Telemedicine in Healthcare Service Delivery
Telemedicine is not a replacement for all in-person care. It will remain the integral part of the healthcare ecosystem as convenience is a valuable factor in many scenarios.
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Background
Our client is a highly experienced healthcare professional with an illustrious career in emergency medicine. He is also the owner of two prominent urgent healthcare clinics in Virginia, where he has firsthand experience addressing the needs of patients seeking immediate medical attention.
Our journey towards transforming urgent healthcare through telemedicine app began when our client, based in Richmond, Virginia reached us with the requirement of developing Telemedicine app that could streamline and transform urgent healthcare delivery.
Challenge
What made this initial approach challenging was the absence of a clear project brief. Our client entrusted us with the task of conducting extensive research, creating wireframes and validating the viability of his vision.
Our client's dedication to his work often left him with little time to delve into the intricacies of software development. Our team was handed with a visionary yet high-level concept.
We knew that our client was relying on us to bring his vision to life. Metwaves had the unique opportunity to shape the future of urgent healthcare and to ensuring that our client's trust in us would not go unrewarded.
Streamline clinic operations by reducing wait times and optimizing appointment scheduling.
Healthcare providers can see more patients in a day, leading to increased efficiency and revenue.
Patient-centered care, allowing patients to access care on their terms, leading to higher patient satisfaction & loyalty.
Market Expansion by reaching a broader patient base, including those who may be located in remote areas.
Our Approach
To begin with, our Metwaves team comprising of business analyst and technical lead embarked on the journey of exploration, deeply studying the existing healthcare landscape, regulatory frameworks and emerging telemedicine trends. We also conducted in-depth interviews with our client and his team to gain valuable insights into the critical pain points of the current system.
We also discussed and noted down what were their expectations from the telemedicine app. Now we had the objective clarity and also certain metrics. These metrics were chosen to assess tracking various metrics to assess its impact on healthcare delivery, patient outcomes, and business objectives. Keeping below objectives in mind, our team started detailing the features and workflow of the telemedicine app.
1
Personas
Once our business analyst and technical lead defined the project objectives and scope, they began with building proto personas of the primary users, which were expected to use the telemedicine application more frequently than others.
Proto Personas created by team served as great starting point to conduct more-in depth user research,identifying initial assumptions about user needs and behaviors that need validation. These personas served us as the guide while designing user navigation flow and interfaces in the system.
2
Information Architecture
At this stage, we began with the information architecture of the application. Basically we wanted to create a structure that could help us translate our research into actionable insights and further guide the design process.
We scoped down inventory of all the content and functionality that the application will contain. This process helped us in identifying what information needs to be presented to users and how it should be structured.
3
Wireframing
Based on the IA, our team determined the key components, pages and screens that need to be represented in the wireframes. We chose low-fidelity wireframes as our primary concern was understanding and addressing user needs and workflows. Focus on the user experience and functionality, allowing designers to refine these aspects before delving into aesthetics.
4
Visual Design
Once wireframes were finalized and validated, our designing team took over the Visual Design They serve as a bridge between wireframes and the final product, offering a comprehensive visual overview
Proto User Personas
Information Architecture
Flow Diagrams
Flow Diagrams: Once we got the list of all the functions that will be available to the different users of the system. We picked each function and drew flow diagrams to clearly define what actions are performed at each step and who is responsible for each task. We were able to identify bottlenecks, redundant steps or inefficiencies n the system and make improvements. These flow diagrams were helpful in breaking down complex tasks into manageable steps. Plus it also helped our teams in 2 ways:
- Testers used these flow diagrams for creating test cases and scenarios. Testers can follow the flow to ensure that all functionalities work as intended, helping to achieve a high level of quality assurance.
- Onboarding and Training: Flow diagrams are helpful for onboarding new team members or users. They provide a visual guide to understand how the system works, making it easier for new users to get up to speed.
Wireframes
Contextual Considerations was an important activity that we carried out to understand how users will be interacting with the telemedicine application in different contexts, such as at home, on-the-go or in medical settings. We identified the most critical features and content that users need on tablets and mobile devices. And them focused on essential functionality to simplify the interface and reduce the clutter.
We conducted stakeholders reviews, walk thru wireframes meetings, page by page, explaining the layout, content placement, navigation, and key interactions. After the review session, our BA team incorporated relevant feedback into the wireframes, making necessary adjustments to address stakeholders' concerns or suggestions. Iterating based on user feedback to improve the design was the fundamental approach to meet user-friendly satisfaction and intuitive experience across various devices.
Development
Throughout the requirement analysis and design phases, our team worked closely with the client to ensure every aspect of his vision was meticulously understood and translated into a detailed plan. The collaborative effort in creating wireframes and visual design helped in visualizing the app's functionality and design. Our technical team then took over the development journey and innovation.
Achieving Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) complianceAccess to patient data in a telemedicine application is a critical aspect of ensuring patient privacy, security, and compliance with healthcare regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in the United States.
- HIPPA Training and awareness was conducted among all technical members to understand the regulations, the importance of data security, and the consequences of non-compliance.
- HIPAA-compliant policies and procedures were developed and documented for handling patient data. These policies addresses data access, storage, transmission, and disposal.
- Encryption implementation for data both at rest and in transit.
- Strict access controls were enforced to ensuring that only authorized personnel can access patient data.
- Secure Patient-Doctor communication (Video Calls and messages) to ensure communication is end-to-end encrypted and that they meet HIPAA standards for secure messaging.
- Audit trails to record and monitor all activities related to patient data. This allows for tracking and reviewing any unauthorized access or data breaches.
Feature Highlights
Patients
- Registration and Profile Management
- Appointment Scheduling
- Secure Messaging
- Prescription Management
- Health Records Access
- Appointment Reminders
- Insurance Verification and Billing
Doctors
- Doctors Dashboard
- Appointment Management
- Secure Messaging
- Video Consultations
- Patient Records Access
- E-Prescribing
- Document and Note Creation
- Analytics and Reporting
Administrator
- System Users Management
- Appointment Management
- System Configuration
- Dashboard and Analytics
- Billing and Payments
- User Communications
The Results
34%
INCREASE IN PATIENTS OUTCOME
Patients experienced significantly reduced wait times for urgent care services. In addition, clinic effectively diverted non-emergency cases away from crowded emergency rooms.
40%
REDUCTION IN WORKLOAD
Manual appointment scheduling reduced drastically,
Routine administrative tasks were automated such as sending follow-up emails, processing prescription refills and communicate treatment plans
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