Benefits of SDLC In Healthcare

Can hospital benefit from a systems development life cycle approach

The healthcare sector is currently confronted with difficulties on a scale never seen before. For instance, major players in the retail industry like Walgreens and CVS are now offering services that were previously only available at healthcare clinics. Fortunately, technological breakthroughs and innovations also appear alongside the challenges as they continue to be faced. Is the building or office where you work ready to make use of these solutions as soon as they become available? In this article, we will discuss about the benefits of SDLC in healthcare, but before that, let’s discuss about the challenges in modern healtcare industry.

Challenges in Modern Healthcare Industry

The modern healthcare industry must make significant investments in information technology (IT) staff, systems, and solutions in order to meet the rising demands for data management, medical information security, and compliance with government regulations. In addition, the number of patients seen by the typical physician has increased year after year as a result of the ageing of the population and the growing number of individuals who have access to comprehensive medical insurance coverage. Telemedicine is another option that is gaining more and more support from both state and federal regulatory bodies. Nevertheless, physicians must be equipped with the necessary technology and infrastructure in order to support this developing method of medical practise.

Other significant technological challenges that contemporary healthcare organisations must face include the following:

ICD-10 implementation
HIPAA security compliance
inadequate collaboration between data from various departments

Mobile healthcare trend
expansion of digital data (i.e. electronic medical records, digital imaging, etc.)
the need to lessen the impact of infrastructure

Even with these and other problems, many of which are technical and have to do with the government and industry following “best practices,” patients expect better results delivered in a way that is easy for them and fits their lifestyles.

SDLC for Healthcare Organizations

One of the objectives of the patient journey modelling methodology, a method for enhancing the general standard of medical treatment, is to model the path a patient takes through a health care organization (HCO). When compared to alternative techniques, it is conceivable for healthcare services to be produced and delivered with more effectiveness, higher quality, and lower costs. By approaching this trip from the viewpoint of the patient and adhering to an SDLC methodology for IT project management, this is made achievable and we can see the benefits to the healthcare. The SDLC is a widely used project management methodology even in healthcare that has proven effective and show real benefits over many years of use in the development of application and information technology infrastructure. Ideas can become well-documented projects through the multi-step, iterative SDLC process. These projects can then be transformed into effective, repeatable operational successes that meet or surpass a customer’s or company’s expectations.

Patient journey modelling, which was formally introduced as a strategy for enhancing the quality of health care services for the first time in 2006, has swiftly become one of the top goals for HCOs worldwide. Any approach built on an SDLC project management framework, as well as any other method that aspires to successfully deliver high-quality outcomes while following to a project’s time, money, and scope limits, must involve stakeholders in order to be successful. Patients, hospital executives, physicians, nurses, members of the information technology staff, and other stakeholders are required to make a commitment to actively participate in the process and provide candid feedback.

The use of appropriate tools, which can have a significant impact on the continuous improvement efforts that need to be a part of such an endeavour, is required to enable and facilitate such communication between the participants in order for the endeavour to be successful. In order for such a tool set to be effective, communication between project stakeholders on policies and procedures, system usage, roles and duties, and important measurements like process time and execution cost must be included.

Clinical Information Systems

Clinical information systems (CIS) are another example of SDLC methods being applied in the healthcare industry. These systems require an interdisciplinary approach from a large number of professionals who work together within the framework of SDLC. They want to make sure that the value that people anticipate receiving from the money that is invested in such systems is actually obtained.

The first step in the CIS process is collecting requirements, which lays the foundation for the system selection process that follows. Following the multi-phase approach of the SDLC, steps such as development and user testing are carried out, staff is trained, pilot and production implementations are carried out, and processes for continuous improvement are put into place. Establishing standard processes and establishing a governance structure that supports company-wide communication and feedback is necessary in order to achieve both short-term and long-term success in operational endeavours. This will ensure that system changes are continuous and consistent, adapting to new business conditions, government regulations, and the expectations of patients.

Partner With a Healthcare Technology Solutions Professional

In recent years, the utilization of SDLC project management methods to deliver results of a higher quality has been met with resounding approval from executives and professionals working in the healthcare industry. Gathering compliance requirements, conducting a cost assessment, and performing a benefits analysis are all essential steps that must be taken before the design phase can move forward. Vendors and consultants alike can provide assistance to healthcare staff in these steps. Innovative Architects is a consulting firm that has been awarded the Microsoft Gold Competency and specialises in developing novel solutions for healthcare technology. These solutions assist healthcare organisations (HCOs) in overcoming challenges related to government and industry compliance, data management and security, and other similar issues. We have decades of combined experience partnering with hospitals and healthcare organisations like yours, ranging from strategic and tactical planning to day-to-day operations, and our hubs are located in Georgia, Florida, and Washington, District of Columbia. Get in touch with us right away to find out how we can assist you.

The healthcare industry can benefit from a variety of services provided by the software industry and also with SDLC. The advantages and benefits of software development for the healthcare industry are outlined in the following paragraphs.

Enhances Patients’ outreach – The number of people who can access the patients’ information is growing thanks to the proliferation of websites and mobile applications. That means there is no requirement for the patient to make a physical trip to the hospital or clinic in order to discuss their health concerns with their physician. Instead, the patient simply needs to launch the application that has been pre-installed on their mobile device in order to establish a connection with a physician located anywhere in the world.

Easy access of medical data – Every piece of software provides users with the opportunity to save the information pertaining to a patient, making it possible for them to quickly retrieve the information at any time. They don’t have to bring their paper reports to the doctors on a regular basis like they used to have to. They just need to open their app on their mobile device, and then they can retrieve all of the historical data in digital form. Only with the assistance of large amounts of data will this be possible. In this way, we’ll be able to save and access our data in the cloud whenever we want, no matter where we are in the world.
Reduce Time Efforts – due to the fact that time is the most valuable asset these days. Everyone places a high value on their own time. As a result, we were able to save the patients a considerable amount of time thanks to the software that we used in the health care sector.
Transparency – Because the results of the health checkup are now provided to us digitally in the form of numbers and graphs, it is now simpler than ever for every patient to comprehend the information contained in their health report. This has been made possible thanks to the development of software.

Billing – It is now possible for both patients and doctors, with the assistance of various software programs, to receive or send money in a matter of a few fractions of a second. To create an invoice, you do not require a pen and paper, and if you want to take things a step further, there is also no requirement for printers. The patient can easily transfer the fee of the doctor by simply clicking one button on their mobile app, and the doctor will immediately receive that amount at the same instant in time.
Improve Medical Business Management – The performance of the organization is likely to improve with the assistance of the facilities such as data storage, simple access, simple payment methods, and a variety of other features, and this likely assists the organization in obtaining more and more business.
Decrease in death rate – The creation of portable health checkup devices, such as ECG machines, Blood Pressure calculators, and Blood sugar calculators, is made possible by the development of software, which plays a very important role in this process. Because of how small these machines are, virtually anyone can transport them to a new location. To summarize, it is very simple to bring along with it wherever we go, and the most important thing is that these are as accurate as the large machine that is present in hospitals. The golden features about these types of devices are that they are affordable, and anyone can afford to bring these types of devices into their home. This enables individuals, whenever they are not feeling well, to conduct a quick checkup test at their home itself.

In addition to everything mentioned above, the following are some areas in which the medical software industry can anticipate significant growth in the years to come:

The use of artificial intelligence is gradually expanding into practically every aspect of our everyday lives. It has evolved into a foundation in our working environments, providing a foundation for productive and easily facilitated work processes. Specifically, the field of medical care has been subjected to a substantial amount of innovation on both the functional and specialised levels.

Uncommon Diseases: A number of different facial recognition programmes have been integrated with advanced AI in order to support medical professionals in the process of diagnosing uncommon diseases. Through the examination of patient photographs, medical professionals are able to identify aggregates that are comparable to those of uncommon inherited diseases.

Robot-helped Surgery : Automated medical procedures offer medical professionals a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform precise incisions utilising incredibly minute instruments. The incorporation of AI into clinical records invariably makes it possible for medical professionals to access continuous information while they are working in the operating rooms and valuable data from previously successful medical procedures of a similar nature. According to a report that was published in 2018, Accenture found that AI-enabled and robot-assisted medical procedures have the potential to save the medical care industry in the United States over $40 billion annually.
Medical services Communication : According to the findings of some investigations, a breakdown in communication between the patients and parental figures accounts for eighty percent of all genuine clinical errors. AI has enormously advanced the correspondence breakdown in the medical services industry, whether it be between the patient and doctor or inside the various medical care organs. This is true regardless of whether the correspondence is taking place outside or inside the body.
Virtual Nursing Assistants : AI has also shown amazing results in the field of portable application medical services and virtual nursing. This is yet another area in which AI has been utilised. Virtual nursing colleagues are similar to Alexa for the bedside of emergency clinics in the context of the medical services industry. They mimic the behaviour of regular attendants by assisting patients with their schedules, such as picking up prescriptions or going to appointments, which helps them feel more at ease.

Managerial Workflow Assistance: In most cases, clinics and other places that provide clinical consideration generate a significant amount of administrative work. In spite of this, AI has been used to combine and digitise these clinical records, which has resulted in more streamlined authoritative capabilities.

How specialised healthcare software can help organizations

Aren’t you curious to find out more about how these solutions can help your organisation change? Here are a few of the specific benefits that companies can get from their investments in custom healthcare software.

Improve processes

The use of technology frequently enables us to complete tasks more effectively, swiftly, and accurately. The adoption of digital transformation and the investment in a solution for your company can have far-reaching effects on the business. It makes it simpler for workers to complete their tasks, which in turn frees them up to concentrate on the more important issues at hand. The use of digital records can also help reduce the likelihood of errors or inaccurate reporting.

Tailor a solution to fit your facility’s needs

There is not one single type of healthcare organisation. In addition to this, healthcare organisations in and of themselves are quite distinct from other types of businesses. This indicates that the majority of software options were not developed with the healthcare industry in mind. It is possible that they do not include everything that your organisation requires or that they do not function well in the type of facility that you have. One way to stay ahead of these challenges and acquire the resources you require is to devise a healthcare solution that is unique to your organisation.

Stay compliant

Even though compliance is of the utmost importance in the healthcare industry, it is possible to construct a bespoke solution while still maintaining compliance. For example, suppose a project requires HIPAA compliance. When this is the case, as part of the onboarding process, Unosquare team members receive initial HIPAA training for software developers. This is done in preparation for any additional training that may be provided by the client. Unosquare as a company possesses a profound comprehension of the responsibilities associated with access to protected health information, and each of our engineers is aware of the significance of adhering to the HIPAA-required safeguards while they are at work.

References

Benefits of Applying SDLC to the Healthcare Industry. (n.d.) Retrieved December 25, 2022, from https://www.innovativearchitects.com/KnowledgeCenter/industry-specific/healthcare-industry-sdlc.aspx

What are the benefits for software development for healthcare industry? (n.d.). Quora. Retrieved December 25, 2022, from https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-benefits-for-software-development-for-healthcare-industry