Introduction
With the growing popularity of telehealth, patients increasingly receive their care through asynchronous, telegenic means during and outside regular care hours. Generic telehealth platforms currently drive much of the remote delivery of care, but they need to be more-suited to the needs of a broad diversity of healthcare providers. For many organizations, generic platforms make the delivery of telegenic care less efficient by delivering a remote experience whose functionality is confined to the constraints of a generic platform. Specifically, generic platforms lack the plug-in features and architecture to behave like systems that deliver a ‘patient experience’ rather than a ‘generic encyclopedia of care’. This drawback falls heavily on most modern electronic health platforms, but it is particularly noticeable with many varieties of telehealth applications. If demand for telegenic care delivery is burgeoning, then building more custom platforms must relieve patients who want greater access to high-quality, accessible care.
The need for custom telehealth platforms
One is that general-purpose telehealth solutions don’t adequately address the specific workflows of individual medical disciplines, forcing providers into a non-tailored approach to their care process. Another is that various off-the-shelf solutions don’t always interface well with electronic health records (EHR), meaning patients’ information might be sent to a silo with no connection or traffic to the rest of their records. If you’re a specialist, this can lead to significant delays in ordering tests or viewing results, not to mention having to log out of one application on your computer to enter data in another. Security and compliance are also concerns, as even some off-the-shelf solutions might not meet the rigorous standards of data protection mandated by the use of patient information.
With custom software development for healthcare, organizations can build telehealth platforms that work around these issues, specific to their needs – tailored for specialization within a certain field of medicine, with tighter EHR integration for easier use, or even with added security measures to allow for tougher federal regulation. With custom telehealth platforms, providers can get around general-use roadblocks to delivering quality, patient-centered care.
Key benefits of custom telehealth solutions
Enhanced patient access
Custom solutions can be invaluable in expanding patient access, particularly in remote and underserved areas like Native reserves or parts of the Alaskan bush. If built with a population’s specific needs in mind, a custom telehealth solution can be a great way to provide care to the patient sooner without having to make a long road trip to the nearest hospital. These solutions could include minimized data-transfer requirements for low-bandwidth areas, optimized mobile design for patients who might lack a laptop or desktop, or multilingual support for a patient population that speaks a language other than English.
Improved patient engagement
Increased patient engagement is another important advantage of custom telehealth software. Custom patient portals, communication tools, and real-time monitoring functionality are designed to work for the user and easily integrate into their livelihood. The availability of interactive tools in one place encourages patients to have a more equal relationship with their healthcare provider. This leads to a better patient treatment outcome and greater satisfaction with the service received.
Scalability and flexibility
Consider these organizations’ needs for a state-of-the-art platform that will grow and morph as the organization itself grows and morphs. Will off-the-shelf telehealth software be able to increase capacity and services as the organization expands with more patient volumes, new programs, or medical technologies? Custom telehealth solutions can be designed to scale with an organization, as the organization’s needs morph and change over time rather than being static.
Integration with existing systems
Integration with existing systems, such as EMR/EHR platforms, is essential for necessary workflow and continuity of care. custom healthcare software solutions allows the creation of unique telehealth solutions that can integrate with a provider’s current health IT infrastructure, thus keeping patient data consistent, secure, and accessible across all platforms.
Steps to building a custom telehealth platform
Assessment of needs
The process of building the custom telehealth platform begins by first establishing an accurate and detailed needs assessment of the organization: understanding how the solution will be used, what type of services the organization wishes to deliver or purchase, which providers and clients will be using the telehealth solution, and ultimately what are the specific needs related to the above-mentioned scenarios.
Design and development
After needs are identified, it’s time to design and develop the product, including the visual interface (to make patient and physician use easy) and security measures. Any software company that’s working on healthcare software must develop with compliance-related security measures in mind (the US’s Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance with patient data is a central concern) and be designed to scale as the application grows and adapts for future use.
Testing and implementation
The platform should be tested extensively and implemented with care. Ideas to consider for achieving aspects of the platform could include a phased rollout. A more careful approach to implementing a CRM platform could be a phased rollout, where the organization starts by introducing potential users on a smaller scale, gradually inviting more users, and seeing that everything is working properly along the way.
Ongoing support and optimization
Additionally, allowing for long-term support of the platform and keeping it updated are key. Continuous evolutions of the software, based on user feedback, technological improvements, and changes in regulations, allow it to stay fit for purpose and efficiently provide the best care to patients.
Conclusion
Custom telehealth platforms represent the next step in meeting those challenges and are currently the gold standard for patient access and high-quality care. Generic solutions can’t serve as many functions as a developer could build for a healthcare organization. Generic solutions aren’t integrated into the rest of a healthcare practice and, therefore, don’t play as well with electronic medical records or practice management systems. Generic solutions won’t engage patients as much as a tailored solution for the specific organization and patient group. A custom solution addresses organizational challenges of scale and reach. It’s no longer an alternative to employ more people. It is, therefore, an opportunity to bypass resourcing in its entirety and deploy a virtual presence that delivers the entire patient loop ‘hands-off’ without the patient needing to see anyone. It is the way to solve, in one swoop, the organization’s personnel problem: help the people you already have provide the kind of care you want on the terms you dictate.
People Also Ask (PAA) Questions
- What are the benefits of integrated health information systems?
These platforms, while not exactly ‘one-size-fits-all’, are far from specific. A custom telehealth platform is built with specific features, integrated into existing infrastructure, more secure and scalable, far more specific than a traditional telehealth system.
- How do custom software solutions improve healthcare interoperability?
With it, they can build custom telehealth solutions tailored to remote or otherwise underserved areas: mobile-optimized, low-bandwidth-friendly, multilingual user interfaces, and other considerations for making healthcare more readily available to people in need.
- What challenges do healthcare organizations face with off-the-shelf HIS solutions?
It is important for a healthcare provider to consider implementing custom telehealth software instead. This way, they can ensure that the platform they will be using can fulfill their needs, integrate with other systems they currently have in place, and scale along with their business.
- How can custom HIS solutions ensure compliance with healthcare regulations?
Difficulties include analysis of organisational requirements; interface and usability with hardware and software; network and physical security; and compliance with laws and regulation.
- Why is data security important in health information systems?
Integrated, custom telehealth platforms built to/EHR system can same look and feel between reduce unnecessary toggling. support networks, physicians and managers in the same manner no matter which platform is involved in the management of that data.
- How do custom HIS solutions enhance patient care?
Custom telehealth solutions can fit into business core functions and be easier to integrate within organizations, whereas off-the-shelf solutions are standardized and may fail to address specific challenges faced by organizations.
- What is the role of custom software in health information exchange (HIE)?
Custom telehealth applications that augment patient engagement include customized patient portals, embedded communication tools, and real-time interaction, resulting in a more dynamic and integrated healthcare experience.
