Medical Software Development: Types, Step-by-Step Process, FAQs

There’s no doubt – medical software can tremendously improve all healthcare-related processes for both patients and doctors. Besides that, it can decrease costs, save time, and improve efficiency.

So, it comes as no surprise that medical software development is only growing in popularity. The market is predicted to grow at its highest rate between 2022 and 2029, with a forecast to reach 53.22 billion in this period.

Let’s delve into the world of healthcare software development and discover the main types of medical software, the step-by-step process of creating them, and other FAQs.

What is Medical Software Development?

Medical software development includes all processes that go into making web and mobile apps tailored to serve the healthcare industry.
Such solutions can be used by hospitals, patients, medical billing services, clinical and research centers, and medical equipment providers.
As medical software can serve a wide range of customers in the industry, there are different medical software types.
Let’s take a look at some of the most popular ones.

Main 10 Types of Medical Software

Check out the main types of medical software used by healthcare providers, patients, and hospitals:

A practice management system (also known as clinic management software) is a CRM designed to handle medical practices and all their clinical and administrative workflows.

This solution can be used by dentists, physicians, general practitioners, and other specialists. Based on their individual requirements, this software can be linked with pharmacies and labs or even have custom features like prescription management, clinic queue monitoring, health record keeping, scheduling, and billing.

The advantage of this software is that it:

• Minimizes errors
• Enhances workflow efficiency
• Reduces costs
• Improves the quality of patient care

Lab information management systems handle all vital lab processes, including:

• Error-free report generation for all lab samples
• Alerting when lab samples show any abnormal results
• Full inventory management
• Integrate with lab equipment
• Billing functionalities

Nowadays, most medical software can be programmed to have a billing feature.

But hospitals and medical facilities with a higher number of transactions and invoice records can use a separate billing software solution. Such apps are tailored to track, record, and process invoices, insurance claims, and medical bills.

EMR:

Electronic medical records are digitized versions of a patient’s records. They allow medical professionals to access data in seconds, eliminating the need to go through paper archives. However, EMRs can’t be shared outside of the organization.

EHR:

Electronic health records are similar to EMRs, but they are interoperable. This means they can be shared with other hospitals, labs, and healthcare institutions. Such records store information about lab results, medical history, and other vital patient information. The development of these interoperable systems is complex and requires specialized ehr software development expertise to ensure seamless integration and communication between different healthcare providers.

PHR:

Personal health record systems provide a safe and secure way for patients to manage all their health-related information. Such electronic applications store all patient-related data provided by the caregivers, patients, pharmacies, and labs.

HIE:

Health information exchange systems aid the transmission of patient data electronically between doctors, pharmacists, and other healthcare providers. This allows the fast and easy sharing of information that helps avoid errors and improve diagnoses.

Medical imaging software helps practitioners to track, manipulate, and manage medical images. The industry is slowly moving away from the less advanced 2D imaging solutions to the more advanced 3D and 4D ones.

For example, 3D imaging software can model the human body and different body parts and even create dental models. This allows professionals to create more personalized images of patients and even design prosthetic limbs and other medical equipment.
On the other hand, 4D imaging is mostly used in radiation therapy.

Patient web and mobile app portals allow patients to easily access their medical records. These portals also allow them to view and manage their:

• Online consultations
• Appointments
• Billing
• Patient history

This software allows doctors to send medical prescriptions to pharmacies electronically. This enables accurate, safe, and efficient communication between hospitals, pharmacies, and labs.

So, no more waiting at the pharmacy to get your prescription processed!

Urgent care software is tailored to the unique workflows of urgent care centers. Such software aids the efficient management of urgent cases. It also enables doctors to access all vital patient records in a timely manner and helps reduce labor costs.

This type of software is designed to optimize all hospital management-related processes, including:

• Billing and insurance
• Administrative tasks
• Patient information tracking
• Doctors’ appointments and operations

HMS systems can also manage pharmacies and labs. They can also be integrated with mobile apps and allows patients to see their prescriptions, medical history, and scheduled appointments.

Telehealth and telemedicine software enable patients to attend online doctor consultations and connect with their medical providers through texts, audio, and video calls. Telemedicine software development solutions reduce the amount spent on commuting and waiting in lines to see your doctor in person.

The telehealth software industry experienced massive growth during the pandemic. In 2021, its market size reached 40.52 billion, and by 2028, it is predicted to grow to 200.53 billion.

Step-by-Step Process of Developing a Medical Software

At Scopic, we provide high-quality custom healthcare software development solutions that take all your needs and requirements into account. With over 16 years of experience in the medical software development industry, we have established a well-defined step-by-step process that has proven to work time and again.

Step #1:

Gathering Project Requirements

Initially, we kick off the project with a free-of-charge client call, so we understand your healthcare organization, who your end user is, and how the software solution will address your needs.

You can ask us all the questions you have, as we aim to give you the best possible personalized advice.

Step #2:

Analyzing the Problem

Once we have a better understanding of your project requirements, we will create a custom proposal tailored to your specific use case. The pitch will include a detailed breakdown of all the steps we need to take from initiation to deployment and maintenance.

Step #3:

Creating a Detailed Project Plan

Based on your feedback on the initial proposal, we will create a detailed step-by-step actionable plan. The plan will include an execution timeline, exact estimates, and proposed technologies to be used for your customized medical software solution.

Step #4:

Healthcare Project Execution

When we settle on the project plan, we move on to execution. We assign a highly-skilled, HIPAA-certified team of developers to the project.

To deliver the project in a timely and efficient manner, we use an Agile approach. This allows us the most flexibility as we do multiple rounds of prototyping and testing.

This way, we ensure the UI/UX, key functionalities, and other features are programmed in a way that will be an exact match to the software you envisioned.

Step #5:

Testing and Bug Fixing

When we finalize the software solution and ensure everything works smoothly, we send it over to you.

Here, we ensure the medical application meets all the project milestones we set in step #3, and you let us know if the final deliverable aligns with your needs.
Once you review everything and give us the green light, we will launch the project.

Step #6:

Medical Software Deployment

When we finalize the software solution and ensure everything works smoothly, we send it over to you.

Here, we ensure the medical application meets all the project milestones we set in step #3, and you let us know if the final deliverable aligns with your needs. Once you review everything and give us the green light, we will launch the project.

Step #7:

Maintenance and Support Activities

In case you need any maintenance, software updates, or other support activities down the line, we will be there to take care of all that for you.

Medical Software Development FAQs

Still have some questions regarding software development in the medical field?

Here are some common FAQs:

Medical Software Development: The Future of Healthcare

The medical software development industry is growing rapidly. With its constant advancements, an increasing number of healthcare providers are incorporating it into their existing systems, making for faster, easier, and more efficient processes that help both specialists and patients.