Decoding the Future of Technology-Centric Healthcare for Better Patient Care

5 min readFeb 3, 2021

My article was originally published on Linked-In.

The Healthcare industry is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world. The global health industry was valued at $8.45 trillion in 2018 and is expected to reach over $10 trillion by 2022. Digitization has redefined every aspect of our lives. Undoubtedly, the healthcare industry has come so far.

Not so long ago, all medical records were maintained in file cabinets, but now accessing healthcare information has become effortless. Healthcare institutions can now electronically store, share and analyze health data.

These monumental innovations in healthcare technology have improved our healthcare processes. Technology has not only greatly increased healthcare service providers’ capabilities but also improved the quality of treatment. It’s an era where doctors can remotely monitor and diagnose patients irrespective of the location through telehealth. The progress is positively impacting society as a whole, which is remarkable.

So, it goes without saying that the global healthcare sector also needs healthcare software development services, for automating their processes and maintaining patient data such as patient’s medical history, personal information, and the plethora of medical records.

Some of the top healthcare software development companies in the USA and Canada such as TatvaSoft, Invozone, PDX Inc., etc, are consistently working around solutions to provide custom healthcare software development services to meet the needs of healthcare institutions.

Trends in Healthcare Technology

Remote Patient Monitoring. Tools that let doctors gather patient information virtually, outside the clinical environment or standard healthcare settings such as at their homes, schools, or even offices.

On-Demand Healthcare Services. On-demand services applications are helping patients to seek 24*7 medical care remotely such as online consultation, online pharmacies, ambulance services, medical reports, etc. all without having to step outside the house.

Machine Learning / Artificial Intelligence. Advanced technologies like Machine learning and Artificial intelligence are speeding up patient disease diagnostic processes, thus making them efficient and accurate such as eye treatments, etc. The applications of AI and ML are also facilitating the development of medicinal drugs.

Telemedicine. Through telemedicine, patients can now seek services remotely. They can not only get easier access to doctors but also documents can be shared among specialists through cloud storage. 63% of physicians access medical research from tablets. Additionally, the Telemedicine market value is expected to reach $64 billion by the year 2025 in the US alone.

Internet of ‘Medical’ Things. Also commonly known as IoMT. The term is relatively new. The application of IoT in the healthcare industry is under the spotlight. IoT integrated with healthcare software development is swiftly yet rapidly advancing. Almost 60% of healthcare organizations have started introducing IoT into their facilities.

Now disease can be tracked through devices and applications. IoT includes wearable technology such as smart monitors to keep heart rate, blood pressure, the temperature in check. According to studies, wearable tech is anticipated to reach $136 billion by 2021.

Telemetry. It transfers patient data from remote sources to IT systems irrespective of the location for further monitoring and analysis.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the need for initiating healthcare software projects to enable medical institutions to provide better patient facilities.

Mobile Technology for Healthcare Providers & Seekers

Healthcare applications are mostly developed with the intent of providing patients with the information they need to improve their health such as evaluating their symptoms, understanding their conditions, treatment plans, and test results, etc. The trick here is choosing the perfect healthcare software developers to meet your needs and current trends.

Most Popular Types of Healthcare Software

Healthcare software are divided into two categories: professional healthcare software such as EHR and mobile applications for patients such as Fitness applications et al.

Electronic Health Records (EHR)

They are most common among hospitals and clinics. It is considered a CRM for medical institutions. It keeps complete records of patient information such as their medication history, diagnosis, medical procedures they are undergoing, doctor’s prescriptions, etc. It also offers a separate medical portal for patients through which they can access their history.

These apps are more beneficial for medical institutions as they store all patient data including their medical records for maintaining patient’s medical history for better diagnosis.

Medical Research Databases

These types of databases are basically developed for the medical community through which they can share research, educate and train medical personnel.

Disease Diagnosis Software

Through medical diagnosis software, healthcare professionals can exchange patient records to fill in informational gaps for providing an accurate diagnosis. Also, there are various diagnosis applications available, that allow patients to identify symptoms for extensive care.

Emergency Applications

To make calls to the hospital in case of urgency and possible health emergency. Patients can also find nearby hospitals, clinics, and transport.

Medication Tracking Applications

They act as prescription reminder applications. They give reminder notifications for each day including missed medication alerts, refills, and warnings.

Lifestyle Applications

These apps can help you manage and maintain your healthy lifestyles such as diet planning apps, custom apps for pregnant women, and fitness apps.

Prerequisites for Healthcare Software Development

If you are a healthcare provider you should keep the following key points in mind before progressing forward with your software development:

Know your healthcare industry
Understand requirements and what you are looking for
Understand the target audience and what they would want
Study the type of healthcare applications and use cases thoroughly
Do a competitor analysis
Run a SWOT analysis to understand challenges and opportunities
Ensure the use of advanced technologies to stay ahead in the market
Make sure your application follows the healthcare regulations such as HIPAA compliance
Have a list of software companies with clear expertise in healthcare
You can also consult offshore healthcare software development companies for cost-efficiency

Common Features For Healthcare Applications

Even though features entirely depends on the type of software and the purpose it fulfills, but below are some of the common features that can be integrated in almost every healthcare services application:

Video conferencing for Telemedicine solutions
Separate doctor and patient portals
Search functionality for accessing medical records
Appointment scheduling
Enable doctors to send e-prescriptions
Admin dashboard for analytics
Payments options for virtual healthcare providers
Access to EHR/EMR
Notifications and reminders for medication
Health tracking and symptoms identification
In-built messenger

To overcome health problems, nowadays, patients demand easier access to healthcare services. Technology-centric healthcare, therefore, provides a seamless solution as doctors can now connect with the patients remotely and effortlessly.