Top 7 Emerging Types of Healthcare Software
We live in a world of digital transformation, and healthcare is no exception to it. The Covid pandemic brought into limelight the acute importance of the digitalization of medical services. The infectious nature of the pandemic overwhelmed both private and government healthcare facilities, who had to turn toward new technological possibilities to deal with the unprecedented challenges thrown by the pandemic.
The global Digital Health market is expected to see a massive growth of over 35% in the next few years, as technology permeates almost every aspect of the healthcare sector ranging from facility management to patient care and diagnosis. In fact, the IT sector in healthcare even before the pandemic was growing at a rapid pace, and is expected to cross $600 billion in the next 4–5 years. Medical institutions and healthcare providers acutely aware of the fact that digital is the way forward are increasingly turning towards healthcare software development to offer the best care to their patients at affordable rates.
In this article we take a look ten emerging types of healthcare software used in the medical field expected to revolutionize the industry, and will form the bedrock of future healthcare app development.
Electronic Health Records (EHR)
Electronic Health Records (EHR) is probably one of the most important and popular types of healthcare software. EHR is a system for patients’ data collection as it stores a patient’s medical data, lab results, medical and family history, and more. ERP allows integration of data across multiple departments. The patient’s data is created and managed by authorized personnel.
Telemedicine Software
Telemedicine, online doctor consultations via web & mobile apps, became hugely popular during the 2020 pandemic, as it emerged as an excellent alternative to face-to-face delivery of medical services, as the pandemic forced people to cut down on regular face-to-face consultations with doctors. Convenience and service accessibility offered by telemedicine software added a huge amount of impetus to the global digital healthcare revolution.
E-Prescribing Software
E-prescriptions software is quickly becoming popular with both patients and doctors as it offers both safety and time-saving. E-prescribing software not only help doctors with new prescriptions, but also track the prescriptions history, as well as renew or cancel them if the situation so demands.
Medical Diagnosis Software
Medical diagnosis software are of two types: an app for patients, and a more complex type for medical professionals. The one meant for patients usually offer simple questionnaires or chatbots service that tries to offer diagnosis based on symptoms, rather than leave patients navigating through the black hole of symptoms offered by search engines like Google.
The other type of software targeted at medical professionals usually make use of technology like AI to help doctors with quicker diagnosis, and research.
Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM)
Remote patient monitoring (RPM) as the name suggests refers to the collection of patients’ data outside of healthcare institutions such as clinics or hospitals. This data provides healthcare professional more information about a patient’s health, and also helps in remote diagnosis. Remote patient monitoring software can also send a quick alert to a doctor in case of detection of any anomaly. Like telemedicine services, remote patient monitoring also became hugely popular during the pandemic.
Appointment Booking Software
The purpose of the software is self-explanatory. The software is employed by private practitioners, hospitals, and private clinics to make the entire process of booking an appointment with the doctor as convenient and hassle-free as possible. Patients can conveniently book an appointment from the comforts of their home, and get updated notifications about it. They can also reschedule or cancel the appointment with the app, which saves time of both the patients and the doctors. And as far as management is concerned, it allows healthcare centers to have a transparent and easily analyzed view of their doctors’ schedules.
Medical Billing Software
As the name suggests, medical billing software is concerned with financial transactions at healthcare centers. It is primarily concerned with billing, invoice, receipts and insurance claims among other different transactions. Medical billing software is available as a stand-alone app, while in some cases it is integrated with the Hospital Management Systems (HMS).
Remote Medical Training
Different types of telehealth services are being used not only by patients, but medical staff as well. Training and education are two areas that have hugely benefitted from the advancement in technology.
New-age technologies such as Virtual or Augmented Reality are allowing students to have a more immersive and real-world learning experience. Surgery is one area that is benefitting the maximum from AR and VR technology, helping future surgeons to have a thorough practice. Also, different types of courses, subjects, lectures, feedbacks, and training material feedback can all be remotely accessed.
Conclusion
Digital innovation is helping the healthcare industry in different ways. However, this is just the beginning as it is expected that digital transformation is going to have more and more impact on the healthcare industry. A well-established healthcare software development company can facilitate seamless digital health adoption by both patients and healthcare service providers. With more disruptive tech coming, the road ahead for digital transformation in healthcare looks to be immensely promising.
