Aravind Kejriwal recently directed the health officials in Delhi to develop a hospital management system of global standards. While hospital management systems have been in use for a while, there are currently no rules or regulations that lay down the standards for them in India. In the US electronic health records are regulated by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA Act). 

In India, even though only the IT Act of 2000 applies for electronic health records, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare have recognized the need for electronic health records and periodically issues standards for them, for the purpose of promoting interoperability, technical innovation, participation by vendors and other stakeholders, and to support the evolution and timely maintenance of adopted standards. 

Besides these guidelines, some other key features also play a key role in making a hospital management system best suited for the Indian healthcare sector. Let’s see what the specific requirements for a hospital management system in India are. 

Aadhar as an identifying document. 

According to the recommendations by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the electronic health record of a patient must have the provision to include the UIDAI Aadhar number as the preferred identifier. In case Aadhar information is unavailable, the ministry recommends the use of a local identifier (as per the scheme of the healthcare service provider) and a photo ID issued by the Central or State government. The system should have a provision to accept a minimum of two IDs when an Aadhar ID is not available. In the case of unidentified patients, a local identifier may be used and confirmed identifiers inserted later when available. The government recently opened doors for integrating Aadhar with any software, but the software needs to meet certain criteria. While the recommendations are not implemented on a mandatory basis, it may become so in the future and therefore it is better to get software that follows them.

Support for GST

The Government of India recently passed the Goods and Services Act(GST) and many healthcare services come under its ambit. One of the important and commonly used aspects of hospital management software is billing. There is software that carries out the sole purpose of billing, while most hospital database management systems come integrated with it. With the implementation of GST, along with other service providers, healthcare providers such as hospitals and clinics are required to comply with the norms of GST. So it is important that hospital management software is able to handle the billing according to GST norms, and integrated with GST filing software. 

NABH accreditation

Formed in 2005, the National Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers is part of the Quality Council of India and is the principal accreditation for hospitals in India. NABH accreditation is becoming more and more important with the rise in medical tourism and patient awareness about their rights. Unlike ISO certification, NABH accreditation is specific to the healthcare industry and focuses on competency in terms of staff, equipment, premises, etc. For NABH accreditation of a hospital, the information management system of the hospital should meet the necessary criteria. This includes that the records of every patient are complete and accurate. It is necessary that the policy measures are in place to ensure data integrity, confidentiality and security.  A hospital management system plays a crucial role in this. An HMS that can safely manage the patient data in a safe and secure manner, and keep it updated in a timely manner can make this process much easier. The HMS must assure data redundancy and integrity and should be secure against data loss or theft, for the hospital to easily achieve NABH accreditation. The HMS system must be capable of generating the data points that must be submitted for NABH accreditation. 

Sending info to local government

Hospitals have to send certain information, such as birth rates and death rates, to the government periodically. This is required for keeping track of the population and related statistics. Sometimes during a disease outbreak, government health officials will need accurate data regarding the affected individuals to tackle the issue effectively. One of the primary functions of a hospital management system is the effective management of data. It should be capable of storing, retrieving and updating the information easily. With a system that can easily sort through the relevant data, the required data can be collected and sent to health officials easily and in a timely manner. Without an effective system, the hospital staff will have to manually go through a mountain of data, wasting time and resources. 

For more info, visit MocDoc Healthcare Solution.




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Inspiring patients to reach your hospital is not easy. It is significant to raise your patient base if you think you have to bring justice to all the pennies you have invested in your hospital. Effectively marketing your hospital can help you to bring much profit. You need to make sure that the marketing you do for your hospital should not be controlled by sales support or brand building. The important thing is that you need to make a positive connection with the terms of your patients.

Hospital Marketing has seen a tremendous change over the past few years, and some medical facilities are making use of hotel-like comforts to pamper and attract potential patients. In this blog, we will deal with the useful tips you can follow for marketing your hospital. 


Create a responsive website: 

The most important thing every patient does while choosing a hospital is that they go entirely through the website unless and until your hospital is located nearby to their location. Significantly, you make a responsive website with useful health information rather than build a website that displays information about your team or hospital. It would be good if you listed healthcare information so that patients themselves can take care of their families and themselves during an urgency. 


Make use of SEO: 

9 out of 10 people look for affordable or best hospitals online and know about the hospital, the doctor's availability, and other related information before merely visiting it. If you need to get listed while you search for the best healthcare clinic or practices, you need to make sure to use the power of SEO. The content editor and web developer focus on the effective keywords for your hospital to be listed at the top of the search engine results. You can hire an experienced SEO consultant and make the process more productive, more comfortable, and affordable. 


Ensure your patients say Wow on your healthcare:

Branding is not just what you say about yourself to your customers. It's something that the patient or people say about you and your healthcare. Improve patient care, and make sure they keep your healthcare and treatment in mind for a long time. Ensure to provide them with attention and care so that they will speak for you and recommend you to their friends and family members too. Word of Mouth is the crucial thing you need to focus on. 


Showcase your positives:

Show up your excellent work through videos, patient stories, testimonials, etc. on LCDs in your hospital waiting for areas so that people and patients visiting your website or hospital will come to know about you. Also, don't forget to post on social media, and talk about breakthrough treatments in conferences, public forums, and interviews. 


Use Social Media effectively:

Social Media is one of the essential ways through which you can make everything possible. Social media websites like Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, Linkedin, and Pinterest, can effectively improve the number of patients visiting your hospital as well as those is the best place where you can create brand awareness by choosing the targeted audiences and attracting them to visit your clinic. 


Utilize Internal Marketing too:

Every employee in your hospital is the spokesperson. Grab your HR head to make use of it, create the experience of the employees at your clinics, and make them say positive things about the hospital. 


Shoot Emails:

Emails are an efficient and powerful thing when it comes to marketing. Make sure your company's IT team maintains the email list of subscribers and shares relevant and positive information emails regarding the illness of the patient. It indicates that you have proper care for your patients even after they leave your hospital. Maintaining a good and effective relationship and communication with high-value, helpful, and useful information is key to developing a powerful hospital brand. 


Bottom Line: 

Show your society and patients in general that you have excellent care about their well-being and health. Also, show them you do not need them to go to a stage where they don't want to go to the hospital next time.


For More details Visit MocDoc Hospital Information System.

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A flexible and efficient Hospital Information Management System has a vital role in every hospital in the case of a health system. Healthcare professionals are adapting to the latest technology developments to keep their IT infrastructure high. HIS helps healthcare organizations to overcome any complicated challenges they face in the current healthcare industry. 

In this blog, let's check out what the Hospital Information System is and what other productive things your HIS should include, benefiting your hospital. 


What is a Hospital Information System?

HIS (Hospital Information System), otherwise termed a Clinical Information System, is an integrated and comprehensive information system developed to manage the financial, administrative, and clinical aspects of hospitals. Every hospital sticks with Hospital Management System software to manage their data related to hospital inventory and patient records efficiently. The hospital information system software helps in controlling the data in most healthcare departments, namely financial, inpatient, Operation Theater, nursing, radiology, clinical, laboratory, outpatient, materials, pharmaceutical, and pathology. 

 

Why do you need a Hospital Management System?

An efficient, cost-effective, and reliable system is needed, and they are considered to be any healthcare or hospital's backbone. One of them on the list is the hospital information system software. Let's check out the importance of the Hospital Management System below. 

 

●  Higher revenue management

●  Enhanced clinical decision making

●  The best way to make your hospital technically advanced

●  Enhanced data security

●  Eliminate errors and can monitor each detail instantly. 

●  Higher reputation through good quality ratings. 

●  An affordable option for every hospital. 

●  No chances of errors as HMS cut down the workforce. 

●  Increased retrieve-ability and data security

●  Enhanced efficiency and patient care.  

 

Hospital Information System Features:

The primary use of the Hospital Information Management System is to manage & take care of healthcare management. The Hospital information management system has brought up patients, hospital staff, nurses, and doctors to add all assets and information anywhere and anytime. The efficient and advanced hospital information management system has many great features, and below are some of them you have to look for while choosing a Hospital Information system software for your healthcare needs. 

 

Appointment:

For a patient to be on-boarded, hassle-free appointments are the first step they require. Appointment scheduling features help the patients book their appointments online from anywhere, which you can cut down the time and emergencies. 

Appointment Scheduling enables the patients to know the availability of radiologists, doctors, or other healthcare specialists. It means the patients can book their appointments online quickly based on the time they require to meet the doctor. This is open for both offline and online modes added with instant updates on the appointment scheduling process. 

The appointment feature enables the patient to have a family ID so that they can easily search for any appointment feature by simply selecting their family ID. There are different modes of payment support, and the amount can be paid through installment schemes. It helps to reduce redundancy. 

 

IP, OP, and OT all in one integrated:

Hospital Information Management System comes integrated with three critical features Inpatient, Outpatient, and Operation Theatre management. It includes MIS reports, asset management, ward and room management, nurse and doctor assigning, and more. Outpatient management deals with the management of every outpatient department's requirements. 

The outpatient appointment management makes sure that the workload is evenly distributed across different caregivers and doctors in the clinic. The benefit of appointment management is to encourage patient care through timely follow-ups, decrease unnecessary wait times, and enhance the relationship of the patient with the hospital. The hospital information management system supports various appointment creation through the call center, telephone, walk-ins, and online patient portals. The module is an innovative approach to help multiple doctors take care of their all-day outpatient management. 

Inpatient management services are to offer excellent quality care to patients who are in the vulnerable and acute stage of their ailment. The inpatient management module in the HIS takes care of module admissions, bed allocation and bed availability, discharge and transfer of patients, and more. The system records every medical doctor, physician, and other personnel involved in treating the patients, detailed reports of procedures provided to them, and other relevant things about them to remain traceable at any point in time. 

The hospital information system helps achieve economic efficiency and viability in the OT (Operating Theatre)/therapy management. The module helps to seek shorter documentation and operation when compared to the typical intervention results. MocDoc operational theatres management system helps decrease the administrative and organizational burden on every personnel like doctors, physicians, nurses, etc. in the OT.

 

Billing and Insurance:

The billing process involved charges like patient registration, doctor fees, tests conducted, and more. Before a patient gets discharged, the family should pay the bill in time. Here comes HIS, which plays an important role. It helps to make the process faster and error-free. The Hospital Information system software enables the staff to enter insurance discounts, service prices, and other additional charges. It is now matched with the particular treatment or service made to the patient. With the help of code, the costs are entered and also enabled the automated billing process. 

When it comes to insurance claims, the hospital information management system helps to make the process faster and easier. It makes use of unique billing codes for different procedures to ensure the process is moving in the correct way when the insurance is submitted to the respective insurance companies. HIS takes care of every process in insurance claims like insurance auto-detection, insurance templates, and tax calculation as per country, and more reliable.  

 

Laboratory integration:

Laboratory Integration in HIS will deal with sample collection, machine interfacing, and more. There are many apps like the phlebo app, runnr app, etc. to make the laboratory integration process more accessible. Laboratory management HMS module helps to broadcast and record the information about the performed tests. 

The lab management module in the Hospital Information System software handles custom reports, credit settlement, analytics, order management, smart notifications, detailed MIS reports, and apps. We tailor analysis and lab management solutions for your requirements that can upload reports, log reports, manage hospital blood banks, and write findings. 

The laboratory management module is integrated with the core HMS to take care of the workflow process for every patient of our hospital and record the information about the performed tests. 

 

Pharmacy integration:

The Hospital Information Management System Pharmacy Integration module takes care of stock management, inbuilt tax calculations, auto expiry alerts, barcodes, and more. The pharmacy management module in HMS helps to control different pharmacies. The pharmacy management module handles prescription integration, stock management, intelligent reports, stock moments, and more. A whole pharmacy can be managed through the HIS pharmacy management module. It can also be integrated with the central billing. Once the patients receive the medicines from the pharmacy, the charges will be transferred automatically to the patient's billing. 

 

Specialty based modules:

There are centralized reporting tools in the Hospital Information System for PACS, X-rays, Ultrasound, CT scans, and more. They are also compatible with other various imaging technologies to deliver the perfect results. Only authorized persons will be provided authentication to check the reports. Digital imaging includes a simple procedure in the form of organ diagnosis. Radiology, dental, oncology, IVF ART, and cardiology reports are easily understood by this technology. With the help of the patient code or family ID, the patient can log in to the feature and check their report status. From booking appointments for diagnosis to checking results, every process is made more accessible with this feature. 

 

Integrated interface and distinct user roles:

The Hospital Information system offers people privacy and data security. Implementing them will help to empower clear and smooth functionality. HIS is one of the cloud-based software, so there is no chance for breaches to occur as everything is interlinked with each other. It means the patient data is safe and can be accessed only by limited people with authentication. The data is stored on the cloud or server and, therefore, is completely secure. To know more about data privacy and security, you can check here.

 

About MocDoc Hospital Information System:  

Automate any processes, including financial auditing, regulatory compliance, scheduling, appointments, and billing with the MocDoc hospital management system. Enhance your healthcare service quality with our custom hospital information system software.  

MocDoc is a leading-edge, informative, and cost-effective hospital information system software that offers focused, actionable, and insightful data. We provide an all-in-one solution that can be customized and deployed for any healthcare institution or hospital, providing the right state-of-the-art services to the patients. MocDoc HMS enables seamless integration with any of your systems like LIS, PACS, EMR, RIS, CDSS, and more.

 

How are we unique? 

● Optimize, manage, and track personal and financial hospital resources

● No chance for duplicated patient files and data.

● Optimize different allocation of resources, namely beds, rooms, and doctors.

● Manage lab tests, and consultation of different specialties like cardiology, obstetrics, general & family physician, IVF, ENT, and more.

● Build actionable treatment plans with reminders and targets for patients, staff, and doctors to enhance adherence.

● Manage appointment time slots and timings by lab, clinic, and doctor.

● Access to your portal through our mobile apps.

 

As a whole, MocDoc Hospital Management System software will help you to streamline accurate reporting, enhance quality control, 24/7 customer support, budget-friendly pricing, enhanced time management, transparency, visibility, customer services, management visibility, and a single database management system. MocDoc always has its complete focus on customer satisfaction, and we consider them our priority and make sure to keep them satisfied with our services and products. 

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When compared to other industries, the healthcare sector is improving, with the help of advanced technologies like the Hospital Management System (HMS). The current medical care computerization is being hampered due to a lack of a perfect interface between computers and medical care providers.

The two main issues that are commonly faced during implementation of an HMS are as follows


1. HMS implementation begins but the users start facing issues by the end

This is generally due to the inflexibility of the HMS software, a weak administrative will, and an inexperienced team for implementation.


2. HMS implementation gets completed, but only a single part of the functionality gets implemented

This is due to non-user-friendly software or unplanned and unconfigured executions.


Pre-Implementation Assessment:

All hospital administrators who implement the HMS software in their hospitals will be apprehensive that the process may end in a partial or complete failure and measures should be taken early in order to prevent such an event from happening. The software should be well assessed before being purchased by the hospital.


Software Assessment:

Choosing the right kind of software is one of the crucial and primary steps for getting the best results.

Earlier, all HMS Software had a single development cycle starting with a single hospital being computerized by a local developer for a single hospital. However, this type of HMS development is outdated. In such cases, there is a risk of the vendor providing software that was customized for a different hospital. Implementing them may cause various issues, and it may cost more in the long run. It's better to purchase the software from a firm, that specializes in hospital management software than getting any software company to design software for your hospital.


It's better to choose software that is easy to upgrade, scalable, and not hardware intensive. Cloud-based online software is better than offline software in these aspects. The providers could also easily fix any errors or bugs in the case of online software.


Another aspect to be considered is to check if the customization of the software is done primarily through programming code or by using master tables during implementation. Hospitals may require some form of alteration to the purchased software, so as to better suit their needs, and in the case of master tables, such changes may easily be made by the hospital itself. In the case of online software, this may not matter much, as maintenance and support are provided by the software provider.


Vendor Assessment:

Only a few vendors of international or national repute can be trusted easily. A drawback with a large vendor is that they don’t always accommodate the requirements of small hospitals. In the case of small vendors, the hospital administrators may have to do thorough research to see if they are trustworthy.


An important aspect to be known is whether the current implementation team will be available during the entire implementation cycle. Checking the attrition rate of the software company, and discussions with other hospital administrators may give you an idea about this.


Visits to Hospitals with Hospital Management Systems:

A well-planned visit to hospitals where the software has been implemented will give you insights on the performance of the software, the support provided by the vendor, and if the vendor has achieved all the goals that were initially planned. To get a good picture, it's better to visit hospitals like your own, in terms of capacity, number of specialties, and number of departments, as well as hospitals that have implemented the software that you are considering. This will give you an idea, not only about the trustworthiness of the vendor but also about how well the software will be suited to your hospital.


Discussions with hospital administrators who have previously implemented the software in their hospitals will also give you good insights on the possible difficulties you may face during the implementation process, and on how to overcome them.


Getting your Hospital ready:

Problems may arise in HMS implementation, due to issues within the hospital. The lack of a systematic and uniform workflow within all the departments in the hospital may make the implementation process difficult. Information regarding the various equipment used, tests performed, schedules of doctors in different departments, etc must be readily available so that it can easily be imported into the system.


An important aspect is the cooperation of the various end-users, that is, the hospital employees. They have to provide enough awareness of the usefulness and importance of implementing the HMS software. The implementation may put additional stress on the employees until they get used to the system, and this may hamper the efforts of the hospital administration.


HMS implementation begins with a pre-implementation phase, in which software is chosen and the hospital prepares for the change, followed by the implementation phase and the post-implementation phase, in which the final kinks are ironed out. The whole process could be made smooth with a thorough pre-implementation phase.


Choosing software that is well suited to your hospital, having clearly defined workflows, and complete information about the working of the hospital will help you to easily implement the HMS in your hospital. Having a good team, and ensuring the cooperation of the hospital employees would help the hospital achieve its goals with the HMS.

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Hospital Management System has been used for decades. Most of the hospitals in India use HMS, but they face particular challenges in implementing it. Among them, technical and human challenges are the complicated factors while implementing HMS.

How can you face the challenges while implementing HMS?

The HMS system helps to manage every piece of information about the patients, like their personal data, comprehensive medical data, and previous medical histories, along with their diagnoses, treatments, investigations, and other medical decisions. Apart from that, HMS helps improve safety and quality and is one of the most affordable options available in the healthcare industry.

Despite their benefits, the healthcare industry faces many challenges. Implementation of HMS still fails in some hospitals due to barriers.

A few Challenging problems that you face while implementing HMS

Human Challenges

While considering human factors include

  • Awareness of HMS's advantages & importance.
  • In general, Experience and knowledge of using computer applications.
  • Impressions and Beliefs regarding HMS and making use of them efficiently.

The researchers in a study have identified three main human challenges that are a barrier to adopting the HMS in healthcare industries.

  • There is a shortage of professional healthcare faculty with in-depth knowledge of HMS and other similar technologies.
  • Poor acceptance of HMS Software.
  • Lack of health informatics professionals capable of establishing and implementing the techniques.

Another few significant problems for unsuccessful HMS implementation include.

  • Healthcare specialists nature,
  • the lack of time allowed for training and learning on making use of the HMS,
  • the lack of healthcare professional support, motivation, and more.

Many studies illustrate that HMS requires more effort, time, and work. There are high chance of HMS slowing down and causing a decrease in productivity.

Technical Challenges:

Other technical challenges that fail the implementation of HMS in the healthcare industry include:
  • Networks and computers have different maintenance problems.
  • Lack of standards for Data entry and retrieval.
  • Difficulties in training users technically to use HMS.

A few tips to overcome Human Challenges

Proceed below to check out a few things you can follow to overcome the human challenges that make HMS implementation tough.

All Medical education programs should include the significance of Hospital management system, its applications, and its advantages. One can improve the awareness of the advantages and benefits of using the HMS with a focused multi-phase approach on any topic. The system can be used from the starting level of healthcare industry schools, and colleges, then with the undergraduate degree, and through various aspects of postgraduate medical education.

Formal training while taking various levels of medical practice and education can improve the knowledge in using a Hospital management system correctly. Many types of research suggest HMS training and teaching needs to be developed and implemented as a subject or course of the postgraduate and undergraduate medical education programs.

Every health information management should include subjects of HMS short courses for medical education programs and healthcare professionals. These programs should be initiated by the health ministry and its formal channels for every healthcare specialist at any healthcare organization and hospital. Apart from that, developing and enhancing self-taught computer science courses in nursing education, medical schools, and postgraduate training is also essential.

It's a good idea to develop both postgraduate and undergraduate specialized programs in Health Information Management, Health Informatics, and Health Information Technology, which increases the number of health informatics specialists and technicians.

Overcoming the negative impressions of HMS's new and experienced staff can be neglected by developing HMS training programs and in-house hospital orientation programs.

You can make the healthcare professional participate and be involved in various stages of system implementation, development, and deployment to improve the healthcare specialists' support.

You can offer the healthcare professional overtime payment, direct and indirect incentives, rewards, bonuses, and more for the hospital departments and sections that implement HMS successfully in a healthcare organization.

Offering healthcare professionals enough time is convenient and suitable for them to learn and train on HMS.

Another good idea is to conduct different exciting training programs for healthcare professionals so that they know about HMS implementation in depth and gain a better understanding.

Here are a few tips to overcome the Technical Challenges

You need to ensure that the HMS commercial providers and vendors are offering the proper user manuals, documentation, troubleshooting, and guidelines for using HMS to the hospitals properly.

Ensuring the working conditions of computers and networks is critical for the software to work better and have fewer maintenance problems. Technical support and hardware maintenance are also significant.

You are upgrading your old communication networks and computers to new ones for enhanced performance.

Make sure you perform every analysis required in depth before the start of the design phase and the implementation phase.

Implementing newer innovations in both hardware and software is required to overcome data entry difficulties.

While considering the software innovations, the system needs to be designed to support structured data entry instead of unstructured one. In the case of hardware innovations, implementing hand-held devices, touch screens, and tablet PCs helps minimize the gap between the recording and data acquisition process and leads to easier accessibility.

Eliminating health information technology and management staff overload can be done by outsourcing a few electronic processing tasks, namely medical transcription of dictating the voice files.

Make sure about the system interface design, and check whether they are understandable and user-friendly.

Data standards usage is one of the crucial steps for source accuracy, quality, reliability, and validation of system data.

Make sure you increase the computer terminal numbers at the point of care.

The above tips will help you eliminate all challenges while implementing your Hospital information management system. Any queries or other information regarding the topics are welcome in the comments section.

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