Managing a hospital can be daunting task at the very least. Sometimes, a nightmare. But you already know this if you own and / or operate a multi speciality hospital. Or even a non multi specialty hospital for that matter. A well designed hospital management system can reduce the onerous task of managing the hospital to a cake walk. Or say, almost a cakewalk.
So what is this system that we are talking about? And how does it take the wind out of the sails of a ship named complexity? In the simplest of terms, it is a software that blends the data from various departments / operational areas of the hospital such as doctors, patients, insurance, billing, staff, supplies / inventory, reports, laboratory, occupancy, tele-healthcare and the like.
And by integrating information on a single platform, it makes coordination easier, thereby simplifying the running of the hospital. But then, the system cannot deliver its chief promise of making professional activities easier unless it is designed to do so.
5 Tips to Supercharge Your Institution with Hospital Management System
A vibrant hospital management system takes into account the interest of primary stakeholders in the healthcare sector.
- Patients
- Doctors and other hospital staff
- Hospital administrators
Patients are, of course, the first and foremost stakeholders because unless a hospital delivers the best possible treatment to them, it cannot acquire a positive reputation. But for that to happen, doctors should be on the same page as that of other hospital staff as well as the administrators in the hospital. And this is precisely what the system does – bring all the relevant stakeholders on the same page through the integration of data.
Here are 5 tips to build a vibrant system that will supercharge your healthcare institution:
- Total Coverage: As mentioned earlier, the very purpose a system is to bring and maintain all stakeholders on the same page. Therefore, the system must include all the following elements for total coverage of activities in your healthcare institution:
- Registration
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
- Appointment Management
- Finance / Accounts Automation
- Inventory Administration
- Information Analysis and Reports
- Laboratory Management
More than that, the system must incorporate each level of these elements / divisions of the hospital.
- Cloud Based System: The cloud is here to stay and that is where you should be:
- The degree of connectivity and reliability offered by the cloud is simply unparalleled.
- Next, the cloud is certainly better at hosting scans, photos, images and other such pieces of information.
- Moreover, it offers unprecedented quality of raw information and data analysis while also providing incredible infrastructure for the virtual desktop and image sharing.
Many regard the cloud to be less secure than the traditional methods. That, however, is not the case. If you adhere to the guidelines prescribed by the popularly available security certificates and put standard encryptions in place, security is not a major issue. In fact, it is a non issue. It, therefore, does not come as a surprise that healthcare companies are rapidly switching to the cloud. Are you listening?
- Automation: These days, there is automation in everything. Or almost everything. Why? Because it speeds up the process and eliminates human errors while retaining or even improving the human intelligence ingrained in the manual process.
Through automation the doctor spends less time in creating, checking, and editing documents and more time treating the patient because All patient data is available at one location. With better data, doctors can:
- Better predict the amount of time required to be spent with each patient at every stage of the treatment. Forewarned certainly is forearmed, and the saved time transforms into a higher quality of treatment for a larger number of patients – definitely a win-win situation.
- Diagnose the patient condition with greater precision and deliver superior treatment. Patient satisfaction is going only one way – upwards.
Following areas of hospital activities can be automated:
- Forwarding received calls from patients.
- Informing them of visiting hours.
- Sending appointment confirmations and reminders.
- Completing patient information forms.
- Dispatching results of performed medical tests.
- Accounts Section: The cost of hospitalization can be considerable. Therefore, patients will be particular of the charges you impose and so you too must be particular. The account section of the system must be quick, accurate, and easy to use. The accounts section must:
- Create receipts that clearly mention the services and medications provided to the patient as well as their individual charges and applicable taxes.
- Incorporate insurance claims and settlements to arrive at the final amount.
- Clearly and completely be in sync with the existing laws and regulations related to the healthcare industry.
- Integrated with the store section so that hospital administration will know the exact value of inventory as well as of the ordered items.
- Consider any previous dues of the patients or the prepayments made by them.
- Monitoring Module: This module must take care of the administrative aspects such as:
- Ensure that patients can book an appointment based on the availability of the required number and type of rooms and / or equipment. In cast a patient cancels an appointment, the same must be immediately updated in the system.
- Allow doctors to monitor the progress of the patient even in the absence of the latter – such as frequency of medication, contrary indicators and the like.
- Create customized appointment durations and patient cards based respectively on the concerned doctor and the patient.
- Generate notifications for drugs that are nearing their expiry date so as to take the legally correct decision on them.
- Send appointment reminders to patients.
Conclusion
Above all, a hospital management system must be intuitive and easy to use. Access to specific classes of data must be based on the type and level of employees. Plus, it must be secure because you are collecting the patient’s confidential personal data. In a nutshell, operating the system must be a pleasurable experience.
Author Bio:
Ritu Kasana, currently working as a Media Coordinator with Techjockey.com. With more than three years of experience in SEO content and the latest optimization practices, I like to write on trending software and technology. I am a tech lover and always look for the latest industry trends to keep the readers updated.