Home Cases Healthcare GeneWise Health

GeneWise Health

GeneWise Health, an in-house genetics laboratory helping people manage disease risks with genetic testing and personalized health plans, in need of a major upgrade to meet a rigorous data security standard.

Technologies

Ruby on Rails

Industry

Healthcare

Engagement Model

Dedicated Team

Platform

Web

Team

9 members

Timeline

6 months

Overview

JetRuby Agency has undertaken several demanding projects across various industries.

In the healthcare sector, we worked with GeneWise Health, an in-house genetics laboratory offering proprietary clinical assays and analytical software.

GeneWise Health has been helping people manage disease risks for over two decades with genetic testing and personalized health plans.

Recently acquired by GenovaCare, a precision health management company serving the insurance and life science industries, GeneWise Health required SOC 2 compliance, a rigorous standard for data security essential in healthcare technology.

Project Objectives

GeneWise Health’s core application, developed on Ruby on Rails nearly twenty years ago, needed substantial modernization to reduce complexity, streamline functionality, and strengthen security.

Limited test coverage increased the risk of hidden issues during updates, making compliance harder.

Since the software was for genetic lab testing, there was no room for errors. Upgrades had to be 100% ready and secure from the moment they went live.

The primary objectives of the project were:

Upgrade the legacy Ruby on Rails framework from version 3.2.22.5 to 7.1.3.2 to enhance overall performance and enable compatibility with modern technologies.
Implement robust security measures to meet SOC 1 standards first and to set up SOC 2 compliance in the future to protect sensitive genetic data and comply with healthcare regulations.
Increase the existing test coverage to ensure stability and reliability during and after the upgrade, minimizing the risk of undetected issues.
We have partially set up the cloud environment and hope to continue in Q2 2025. During the process, we found unused code that needed removal and streamlined the existing codebase to improve maintainability, reduce technical debt, and enhance system efficiency.

We also realized that beyond the initial objectives, we ultimately had to leave our client with a modern, lean system that would allow them to integrate future updates and stay compliant seamlessly.

Tech Stack

JetRuby’s team stepped in to create a foundation supporting GeneWise Health’s long-term growth under GenovaCare.

GeneWise Health’s platform is built on a custom Ruby on Rails (RoR) framework.

Our team used the following tech stack:

Primary Framework: Ruby on Rails (upgraded from 3.2.22.5 to 7.1.3.2)
Programming Language: Ruby (upgraded through versions 2.3.7 to 3.3.1)
Deployment Tools: Kamal 2 and Thruster Proxy
Security Tools: 1Password, Bitwarden, LastPass
Additional Technologies: SQLite for Solid Adapters (Solid Cable, Solid Cache, Solid Queue), Propshaft for asset management

Our Work

Initially, the team had one Lead Developer and two Middle developers.

When the most technically demanding portion of the update was complete, we rotated our Lead for a Senior developer to help structure refactoring efforts at an optimized cost.

A developer from GeneWise Health also worked closely with us, improving communication and speeding up our progress.

The project started with a three-month plan to upgrade Ruby on Rails from version 3.2.22.5 to 7.x.

Early on, the team found a lot of unused code that made initial test coverage estimates unreliable. However, JetRuby finished the upgrade on time by following these steps:

Step 1

Standardized the code format, secured file permissions, and cleaned up the repository by removing unused directories. They also improved test coverage with more unit tests

Step 2

Upgraded Ruby and Rails incrementally through several versions, replaced outdated functions with modern ones and switched to strong parameters for better security

Step 3

Refactored the code to remove instance variables from views, made sure coding standards were consistent with RuboCop, and secured secrets by moving them to environment variables

The solution required further improvements, so we extended the project by three more months to focus on refactoring, cleanup, and live testing.

This extra time allowed us to focus on cleaning up the code and testing it in real-life conditions. The team prioritized data security and added new network and application firewalls to protect against unauthorized access and threats.

We also added two-factor authentication (2FA) to protect user accounts and implemented intrusion detection systems (IDS) to spot suspicious activities immediately.

During this extended period, the JetRuby team worked hard to refactor the code.

We kept all existing features functional while improving efficiency and reducing 20 years of technical debt.

Our team also set up monitoring systems using New Relic and Logstash to track system uptime, check data accuracy, and strengthen access controls for sensitive genetic information.

These efforts created a secure, efficient, reliable platform for GeneWise Health’s growth and compliance.

Future Perspectives

As we upgraded the GeneWise Health Ruby on Rails (RoR) environment to the latest versions, we can build on what we learned during this project. Using our knowledge of GeneWise Health systems, we can improve the platform effectively and cost-efficiently with a streamlined team.

Upcoming tasks include detailed code analysis, configuration assessment, and advanced code reviews to maintain system strength and manage complexity.
There will be a focus on maintaining and improving test coverage to achieve SOC 1 and SOC 2 certifications, with one engineer leading this effort alongside ongoing code updates.
After refactoring, the infrastructure will be updated to enhance performance and scalability.
Automated testing will not be implemented immediately. Manual testing and bug detection will take priority to ensure reliability and security during stabilization.
We’ll stick to a phased approach to introduce automated testing after achieving SOC 2 compliance.

In summary, following this roadmap, we aim to keep GeneWise Health systems secure, efficient, and scalable.

Our efforts on code quality, infrastructure updates, and thorough testing will support GeneWise Health in achieving ongoing success and compliance in the changing healthcare technology sector.