs of any medical institution in case of expansion.
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.
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.
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.
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 |
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 |
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 |
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
Here is a rough example of calculating HMS development at the cost of $40 per hour for a better understanding of the whole picture.
Simple project - 20-30 hours — $800-1200
Average project - 40-60 hours — $1600-2400
Complex project - 70-120 hours — $2800-4800
Simple project - 25-50 hours — $1000-2000
Average project - 60-120 hours — $2400-4800
Complex project - 100-300 hours — $4000-12,000
Simple project - 160 - 200 hours - $6400-8000
Average project - 230-440 hours - $9200-17600
Complex project - 750-1500 hours - $30000 - $60000
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.
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.
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