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Tag: mobile apps

Is there an orchard full of apples just outside the windows of the hospital?

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Have you ever switched from an Apple iPhone to a Samsung or other Google based phone, or vice versa? It looks familiar, but it’s just different enough to be confusing. I know… I’ve done it. Work issued iPhone, personal Samsung phone. I was able to turn my iPhone notification to vibrate when I first got it… For the next 5 years I could not turn any notification sound on. I’m not new to smart phones, but I’ve always had a Samsung, the IOS screen looks familiar, but it just doesn’t work the same.  I only used the work phone for texting and phone calls, everything else was my personal phone, good thing my scrubs had two pockets.

Websites and apps can experience similar issues with back-end functionality. With the patients, visitors and employees all having different smart-phones, ensuring a seamless end-user experience can be more important than ever. Developing a website or app for a Windows based system may not be able to viewed in the Apple ecosystem.

Everything from way-finding apps, employee intranet sites, public websites, to patient access apps all need to be customized to ensure an end-user experience that is accessible and usable. Imagine telling a patient “there’s an app for that!” only to have them frustrated when they can’t access the information they were directed to. It doesn’t provide a good experience for the patient that can negatively impact things as serious as missing important appointments, to just experiencing un-warranted stress when trying to get to an appointment. Is a patient going to rate you 5 stars if they can’t find the doctor?

Similarly for employees, frustrations can abound when apps are not optimized for different mobile devices. Apps for time and attendance, intranet sites for policies and procedures, are all often made accessible for employees to use on their mobile devices. Apps and sites that are not optimized for their device can frustrate staff trying to request a vacation, or trying to look up policies for titrating insulin drips.

Accessibility in the physical world is important for healthcare, it is just as important in the digital age to have accessibility online as well. Ramifications can be a minor inconvenience or a major frustration. More and more information resources are moved online to save paper and ensure the most up-to-date information is being used, having access is vital to smooth patient experience and care.

How do you test apps and mobile sites for compatibility against thousands of different versions of mobile devices? Ten thousand engineers typing on ten thousand phones for ten thousand years? That might work, or you might get a mobile friendly version of Shakespeare. Hope you have a good IT recruiter!

Automated testing at every stage of development can help ensure accessibility is maintained across desktops and mobile devices. For over 10 years Tido Inc has partnered with hospitals and health systems to provide automated mobile and web testing at every stage of development. Ensuring minimal issues on launch, and faster development times. Contact us today to see how we can help, from development of custom apps and intranet sites, we can extend your IT teams when you need.

Healthcare technology in 2023 and beyond!

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Healthcare 2023

We’re not making definitive predictions here, but the rapid changes seen in healthcare have been remarkable these past years, and going into 2023 we can be certain there will be new challenges and opportunities. We do expect some themes to continue into 2023 and beyond.

Challenging margins for health systems and independent practices. As reimbursements to health care organizations has languished, the importance of ensuring the maximum returns on existing investments will be key. Over the past decade there have been massive investments in new systems and networks, every part of healthcare operations has been connected to a tech-enabled system. To realize the gains promised these networks need to be functional and reliable. Are your systems working like they’re supposed to? Or does the staff have the impression that ‘nothing works like it supposed to!’ Disconnected applications or unforeseen application issues can cause significant delays, frustrate staff, and waste valuable time. Applications and Integration monitoring can ensure those technology investments are pulling their weight and maximizing return, supporting clinical staff and powering seamless operations.

Healthcare worker burnout and moral injury are likely to be concerns into 2023 and beyond. Network reliability can be a source of frustration for clinicians, reliable systems are one component of providing a high quality experience, interfaces and tools that provide a better working environment will certainly be another. The proliferation of apps and tools to enhance user experience for both patient and clinician will likely continue, albeit at a slower rate than prior years. Having the best possible tools and apps can be a key strategy to keeping employees engaged and patient focused, whether it is a third party app or custom mobile and web applications, new solutions will continue to be front and center.

Over the past few years we have seen a massive shift in how healthcare is delivered, from a largely in-person environment toward more telehealth and virtual solutions than ever before. While there has been slowing in the market for many of these independent services, telehealth will continue to be a necessity for any health service moving forward. In a distributed clinical environment current systems may not be enough to have a fully functional clinic. EHRs optimized for in-person care may not work with distributed clinical staff, will other solutions be utilized? What portions of intake can be automated, how will those answers be populated into the EHR and get to right clinician at the right time? Is the right patient information populating over, medication history, allergies, radiology reports, the list can be daunting. If a new system is being implement over existing infrastructure ensuring adequate testing and integration will be key to enabling high quality patient care. Moving to a new EHR can pose even more challenges, migrating data is complex and requires a high degree of certainty. Managing these data sharing challenges will continue to be a priority as care becomes more distributed beyond a single physical site.

Maybe we’ll offer one prediction for 2023… Tido Inc. will be here and continue partnering with health systems and practices to face a challenging and changing technology landscape! Reach out today, we’re happy to work with you to face the healthcare challenges in this year, and beyond.

Have the holidays driven us crazy? Crazy about AI maybe!

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AI in Healthcare

Have you heard all the rage in AI? ChatGPT was making the rounds last few weeks as it was open to the public to play around with. The website is pretty cool, but it did take me a few days to get on it to play around due to traffic. For last week’s blog post I decided to hop on the bandwagon and see if Artificial Intelligence could replace a content writer’s Human Intelligence (insert sarcastic comment). Don’t tell the boss I did this though, AI doesn’t have bills to pay. Seriously though, the other blog post last week was written by ChatGPT.

Whether AI, ML, or other letter combination when it comes to advanced computing, there is no doubt that language processing will find it’s way more and more into healthcare. How do I know this? Because AI told me so, go read the other post!

Integrating AI effectively into the clinical space can help nursing in a variety of ways. It can be used to aggregate information on a single patient about their current visit and past visits to help guide interventions. It can also be used to effectively aggregate patient data from large populations to help study the effectiveness of new interventions vs past interventions.

Maybe we use the AI to write custom discharge instructions that are patient specific and relevant to their care? Starting off with a basic template this can be really powerful to drive better engagement and adherence to instructions. Current discharge instructions are often pages long with information dispersed throughout a large packet, providing a succinct summary can make it much easier for patients.

ChatGPT was initially devised as a chat bot, often rudimentary forms of chatbots can be found for patient intake for medical practices, urgent care, or to guide patients toward specialists. If we can better aggregate these sessions into a basic medical history or offer guidance toward potential diagnosis, then there can be significant time savings just on the nursing triage.

Pretty cool stuff that has the potential to really improve healthcare by helping the clinician and the patient alike.

With integrating any computer process automation there are several concerns that arise.

What is the reference source material? In the case of ChatGPT it uses large databases of published material, this can include unverified sources or opinion pieces. With any AI/ML, knowing the referenced source will be important.

Is the output relevant? AI can be confused, just like me, but we often use slang terms that AI may not recognize, this can lead to some weird output. The output definitely needs to be reviewed by professionals.  In the other post there are number of inaccuracies when it comes to the semantics, but they do matter.

How will it be integrated? Is it clear to patients when they are interacting with AI vs. a real human? If not it can be upsetting and cause patients to lose faith in the care system.

How much do we rely on AI? FDA regulations are starting to address this in terms of decision support, but how far AI goes into making patient care and treatment decisions that may fall into a gray area that can be difficult to navigate and ultimately requires a trained professional to adjudicate.

Tido Inc can help your organization answer these questions and help to integrate or develop applications so your organization can effectively leverage AI and ML to help improve clinical workflows and experience.  Now let’s see how much Holiday shopping has messed with my Amazon algorithms!

An app a day keeps the doctor away.

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Healthcare applications on phone

Apps for digital health are proliferating throughout the healthcare ecosystem. Not just consumer facing, apps for clinical teams are growing as well. EHR companies have their own app stores, there’s the SMART App Gallery, and more apps are being created every day for use by healthcare professionals. As federal regulations start to kick in, the proliferation of digital apps for clinical use is only likely to increase. According to the ONC research, it shows more than 20% rise in the number of apps that integrate with certified electronic health records (EHRs) at end of 2020. The number of new clinical and administrative apps with SMART on FHIR integration is increasing at a very rapid rate.

There are many benefits of apps used by clinicians, better patient care and engagement, increased efficiencies, time management, records access, clinical decision support, education and training are just some of the tools available in app stores today. They have the potential to help clinical staff perform and manage their day better, improving patient care and staff satisfaction. It is widely reported that clinical staffing is becoming an increasing challenge to healthcare organizations, frustration with ineffective or difficult technology is just one of the issues, and it can be an important barrier to enabling staff to provide the best possible care to patients.

While there is a lot of news focused on the shortages of nurses and doctors, IT teams are also feeling pressure. Competition for healthcare IT personnel is increasing, new digital app developers, virtual first practices, and existing brick and mortars are just some of the employers seeking to hire experienced IT staff. Is there a plan to maximize the expertise and focus of these teams? What is the core competency of the healthcare organization’s IT team? Is it new app development and integration, or is it ensuring a safe and secure IT network and connectivity of existing physical infrastructure?

Much like patient care has become highly specialized, IT teams are becoming more focused to respond to increasing threats and internally connected equipment. Additional resources are often not allocated to allow IT teams to focus on adding to digital apps to the clinical toolbox. Doctors and clinical staff asking for more tools and integrations can often get lost in all the background noise, or are just told “we don’t have the bandwidth for that right now”, especially if its a small specialized department. Does the organization want to hire and train a professional team to assist in one-off choices or development?

Apps and other tools that do not meet the needs of clinical staff are a wasted use of increasingly scarce resources. Anyone working in Healthcare IT or Biomedical engineering can tell you, clinical staff are very creative when it comes using tools and equipment. Nurses and doctors will find all sorts of new uses for existing tools and infrastructure that was never envisioned by the creators, or it just won’t be used at all. But, they also have great ideas for new tools to help make their job easier and better. An organization seeking to harness this creative energy will likely need help managing the myriad of choices, or the creation of new tools.

How are new apps implemented? How are they supported? Maybe the Physical Therapy team has an idea that will save hours per day, how do we get that developed? Maybe there’s an existing app out there? If healthcare organizations are looking to increase employee engagement and efficiency, these are questions that will need to be answered moving forward. Whether a smaller physician practice, or a large multi-hospital system, retaining and maximizing existing staff resources will be key to success in the current healthcare environment. Apps and other tools can help improve efficiency and effectiveness, but getting them done right is just as important as getting them in the first place.

Tido can help healthcare organizations manage these questions. Check out Tido’s Digital Apps Strategy and Management and Custom Mobile and Web Applications solutions. See how Tido can help healthcare organizations implement existing tools, or help to harness the power and creativity already inside.

Social Determinants of Health and Network Reliability… Is there a connection?

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Healthcare Virtual Visits

Are my cables crossed? Perhaps, but consider the different systems that can power payment and insurance verification.

For the majority of readers of this blog it is probably an inconvenience when insurance verification services are down, but for people with limited income, and little to no savings, this can be an insurmountable barrier to accessing healthcare.

Increasing the utilization and access to telehealth and virtual services is one of the goals of Healthy People 2030 to improve access and quality. While we have seen a proliferation of expanded virtual health options during Covid, there can still be barriers to accessing care beyond internet availability.

Virtual urgent care or virtual ER visits can vastly improve easy access to care with a connected smart phone to access these services. While this can still be a challenge for many, they are becoming far more ubiquitous and affordable than ever before. With a connected smart phone there is no need to take time off work, or travel to a physical location with an unknown wait time to seek care. Virtual visits can be powerful tools for those in society who are not economically stable, where each hour of pay is allocated to purchasing necessities.

Most virtual visits require upfront payment or insurance verification of coverage. This author’s recent experience to a virtual urgent care visit highlighted this. Due to a recent upgrade the health system’s insurance verification was unable to be completed, requiring a credit card and upfront payment of $70. I’m fortunate in that I have both readily available, but does everyone?

Submitting a claim to an insurance company is complicated, to put it mildly. It is highly unlikely this task could be completed easily on a smart phone. Factor in that reimbursement may not arrive before the credit card payment is due. Assuming the patient has access to a credit card, will they be able to pay that balance before reimbursement? If they have to wait until they receive reimbursement they are now subject to late fees and interest charges, which will quickly add up.

If the patient cannot pay the upfront costs, will they go somewhere else? Will they just delay care? Delaying care can lead to a downstream effect of worsening outcomes and greater expenses later on.

Studies regarding medical debt are focused on amounts greater than $250, like this study from Kaiser Family Foundation, and these large amounts can be devastating. But we also know from other studies that even small amounts of medical expenses can be enough to delay care or avoid care totally. Avoiding care can ultimately lead to more expenses and missed work later on. In the event care is paid for, what necessities may be skipped? Food? Rent payment? Vehicle Repairs? The downstream impacts can be significant.

Even as more American’s have been able to get health insurance, co-pays or up front payments can be still be a barrier to accessing the healthcare system. Automatic insurance verification is a good step toward reducing unnecessary up front payments, if it’s working. If it’s not working, it can be another barrier for those seeking healthcare.

Increasing access to care is a capability which many health systems are expanding. Once the resource is built, is it functioning as intended, or just creating another to barrier to care. Check out Tido’s end to end monitoring and digital apps test automation solutions. Ensure the most vulnerable customers are able to easily access high quality affordable care.

HIMSS Conference 2021 Review

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In the latest episode of This Week in Health Tech, Vik and Jimmy review the 2021 HIMSS Conference that took place in Las Vegas, NV.

Here is what they discussed:

  • “The main topic of the conference revolved around interoperability and digital integration, something that TWITH has been talking about for months!”
    • Jimmy and Vik discuss what the hot topics were at the conference this year. Since the onset of the pandemic, the digital transformation within the industry has been drastic. As value-based care and personalized care become more valued, it makes sense for organizations to invest in the right strategies and technologies. Vik delves into these strategies, focusing on integration between EHR’s, hospitals, and new innovative applications to provide the best user experience for patients and providers.
  • “I attended this years conference digitally and the digital experience could have been better.”
    • This years HIMSS conference was held in-person as well as virtually. Attendees were down from the usual 50,000-60,000 to around 18,000 participants. Vik explains to Jimmy that there was a web and mobile app for virtual attendance but overall virtual experience could have been better with more online sessions and interactive sessions. He elaborates on the limited number of digital sessions and the difficulty in connecting to these digital sessions.
  • “The number one reason to attend is networking.”
    • Jimmy asks Vik what he looks most forward to in attending these types of conferences. For Vik, its all about networking. He explains that there is great value in being able to talk with industry peers about what new technologies are coming out and what the future holds. For CIO’s, the conference allows for insight into outside perspectives within the industry, such as finance, marketing, etc.
  • “Can you walk us through what the virtual experience was like?”
    • HIMSS offered a mobile app that listed all the digital events and also a digital directory to find individuals. Vik explains that while it was easy to locate certain individuals, being able to connect with them directly was difficult. Vik states that a round-table session would have been preferred. Another criticism Vik talks about is how not all events were available digitally.

Listen to the full episode:

Click below to learn more about Tido’s Integration Packages:

Tido’s Integration Packages

Click below to learn more about Tido’s Digital Packages:

Tido’s Digital Packages

Implementing Test Automation in Health Care || Part 1: Website Testing

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In this episode of This Week Health Tech, Vik and Jimmy talk on website test automation strategies for healthcare. This is the first part in a month long series focusing on Healthcare Web, Mobile, EHR Testing and Test Automation.

Here is what they discussed:

  • “What is test automation?”
    • Vik begins this episode by defining testing and the importance of test automation. Testing within the healthcare space is underrated, mainly because of low QA resources. Vik explains why test automation should become a top priority for healthcare providers.
  • “Who is in charge of managing the website, testing, etc.?”
    • Website management is a collaboration between departments, including IT and Marketing. Vik elaborates on how different departments have specific roles in terms of maintenance, updating, testing, etc.
  • “Let’s divide testing into 3 categories: Continuous, Automated, and Live”
    • Along all stages of development, continuous testing needs to be performed. When the test script development is finished, then those scripts can be used to automate testing against a combination of browsers/OS. Live testing must be done as well, to ensure a correctly working user experience.
  • “Once you have the Selenium automated test scripts written, you can fire them off anytime.”
    • Vik describes the process of using a testing framework, such as Selenium, to perform automated tests. Test scripts can be written in a multitude of languages (Java, Python, C#, etc.). By using a real cloud device, the automated scripts can be ran against hundreds of browser/device/OS combinations.
  • “Lets talk about testing techniques.”
    • Typical techniques include Functional, Compatibility, and Performance testing. Vik goes into detail on how each type relates to testing.
  • “The number of web and mobile applications will continue to grow.”
    • Vik makes the case again on the importance of testing for the future. The number of health apps will continue to grow, especially because of COVID. Continued testing for mobile apps is the only way to ensure that the consumer will receive a correctly working product.

Listen to the full episode:


Click below for more information regarding Tido’s test automation packages:
Test Automation Packages

Learn more about Tido’s Digital Packages:
Tido’s Digital Packages

Scheduling Your COVID-19 Vaccine

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In this episode of This Week in Health Tech, Vik and Jimmy cover the timely topic of COVID-19 vaccine scheduling/distribution.

Here is what they discussed:

  • “What is the protocol for getting a vaccine?”
    • As the vaccine continues to be administered, Jimmy asks Vik what the protocol is on who gets the vaccine first. Vik lays out the protocol, starting with essential workers and the elderly getting it first.
  • “Phone lines are clogged up bad, and it’s starting to affect patients.”
    • More and more people are calling hospitals to gain information on vaccine scheduling. This has caused the phone lines to be clogged up, which could lead to other critical issues not getting the attention they need. Vik mentions a couple solutions to the problem of phone lines, such as using a robust intranet to give information, such as an FAQ.
  • “What do you think are some good FAQ questions?”
    • Jimmy asks Vik to lay out the types of questions that would help address questions related to vaccine scheduling, such as where/when to schedule.
  • “Use the technology at your hands to help people.”
    • Vik talks how Tido Inc. has helped hospital systems deal with the logistics of vaccines and using certain tools to make sure that the 1st and 2nd dose are administered for the correct time window.
  • “Lets try and use technology in healthcare to help with this really complex situation.”
    • On top of providing good healthcare, there has been a logistical issue that technology can help deal with. Vik mentions the importance of automation in making sure that vaccines are scheduled correctly.

Listen to the full episode:

Learn more about Tido’s Integration Packages:
Tido’s Integration Packages


Click below for more information regarding Tido’s test automation packages:

Test Automation Packages

2020 Wrapped Up

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In this episode of This Week in Health Tech, Vik and Jimmy recap their favorite moments from 2020 and discuss the future for 2021.

Here is what they discussed:

  • “Let’s dive right into security and malware and viruses…”
    • The duo celebrate the one year anniversary of the show. They talk about how security was an important topic early on and how it will never really leave.
  •  “It’s free on paper, but the data obtained by these apps are priceless..”
    • Jimmy points out that even though apps such as Zoom are free, they are still collecting valuable data. Vik agrees, saying that healthcare disruption is inevitable as Big Tech enters the industry.
  • “COVID-19 has accelerated a lot of things in healthcare.”
    • The pair reflect on how the pandemic has forced us to adapt to a virtual lifestyle. Telehealth has become an important tool moving forward when it comes to digital strategy.
  • “Some of the most fun I’ve had on this podcast is talking with our guests.”
    • The guests that have appeared on this show have been absolutely great and knowledgeable. Jimmy comments on how much he has learned about healthcare from all the guests. Vik and Jimmy go over some of their favorite guest episodes.
  •  “I feel like over the next few years, there’s going to be an exponential increase in app usage, from a patient and provider standpoint.”
    • The ONC’s Cures Act will give patients/providers more control over their data. Vik gives his predictions for tech trends heading into 2021, ranging from test automation to using cloud architecture.

Listen to the full episode:

Learn more about Tido’s Digital Packages:
Tido’s Digital Packages


Click below for more information regarding Tido’s test automation packages:

Test Automation Packages

Mobile Apps Management for Health Systems

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In this episode of This Week In Health Tech, Vik and Jimmy are joined by Wayne Che, CTO of Sowingo Inc. The group jumps into what it takes to manage and develop mobile apps for health systems.

Here is what they discussed:

  • “If I’m a health system and people are asking for a certain app, should I Build or Buy the app?”
    • With the boom in the app economy because of COVID-19, Vik and Wayne talk about the best approach healthcare providers can take for mobile app development. Wayne goes over pro’s and con’s for Build vs Buy apps.
  • “We recently launched a new digital package to help health systems manage all the mobile apps, and it does include custom development.”
    • Tido Inc offers a Digital Package for the management of mobile and web apps for healthcare systems.
  • “A very important point is continually testing and maintaining the app.”
    • As we’ve mentioned before, you can never have enough testing. Being able to provide an app that works correctly on all devices is one of the first steps in providing good patient engagement. Wayne makes a point that testing on real devices is crucial so the best experience can be provided.
  • “From an infrastructure standpoint, do you want to host in-house or do you make use of cloud providers?”
    • With so many cloud-based providers available, Vik asks Wayne if storing the infrastructure in-house has any advantage over the cloud. Wayne makes several points in favor of cloud-based, such as privacy and security compliance, cost and for scaling.
  • “Regardless of the Cures Act, healthcare innovation is happening.”
    • The ONC’s Cures Final Act allows seamless and secure access, exchange, and use of electronic health information. Vik and Wayne discuss how API’s can be used for data sharing. The healthcare industry has been lagging behind other industries, and Vik comments that innovation needs to happen to provide the patient the best healthcare experience.
  • “One thing is clear, whether you build in-house, buy it, or take a hybrid approach, we are going to see more and more apps.”
    • Jimmy asks the best approach to mobile development, and Wayne gives his take on different development models. Vik mentions that the innovation is not going to stop with apps, citing examples such as wearables and remote-monitoring apps.

Listen to the full episode:

Learn more about Tido’s Digital Packages:
Tido’s Digital Packages


Click below for more information regarding Tido’s test automation packages:
Test Automation Packages

Sowingo Inc:

https://sowingo.com/