In today’s fast-paced and technology-driven landscape, life sciences and healthcare organizations and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) often prefer outsourcing the technology side to accelerate product development and reduce costs. The healthcare industry seeks to leverage software solutions to enhance patient care quality in line with changing expectations, streamline operations, and seek innovation in cost-beneficial ways. However, when outsourcing product engineering for healthcare IT, the importance of command over the domain cannot be overstated. Healthcare as a domain can be complex, with demands from several fronts, such as tech innovation, compliance, dependence on other stakeholders, interoperability, and more. Digital Transformation is not an easy task in the domain, and signing on a product engineering partner that finds itself out of depth is the last thing one needs – on top of many pressing matters. In this blog post, we will discuss the significance of domain expertise and explore how it can meaningfully contribute to successful outsourcing initiatives in the healthcare industry.
The Different Moving Parts of the Healthcare Landscape
Complex Regulatory Climate
The healthcare domain functions under the regulatory microscope of complex requirements and unique challenges. It involves working with sensitive data and privacy restrictions. Because of the vast size and scope of healthcare in the US economy (and consequently, the federal budget and labor market), healthcare remains at the top of the mind for regulators now and in the future. Under different subsequent administrations, a shift in regulatory pre-eminence has been observed. Payment, financing, and care innovations are underway and will remain a priority.
Pressure from Emerging Care Models
Further, industry stakeholders face intense pressures to justify the cost vs. value as new models of care emerge and information on care quality and cost become more readily available to consumers at all levels – individual, employer, and government. As such, traditional fee-for-service reimbursement models face growing opposition, with alternative payment models seeing increasing adoption.
Integration Needs
Healthcare software must integrate with other existing systems like medical devices, payments, billing platforms, and Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and perform meaningful data exchanges. There are unique technical and interoperability requirements that a new piece of software should be able to comply with before it is functional and reliable for enterprise use. Such interoperability and integration should not come at the cost of either security or performance.
Data Analytics for Insights
Healthcare as an industry works with tons of data drawn from various sources like medical records, medical device data, historical health information, demographics, other software, and more. Organizations are increasingly leveraging big data and harnessing actionable insights from them to predict the occurrence of a health event and improve resource allocation, device performance, etc. For instance, predictive AI-based models are increasingly deployed for early detection and prevention. Further, medical devices are being optimized for better performance based on data-driven insights. An organization that does not have prior exposure to such diverse data and their relationships with each other will struggle to extract any real insights.
Scalability and Futureproofing
Given the industry’s dynamic nature, healthcare software needs to be built to anticipate future needs. Technology can change, and so can regulation. Healthcare regulation often gets a bad rep for being bureaucratic and change-averse, but as a response to COVID-19, regulators moved swiftly and relaxed rules around telehealth services. Therefore, there is a need for a forward-looking, flexible approach.
How Domain Knowledge Unlocks Value in Healthcare IT Product Engineering
With the above in mind, domain-specific knowledge is indispensable and often the top-most-quality providers and vendors seek when scouting for potential technology partners. A sense of comfort with the domain entails more than just understanding medical terminology, clinical workflows, compliance, interoperability, and security protocols. But it also means that the technology partner understands how the different moving parts of the industry work together seamlessly to bring value to the end consumer in cost-effective ways. Equipped with an intricate understanding of the industry’s functioning, tech partners can develop intuitive, user-friendly, and easy-to-navigate software solutions. Domain Knowledge allows product engineers to test the product in realistic test scenarios. These simulate real-world healthcare settings.
The perfect partner should not rely upon extensive Knowledge Transfer (KT) from providers/vendors to get a head start on a project they are collaborating on. Such an exercise often results in holding back internal teams and placing additional demands on their time and efforts, in addition to Business-As-Usual (BAU) action items in their areas of core competencies. Instead, the partner should be able to bring their unique experience, perspective, and value to the table. The ideal partner should require little to no handholding. When a partner has the requisite domain knowledge, they can tailor-fit their product engineering practices and contribute to developing a superior product.
How to Select a Product Engineering Partner with Healthcare Domain Expertise?
Given that healthcare is an industry that is subject to strict regulatory supervision and is hence difficult to enter, how does a technology partner acquire domain knowledge? How do you ensure that the partner you fancy has the domain expertise? There are many ways of ensuring this. Several full-service companies that work across various industries may not fit the context within which healthcare operates. Healthcare is a highly specialized industry, and tech partners, too, should come equipped with the proper domain exposure. The ideal partner has niched down suitably. Their client list should include many ISVs, Payment Solution Providers, Clearing Houses, and Medical Device Manufacturers. It is essential to get ‘social proof’ that boosts the credibility of the tech partner.
Why HealthAsyst: 24 years of Domain Expertise & Product Engineering Prowess
At HealthAsyst, we have worked with players representing all healthcare industry stakeholders – from vendors to providers, payment platforms, and more. We have perfected our mature, in-house Product Engineering practices using our hard-earned knowledge and expertise. As a testament to that, HealthAsyst has developed its proprietary SaaS product – CheckinAsyst – a platform for Patient Engagement integrated with well-known EHRs and used in several US practices.
To ramp up quick support for your product engineering needs, do not hesitate to contact us at itservices@healthasyst.com.