The healthcare sector is thriving at a rapid pace amid stringent regulations globally. It is one of the most sensitive sectors that has a lot of impact on our lives, and evolving technology can work wonders in improving patient services. Let’s take the example of a healthcare app development process to understand how advancing technology can assist the healthcare industry.
Patients can schedule an appointment, consult the doctor, and store medication records through a healthcare mobile app. The healthcare app development also enables healthcare professionals to provide their services in remote areas through telemedicine and other concepts. It is possible to integrate the advancements of emerging technologies in the app to provide reliable and high-quality patient care services.
But then, we just cannot rule out the challenges associated with the implementation of advanced technology in custom healthcare solutions. These days, many healthcare organizations are in a transition period because of their shift from conventional to digital work culture. This paradigm shift is a major cause of IT challenges for healthcare service providers.
Here we jot down ten major challenges of IT for the healthcare sector.
Ten Significant IT Challenges for Healthcare Industry
Complexity and interoperability
Emerging technologies like AI, ML, and IoT weave a complex web of interrelated features and interconnected functionality. Most hospital mobile apps and software solutions have advanced features based on these technologies. Here, it is necessary to unleash the potential of your healthcare services through developing an innovative and patient-friendly app with necessary features.
It is important to explain the requirements in a proper manner to the app developers of a reliable mobile app development company. What’s more, even if the cost of healthcare app development is a bit higher than traditional mobile apps, you should not skip any necessary features to save money.
Data security
Most of the connected devices, mobile apps, and software solutions gather critical data of patients. Now, it is of utmost importance to protect this confidential data from the hackers. Cybersecurity is one of the biggest challenges for the healthcare sector because healthcare software solutions remain the prime target for cybercriminals. Data breaches can dampen the environment of trust between healthcare professionals and patients.
If the system is decentralized, there is more risk of cyberattacks. Therefore, you need to ensure that the system is protected from any breach attempts or threats.
Database management
Proper database management is necessary to protect data from going into the wrong hands. AI-integrated or IoT-enabled healthcare app deals with a lot of data in healthcare companies. The data consists of medical records of patients, clinical notes, medication and laboratory test reports, and the like.
In the absence of proper data management, the confidential data remains at risk. Also, as your company grows, you need to increase the database capacity and server capacity to store more data.
Pricing issues
The cost of healthcare app development is high especially if you want to come up with a patient-centric app with desired features. The rising overhead cost and expenses in the healthcare sector can remain a major roadblock in the way of healthcare app development. Also, patients may tend to stay away from technologically advanced but pricey hospitals, and in such circumstances, they do not install an app from such hospitals.
In the coming years, when healthcare IT will be mainstreamed across the world, we can expect that the price of healthcare solutions and applications will come down.
BYOD Approach
Many healthcare providers have embraced the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) approach for increasing productivity, reducing additional expenses on hardware, and real-time communication. But then, the healthcare service providers need to get ready for additional risks. It is difficult to manage a secure IT network at the healthcare organization if BYOD services are adopted.
You need to establish a robust and reliable policy to ensure the safety and quality of devices, applications, and software. YOu can also opt for providing devices with the necessary software.
Compliance issues
The healthcare sector is the most regularized sector in the world. Every time when authorities come up with new standards and regulatory standards, the health service providers have to follow them properly. One such standard is HIPAA. IT plays a vital role in HIPAA Compliance by keeping ePHI (electronic Personal Healthcare Information) safe from hackers. The strict rules of HIPAA have many provisions regarding the management of healthcare data. Even a slight lapse or technological glitch can make the healthcare data vulnerable and your healthcare organization may have to face the consequences related to breaching of HIPAA compliance.
Restricted access
Most of the patient-related data like medical records, laboratory reports, etc. are highly confidential and meant for healthcare professionals only. This is a big challenge for the healthcare company because as technology advances, cybercriminals may breach the data and get the personal information of the patients. Apart from this, the restricted access to data must be ensured to prevent it from unauthorized persons at your organization.
Regulatory standards
Technology brings digital transformation in various industry sectors and the healthcare sector is no exception! In such a situation, it may possible that the healthcare service provider fails to comply with regulatory standards. At times, healthcare app development services can also disrupt the daily operations of the healthcare organization during the transition process. It remains a big challenge for the service providers to maintain the quality of healthcare during this period and restore the same soon after digitization.
Infrastructure and staffing
Many healthcare organizations face staffing challenges. Though telemedicine and other technologies are assisting the sector to provide real-time healthcare services to people irrespective of geographical distance, much of the work done is still required to diagnose patients who live in remote places.
Advanced infrastructure for live streaming and video calling can remain helpful for the organization but then the implementation cost remains high. As a result, many healthcare companies have to deal with the lack of infrastructure and staffing problems.
Innovative approach
The innovative approach can work wonders in the enterprise sector. But then, it can bring disruption in the processes. It remains a big challenge for the healthcare sector. Regulatory changes, personalized medicine, consumerism, and other innovative technologies can pose a great challenge for the healthcare sector. Another challenge for healthcare service providers is the emergence of new and inexperienced players who want to grow with the help of advancing technology.
Existing and established healthcare organizations have to address these challenges over the period to remain competitive and maintain the quality of their services while complying with the prevalent standards.
Wrapping Up
A reputed mobile app development company can help your healthcare company get rid of IT challenges through advanced and customized app solutions. Apart from providing real-time services using fingertips, you can serve your patients with better care and efficiency with the help of a customized healthcare app.
