Digitalization brings benefits to organizations from all different industries. Aki Inkeroinen and Dominik Zyskowski from Espeo Software shed their light on the digitalization within the healthcare industry and why it is crucial to invest in a digital application as a healthcare provider. 

Why should healthcare providers invest in digital transformation?

In order to achieve efficiency and keep up with the digital world, businesses in all industries must conform with the new standards of implementing operations. Zyskowski and Inkeroinen believe that in the healthcare industry, there are certain issues that could significantly benefit from new, digital measures.

Dominik Zyskowski, the Consulting Director at Espeo Software believes that many of the key pain points of the healthcare industry have to do with the collecting and preserving of patient data. It can be challenging to preserve patients’ personal data securely and privately while giving them access to and ownership of their medical records. The handling of data calls for an easy digital application to offer a solution. 

Zyskowski also states that the mundane operations within the healthcare business could benefit significantly from an application. He thinks that the reservation system and telemedicine service should be easy and digital, as this would enhance the customer experience overall. He also feels that prescriptions should be more attainable to make it easier to observe one’s medical records.

Picture: Aki Inkeroinen

 

Aki Inkeroinen, the Managing Director of Espeo Finland notes that implementing an application can also be seen as a way of answering to competition. He believes that an application would give businesses a tool to differentiate from the market, as it is easier to collect soft data from patients, for example. Picture: Aki Inkeroinen

“The application could help to provide better customer satisfaction and engagement”, Inkeroinen states. The businesses would become more inclined with what the customers are asking for, and thus adjust to the demand better. 

Due to all the previously mentioned reasons, Inkeroinen and Zyskowski believe that investing in a digital application could lead to improvements in the quality of care and patient outcomes overall. Digitalizing the processes can result in revenue growth and improved cost efficiencies.

Key features the app should entail

When starting out with the modern healthcare application, Zyskowski believes that there are certain features that bring the businesses most benefit. 

First and foremost, he feels that every healthcare-focused mobile app should address the need to schedule or cancel appointments. Fluency in this regard could bring the businesses many satisfied customers, as the possible combination of online bookings and telecommunication can be overwhelming for many.

Zyskowski believes that it is also important to make it easy for customers to access their medical records. Enabling this in the application would be beneficial, as the users could easily look for their own information and make decisions regarding their treatment.

Picture: Dominik Zyskowski 

 

There are also several other functionalities that could bring incremental value to the application. Zyskowski believes that an online chat would be a great addition, as it gives the users an easy way to communicate with professionals. He also thinks that the application should offer a possibility to request and store prescriptions.

Zyskowski feels that it would also be valuable to execute all of the features in a way that allows for connectivity to wearables that monitor the health status on a daily basis. Since a constantly increasing amount of people rely on smart devices like watches and rings, there could be demand for a service that brings more benefit to the devices.

Espeo helps customers to success with custom solutions 

Espeo Software helps healthcare organizations with custom solutions regarding software development. In their design, Espeo can include all the key features mentioned previously. On top of that, the services can also improve the internal processes by building custom solutions like remote reception, integrations, booking systems and data reporting. These comprehensive solutions allow for a fluent digitization process.

“If you want to focus on the business advantage, a custom solution is the most cost effective way to go. With custom software development, you can be sure that your solution will have a competitive advantage on the market”, Inkeroinen describes. 

 

 

Zyskowski recalls that data safety in software development is crucial. Healthcare providers record, store, and manage loads of data, especially taking the recent med-tech trends under consideration. 

“Since cyber attacks, like data breaches and malware are constantly more prominent, ensuring data safety is a requirement for any digital project within the healthcare industry”, Zyskowski describes. 

Thus, the software development process should be conducted in line with HIPAA standards. Espeo offers software- and blockchain-based solutions that can be used to enhance digital healthcare solutions and their security. Espeo Blockchain, a subsidiary of Espeo Software, is a Hyperledger-certified service provider – and one of the few Hyperledger-certified companies in Europe. 

Inkeroinen believes that the best way to discover or confirm the needs of the end-users and the project objectives is through business value assessment and product design workshops. Espeo introduces these tools in their own business, and you can read more about these on Espeo’s website.

 

Espeo Software’s website

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