HIPAA eCommerce

Medical Apps from a Healthcare Software Development Company

Published February 8, 2023  |  7 min read
Key Takeaways
  • It's vital to the future of your business to choose a custom healthcare software development company that has experience creating healthcare applications.
  • Even if an app is easy to create, the associated security needed is a part of the process that cannot be ignored. Both HIPAA and state laws can levy fines and force a healthcare provider to acknowledge security breaches publically.
  • Healthcare software development services can reduce medical errors, improve patient relationships, protect medical data, and increase the efficiency of healthcare processes.
  • Custom healthcare software development includes services for pharmacies, surgeons, multi-campus hospitals, small family practices, medical device creators, and any other healthcare provider that wants to deliver a better patient experience with government-mandated security.

Healthcare software development companies must have a strong understanding of user experience, usability, and accessibility. A good user interface should be intuitive while also considering patient experience and the needs of all users, including those with disabilities or limited computer literacy. Accessibility is essential in order to create solutions that are useable to all healthcare professionals regardless of their physical needs.

Those offering healthcare software development services must also consider the scalability of their applications when building solutions for the healthcare industry. Healthcare data is growing exponentially as technology advances, so applications must be designed with scalability in mind. Building secure, scalable solutions requires developers to consider how data will be stored, how it will be used, and what measures need to be taken in order to protect sensitive client data.

These specialized developers must ensure that any new features or updates to existing features are implemented quickly and securely. This is especially important when dealing with patient records, as even small delays can have serious consequences. Let's take a look at healthcare software development services and how it differs from apps that don't include a medical component.

Healthcare software development project.

What Is Healthcare Software?

Medical software is a powerful tool that can help streamline operations and enhance the quality of care in healthcare settings. It is used to support activities such as patient registration, appointment scheduling, medical records management, billing, and reporting. Modern healthcare software solutions are typically web-based and designed to be accessible from anywhere with an internet connection.

The most important feature of any medical software system is the security of patient data. Medical organizations must ensure that confidential information remains secure and private, which means the software must be compliant with relevant industry standards and regulations such as HIPAA. Additionally, medical software should incorporate features such as encryption, authentication, and access control to protect sensitive data from unauthorized access.

Healthcare industry worker with a patient.

Many modern medical software packages also offer advanced capabilities such as electronic health record (EHR) integration and analytics tools that can help healthcare providers make more informed decisions about patient care. For example, EHR integration enables practitioners to view a comprehensive view of a patient's medical history in one place. Analytics features enable providers to track trends in care delivery or monitor performance metrics for teams or individual clinicians.

Medical software solutions often include features like automated notifications, reminders, and task management tools that help reduce the administrative burden for staff members while ensuring that patients receive timely treatment. These tools can also be customized based on an organization’s specific needs, making them suitable for all types of healthcare settings from small practices to large hospitals.

A doctor using custom software in a hospital.

How Healthcare Software Development Is Different

Custom healthcare software development requires a deeper knowledge of the industry’s specific challenges and use cases in order to design reliable solutions tailored specifically for those needs, whether it's transfering lab information or using HIPAA-compliant medical billing software. Healthcare software developers must stay up to date on industry trends and regulations in order to account for shifting trends and ensure their applications remain compliant.

Healthcare software development is different from other tool creation is that those in healthcare mobile app development must know that its primary purpose is to create solutions for a specific healthcare domain. This means that those involved in  must have an understanding of the unique regulatory, privacy, and security requirements that are specific to the healthcare industry. Compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is crucial for all of your apps and your HIPAA-compliant website.

Following is a list of the potential consequences of violating HIPAA:

Fines

You may face significant fines ranging from $100-$50,000 per violation, with an annual maximum of $1.5 million.

Criminal Penalties

Willful neglect of HIPAA regulations can result in criminal prosecution, with up to 10 years in jail or up to $250,000 in fines.

Reputational Damage

Violations of HIPAA rules can damage an organization's reputation and lead to negative publicity that can be damaging for any business.

Loss of Business

A breach of patient information can lead to a loss of customers due to negative public perception.

Legal Action

A healthcare provider may be held liable for releasing confidential data without consent and could be sued by patients for violating associated state laws that are often based on HIPAA.

Secure website due to Hipaa guidelines.

Medical Software Development Services for Healthcare Organizations

The idea of custom healthcare software development is very broad. If you ask someone what custom medical software entailed, each would respond with the kinds of software solutions they've encountered at the healthcare companies they've interacted with. These organizations can be private practices, large hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, specialized medical institutions, or an e-pharmacy.

In truth, even medical personnel who use such software every day would be surprised to discover just how wide-reaching software solutions are in every aspect of the industry. Here are some of the most common projects that healthcare providers seek out custom medical software development professionals for. Most custom medical software will need a combination of the following to deliver the best patient care.

Regulatory Compliance

Legal compliance includes federal HIPAA compliance as well as state laws that protect medical data. This kind of data security is necessary for all healthcare software solutions to ensure that patient records are kept safe.

Custom medical software can help ensure that the organization is adhering to all applicable regulations by providing automated alerts when changes are detected. Custom medical software can also provide a comprehensive audit trail in order to demonstrate compliance with federal regulations and protect patient privacy.

A coder working on software for a hospital.

Automated Clinical Workflows

Automated workflows in clinical trials are becoming increasingly important for pharmacy eCommerce companies to manage their operations more efficiently. They can help reduce the manual effort needed by researchers and streamline research activities such as the collection of data, clinical trial management, drug safety monitoring, and reporting.

Automated workflows can also automate reminders, track laboratory results, and provide customized reports for better strategic decisions. Included data analytics can also provide insights into patterns of care and help identify areas for improvement or even potential risks.

A doctor working in a clinical test.

Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) Software

Remote Patient Monitoring software is becoming increasingly important for medical organizations to provide better care for their patients. RPM allows healthcare practitioners to use medical devices to track patient data such as vital signs, blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen saturation in real time over the internet or mobile devices. This medical data, usually delivered to both desktops and mobile apps, also enables providers to receive alerts when changes in a patient's condition occur.

Patients wearing wearable devices.

Administrative Software

Administrative healthcare software helps with patient scheduling, electronic medical records (EMR) management, billing, reporting, and much more. Administrative software allows organizations to capture real-time statistics on patient visits and medical workflows, which can help inform decision-making. It also provides data analysis of finances to assist in budgeting decisions.

A doctor reviewing patient information made by data analytics.

Patient EMR/EHR

Custom healthcare software can be an invaluable asset for medical workers looking to streamline their electronic medical record (EMR)/electronic health record (EHR) management. It enables clinicians to easily access patient records without having to navigate multiple modules or tabs and provides customizable templates which allow practitioners to quickly capture and document data. Patients can also access their own data via patient portals.

Healthcare software development services can also help ensure the accuracy of patient records by providing automated alerts should any discrepancies be detected. Additionally, custom healthcare software can offer significant cost savings by eliminating the need for manual processes such as printing paper charts.

Patient portals being used by a patient.

For Pharmacies

Custom healthcare software development can help pharmacies streamline operations, improve patient safety and reduce costs. Health industry software can be used to manage inventory, process orders and maintain patient profiles.

ECommerce pharmacy software solutions can provide features such as auto-refill scheduling, dosage alerts, and digital prescription processing, helping pharmacists avoid errors due to manual entry or incomplete information. This software can also help reduce waste by tracking expiration dates and providing expiration alerts, as well as offering other features such as automated delivery notifications and customizable reporting capabilities.

A pill bottle.

Practice Management Software

Practice management healthcare applications can be an essential tool for managing the day-to-day operations of a medical practice. It can provide features such as appointment scheduling, patient registration, electronic health record (EHR) management, and billing. Custom healthcare solutions like this can offer automated reminders and notifications, helping to ensure that patients are treated in a timely manner and appointments are kept.

Customized reporting systems also allow practices to easily review patient data and performance metrics on an ongoing basis. Many practice management solutions also come with built-in security features which help protect confidential data from unauthorized access.

Practice management software improves patient engagement and improves patient outcomes.

Medical Equipment Tracking

Medical devices are expensive, and they end up being even more expensive if they're left in a patient after surgery. That's why it's vital for medical professionals to keep track of every digital tablet, piece of gauze, and surgical tool at all times. This could be with an RFID tracker, or with software that counts items in a surgical environment as they enter and leave a patient.

Surgical equipment on a table.

Legacy Software Migration

Legacy software migration in a healthcare environment can be a complex process. Medical organizations must often migrate legacy systems that are no longer adequately supported and risk data loss, unplanned downtime, and compliance breaches if they are not replaced with modern solutions.

To ensure a successful migration, organizations need to plan ahead and follow best practices such as establishing a timeline, creating detailed project plans, and thoroughly testing new systems before implementation. Organizations may need to invest in third-party tools or services to facilitate the migration process and help ensure that data is accurately transferred.

Building software from old software information.

The Steps to Productive Healthcare Software

Up above we told you that healthcare software development is different from developing standard software and medical apps for patients, but most health software development services will take a similar path to launch (and beyond). The primary difference is extended security testing to ensure that the sensitive data of patients is protected.

Research and Planning

A healthcare software developer must have an understanding of the healthcare industry and its current needs, as well as an awareness of available technology and solutions.

Design

Once a need has been identified, the software developer must create a design that meets the client's individual requirements while taking into account security, performance, scalability, and privacy concerns.

Develop

The software developer will then develop the code for the application utilizing the programming language of choice. This may involve writing code from scratch or integrating existing APIs (Application Programming Interface).

Test and Integrate

The software is then tested for bugs before it is released to the client or public audience. It must also be integrated with other systems and databases as necessary to ensure it works correctly in all contexts and environments.

Launch

Once extensive testing has been done, it's time to present the healthcare software to doctors and patients. Once hundreds or thousands of people use the software in a real-world environment, more bugs will present themselves and will need to be fixed.

Maintenance and Support

After launch, software developers are responsible for maintaining and supporting their product over time, ensuring that any changes or updates do not cause any issues with existing functionality or introduce new bugs into the system.

Healthcare customers accessing their sensitive information on healthcare software.

Your Custom Healthcare Software Development Company

As we've said many times, it's imperative that you choose a company that knows what they're doing when seeking out healthcare software development. The extra knowledge that's necessary, especially involving security, can be a primary factor between your business thriving or being inundated with HIPAA fines.

Clarity has the experience you're looking for when it comes to healthcare software development services, and we'd like to show you a demo of the mobile apps, patient portals, and custom healthcare solutions we've created for other healthcare organizations.

We'd also like to offer you a complimentary discovery session to help brainstorm your healthcare software project. We'll bring our professional and experienced business analysts and medical software developers together to help you create a plan. It doesn't matter whether you're adding onto existing software, need migration from existing software, or are starting from scratch; this free roadmap we create is yours to do with as you want. Get in touch today to make it happen!

Healthcare software product development.

FAQ

 

A medical software developer is responsible for creating and maintaining software applications related to healthcare. They design, develop and modify software applications in order to provide users with an efficient, easy-to-use solution for their healthcare needs. In addition, they often work closely with other professionals in the medical field, such as healthcare providers, hospitals, and insurance companies, in order to ensure a high-quality end product.

 

Software is used in healthcare to improve patient/client care and safety, reduce errors, automate tasks, and streamline processes. It also serves as a platform for data collection and analysis which can be used to develop better medical practices and treatments. Examples of software applications used in healthcare include electronic health records (EHRs), practice management systems, billing systems, analytics tools, imaging systems, and decision support tools.

 

Medical software development is the process of designing, developing, and maintaining software applications related to healthcare. These applications range from electronic health records (EHRs) to analytics tools. Such software developers must understand both technological and medical concepts in order to create solutions that are suitable for use in the healthcare industry.

 

It is difficult to say which software development company is the "best," as different companies have different strengths and capabilities. Extensive research is required to ensure you get the one that's best for your business.

Still have questions? Chat with us on the bottom right corner of your screen #NotARobot

Author
 
Stephen Beer is a Content Writer at Clarity Ventures and has written about various tech industries for nearly a decade. He is determined to demystify HIPAA, integration, and eCommerce with easy-to-read, easy-to-understand articles to help businesses make the best decisions.