The adoption of advanced cloud computing, big data, and mobility has significantly enhanced the way of working in healthcare industries. Generally, operating a healthcare sector is expensive. People behind such sectors are highly responsible for their staff’s & patients’ well-being. They are always in search of ways to boost operational efficiency and productivity without spending a bulk amount. SaaS-based solutions help healthcare sectors to improve their services economically.

The development of a SaaS solution for healthcare depends on the target audience and business type. Saas for healthcare has some major functional aspects such as healthcare management, user experience, compliance & data security. Continue reading to know the prospects of healthcare SaaS solutions.

Importance of SaaS in healthcare

On-premise software applications come with huge costs and longer implementation times. Whereas, SaaS is a ready-made solution that can be easily deployed at a lower cost. Additionally, instead of maintaining & upgrading software, you can simply access it and also eliminate the necessity for complex software with SaaS. Here are some reasons behind the gained popularity of software as a service in healthcare industries.

  1. Cost-effectiveness

Technologies used in healthcare industries are highly expensive as they deal with a number of sensitive features. Moreover, these industries never compromise on advanced features just for saving their pocket. However, SaaS is a very economical solution by which healthcare industries don’t have to pay for

  • Configuration costs
  • Upgradation costs
  • Maintenance costs
  • Unwanted expenses

SaaS can be modified easily, which makes it a great choice for healthcare where data is important & eliminating any unexpected incident or event is crucial.

  1. Security

SaaS allows healthcare industries to access several security features to secure valuable data and information effectively. Technically, SaaS minimizes the risk of confidential medical records by accurately syncing sensitive information in a single place. Moreover, hybrid cloud-based systems also help to exchange personal health info between Amazon Web Services and the on-premises private cloud.

  1. Scalability & flexibility

One of the major objectives of every healthcare industry is to deliver superior quality services that meet their patient’s needs. With SaaS, these industries don’t think about scalability and flexibility as they can easily scale their applications depending on the business needs. The flexibility in SaaS also helps to configure applications for several population sizes as well as geographies

  1. Accessibility

SaaS is compatible with multiple devices & platforms. This effective accessibility helps authorized users or healthcare professionals to properly access information or data from anywhere. This ensures that every patient gets good quality care every time. Moreover, accessibility in SaaS allows doctors to consult with others regarding their patient’s reports from remote areas.

Upcoming healthcare SaaS trends

With the increasing worldwide health awareness, today’s healthcare industries start adapting new technologies to fulfill all needs of their users. With SaaS, healthcare institutions are preparing to enhance operational efficiency & productivity. Here are some upcoming SaaS trends in healthcare.

  1. Artificial Intelligence: No doubt, AI is the future of today’s healthcare sector. In these industries, Artificial Intelligence is used for risk management & revamping existing processes. SaaS using AI offers great value to healthcare organizations and it also optimizes internal healthcare processes, automates repetitive tasks, and improves productivity. With several machine learning algorithms, AI also helps healthcare sectors to identify information patterns & offer quality patient care. Artificial Intelligence will enhance healthcare SaaS in the following ways:
  • Integrating voice assistants to detect speech patterns of humans. It will make SaaS applications more customized
  • Improving security as AI can find trends, which will allow the sector to discover any threats to patient data
  • Automating the entire process with the application of machine learning
  • Improving the responses by maximizing the internal process speed
  • Getting insights into more data & finding answers efficiently
  1. Vertical SaaS: Vertical SaaS usually refers to fully customized and all-in-one software solutions for specific industries. As it is highly customizable, Vertical SaaS offers business intelligence & tends to be very preferable & economical in comparison to horizontal SaaS. Vertical SaaS helps healthcare industries in the following ways:
  • Healthcare sectors can easily integrate business intelligence and analytics with vertical SaaS
  • Helps to incorporate KPIs (key performance indicators) for assessing long-term performances
  • Allows organizations to access patient info & get healthcare-specific intelligence to know patient insights
  • Ensures that the software application meets all industry standards which offer high business value
  • As it’s customizable, it helps healthcare sectors to deliver top-notch healthcare solutions to the patients
  1. Pay-per-use model: Technically, healthcare SaaS functions as a unique subscription model. This means users have to pay only a fixed amount per month or year. However, the pay-per-use or PPU model brings a new option for today’s organizations looking for temporary services. It’s a very preferred choice for new healthcare sectors or startups as they do not have to pay enough subscription fees monthly or yearly.

What do SaaS healthcare companies do?

The entire market of healthcare cloud computing is already expected to reach approx $65 billion in the upcoming years. The secret behind gaining popularity in the healthcare SaaS market is the strong objective of healthcare sectors to boost healthcare quality by adopting advanced technologies without big investments.

Today’s SaaS healthcare companies usually offer cloud-based business management solutions that enable businesses to manage appointments, classes, client information, inventory, online bookings, payroll, and more. Some companies also offer regulatory management, clinical management, quality management, and more through SaaS applications.

How to make a SaaS application for healthcare?

Making a SaaS application for healthcare needs a number of things such as proper planning, effort, resources, etc. For your convenience, we have properly described a few steps that you can follow to develop a SaaS healthcare application. Let’s get started.

  1. Planning & research: No doubt, planning is always the first and crucial step of any application development process. It helps to determine all your project requirements accurately. Proper planning helps to address the problems you’re facing & understand what you’re expecting from the SaaS solution. Moreover, through planning, you can find out your target audience which will finalize the architectural requirements & features of your SaaS application precisely.

In addition, you have to conduct strong research before making SaaS software. It encompasses figuring out the current trends, your competitors, and essential requirements. Apart from planning, your SaaS application development is incomplete without the following three elements:

  • Market research
  • Competitor research
  • Consumer research
  1. Software documentation & wireframing: In this step, you need to gather all software-related documents before moving forward with the development procedure. Proper documentation usually includes the project scope, user requirements, HIPAA contracts, etc. Moreover, precise software documentation is important for ensuring that you offer an adequate MVP. This is because vague specifications or unorganized documents may impact your MVP negatively. During documentation, you can focus on the following things
  • Clinical support services
  • Patient info management
  • Admission scheduling or appointments

Moreover, wireframing allows you to determine the UX/UX element layout of your SaaS software. Without complex manipulations, wireframes help to make certain changes. In short, wireframing also helps you to modify UI elements & change their layouts.

  1. SaaS MVP: SaaS MVP (minimum viable product) only includes the core application features for performing at the basic level. It works like an initial product to check the desired outcomes. SaaS MVP is important to make the right direction for further development. Here are some key benefits of a minimum viable product:
  • Demonstrates the perks of the products
  • Offers value to engage your potential target audience
  • Makes a feedback loop to gather valuable data for improving the next version

Developing SaaS MVP is a risk-proof investment that helps you to understand what your target audience wants from your application. So, you can start further improvement to achieve their needs.

  1. Development: Developing Saas for healthcare is a vast process. It requires proper tech skills & proven experience as it deals with highly sensitive data. The best thing is to hire a reputable SaaS healthcare company that will take the responsibility to develop a feature-rich and robust SaaS application. During the development phase, the developers focus on the following security measures:
  • Authentication
  • Access control
  • Data encryption
  • Data back-ups
  1. SaaS maintenance: The final step after SaaS software development is deployment & maintenance. However, before the SaaS software is deployed, you need to ensure that:
  • The software has undergone several testing processes
  • The final product quality has been verified

A healthcare SaaS application is mainly developed for a huge number of people. So, the infrastructure and features of the application should be maintained properly. Proper maintenance determines the exact performance of the application.

Final words

SaaS in the healthcare industry has made huge progress over the last few years. It plays a significant role in evolving the digital transformation in this sector. If you would like to enhance patient care outcomes, reduce expenses, & improve your entire business operation, the SaaS software solution is a must-have. No doubt, Saas for healthcare will give you a transformative experience. For more information and assistance, contact Sphinx Solutions today.