As you likely know, the variety of different medical software apps is impressive. Among them are EHR and EMR platforms, medical billing tools, mHealth solutions, and other management tools for healthcare entities. However, there is an all-in-one solution that is able to unite all medical applications for the purpose of getting the biggest workflow productivity and efficacy synergies.
A Hospital Management System (HMS) is a general medical software solution that unites all integrated internal systems within a healthcare organization in order to provide proper and smooth management of all workflows and operations like administrative, medical, financial, etc.
This type of medical software aims to cover all internal processes and services by connecting all these activities in one system accessible anywhere and anytime. HMS app is of great value for medical centers and patients in addition to being versatile and able to perform different kinds of tasks. Additionally, HMS provides a single database where all data is recorded and saved like:
- Patient medical histories (diagnoses, lab test results, treatment, prescriptions, and other details);
- Finance operations (payments for medical services, invoices, etc.);
- Information about all medical staff (positions, responsibilities, contacts);
- Internal information about medical services.
Basically, the HMS tool can include any information and provide an option you need if we talk about a custom hospital management system.
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Components of hospital management software
The filling of hospital management solutions can be various as each medical organization has its individual requirements for the system’s functionality. Nevertheless, there are basic types of medical tools that are integrated as a part of the hospital management system.
Features of the eHospital system
The hospital management solution includes a wide range of features to be used by the hospital’s side and patient side as well. Have a look at the main function of each hospital management system below.
Electronic Health Records
Basically, the hospital software is focused on patients and their experience with a medical entity. Thus, any type of HMS tool has to have the option of patient registration to create their personal account to add further medical records. The digitalization of health records makes them accessible, interoperable with other systems and facilities, and easy to change or delete.
Appointment booking
The hospital management system is also good for usage by registered patients, mostly as a mobile application. They can effortlessly schedule a consultation with the needed doctor and book a certain time within an internal system. Thereafter doctors get notifications about the upcoming visits and they will be sure not to forget or miss the meeting, as it can otherwise happen.
Additionally, patients also receive emails or SMS to remind them about their upcoming appointments. After the consultation, patients can also leave feedback about the doctor and mark if the consultation was helpful enough.
Mobile app for patients
As we have previously pointed out, patients usually need a mobile app to have access to HMS and its functionality. It will provide an easy appointment booking, notifications about the doctor’s visit or lab test results, a personal account with a medical history, doctor information, and e-prescriptions.
Billing Management
Medical billing software is quickly gaining popularity among medical software systems. The number of daily financial operations performed within any given healthcare organization is unequivocally large. Generally, the medical billing process is quite complicated as a medical center should connect with patients and the insurance company to provide accurate bills and claims for medical services and ultimately receive payment for the services rendered. The billing management option automates this process and records all financial data on each user.
It is also of great help when it comes to paying taxes, counting revenue, running payroll, and so on. All these expenses are counted up and paid out automatically, while also recording the whole history of payments. Thus, the need for expenditure of human resources decreases, and with it falls the probability of human error that can negatively impact the medical facility as a whole.
Doctors Information
Along with patient data, doctors’ information should also be available, like:
- Specialization and medical expertise;
- Education;
- Previous experience;
- Reviews;
- Awards, certifications, and achievements.
Hence, this information will facilitate the choice for patients as they can see what each of the doctors is about.
Inventory Management
Medical centers have a wide range of medical equipment for patient examinations, medications, and staff items as well. Commonly, the information about all equipment is noted in papers that can easily be confused or lost which is unacceptable. Inventory management system gathers all information about available and taken items including barcodes, quantities, state, expedite dates, etc.
Laboratory Management
Laboratory management cannot accelerate the time spent on conducting laboratory analysis. However, what it does is alert doctors and patients about ready lab test results in order to diagnose and choose the treatment course as soon as possible. Moreover, the results are available within the HMS tool for patients and doctors to easily access this data at their convenience.
Statistics and reports
Statistics and reports are not essential and yet are extremely useful and helpful possible features of hospital management systems. Extensive analytics on finance, patients, and doctors’ information can be a source of invaluable insights that help the medical establishment develop. With well-tuned software, it is possible to generate wanted statistics and reports with just a few clicks of a mouse.
Maintenance and updates
Software systems require constant maintenance and updates due to the received feedback from end-users about their usability and needs for improvements in their functionality. Basically, this task falls to the software vendor or the development team that helped you build and integrate custom HMS into your organization. The second option is a better choice as you will have your personal support team that will always be ready to resolve any bugs and errors.
In case of use of ready-made HMS, you need to understand that the vendor can have hundreds of clients like you who are in dire need of help, you’ve been waiting for support for quite some time, meaning that users have hitherto been deprived of.
mHealth solution
Telemedicine apps can also be integrated as part of the hospital management systems. Today, telehealth continues developing and spreading among clinical facilities all over the world. This type of healthcare software provides remote health monitoring and treatment for all kinds of illnesses. mHealth solution also offers virtual audio or video consultations with doctors, controlling health indicators with the use of medical devices, round-the-clock support from clinicians, and many other options.
Benefits of the Hospital Management System
HMS enhances the productivity and efficacy of the medical processes through its automation and optimization. The solution can handle a range of challenges medical centers cope with every day so here are the main benefits HMS will introduce into your workflows.
Health data security
Security is the top priority when talking about medical software. All health information is private and can be only be disclosed to known authorized third parties, and is only interoperable with particular healthcare systems. Custom HMS ensures secure data records and protects them from fraud and leakage. The system provides access to the database only for authorized users with a required level of access to it. Moreover, superior admins can easily monitor logged-in users and log them out (or block) in case of need.
Process automation
HMS aims to automate the major part of daily operations within a medical entity. This system eliminates some manual processes by converting them into automatic actions performed by software. Therefore, HMS decreases the loads and stress from medical workers that eventually enhance their productivity as they can dedicate more effort to other tasks.
Cost reduction
HMS tool helps decrease the expenses in two ways:
- by providing financial management that eliminates money wastes and losses;
- by reducing paperwork and automating some processes that eventually decrease the need for human resources and their work hours.
Improved customer satisfaction
HMS app focuses on making the experience with hospitals and doctors less unpleasant and arduous for patients. Due to the digitalization of medical processes, patients can book an appointment with the needed doctor, monitor the status of their scheduled consultations, get lab test results to a personal account, manage claims and payments, check and update the medical history, and so on.
Strategic growth
The hospital management platform manages the interaction between the medical center and patients, while also streamlining internal processes. All operations processed within a healthcare facility are tracked and analyzed with the help of this type of software. It helps build strategies for the organization’s growth and development including setting forth the methods for reaching the set goals. As the medical entity requires extensive management of its actions, expenses, staff, and each department to stay in-game and get the expected income.
The cost of Hospital Management Solutions
It is hard to give a precise prediction of how much your organization is going to spend using the HMS solution. It mostly depends on the range of functions the system will feature. The variety of ready-made HMS solutions is wide and diversified. Most of them have quite similar functionality but different prices depending on the brand and its prominence. Commonly, the ready-made HMS apps require a fee for each user registered in the system so the cost of the whole solution would amount to huge sums.
For example, Tirupati HMS demands at least $1,250 per one user, however, users are subject to one-time payments only. Although the system is far from perfect and has some common disadvantages like the absence of SMS notifications, errors in the work of an app, not all module types are available, etc.
The issue is that if you pay these huge amounts of money, you expect your HMS system to work perfectly well with the constant support that you are usually unlikely to get from such vendors.
What if we say that you can get the HMS solution with all needed functionality, maintenance and price? We are talking about the custom development of HMS. Custom doesn’t mean cheaper or easier. It means great results – a high-quality, 100% suitable, and unique system developed to your requirements and preferences. Custom HMS development and integration is not necessarily a quick, inexpensive, or simple solution, but it is definitely worth it in the end and you can be 100% sure that by investing in the custom solution you will get the desired results.
Considerations when purchasing HMS
Before the integration of clinic management software, it is vital not to miss the step of analyzing the current internal apps, reveal what options need to be added, and what value the whole system is to add to your systems and workflows. Hence, we have covered the main things you need to consider when choosing what HMS to integrate into your healthcare facility.
Relevant HMS trends
The technologies continue rapidly spreading across the healthcare industry, bringing impactful innovations into the medical services field. The relevant trends of medical software are constantly changing, hence, we covered the bases on the top tech trends that are expected to continue evolving and developing in healthcare:
- Telehealth – the abilities for remote patients are growing ever so quickly and replace in-person doctor visits and treatment in hospitals to some extent;
- Improved cybersecurity – as the number of medical software spreads, the demand for better cybersecurity is growing in tandem;
- Cost-cutting – one of the main focuses of modern medical facilities;
- AI – at this point is expected to be integrated into any type of healthcare software.
- Medical IoT.
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Bottom line
These days you can observe the full digital transformation of the healthcare industry. Medical entities are actively looking for ways to adopt modern technologies for the purpose of automating the internal processes, improving their productivity, and the general efficiency of medical services. Combining all computerized management software for hospitals in an all-in-one solution aims to provide the higher efficiency of the internal operation, offering proper management and analysis.
Let’s discuss the details of our technical partnership to make the development and integration of custom HMS into your clinic smooth and resource-efficient.
Boost the functioning of your healthcare facility with a custom HMS solution.
