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Healthcare Practice Management
Simplifying the work of doctors
The Team
2 Backend Engineers, 3 Frontend Engineers,
Quality Assurance Engineer, Automation
Quality Assurance Engineer, Project Manager
The Tech Stack
Ruby on Rails, NodeJS, ReactJS
The Timeline
January 2019 - currently active
The client
The constant need to simplify and automate the processes that every employee got sick of became a huge deal. And a healthcare industry is not an exception, as it began to turn the innovation wheels actively. This time our client came from the USA with the request to implement something very peculiar.
He wanted to create a healthcare management platform that would allow a series of private hospitals to schedule their patients' appointments for free, with some additional advanced features at a premium. What made the development challenge for this application so unique? It was about the automation of basic routines and cutting the number of employees required to schedule an appointment with patients. The final product of the client — the tool for dealing with everyday tasks — must be super easy and beneficial for its end-user.
The Challenges
The major challenge was formulated by the business founder. Since the central value and purpose of the application would be to set up various appointments with doctors and hospitals, the client asked for an Athena EMR integration. To break it down, this software is a cloud solution, created as a healthcare booking portal with lots of expert services, designed for private hospitals.
The application itself has to be appropriately managed, as there is lots of sensitive and confidential information. So one of the core requirements highlighted from our and the client's side was integrating and building an administrative panel. In addition, it had to be integrated with the Athena EMR.
As with any other application developed for the medical industry, a core and essential requirement would be to follow HIPAA regulations. However, this time, the principal regulations were determined by the PHI (Patient Health Information) guidelines.
Last but not least, setting up chat support for multiple team care members was another thing to do. A support chat for a hospital app is essential for tackling any issues, arising on both technical and medical ends. This function should be implemented on a secure messaging platform with a clinical care coordinator and care team.
Having the entire “to-do” list in place, our team has turned to the active development phase.
The Implementation
First, we listened to the client's wishes and requirements and decided to conduct the Design and Discovery Phase. The reasoning is pretty simple, as the client had core business goals and a concrete development plan, the marketing part was missing. Branding, app UI/UX design concept, the very first prototype — obviously, all of this had to be done before the main MVP phase is launched. Reason? To avoid any unexpected issues and move in the right development direction conceptualized by the client.
As our team passed this phase and all of the uncertainties were cleared out, it was time to launch the MVP. The first thing that was put on the line is the integration of Athena EMR with its core backend. It provided the app with a dynamic and automated scheduling system. Main functions enjoyed by the user in this app were: book various appointments by their type before opening hours, collect all confidential information on patients in a safe manner, and cancel reservations by paying special fees.
After we implemented the core list of functionalities, we started to focus on the administrative panel. Although this part of any platform or app may seem relatively easy to implement, we have approached it with carefulness in our case. Our team has specifically worked to introduce the management of an appointment, user and waiting lists, CMS with the breakdown by appointment types, also featuring descriptions, and information required to make a scheduling.
During the integration of the Athena EMR and active development of the administrative platform, our team paid close attention to compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act in regards to PHI. We have set limited access and controls for the hospital facility members to restrict any potential leaks of sensitive information. To take care of regulation of access to the patient’s data in the future, we also added additional restrictions for transferring, removing, or re-using any electronic PHI. Finally, we implemented some policies for utilizing the workstations where the application is going to be used.
Like any other application targeting a special segment of a large market, this app experienced an essential demand in chat functionality. However, this app was different from a typical app equipped with chat support. Next to it, we’ve enabled the upload and submission of HIPAA-compliant documents within the storage system. And, for sure, another important step was to implement task management along with team tagging. This was done to simplify the document exchange between groups of people assisting with inquiries.
Business Results
Ankira is currently running in more than six clinics across America. Over 200 medical experts have registered on this platform and actively interact with patients. Its current business model is based on the paid membership of medical institutions, where this app is used.
The application goes through frequent and intensive tests run by our QA team in regard to new functionalities, such as video meetings with medical specialists, automated appointment reminders, and automated eligibility checks.
The program is successfully launched on hundreds of medical workstations and is distributed in new private clinics.
JetRuby Agency coded quickly and delivered with ease a very functional and thoughtful solution that internal stakeholders are eager to bring to market. The team is personable, responsive, and attentive, fostering a seamless and mutually beneficial collaboration. Their services are reasonably priced. - Michael C., Chief Executive Officer
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