Digitization and technological innovations have had an impact on all areas of life and businesses have benefited from these advancements. This is equally true for the healthcare industry where IT solutions have proven to be critical in improving patient care, boosting operational efficiency and enhancing the overall performance of medical practices. The pandemic led to a growing adoption of practices like teleconsulting, e-prescribing, remote monitoring of patients, etc, and IT developments have kept pace with it. Healthcare management software is being increasingly used in outpatient care. According to a study by research firm Market and Market, “the global healthcare IT market is poised to grow at a CAGR of 19.8% from 2022 to 2027, with healthcare provider solutions registering the highest growth.”
What is Healthcare Management Software?
IT solutions and applications that are specifically developed for hospitals and other healthcare facilities are referred to as healthcare management software. They simplify the process of managing the facility and help medical staff care for in-and-out-patients more effectively. Essentially healthcare management software provides a centralized platform for the hospital managers to manage all operations, and aids the staff to:
- Manage all information related to patients, doctors, treatments, facilities, etc.
- Automate repetitive administrative tasks
- Incorporate data from all departments into a single framework
- Streamline patient care and appointment schedules
- Lower medical errors
- Enhance communication among staff and with patients
- Improve overall quality of patient care
Types of healthcare management software
Efficient healthcare management is essential in the modern hospital environment. It can help improve staff efficiency, enhance patient care and reduce operational costs. There are several healthcare IT solutions available in the market. Here are the top five categories of healthcare management software that would boost the operation of any medical business.
- Electronic Health Records (EHR) software
EHR software is the cornerstone of efficient data management in all modern medical businesses. It eases the burden of manual record-keeping by collecting, storing and managing all patient data digitally. Records with details of patients’ medical histories, doctors’ recommendations, courses of treatment, medications prescribed, procedures undergone, etc are compiled and stored here. These can be accessed easily at any point and patients can be treated more effectively.
There are two types of EHR – electronic patient record software and electronic medical record software. Some programs may also have a separate section that allows patients to access their medical records with the consultation and treatment history.
EHR can also be linked to mobile health apps that the patients are using on their own. This would help the patients to schedule appointments, set up virtual consultations and settle medical bills.
- Medical Database Software
Medical database software is for the reference of doctors and medical staff. Here the histories and treatment plans of all patients are categorized and stored as per the disease. Doctors can use the records to cross-refer to similar cases and make better treatment decisions.
An add-on for this is the medical diagnosis software which uses the medical database to fill any information gaps the doctors may have. They can review several clinical cases of any given disease and gain knowledge about various courses of treatment and their results from actual cases. This aids them in making more accurate diagnoses. There are healthcare management software like the eResource Scheduler that extract useful insights from patient data, which can be analyzed leading to better patient outcomes.
- E-Prescription software
Medical practices are increasingly switching to electronic prescriptions, making the need for efficient e-prescription software paramount. This software simplifies the entire prescription process. It allows doctors and other medical professionals to prescribe, renew, cancel and track all medications prescribed to patients. Inter-departmental consultations have also become more simple and streamlined. E-prescription software reduces errors and improves patient safety.
The pandemic affected all businesses and healthcare is no different. The need for telemedicine is real and here to stay. Telemedicine software allows doctors to provide remote consultations and monitoring, providing healthcare access to patients all over the world. Appointments with patients either take place online or via a mobile app.
- Hospital operations software
Any medical practice involves a lot of operations like setting up patient appointments, coordinating doctors’ calendars, scheduling of medical procedures, out-and-in-patient management, billing, follow-ups with insurance companies, administrative activities, etc. Doing everything manually is not only extremely time- and labour-intensive, but can also lead to errors and costly delays. Hospital operations software streamlines appointment and staff scheduling, billing and other operational activities, leading to the smooth and efficient running of the facility.
There is also software specifically for appointment booking – hospitals and clinics can manage their appointment systems online and patients can also use this to book appointments. The appointment scheduling software comes with an email notification and reminder system.
Laboratory processes can also be made more efficient using the lab operations software. It improves lab functions by streamlining the processes of specimen collection and monitoring as well as result reporting.
There is also specialized medical billing software that helps automate the entire billing process from raising invoices to managing claims to tracking payments, thus ensuring the financial health of your medical business.
- Hospital inventory management software
Hospitals have a lot of equipment and medical supplies that require regular maintenance and large inventories. Manual stock taking can often lead to errors, shortages of critical medicines and supplies as well as poorly maintained equipment. Hospital inventory software comes with features like low inventory alerts and automatic maintenance scheduling, thus streamlining this process.
Advanced time management software eRS integrates these features and offers custom solutions to meet all the operations and management needs of medical businesses. The easy drag-and-drop scheduling feature allows hospitals to manage doctor and staff schedules. eResource Scheduler can also automatically generate timely messages to staff to inform them of the duty roster. Customized patient and lab reports can be generated easily by integrating the software with the lab operating system. A patient health record section can also be created to record all patient data. eRS can help your medical business function smoothly. Call us for a free demo and other details.