The last few years have mainly transformed the health care sector and made it much more digital. This is mainly achieved through mobile app development. Health care providers are investing more and more in mobile applications to ensure effective patient engagement, operational efficiency, and simple communication. The article elaborates on the major reasons for this trend and describes how mobile applications are transforming the health care delivery model. 1- Higher Patient Engagement This is the reason health service providers are interested in mobile application development. Patients expect access to their medical information with an increase in mobile phones. Applications developed for use on mobile apps allow patients a friendly interface through which one can manage the appointment, acquire access to health records, or get reminders about medication or check-ups. Advantages of Higher Involvement Better Communication: The mobile app allows the patient and healthcare provider to communicate with each other directly, hence to questions and concerns response promptly. Personalized Experience: Apps can provide health information and reminders based on the data being collected from individual patients. Thus, adherence to treatment plans can be improved. Empowerment: Mobile apps give patients the ability to control their health information and thus to become active participants in their healthcare journey. 2- Greater Efficiency and Productivity Mobile applications make healthcare professionals much more effective and productive. They automate different administrative tasks that allow more time for patients than paperwork. How Mobile App Development Boost Efficiency Appointments: Patients can easily schedule their appointments and even manage them by using mobile apps. This would save the administrative staff a significant amount of time they spend in scheduling appointments. Telemedicine: Increased telehealth allows healthcare professionals to engage in telemedicine consultations to conserve time for patients and doctors. Data Management: Collecting and processing of data through mobile apps could further make it readily available for healthcare workers to look at and consider the patient’s information quickly. 3- Improved Care for Patients The investment in the development of applications in healthcare providers helps to provide patients better care. Many applications provide beneficial tools and resources for both patients and providers in providing care and enhancing the quality of care. Features Improving Patient Care Health monitoring: The health monitoring features of some mobile applications enable patients to monitor certain vital signs, the patient’s symptom monitoring, and the monitoring records of the use of medicines. Information shared with a healthcare provider can be used in making decisions. Educational resources: Mobile apps provide access to educational material that lets the patient know more about his or her disease as well as alternatives for treatment. Remote Patient Monitoring: The applications can track patients who are suffering from chronic diseases at remote locations to facilitate early intervention and subsequent course corrections in the treatment plan Book Free Demo 4- Cost-Effectiveness Healthcare providers have only begun to open their eyes and recognize that designing mobile applications does come with its share of one-time investment towards generating huge returns later on. Financial Benefits Rare No-Shows: the appointment reminders created through mobile applications reduce no-shows as well as increase revenues. Less Administrative Cost: The use of mobile applications to automate administrative work reduces additional staff costs and error chances. This again saves money in the long term. Improved Operational Efficiency: All the processes get simplified with mobile technology, which reduces the operational cost and healthcare providers can also handle resources properly. 5- Compliance and Security With growing data privacy issues, it is highly crucial that healthcare providers adopt compliance towards such regulatory requirements like HIPAA. Mobile application development serves the purpose of incorporating strict security measures so that unauthorized access is prevented towards such sensitive patient information. Compliance Data Encryption: Mobile applications can make use of data encryption protocols in order to encrypt patient data before transmission and at rest. Access Control: A care provider should be restrictive in letting a few into knowing specific information Audit Trails : The mobile app has activity log thus making is easy to audit compliance and actual security breach occurrence 6- Competitive Advantage As competition in health care environment also grows, people have a will to be aggressive. The significant means of having competitive advantage and aggressive is doing the development in mobile apps. How Mobile Applications Give Competitive Advantages Patient Attraction for the Tech-Savvy Patients: With increased dependency on technology, more would seek health care services from ones who are innovative in their solutions offered through mobile apps. Ease of service delivery: With features in appointment scheduling besides tracking health and telehealth, more patients will be attracted to it and keep it because they will have the benefits of ease and convenience. Building Brand Loyalty: To become better by satisfying the service needed with them, patients bring the patients for successive visits via oral recommendation. 7- Real-time availability of information Health care delivery providers can reach the needed decision through proper evaluation of healthcare, only with real-time access on apps. Also with the advent of real time access, improvements regarding patient services along with streamlined and efficient processing processes can take place. Benefits when accessed real-time data: On-Time Interventions: With the real-time data, medical practitioners can identify any health condition early and initiate the intervention procedures for better health results. Correct Treatment Decision: Information about a patient through updated patients’ medical information timely helps the clinician in making the right treatment decision; therefore, quality care delivery is facilitated. Efficiency Workflow: Timely data can ease workflow, causing less delay, thereby enhancing general efficiency. 8- Increased Demand for Telemedicine The COVID-19 pandemic would increase the demand for telehealth services and most importantly, that of mobile application. As soon as patients are going to be in search for virtual health care, the investment in the mobile application will no longer be inevitable. The telemedicine feature would include Mobile Application Video Consultation. It is a safe video consultation done through a mobile application where one can meet the healthcare provider directly from his comfort zone. Symptom Checkers: Most health applications are equipped with a
With telemedicine gaining more importance, EHR software is revolutionizing the world’s healthcare delivery systems. Its importance has risen for Pakistan as well since technology-friendly healthcare providers demand an integrated EHR system that better cares for patients while increasing efficiency in operations and making health professionals communicate effectively with their stakeholder. This paper depicts the top benefits that an EHR software could confer on telemedicine services delivered in Pakistan. What is EHR Software? EHR software refers to the electronic version of the patient’s paper chart. Definition It defines that it should consist of an entire group of a patient’s medical history, diagnoses, medicines, treatment plans, immunization records, and test results. The EHRs must be shared across many settings in the healthcare environment to give an all-rounded view of the health information of a patient. This is considered as a necessity for proper telemedicine services. Advantages of EHR Software in Telemedicine 1- Better Patient Care Telemedicine has dramatically improved patient care with EHR software. A healthcare provider can now access full patient data in a matter of minutes for fast and effective decision-making. Detailed Medical History: EHRs can put all the information of the patient in one place so that the providers can see the whole medical history, allergies, and medication taken while doing consults virtually for more accurate diagnosis and treatment. Real-time Access: The provider can access the patient record in real time, especially during the telehealth visit where immediate decisions might be called for. 2- Increased Operational Efficiency EHR software reduces administrative burden making it more efficient for telemedicine practice. Less Administrative Burden: EHRs make automatic the appointment scheduling, billing, and documentation. Therefore, healthcare providers will take less time performing administrative work and spend it more in patient care. Speeder in Taking Patient: EHR software helps to hasten intake, giving faster assessment, and a swift resolution of waiting in virtual care. 3- Better Communication Good communication is an integral aspect of telemedicine, but EHR software makes good the communication of the healthcare service provider with patients and other persons concerned. Secure Messaging: Most EHRs have secure messaging capabilities that make easy communication between patients and providers about treatment plans, test results, and follow-up questions. This helps to create an ongoing conversation between patients and their healthcare teams. Collaborative Integration: EHRs enable a provider to work in a collaborative manner with various providers. They can share ideas and treatment plans, hence maintaining all care team members about a patient’s plan on the same page. 4- Telehealth Access Telehealth products are often connected with most EHR products, hence allowing provision of virtual visits in a non-obstructive manner Book Free Demo Virtual Consultations Through the telehealth functionalities integrated in EHRs, a provider can now view a patient on video from the comfort of sitting at a console all through the telehealth interface. Remote Monitoring: EHRs can be integrated with wearable devices and health applications such that health care providers can remotely monitor patients’ health. This can include monitoring of vital signs, medication adherence, and other health metrics. 1- Effective Data Management Important functions of the healthcare providers would include data management. The EHR software systematically organizes and manages the patient’s data. Centralized Patient Records: The central location stores patient records. This way, they can easily access and update them as often as they need. Error chances may occur in conditions where record conditions are fractured. Data Analytics: A health provider bases the analysis of their EHR system and takes it up to improve on the patients’ outcomes, trend analysis, and quality care concerning diseases. 2- Patient Involvement EHR software can increase patient engagement significantly, which is indeed very crucial for the success of telemedicine. Patient Portals: Most EHR systems have patient portals where patients can log in and view their health information, schedule appointments, and interact with providers. Patient portals empower the active participation of patients in their care. Educational Resources: EHR systems can offer patients educational resources tailored to their condition, which can help patients better understand their condition and work actively towards its management. 3- Cost Effectiveness EHR software implementations can ensure cost saving for telemedicine services providers. Reduced Overhead Costs: EHRs do away with paper-based record, thereby reducing costs in terms of paper, ink, and storage space. Easy Billing: EHRs ensure smooth billing without many errors and quicker payment cycles. This would result in overall cost efficiency for healthcare facilities. 4- Compliance with Laws EHR software helps in following the local laws and standards, which is one of the factors of the changing healthcare scenario in Pakistan. Data Security: EHRs are designed to offer a layer of security at the data level that provides for the confidentiality of the patient, meeting HIPAA and other regional legislations along with local laws. Automated Reporting: The EHR system can automatically produce reports which will be necessary for health authorities thus easy to keep to regulations, and it also promotes transparency. 5- Scalability EHR software is scalable, hence the healthcare provider can easily scale up their telemedicine service when necessary. Flexible Applications: EHRs can be developed based on the needs of small clinics or large hospitals. These applications ensure that EHRs grow with the organization. Integration with Emerging Technologies: As telemedicine advances, EHRs will get assimilated with emerging technologies and platforms hence ensuring that telehealth providers are always at the forefront of the telehealth innovation. 6- Support Of Research And Public Health Programs EHR software has played a very crucial role in supporting public health initiatives and research endeavors. EHRs can collect data for clinical research to improve medical knowledge and treatment options. This may be very useful in identifying trends and improving the outcome for the patients. Public Health Surveillance: Aggregated data of EHRs could be used to monitor and identify trends in disease outbreaks, tracking the effectiveness of interventions towards health and informing some decisions on policies. Conclusion EHR software integration within telemedicine practices in Pakistan brings a range of benefits that will enhance the delivery of patient care, raise efficiency