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.




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Billing software is one of the essential software used in the healthcare industry. It is also called the medical practitioner's lifeline. Therefore, you must choose the right hospital billing software that offers a fantastic reporting system to manage the cash flow as well as the payment time speed.

The new hospital billing software helps to manage both insurance needs as well as patient payment reliably which is not included in other software.

Uses of Hospital Billing Software in HMS:

Each part of the Hospital Management System is integrated and automated effortlessly, and it also provides the opportunity to move forth and back from different data and reports.

  • There is no loss of bills and data.
  • Secure and safe reporting system.
  • There is a financial dashboard that tracks the practice's health efficiently.

The web-based practice management is used for managing and collecting the bill from any place efficiently, you can use and maintain this software in every area where it suits you best.

  • Automated Data backup is enabled.
  • You can view your daily schedule from anywhere.

You can easily understand the financial practice health of the practitioners, and the report makes it easy and efficient. The user features are used for deciding the right information to share.

  • The software offers Enabled visualizations in the form of figures and graphs.
  • You can track revenue, payer performance, and related ones.
  • You can easily customize and display them in the Excel format.
  • The software can deliver a report on a daily or monthly basis as per the requirements.

What are the Types of Billing in HMS?

Various departments use billing in the Hospital Management system to improve the billing facilities in the hospitals. Some of them include

  • Registration and Consulting Billing
  • Pharmacy Billing
  • Laboratory Billing
  • In-Patient Billing

Registration and consulting Billing:

  • Hospital billing software prebooks appointments for the patients they provided in advance for both follow-up patients as well as new patients.
  • Hospital billing software generates bills for the certified lab and radiology services.

Pharmacy Billing:

Our pharmacy billing software deals with providing the retail sales of medical supervision to OPD patients, and customers and also helps with the issue of medicines to the hospital inpatients. Our pharmacy billing software has the following features.

  • Able to offer an extensive collection of available drugs for clinicians.
  • Able to sort out the alternative drugs for the drugs that are not available.
  • The software aids in interfacing with a database of drugs.
  • Our software pops up the drug allergy alerts easily.
  • The billing software interfaced for dispatch along with the pneumatic tube.

Laboratory Billing Software:

The laboratory billing software helps to disseminate and record the information of the different performed tests. Here are some of the salient features of our laboratory billing software.

  • Test setup and do the services.
  • Excels different tests and diagnostic packages.
  • Offers the resulting process from the sample collection process, recheck process, and fetch from analyzer data.
  • The software does the recheck with the Sample Collections.
  • Our billing software offers the status update of the labs after a clear analysis.
  • The software works as per the NABL standards.
  • The software comes with a dashboard for TAT, authorization, progress works, tests, and parameters.

In-patient Billing Software:

The software takes care of the patients who are allocated in the ward bed after registration, and this deals with complete services and treatment offered to the patients while they stay in the hospital.

The features of our in-patient billing software include:

  • The software is capable of taking place the conversion from OP to IP.
  • The software takes care of the patients by allocating the beds, offers consultation for intern departments, tracks patients in the hospitals, and deals with bed transfers.
  • The software maintains the patient billing sheets.
  • The software comes with a dashboard for discharge summaries, patient access, billing audits, activities, and much more.

Track Profit and Loss Statements Easily:

The Hospital Management system products come with tally integrations, and therefore you can easily track and manage the expenses. The billing software in the Hospital Management system also monitors both the profit and loss statements so that you can quickly identify what lags in your Hospital information management.

Things to know about Hospital ...

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When you decide to implement a hospital management system in your hospital, the next step is to decide which system you want to use. Even though researching on the internet and going through the product catalogs of many software providers may tell you what to look for and what features are offered by different companies, it may not give you a complete picture. This is where an HMS product demonstration will be useful. Most companies provide free hospital management systems demos to prospective clients. A free demonstration of the software is an excellent way of knowing what exactly you will be getting when you finally purchase the software. It is like taking a test drive before you buy a car, and like a test drive, you need to know how to best know the software during the demo.


Understand your hospital

For getting a good hospital management software demo, the first step is to get a complete understanding of your hospital. Since you have already decided to get an HMS, you must have done most of your homework. But you need to know what features you will need when you implement the HMS. For HMS to achieve its full potential, the system should meet the requirements of all the users from the hospital administrator, to the lab technicians. To ensure this, discussions will have to be held with the users to get their input. The benefits of these discussions are two-fold. The requirements of different departments will be different and you will be able to know what everyone wants. The other benefit is that the employees of the hospital may have previous experience in using different kinds of HMS, and you will get a lot of insights into the advantages and drawbacks of different systems. And this information will come in handy while getting the demonstration.

Having a thorough understanding of the workflow is also very important. Usually, different department heads will have their ways of managing their departments. This is important both while getting a hospital software demo, as well as when you are implementing the system. Most HMS systems are customized around the workflow in a hospital, and company representatives will need to get a fair idea to provide you with a good solution. So it’s better to have all the answers ready when you’re getting the HMS demo. This will also help you when you implement an HMS system in your hospital


Online demo

Software providers sometimes provide demos on their websites, and this is a way for you to know the software before a face-to-face demo. You can use these online demos to learn the general features of the HMS system. Once you have gone through this demo, you will know what questions you have to ask the company representative. Online demos are free and the least time-consuming way to evaluate software, even though they may not be complete.


Questions you should ask

Once you have talked to other hospitals that have implemented  HMS or if you’re already using an HMS, you are probably aware of the general features all the HMS systems have. So before the demo, you need to keep in mind the problems at your hospital you’re trying to solve, and the features you’ll need to use this. The problems could be the ones faced by doctors or patients, such as difficulty in scheduling appointments, or they could be business problems, such as low returns or pilferage from the pharmacy.

A hospital management system demo usually takes around 45 minutes and starts with an introduction to the software company. After this, the company representative may ask you about the problems you are facing. Most companies are willing to customize their software for your needs, and you have to make the best use of this. Once you have explained the difficulties your hospital is facing, the representatives will probably explain some of the features they have that can solve these issues. During the demo, if you’re already aware of the general features, it is better to focus on these key features to make a good decision.  

There are no set rules on how a demo is conducted, so ask all the questions you have regarding the software. The point of getting a demo is not to make a decision then and there, but to understand all the features of the software. It’s also vital that all the stakeholders understand the software before making a decision, so have representatives from all the departments for the demo. Before deciding on a system, get demos from multiple companies, compare the software, and then decide. 


To learn more about HMS systems and get a demo, visit Mocdoc Hospital Information Management System

Hospital Management System Dem...

When you decide to implement a hospital management.....  Read more


Hospital Management System is used to take the data from the patients and then store it for later use. The main goal of the Hospital Management System is to accurately treat as well as decrease overtime pay. 

There are various features included in the HMS. Some of the system functions include Registration, Patient checks, Report generation, and more. In this blog, let's check out the functional and non-functional requirements of the Hospital Management System in depth.


Functional Requirements: 

There are a lot of software requirements specifications included in the functional requirements of the Hospital Management System, which contains various processes, namely Registration, Check, Report Generation, and Database.

 

Registration Process of SRS (Software Requirements Specification) 

● Adding Patients: The Hospital Management enables the staff at the front desk to include new patients in the system.

● Assigning an ID to the patients: The HMS enables the staff at the front desk to provide a unique ID for each patient and then add them to the record sheet of the patient. The patients can utilize the ID throughout their hospital stay. 


Check Out of SRS: 

● Deleting Patient ID: The staff in the administration section of the ward can delete the patient ID from the system when the patient checks out from the hospital.

● Adding to the beds available list: The Staff in the administration section of the ward can put the bed empty in the list of beds available.


Report Generation of SRS:

● Information of the Patient: The Hospital Management System generates a report on every patient regarding various information like the patient's name, Phone number, bed number, the doctor's name whom it assigns, ward name, and more.

● Availability of the Bed: The Hospital Management system also helps in generating reports on the availability of beds regarding information like bed numbers unoccupied or occupied, ward name, and more. 


Database of SRS: 

● Mandatory Patient Information: Every patient has some necessary data like phone number, first and last name, personal health number, postal code, country, address, city, 'patient's ID number, etc.

● Updating information of the Patient: The hospital management system enables users to update the information of the patient as described in the mandatory information included.


Non Functional Requirements 

There are a lot of software requirements specifications included in the non-functional requirements of the Hospital Management System, which contains various processes, namely Security, Performance, Maintainability, and Reliability.


Security:

● Patient Identification: The system needs the patient to recognize herself or himself using the phone.

● Logon ID: Any users who make use of the system need to hold a Logon ID and password.

● Modifications: Any modifications like insert, delete, update, etc. for the database can be synchronized quickly and executed only by the ward administrator.

● Front Desk Staff Rights: The staff at the front desk can view any data in the Hospital Management system, and add new patient records to the HMS but they don't have any rights to alter any data in it.

● Administrator rights: The administrator can view as well as alter any information in the Hospital Management Software.


Performance: 

● Response Time: The system provides acknowledgment in just one second once the 'patient's information is checked.

● Capacity: The system needs to support at least 1000 people at once.

● User-Interface: The user interface acknowledges within five seconds.

● Conformity: The system needs to ensure that the guidelines of the Microsoft accessibilities are followed.


Maintainability: 

● Back-Up: The system offers efficiency for data backup.

● Errors: The system will track every mistake as well as keep a log of it. 


Reliability: 

● Availability: The system is available all the time. 

Hope you got a clear idea of the functional and non-functional requirements and the features required by the hospital. Any other queries on the topic are welcome.

The Functional and Nonfunction...

Hospital Management System is used to take the dat.....  Read more


MocDoc HMS is happy to share that we recently received two recognitions from CompareCamp amongst an array of outstanding hospital management software solutions - the Rising Star of 2019 Award and the Great User Experience Award. The entire MocDoc team welcomes these accolades with pride and joy.

CompareCamp is an industry expert when it comes to providing SaaS reviews that dissect and compare software tools and features to enable users to make informed decisions when it comes to choosing the best software for their business.

The Great User Experience Award did not come as a surprise as our team deeply researched hospital management needs and tirelessly worked to create tools and features that dealt with improving core operations and streamlining administrative work and management.

We aimed to have MocDoc HMS make it easy for users to have robust, comprehensive, and reliable hospital management software that can take on all their daily needs and concerns day in and day out.

Providing a smooth workflow for automated in-patient and out-patient administration was our priority as these groups of tasks determine the level of efficiency and efficacy of hospitals. CompareCamp experts highlighted how intuitive the automation is with digital patient information sheets and dedicated portals where patients can conveniently schedule appointments online.

The intuitive automation, our advanced pharmacy management, and tools that allow for push notifications for laboratory results gained us more users. In turn, this duly garnered us the Rising Star of 2019 Award.

Knowing that our efforts are seen and that they truly bring more value to the lives of our users is more than enough for our team. The awards are but delightful bonuses. Trust that the entire MocDoc HMS team is empowered and will continue to deliver quality work to all.


MocDoc HMS Bag's 2 Awards from...

MocDoc HMS is happy to share that we recently rec.....  Read more