Healthcare is one of the biggest industries in the world. Healthcare market includes companies that provide clinical services, medical supplies, therapeutic services, and produce medical devices. It is not surprising that the need for healthcare software development is so essential. Moreover, after the coronavirus pandemic has brought a serious impact to the world, we moved online, and now many issues can be solved through digital technology.
Healthcare software solutions streamline and facilitate the process of healthcare delivery and help healthcare providers do their work more efficiently. In the light of this, the importance of healthcare software cannot be overstated.
We have prepared a brief guide to help you navigate in the world of healthcare software development. We will cover the following topics:
– Benefits of healthcare software
– Types of healthcare software
– Steps for healthcare software development
– Crunch case study in healthcare software development
– Cost of healthcare software development
Benefits of healthcare software
Crunch has a wide experience in the healthcare software development sector. This enables us to state that we know why healthcare software solutions are important and why the market needs them. Among the most significant advantages of healthcare software are the following:
- Remote and easy access. Doctors and patients have 24/7 access to their healthcare-related information.
As many issues can be solved using software, patients do not need to visit hospitals in person. Instead, they can book and attend online appointments with their doctors using a smartphone. - Operational optimization. Healthcare software for medical staff helps them improve and streamline many routine activities. Doctors can manage their essential tasks and appointments using a mobile or a web application.
- Efficient patient management. Healthcare software, such as EMR (Electronic Medical Record) and EHR (Electronic Health Record) allows healthcare providers to manage patients’ data more efficiently and effectively.
- Fast and precise diagnosis. Some healthcare software solutions contain AI-based algorithms that help doctors diagnose disease faster and more accurately.
Types of healthcare software
There are many different types of healthcare software and when you are planning to build one, you need to consider a specific type to provide the development team with the required input data. Let’s look at the existing types of healthcare software.
Healthcare software for medical administration staff and healthcare providers
This category includes apps that facilitate communication and treatment processes, such as:
- Doctor appointment apps
- Remote patient monitoring apps
- EHR/EMR apps
- Hospital ERP systems
- Medical reference and database apps
- Clinical communication apps
- Health tracking apps
- Telemedicine apps, and others
Healthcare apps for patients
This category includes apps that provide a lot of useful information for patients, such as:
- Appointment scheduling and reminder apps
- Healthy lifestyle apps
- Habit tracking apps
- Fitness and wellness apps
- Telehealth apps
- Mental health apps, and others
Regardless of the type, it is important that you hire qualified professionals. Contact Crunch to get more information on our services and teams.
Steps for healthcare software development
The process of healthcare software development includes several essential steps we are going to cover. We suggest that you get acquainted with this section carefully before you start building your software.
1. Identify a problem that your healthcare software can help solve
There are many healthcare software solutions on the market and many of them feature the same functionality, thus bringing little to no value to the end users. The reason behind this is the lack of relevant market research and competitor analysis. Start from finding out what problems healthcare service providers, patients, and medical institutions are facing and how your healthcare software can solve this problem.
For example, one of the major challenges that healthcare is facing today is cybersecurity. This is due to recent growth of digital health services. While telemedicine is becoming a tool for convenient medical care, a good idea might be to start healthcare software development with a telemedicine solution that will be protected from outside threats.
2. Conduct your target audience research and identify what they expect from your healthcare software
Getting to know your target audience by means of interviews and surveys is a great way to identify their needs and align features of your healthcare software functionality accordingly. Also, depending on what country you are targeting, make sure you meet all healthcare regulations.
Now when you have a healthcare software solution idea, you might consider outsourcing software development to a trusted software company.
3. Find the right software development company.
We recommend contracting a healthcare development company who provides a full cycle of software development services and has an extensive expertise in healthcare software development, such as Crunch.
Healthcare software development usually starts from UI/UX design aimed at providing intuitive and simple user experience. The next step is custom software development that takes into account all requirements and specifications. Following is an extensive functionality testing.
Crunch case study in healthcare software development
One of our showcase projects in the healthcare domain is a digital healthcare platform. This solution helps healthcare providers manage patients and their medical records in an effective and secure way, generate reports and prescriptions, as well as facilitate online bookings. Patients can manage their medical records and book appointments with the doctors using a patient’s portal.
Crunch team has developed and supported of the following platform features for patients:
- Secure storage and access to all medical data (lab results, prescriptions, medical reports).
- Online booking of doctor appointments and visits to diagnostic centers.
- View of the doctors’ profiles and their credentials.
- Patient’s portal
For doctors, we have implemented online consultations, access to all bookings and schedules, and automated reminders about upcoming appointments. Doctors can also provide online reports and prescriptions to patients. For diagnostic centers, the platform provides online bookings, automatic reminders about upcoming appointments, and online reports. The platform delivers analytics and reports for better understanding of patient needs.
As a result, the platform provides patients with easy access to their medical data and helps healthcare providers build, grow, and manage their online presence and effectively connect with patients.
Cost of healthcare software development
When you are planning to create healthcare software, it is important to plan your budget. The cost of healthcare software development will depend on the number and complexity of features, as well as technologies that you would like to use. The more complex your solution is, the bigger the cost is. Also, the total cost will be different in Europe and the USA because hourly rates of software developers vary from region to region.
For example, hourly rate for development services is $50-200 in the USA and Canada, $30-50 in Latin America, $40-100 in Western Europe, $40 in Eastern Europe (Ukraine), and $20 in India. In particular, Crunch provides design and development services at $25-49, depending on the complexity of the solution and the number of specialists who are involved in the project.
By outsourcing healthcare software development to Ukraine, you get access to a wide pool of highly qualified developers and a much lower development costs in comparison to development services provided by companies from other countries like the USA or Canada.
Crunch values its reputation and business image. We go the extra mile to meet all customer expectations and deliver high-quality solutions. In addition, we have been working with many customers from healthcare and have an extensive expertise in the domain. Contact us any time to get more information on our services.
Conclusion
The healthcare industry is continually growing, and the demand for custom healthcare software is increasing as well. Considering the current breakout COVID-19, the healthcare industry is in dire need of digitizing the health care system and keeping sensitive data intact. That is why custom healthcare software development, that meets all client requirements, will be more useful and competitive than ready-made inflexible solutions.
Crunch is a trusted partner with a proven track record of developing healthcare solutions. We can help you elaborate your idea and develop a solution that is right for your business. Contact us for qualified assistance or consultation.
