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.

Our present modern information system makes use of computers for the execution, each of them connected through an optimized network. Healthcare is the most critical aspect of our society, and many health care providers face challenges to offer practical and active services to patients.

Considering a multispeciality hospital, many people enter and exit the hospital in a day and maintaining their records safely is tedious. To reduce this type of burdens and to manage the financial, hospital administration and clinical aspects, Hospital management system came into existence.

Apart from that automating your hospital's processes and implementing them cannot be done too easily, you need an efficient hospital management system to take care of everything that is happening around the labs and hospitals.

If you are ready to implement or go with the hospital management system, make sure you follow these things before making it useful in your hospitals or labs.

• Processing Speed & Results

• Cost Effective

• Reduction in Errors

• Data Security & Retrieving Ability

• Improved Patient Care

• Quality & Compliance

Processing Speed and Results:

Hospital management system follows the standard operating procedures, and there are no chances for deviation to happen in any of the effective HMS systems. With the implementation of HMS in your labs or hospitals, you will be able to treat patients with a better way and accessing their real-time reports and other information regarding the patients, and their past clinical data and more can be done quickly and lead to best patient outcomes. Hospital management system makes employees work more accessible and improve the speed of the complete processes for better results.

Cost Effective:

HMS information system helps to track and control finances, reduce leakages as well as reduce manual work and therefore there is no requirement of the higher human workforce.

Hospital management system helps to cut down the manual work done by humans in the hospitals especially for the peoples who take care of the record and documentations safely. Hospital management system helps in reducing the human resources costs as most of the work is automated.

Cut down the cost related to storage and other associated requirements. If your hospital is entirely HMS implemented, then your hospital will go paper-free one, it's enough if you maintain the mandatory documents and other related ones in your hospital to comply with the regulation standards.

Reduction in Errors:

Hospital management system will help in reducing different types of errors that made through interventions like missing billing, operational failure, clinical errors, cost leakages, missing appointments and much more.

Every process on the hospital management system are automated, and there are plenty of tasks provided to the software to perform without the human intervention as well as accurately, this reduces the error significantly.

For example, An IPD patient final bill amount can be easily generated if your hospital enabled of Hospital management system as his reports and other samples bill are already billed and safe under the Patients unique Hospital ID, and therefore the billing executive needs to generate from the system and provide the statement to the patients.

If your hospital is not HMS enabled then you need to go with manual entries which involves too many human errors, so preferring HMS will make your billing section easier, faster, accurate and more transparent.

Data Security and Retrieving Ability:

In a Hospital management system, they are one of the cloud-based software where everything gets interlinked, and therefore there are no chances for breaches to occur as they have high data security.

Evidence-based medicine requires the retrieving ability as well as data ability mandatorily, and this easily achieved through a Hospital management system. If you have Hospital management system on your hospital, then you can easily access the operational, clinical and financial data of your hospitals.

Improved Patient Care:

Enhanced work efficiency and improved patient data access mean faster and better clinical decisions. A clinician orders the solution to implement once he gets the diagnostic report on his hand, so its necessary to have speedier support for receiving the reports rapidly. All departments in the hospitals are interconnected and integrated with this automation, and this enhances the patient care quality as well as the hospital turnovers.

Quality and Compliance:

Every hospital should send a report of birth, and death occurred, their reasons and related solutions to the NABH accreditation monthly. Its difficult to arrange them manually so preferring the best HMS helps you to send the reports faster and at the right time frame.

Every report is monitored and managed in the Hospital Management System carefully and efficiently for accurate results.

Everyone prefers HMS for their hospitals for coordinated and rapid care, reduced costs, reduced waiting time and readmission, enhanced patient safety, and clinical care.

Any other essential benefits of implementing a hospital management system in your clinics? Let us know through the comment section below.

To know more visit MocDoc - Healthcare

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!