MocDoc's Offerings
Lab Management System
Hopsital Management System

Why use an integrated hospital management system?  

Published By Rithika S
 2021030815:40:30
Category HMS

What is an integrated hospital management system? How could it help the hospitals? 





There are multiple departments in hospitals that carry out numerous activities daily. There is a lot of communication that takes place and information to share between departments which are crucial and need to be stored in a system with a good user interface. Hospitals use heterogeneous management systems like appointment scheduling software, telemedicine software, diagnostic software, EHR software, billing software, and more. It's a tedious task to maintain all this software and make a single report from various collections. Now, this requires a huge team! But what if a single management system could replace these heterogeneous systems efficiently?

An integrated hospital management system is one such system. Like any other hospital management system, it does not just store information but also connects all the departments under a single interface. It supports the various departments of a hospital such as a laboratory, clinic, and pharmacy in a single interface, making it easy for the departments to interact and share patient information. 

Interoperability is the constant chain in any hospital as on average, a patient visiting a hospital engages at least with two departments. Well, taking the chain of interoperability digital with an integrated hospital management system will help the hospital attain efficiency in its core aspects. Here are a few points on how this helps the patients and the hospital.

  • Patients part:

    1. Appointment: Make appointment booking hassle-free by letting your patients book appointments online via the website/mobile app.
    2. On the dot: Share electronic patient records with departments or patients themselves in no time.
    3. Reduce no-shows: Send SMS or email reminders to your patients, reminding them of their upcoming appointments.
    4. Personalized: Send health tips or diet plans to your patients based on their health conditions.


    Hospitals part:

    1.  One for all: An integrated hospital management system will eradicate the need for different systems as it combines all the department modules.
    2.  Performance Report: Generate weekly, monthly, or yearly performance reports of the hospital in a snap of fingers (No! You don't need a team to do this.)
    3.  Reference: Makes it easy to manage and estimate referral payments to clinics and outsourced laboratory tests.
    4. Marketing: Conduct medical camps remotely with the help of offline camp management modules and let your patients know through email.

      Thus, integration is crucial between all the departments of the hospital owing to interoperability. Integration between the departments will take their communication on a digital pathway, making the hospital's workflow seamless and easy. Here are the various areas of integration regarding a hospital.

      Hospital-Laboratory: Have you ever had a phase where the laboratory used different software from that of the hospital? If yes, then you must know how time-consuming each process with the laboratory could get. However, an integrated hospital management system will allow you to share patient health records and required tests with the laboratory. Likewise, the laboratory can send you the patient's electronic test results in no time. This eliminates paperwork and other possible manual work.

      Hospital-Pharmacy: How different is a hospital’s pharmacy from a standalone pharmacy? A pharmacy integrated with a hospital can get patients' e-prescriptions from doctors and provide timely medications to the in-patients. Further, the pharmacy can even take care of the supplements that are to be provided to the OT department. This integration allows the doctor to know about the availability of medicine in the pharmacy or its alternative before prescribing it to the patients.

      Hospital-Clinic: Well, parent hospitals do have multi-location clinics, and these clinics can be integrated with the hospital in a single interface, cases that need prior attention are often shifted to the hospital and this lets the hospital learn about the patient's history quickly through the health records. An integrated hospital management system allows the hospital to overlook the functioning of its multi-location clinics by just switching between the identities of the organization.

      Centralized Data vs Distributed Data: (Point of discussion)
      Centralized Data or Distributed Data, you have got data to handle. Data needs to be taken care of efficiently for the smooth everyday functioning of the hospital. But which is the better way to do so? 

      When every department is integrated into a single software, the data is centralized. Thus a patient ID once created is just carried forward by every department, whereas in the dominance of heterogeneous software, a patient has to get themselves registered, with every department attended.

      Organizing data and generating revenue or performance reports is very easy when the data is centralized. Most of the integrated patient management systems have the feature of an analytic dashboard which lets the management create weekly, monthly, or yearly performance reports of the hospital. When the data is distributed, it takes a lot of time to collect and organize them. This process is quite a lengthy one and requires a huge team at work.

      Cost-wise advantage: Software has different types of pricing patterns, which may be budget-friendly or not. Like subscription-based, a percent of your revenue is based on the number of patients visiting. Having different software is going to charge you in different ways and might end up very expensive too. On the other side, when just a single piece of software is in use by all the departments, you are charged by a standard pattern. This gives you the advantage of forecasting the cost you might have to endure and if it's budget-friendly

      Patient Experience: Patient satisfaction is a goal that any hospital wishes to achieve. It is the key to the productivity of the hospital. Perhaps, it creates the goodwill of the hospital. But how can software keep you far from achieving this?

      Turnaround time: No hospital wishes to increase a patient's turnaround time, Neither do you. But this might be happening unintentionally by the use of different software by departments. For instance, A patient has to manually take all the health records to the laboratory and get themselves registered for a test. On receiving the test results, the patient will again have to take the results to the doctor, themself. This whole process is time-consuming for the patients, and such issues can be solved by using a single software.

      Technical Issues: Diving into a scenario where a hospital maintains a separate billing software. Owing to a few technical issues the software turned faulty, which caused chaos at the reception. Problems like these are Stressful for the patients and are more likely to affect the reputation of the hospital. Such scenarios could be avoided with a cloud-based Hospital Management System where the cloud has a backup cloud to ensure such nightmares don't come true.

      Flexible Meeting: With all the changes the recent time has brought, Telemedicine has become a need. Patients now prefer the telemedicine facility for smaller health issues so that long and discomfort travels can be avoided. Hospitals should adapt themselves to this method of patient appointment and make sure that their software supports telemedicine. This makes things easy for patients who are old or who reside far from the hospital. And also helps the hospital in obtaining patient satisfaction.

      Ease for doctors and workers inside the hospital:
      Integrating every department of the hospital will ease down a lot of work for the doctors and other workers of the hospital. 

      1. Generating analytical reports with the help of a dashboard.
      2. Reduce manual paperwork by sharing electronic health records.
      3. Effective marketing Via email and SMS.

        The right software will increase the efficiency and productivity of the hospital. Hope you found this blog on the Integrated Hospital management system insightful. 






        Request for HMS/LIMS free demo

        Related Articles

         

        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.

        Challenges while implementing ...

         Hospital Management System has been use.....  Read more



        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.

        How to Implement HMS Successfu...

        When compared to other industries, the healthcare .....  Read more


        When searching for software, almost everyone looks for free ones. If you simply type in the name of any random software, you’ll probably see a google autocomplete suggestion “free download”. In some cases, it does make a lot of sense in using free software. Why pay for something when you can get it for free? 

        Searches for downloading free EMR software have increased with government legislation mandating their use in hospitals. Let us look into why this is a bad idea.

        If you’re not paying for it, you’re the product

        As a general rule, nobody ever gives you something for free. As economists would say, “If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product”. In the case of most free software, this is the case. Recently it was found that most of the free antivirus apps in the Google Play store actually did nothing. Their purpose? Probably to collect data from your device. This may not affect an average person very much, but if you’re concerned about privacy, you should probably stay away from these software. And when you’re dealing with a hospital management software, this is a key aspect. Data security is a very important aspect especially when you handle patient data. A data leak, however small has the potential to damage the reputation of your hospital. 

        Lack of accountability

        A hospital management system has to have certain qualifications that assure you that a particular software can fit your needs. When you purchase a software, it is possible for you to verify if these software fit the criteria. But when you download a software for free, there is no way for you to be sure if these software fit the criteria. And since there is no monetary transaction between you and the software provider, it will be difficult to hold them accountable. 

        The lack of accountability will be an issue if the software faces any glitches. If the software crashes, customer support is not provided for the system, and you will be on your own. A software glitch in a free android app may be annoying, and will not cause any huge problems even if is not resolved. In case of a hospital, the software handles sensitive patient information and a software glitch can compromise this data, and with no tech support from the providers, it can cause a lot of problems. 

        Upgrades? Nope

        As government regulations change, and as the technology improves, you may face the need for a better software. If you’re relying on a free software for very important tasks, such as managing your hospital, you may find yourself stuck with an old software. Free software rarely provide any upgrades for long durations. And when you want an upgrade, you may find yourself searching for a new software, and you’ll have to import the existing data into the new software which will require additional resources. 

        The story of the open source software

        A commonly trusted free software are the open source software. Ubuntu is an example of an open source software. They are usually made by developers across the world, and their source code is available for free, and you’re free to change or modify the code as you wish. Since the source code is available for everyone, it is unlikely that the software can have malicious intents. And as long as the developers continue to improve the software, it will remain up to date with the required features. Open source software appears to offer a very good deal, and they do, in the case of most of the software. But in the case of a hospital management system, it is never a good idea to use an open source software. This is because of a combination of reasons discussed above. First of all, there are no hospital management software with the kind of community that a software like Ubuntu has. If you face any issues, you’re on your own. In the case of popular softwares, there may be forums in which users can discuss issues, and they may get resolved. But for a hospital management software, there are no such forums, and when you’re managing a hospital, you cannot afford to wait for a solution that may never come. And as we discussed, updates will be available for open source software only as long as the developers are working on the project.

        What about the free trials?

        If you have been looking for free HMS downloads, you may have come across many SaaS healthcare software companies offering lite or trial versions of their software for free, or maybe the complete version of their software, but for a limited time period. These software are generally secure and will be much more robust than software from other software providers. They may even offer regular updates. But remember that these trial versions are just for that. They will be severely limited in their capabilities, and you will definitely have to upgrade at some point. And the providers may not provide tech support if you’re using the free version. But they do provide an easy way to evaluate a software and if available, they serve as a demo for the complete version. 

        Lack of customization

        Generally across hospitals, or even across departments, there is no uniform workflow. Each department head has their own workflows, and this is the reason why hospital management systems are highly customized. However such customization is not at all possible in a hospital management system, and if implemented, could affect the functioning of the hospital and may prove to be counterproductive. 


        To know more about hospital management software, visit MocDoc Hospital Information System.

        Why you should never download ...

        When searching for software, almost everyone looks.....  Read more



        HMS (MocDoc HMS) otherwise known as HMIS (Hospital Management Information System) is a medical informatics solution element that mainly focuses on hospital administration requirements. The HMS is a web-based or computer application that takes care of the complete hospital functionalities. The integrated system can be customized and are developed to control all hospital operations like patient details, appointment booking, billing, drug management, Electronic Medical Record, administration, Patient medical history, inventory management, bed management, revenue management, and so on. 

        A Hospital Management System is essential and mandatory for healthcare establishments like nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, clinics, hospitals, health clinics, dispensaries, and more. Some of the top benefits of implementing an HMS are role-based access control, data accuracy, revenue management, appointment booking, overall cost reduction, and data security. 


        Benefits of Hospital Management System:

        Revenue management: 

        A medical center or hospital serves humanity. Apart from that, profit is more important as it is also considered to be a business.  Revenue management is one of the significant elements as it needs the fortune to manage a hospital. Also, it's not possible to track the identical thing with the help of the old-age manual system. An Automated HMS that caters to the needs of the business can help in solving the purpose efficiently. 

        It provides accurate and rapid management and transactional reports, which offer a clear view of how your business is performing. What are the debts and interests, pending invoices, and outstanding amounts?

        Apart from that, there is also a decrease in the operating cost because of actual operational effectiveness. When processes and systems are automated, there is no need for higher resources to manage the operations. It means the faster break-even point and improved ROI can be achieved easily.


        Enhanced decision-making in clinics:

        An accurate Hospital Management System ensures that decision-making in clinics is made precise, fast, and useful. With a single view and easy availability of data points, medical support staff and doctors are facilitated.


        Obtain the best quality ratings: 

        When your clinics or hospital needs to be the top-rated and top-preferred ones by insurance companies, then you must implement a Hospital Management system in your hospital. Insurance companies and medicare companies depend on digital data only when there is an automated system in the hospital.

        If your clinic is capable of sending and receiving the information of the patients, and their medical records digitally, then it means your hospital is going to be the highest preference among the patients. An accurate and rapid Hospital Management System stands out at the top among other nursing homes, medical centers, and other hospital competitors. It adds significant value to your hospital and also provides a reputation in the market. 


        Nullify every error and track complete details: 

        Managing a hospital is not easy, and there are chances for some mistakes to occur. A manual system can ensure 100% accurate processing and foolproof. There are higher chances for mistakes and errors in this case. To eradicate this, the best decision is to install an automated hospital management system that highly nullifies every mistake, and also you can avoid lawsuits and compliance issues, which are considered to be the two most significant drawbacks of hospitals and medical centers. 

        Apart from this, tracking the accurate details of staff availability, operational information, and room occupancy can also be readily available at your fingerprint by using the automated Hospital Information System. 


        Enhanced data security:

        The experts have reinforced and highlighted the fact that hospitals, medical centers, and clinics depend on manual systems. It can lead to higher data leakage and theft when compared to automated ones. Installing a complete and automated HMS indicates that your pieces of information stay safe and protected from any unauthorized sources and accesses. 

        Significantly, you make use of the state-of-the-art system with centralized controls. Make sure you are not implementing a standalone home-grown one. There are no chances for errors when an access-controlled system manages everything as the information availability relies on user rights. It's also one crucial reason why hospitals, rehabilitation centers, clinics, trauma centers, and nursing homes make use of the high-quality and automated Hospital Management System. 


        Bottom Line: 

        The Information Technology advancements in the last few years are high, and there is a revolutionary change, especially in the management and automation system of hospitals. They provide intelligent and accurate management information systems apart from handling the mundane operational staff that is developed by hospital information systems. 

        Hospital Management System offers a better-concerted atmosphere between doctors, patients, hospital staff, groups, and managing workflows. The portal solutions are capable of unifying the legal objects, and applications from other portals and also manage multitudes of user requests, which results in reckless information flow between patients, doctors, and staff. 

        Eager to know more benefits of implementing a Hospital Management System for your hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, or medical centers? Contact us today!

        What are the benefits of the h...

        HMS (MocDoc HMS) otherwise known as HMIS (Hospital.....  Read more