Development of Web-Based Patient Management System
Growing technology has percolated to all industry sectors resulting in rapid transformations. Needless to say, with tremendous pressure from the new realities, healthcare is no exception to this explosive development. Thereby quality healthcare has emerged as a critical aspect of patient satisfaction in hospitals. Increasing costs, shortage of qualified and well-trained staff, limited access to medical services, hindrance in real-time information retrieval and integrity of patient's personal data are some challenging barriers to operations management in healthcare.
Healthcare consulting companies are therefore required to deliver high quality and cost effective patient care with minimal medical errors, optimal resource utilization and decreased hospital expenses with ability for continuous monitoring .This calls for the development of a Web-Based Patient Management System (PMS).
Web-Based PMS is essentially a series of integrated automated systems that work in conjunction on the web for tracking patient information, diagnosis, treatment, follow-ups, prevention and so on. PMS has interactions and encounters within healthcare organizations (clinics or hospitals) and also with medical devices for information storage and retrieval. It may include generic software for patient management or incorporate customized ones for addressing specific processes like as inpatient tracking or blood testing.
Features
- Does safe management of patient records including retrieval, updation, archival, graphic flow sheets and alert mechanisms
- Does appointment scheduling including bookings, reminders, cancellations, rescheduling, reserving medical equipment, appointment history and self-service portals
- Manages outpatient patient encounters including check-ins, waiting time, availability of exam rooms, follow-ups, medication compliance, diet schedules, check-outs
- Manages inpatient encounters including registrations, admissions, bed occupancy, monitoring vital signs, medications, emergency responses, surgery scheduling, laboratory flows and discharges
Benefits
- Minimization of administrative expenses without compromise on efficiency by automation and standardization
- Streamlines medical billing processes, insurance coverage verification, tracking claim status and facilities online payments
- Provides instant access and reliable updating methods to patient information
- Eliminates treatment errors resulting from manual data
- Promotes a cleaner environment by eliminating cumbersome paper work
- Provides a secure mechanism for information storage and retrieval with strict compliance of privacy regulations.
- Increases profit by expanding customer base through quality care and enhanced satisfaction
Ways to Increase Patient Satisfaction
- Ensure that continuous contact is maintained with the patient even when they are away from computers by using web enabled mobile applications for booking ,rescheduling and cancelling appointments and monitoring health
- Incorporate the patient’s personal preferences including choice of physicians, hospitals and timings based on availability so as to 'empower ' them
- Enable ‘anytime anywhere’ access to patient information between concerned labs, physicians, hospitals and patients themselves
- Provide post-operative care to patients at the comfort of their homes by communicating precautionary measures, reminders for medication and preventive healthcare, interactive symptoms and vital sign trackers. Hence patients recover through the 'touch' way and incur less hospital expenses.
- Support patients with chronic diseases by helping them with suggestions for managing symptoms in emergency conditions by triggering the panic button as in case of hypoglycaemia
- Deliver the latest developments in medicine including research findings, new medications, adverse side effects if any
- Send periodic reminders to chronic disease patients on routine checks ups. Subsequently, deliver the real-time results to physicians in case it falls below defined threshold values for detecting abnormal conditions.
- Promote a collaborative environment between provider and patients to reduce medical errors, hospital stays and clinical visits.
With the rapid growth and adoption of web and mobile technology, it is inevitable for developing and using Web-Based PMS for efficient patient engagement. Undoubtedly, this ensures better health and lifestyle management to all patients without insistence on face to face appointments and opens untapped avenues for all health care providers!