Will Computing take over the main tasks of Physicians?

Is it possible to automate a doctor-patient interaction with machines and algorithms handling 80% of the work? It might sound a bit outlandish but a reputed Silicon Valley investor feels it is quite a possibility. The person feels that general checkups can easily be handled by computer algorithms as well as an average physician. They may also have a lot of utility in recommending people for a physical visit to a doctor (when there is an actual need) after analyzing vital inputs shared by them and in the process save effort, time and money. Suggestions from these systems would also be based on history of illness, test results, symptoms etc. just like actual physicians would do.

Not many leaders from this field quite agree with this thought though. The argument broadly put across by them is in the lines of replacing human beings with robots. What a computer can replicate is the analytical and logical thinking which a physician would put in while treating a patient. However, it will fall short when qualities like creativity, experience and most importantly empathy comes into play. All these are adequately used by physicians when they arrive at conclusions related to a certain course of action for treatment. Also, another valid point to be taken into account is that each patient is different from the other; not necessarily reflected in terms of readings from tests, medical devices measuring vitals etc. This has led to the second school of thought by another bunch of healthcare leaders who take the middle path. According to them, the current state of affairs requires technology to permeate more into the healthcare domain but not so much so as to reduce the importance of physicians for making decisions. Ultimately physicians should have a role to play in validating technological inputs.

If the focus were to be shifted to the positives that technology has to offer, the list will be a long one. In fact, all the push from the Federal government for Health IT implementation under Obamacare is result of it. At an elementary level, technology in healthcare has led to marked improvement in provider adherence to clinical guidelines. At a more complex level, it has led to the process of “hot spotting”. This results in identifying problems in patients and making required interventions before a flare up happens; thereby saving high treatment cost and lives. Use of mobile devices like smartphones, tablets and other devices is also transforming the way healthcare delivery is taking place.

If we take a long-term perspective of the industry, within a few years from now there will be humungous amount of electronic healthcare related data created. Efforts are now being directed towards preventative care, population health, implementation of health insurance exchanges and a general shift from quantitative to qualitative healthcare. However, reaching a stage where disparate systems start talking to each other and are able exchange data will not be enough. There will be a need to have systems in place to mine the data available and come up with solutions to assist physicians in decision making – from suggesting the best treatment methods to other areas of decision making .These will become all the more relevant to the new healthcare delivery models e.g. ACOs which are emerging.

Thus, technology is proving to be very important in helping doctors to provide quality care. But expecting it to delivering the care outright would be a long shot. Also, the industry as a whole will improve only if the people at the core of the business i.e. the physicians are motivated to make a difference. Research done in this field has indicated that Physicians like to be given a certain level of autonomy in structuring their clinical activities and high control over the pace and content of patient care. The recent changes in terms of the compliance rules and regulations seems to be taking a toll on them as it indirectly reduces the time they get to spend with their patients . This problem is expected to be resolved over time as their familiarity with using new info systems and workflows gets better.

Leveraging newer technologies and building applications and systems which help make the tasks easier for physicians is the need of the hour and fortunately is on the rise as well. Healthcare software developers with solid domain expertise and strong technical know-how are making this a reality.

We provide medical software development services. That includes software development and independent software testing. So if you are looking at hiring certified software development experts for building healthcare applications, please feel free to speak to one of our developers or healthcare software testers at Mindfire Solutions and you will be glad you did.

How Often Are Doctors Switching From One EHR System To Another?

Similar to other professionals, doctors and medical practitioners also have to store, manage and process a huge amount of information and data. The medical information also needs to be organized based on certain grades and specific structuring. So many doctors, nowadays, use specially designed electronic database systems to access and process a variety of medical information smoothly. The electronic health records (EHRs) are used by large number of doctors to manage the electronic health information about a specific patient or certain groups.

As per the ISO/TR 20514 definition, EHR can be defined as, “Collection of computerized information referring to the health state of a certain subject stored and transmitted in complete safety, accessible to any authorized user. It has a logic pattern for information organization implemented, universally accepted and independent from the system. Its main aim is to assure continuous, efficiently and quality integrated health services along with retrospective and prospective information.”

So EHRs can be used to store, access and share a variety of medical data including demographics, medical history, medication and allergies, immunization status, laboratory test results, radiology images, vital signs, personal stats like age and weight, and billing information. The complex nature and constantly increasing volume of medical data encourage many companies to upgrade EHR by incorporating more advanced features and customized functionality. These features make it easier for a doctor to share a patient’s digital medical information across different healthcare settings.

At the annual conference of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society held at New Orleans in March 2013, the results of a survey conducted by American EHR was presented, which highlighted that doctors frequently switch from one EHR to another to achieve certain objectives. According to AmedNews, “A survey by AmericanEHR Partners of 4,279 clinicians, including primary care physicians, specialists and diagnostic professionals, found that user satisfaction declined from 39% in 2010 to 27% in 2012. The rate of those “very dissatisfied” increased from 11% to 21% during the same period.”

What Makes a Doctor Switch from One EHR to Another

Easy-to-Use Features: The medical information of a patient is accessed by several professionals. Along with the physician, the digital media data is also accessed by the dietitian, nurse and other staff. As the technical knowledge and skills vary from one professional to another, most doctors look for EHRs that can be easily used by their staff. So many doctors choose EHRs that comes with a set of simple and easy-to-use features. These features further allow them to train the new staff without putting any extra effort.

Option to Access Information Anytime: Similar to other users, a doctor also looks for option to access the medical information of a patient anytime, anywhere. Many doctors even look for fast and convenient options to share the medical data. So many doctors replace their conventional EHRs with the advanced systems that allow them to access and share the information over internet. Many companies have launched Cloud based EHRs to enable doctors to store all medical data in a centralized location, and access these at their own pace and convenience.

Integrating Data from Various Sources: Each doctor wants to provide the best healthcare service to his patients. So, doctors often consult with external physicians and specialists to choose the most effective treatment for his client. As the choice of EHRs varies from one doctor to another, many professionals look for systems that can collect medical information from several data sources. Also, the EHR must be compatible with multiple devices, so that the doctor can easily access and evaluate a specific patient’s medical report.

Installation and Operational Expenses: As the doctors are not sure about using an EHR for a longer period of time, they often avoid the expensive systems. Along with buying and installing the healthcare system, a doctor also has to put some amount of time and efforts in training other physicians, dietitians and nurses. So many doctors prefer investing in inexpensive EHRs to make it reduce their operational expenses. Also, the inexpensive EHRs make it easier for them to switch to avail additional benefits by switching to a more advanced system.

Some companies upgrade their EHRs frequently to overcome the common problems faced by users. The recent reports will compel many companies to standardize medical data processing, so that a doctor can change his existing EHR in a smooth and hassle-free way. And that is when need for healthcare software development services is felt.

We provide clinical software development services. To know more about the expertise of our EMR EHR Software development team, please visit Mindfire Solutions.

Domain Based HealthCare Testing Services

When the topic comes to the Healthcare Software Testing India, most clients are hesitate to outsource their work to outside vender with number of causes like, the tester who test my project has any kind of knowledge on medical application? Are they aware of medical terms like EHR (Electronic Health Records), EMR (Electronic Medical Records), CCHIT, Sure Script, HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability), HL7 etc.? Can they test PMS (Practice Management Systems) system? Are they well known what are SureScript and all? Mindfire Solutions, a twelve years old software giant provides Offshore Healthcare Testing services to its customer across the globe for more than five years. We are a team of Software and Quality Assurance professionals with experience in all technology of the IT industry working with Fortune 500 companies as well as early and mid-stage start-ups. Our specialties include hands-on testing and developing solutions for testing and improving quality of Software Products on Different Domains like, Healthcare, Game, CMS (Content Management System) etc.

Most of our client who are outsources their project to us are very happy about the Quality of Product we delivered to them and as a benefit they see an exponential growth in term of quality when they talk with their clients. We have a very dedicated test team who are regularly updates their knowledge on Healthcare Testing. Our QA members are hand on experience in Electronic Medical Records (EMR) Testing, Patient Health Records (PHR) Testing, Ambulatory Care management Testing, Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS, LIS) Testing and all. On the top of that our testing guys can help you to CCHIT (Certification Commission for Health Information Technology) and Meaningful use (MU) certification by testing your medical application.  By adding expertise, knowledge, and passion we have a unique combination of professionals dedicated to the adoption and test the medical application. We will not only have the experience that you need, but also the latest healthcare industry knowledge and the passion to support and guide you every step of the way. We have following the complete testing cycle while we take any project in into the account.

With ISTQB (International Software Testing Qualifications Board) certification our test engineers can perform usability testing or Integrating testing or performance testing on healthcare application to get optimum result for our client. Our testing team has work experience to test Healthcare Apps Platform testing on mobile applications like on Android, iPhone, iPad, etc. we are considered thought leaders healthcare testing and perform Test Automation and Performance Testing using open source technologies such as JMeter, Selenium Testing Services, QTP and provide customized solutions to our partners resulting in huge ROI for them.

Mindfire Solutions is a 12-year old leading Software Development and IT services company with a strong track record of working with SMBs like you who are present across geographies. Our 750+ spirited software engineers located across three advanced development centres in India have collectively executed more than 1000 projects for our 300+ client base. Along with a guaranteed Mindfire promise of unparalleled quality, we also have 100 hours risk free trial* for new clients.