Category: Software Development

Introduction

You must have heard about ‘Smart ambulance’ and it functions exactly as it sounds. In recent times there has been quite a buzz in the market revolving around 5G technology. Fortunately, the healthcare sector is among its vital use cases. Smart ambulances sound really fascinating, and it means you will be able to connect with various entities – oxygen cylinders, ventilators, ECG machines, everything- to begin the diagnosis exactly at the time when the patient is wheeled inside an ambulance. All vital parameters are sent back to the hospital- the centralized command. For humans, undoubtedly, it is going to do great wonders.

The transformation in the healthcare sector is shifting from a catchword to an imperative for the health systems.

Over the last two decades, health systems and hospitals have unveiled digital technologies in their functional zones. The Covid pandemic altered the status quo of the healthcare industry significantly, with home care and virtual health becoming the model. It has not only become a necessity for many but is preferred by many too. The pandemic accelerated various trends, including shifts in consumer preferences, clinical innovation, newer talent models, and rapidly evolving technologies. Faced with these trends, with health systems and hospitals working to adapt their businesses, a pretty well-defined approach to digital technologies will probably be the core of this transformation strategy. Now let’s dive into the solutions to solve various healthcare management problems.

The solution to healthcare problems with technology

Technology helps you to stay ahead of the curve as well as lends a hand to place you among the best technological healthcare providers. Some most addressed problems that the innovative advanced healthcare system is able to solve with the use of technology for a healthier and better world have been discussed.

Problem 1: Unavailability of remote access

Healthcare is related to in-person consultations. This issue compels the patients to visit the nearest healthcare center for their treatment. The Covid outbreak and the lockdown have made this problem worse. The contamination effect of this virus restrained the people within four walls of their own homes. So, if there is a situation of emergency or if they needed to see a doctor, what could they have done? The requirement of virtual consultations or remote access is the urgent need of the hour. To stay one step ahead in the adoption race of technology, this has to be taken care of.

Solution: Investing in healthcare web and mobile applications

The mobile app developers continue to develop the performance abilities and flexibility of these remote-oriented platforms. For medical experts, this creates a reliable experience to offer quality care as well as advice to patients sitting kilometers away. Telemedicine, with mobile healthcare solutions, aims at raising the level of healthcare with smartphones and wearables to track health. In healthcare, the use of technology has accelerated the development of products which experiment with technology like virtual and augmented reality, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and holography.

Problem 2: Errors and inefficiencies in Data Sharing

In an era where medical science has made significant healthcare errors, inefficiencies and advancements are still persistent. This is because of the traditional technology for the management of the healthcare industry. This is not only an obstacle in medical science, but it causes regression due to the waste it generates. The patients pay the price in the form of health and inconvenience, and also, there is a rise in litigation and administrative expenses owing to these errors and efficiencies.

A particular area of concern is the exchange of patient data in the case of a patient transfer from one hospital or department to another. When patient record sharing is done in the traditional way, it is inefficient and time-consuming and exposes the information of the patient to a security breach. An inefficient and incomplete exchange of data can be dangerous for patients who need complicated or urgent treatment.

Solution: Blockchain-based Database

To deliver a satisfactory and holistic patient experience, various parties who are involved in healthcare, such as doctors, patients, insurance providers, and scheme providers, must be able to exchange information securely among themselves. Using the systems of cloud-based data management can be a stable solution to solve the inefficiencies that are caused by the outdated pen-and-paper style of managing the data. The latest up-and-coming solution to the healthcare management issue is to use a blockchain database to store as well as share patient records. The healthcare technology trend is able to eliminate insecurity, thereby maintaining the integrity and privacy of patient information.

Problem 3: Siloes in the Healthcare industry

Healthcare professionals are disconnected as well as working in silos. Any missing platform may bring the healthcare world into one single page where they are able to discuss their learnings, create notes, and share knowledge. If there exists one single platform exclusively for the healthcare sector, then things would have become much better. Everyone could learn from anyone, thereby leading to better understanding, leading to better diagnosis, and treatment.

Solution: Development of a Networking app for the healthcare professionals

Developing a social networking app exclusively for healthcare professionals is able to solve this problem. Something like The On Call Room (OCR)- the mobile platform for healthcare professionals. The app covers various things, including the recent development in the healthcare world; the ability to share videos, excel sheets, PPTs, PDFs, and photos; the ability to comment and like, post new statutes, and ask questions, also the ability to share the data of patients among the healthcare professionals. This is a pretty viable solution helping to create a better and healthier world by enabling communication and collaboration in the health sector. Sharing problems may solve health issues while promoting inclusivity.

Problem 4: Issues with Medicaid and Medicare

Medicaid and Medicare are the health programs of the government providing healthcare coverage to patients. The repayment structures of these programs significantly vary and need to maintain a process of orchestrated management. The processes for receiving and filling Medicaid and Medicare are pretty different and are an additional task on the healthcare professionals’ to-do-list. Also, for the services rendered, the regulations need them to record and store patient records in one particular format. The doctors have to fill out some prescribed electronic forms during the times when treatment is availed under Medicare. This proves that the patient is given the healthcare service. The rules and regulations are made mandatory for the healthcare pros to follow these processes to get paid. This adds to their problems.

Solution: Investing in Medicaid and Medicare EHR System

A disruptive political issue is healthcare reform. EHR (Electronic Health Record) is among those healthcare trends which the industry is prepared to embrace to simplify the health record-keeping and Medicaid and Medicare filling. The EHRs offer an apolitical tool for controlling the expenditure of healthcare. This was expected to grow at a rate of 5.8% until this year.

The EHR system enables the proper electronic forms for Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement from the government. For healthcare professionals, it is easy to keep the health records of the patients and fill out the forms for reimbursements when the service has been offered. Organizations realize the value of keeping a sound HER system. For a better understanding, have a look below.

Also, these systems help improve the transaction of data and information from doctors to the government and from the government to doctors. Also, they standardize the format of data as required by the government for disbursing claims instead of speeding up the submission of the patient files as well as requesting payments for the services that have been rendered. Moreover, tracking the medical history of a patient online eases the nuisance of maintaining paper files. In this way, the doctors are able to focus more on their key functionalities and provide effective coordinated care with the other doctors to plan personalized, cohesive treatment plans.

Problem 6: Managing the huge volume of the data of patients

The patient-related data is among the most overwhelming aspects of the healthcare industry. With every new addition to the database of patients, the already existing pool becomes bigger. Therefore, it becomes tough to manage the data. The traditional infrastructure of securing and managing data is unrealistic. The retrieval and storage of this patient data, whenever required is quite a challenge that the hospitals need to address immediately. Data mismanagement and overload often lead to the wrong diagnosis, lapsed appointments, improper treatment, compromise in the security of data, regression of the condition of the patients, failure to keep up with the alterations in progress, etc. These implications can be catastrophic for both patients and doctors.

Solution: Data Analytics + Cloud Capabilities

The solution of healthcare technology to this issue lies in mobile portals and cloud-based data systems. These solutions provide healthcare professionals access to real-time data such as appointments, treatments, diagnoses, medical history, registrations, and more. As the retrieval and storage are cloud-based, these records are appropriately secured and are updated in real-time. The cloud-based solutions which help in maintaining a database of a patient are also data analytics capabilities and handy options. The healthcare mobile app integration and development of these apps, dependent on Android, iOS, and other mobile platforms, offer more flexibility for practitioners and doctors throughout their workday on the go.

Problem 7: Scarcity of Online Pharmaceutical Stores

An increase in the number of pharmaceutical stores all over the wave has changed people’s shopping habits, and they want everything and anything available online. The scarcity of online medical stores creates a problem making the industry lag in comparison to the other sectors. As the medicines that are sold online must be prescription based, a scarcity of e-stores may disrupt the market and will bring convenience to the customers.

Solution: Setting up online medical stores based on prescription

To launch an online pharmaceutical store must be on your list. The online market has huge potential. The online medical stores offer home delivery for prescription-based medicine. All you require to get started is an eCommerce platform such as BigCommerce, Shopify, Magento, etc.; developers who will design and create a mobile app and a website; and a delivery management system to streamline the last-mile deliveries.

Problem 8: Slow pace with the modern solutions

In this vast world, our knowledge is very limited so we have to learn more about the mechanisms underlying several diseases that are caused by viral infections. Any slight change in human DNA could prevent various ailments.

Solution: GET (Genome Editing Technology)

With the discovery of gene-editing technology, recent technology has resulted in real innovation in genetic engineering. It helps in treating hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, muscular dystrophy, and cystic fibrosis. This is a field of study that modifies the gene of living organisms to improve our insights into the gene function as well as develop methods for treating acquired or genetic diseases.

Problem 9: Absence of early morning healthcare devices

Events like strokes and aneurysms and diseases like cancer frequently catch doctors off guard. Often it is very late to do much, and various patients die not due to the fact that they cannot be saved but due to the fact that it is really late to save them. We require more devices that can monitor patients remotely with long-term or chronic situations, track their medical orders, and also their location where they get admitted to the hospitals, as well as wearable mHealth devices that are able to send information to the caregivers. The medical devices that are converted to IoMT technology involve infusion pumps that are connected to hospital beds and analytics dashboards outfitted with sensors that measure the vital signs of the patients. Lifestyle diseases are rising, and innovative smoking is sitting. Lifestyle diseases include cancer, kidney disease, obesity, and diabetes. IoT is able to manage the risk of suffering.

Solution: Introduction of IoMT (Internet of Medical Things)

The IoMT is a collection of medical applications and devices communicating with healthcare information technology systems through online computer networks. The medical devices that are enabled with Wi-Fi help in communication via machine-to-machine, which is the foundation of this IoMT. The IoMT devices communicate with the cloud platforms like Amazon Web Services, where the captured data is analyzed and stored.

The Medtech (Medical Technology) industry manufactures and designs various products, including MRI scanners, artificial joints, surgical instruments, and pregnancy test kits. The IoMT (Internet of Medical Things)- a connected infrastructure of health systems and services is created as technology enables these devices to transmit, analyze, collect, and generate data.

IoMT, as well as its relationship with Medtech, are beneficial to help healthcare organizations to achieve better patient outcomes, implement new methods of empowering and engaging patients, improve efficiency, and lower rising healthcare costs. If Medtech is able to harness IoMT, the scale and pace of healthcare transformation will become exponential.

Wake and sleep patterns, nutrition markers, blood pressure, and other factors can be used to develop a quick and early detection for particular health conditions. When any risk is identified, a notification will be sent to the patients as well as the physicians of the patients requesting an additional test.

Problem 10: Shortage of mHealth applications

There is no direct access to the health of the patients. The available offline health systems are not sustainable, and many of us cannot afford primary healthcare, and for routine checkups depend on the ER. Healthcare professionals lack the devices and time to provide direct care to each patient. Healthcare professionals must pay attention to this. Provided that the U.S. has some expensive healthcare services worldwide, various apps are being developed for calculating the treatment costs. If you are not insured, it is the same thing as being denied access to healthcare services. Healthcare service networks, pharmaceutical corporations, and insurance companies will all benefit from the system. At the bottom of the pyramid exists the patients, but they are the foundation of the entire sector.

Solution: Launching mHealth applications to help users

People require constant access to healthcare services. Therefore mhealth apps have become quite popular, and transparency is pretty critical. The mHealth applications commoditize healthcare services to a point where all having a credit card can pay for the much-needed consultation instantly. The distance barrier is quite low, and outside their state, they can see doctors. With the age of the population, the demand for healthcare systems also rises. Due to the upcoming physician shortage, technologies like mHealth will aid in mitigating the impact. Some mobile apps that provide medical applications or medical assistance that store medical data include exercising and working out, tracking activity, pill and nutrition reminders, nutrition, personal medical data sharing, recording, and storing apps for therapists, applications in clinical presence, chronic disease management apps, and applications allowing patients to communicate with clinics or medical centers.

Future of Technology

With technology continuing to be prominent in the healthcare industry, it cannot be denied that this industry has come a long way. Healthcare technology advances in the perfect direction, from dealing with data overload across different institutions to connecting patients and doctors from opposite ends of the world via mobile applications. Digital transformation in the healthcare sector is expected to become more prominent in the upcoming times. For doctors and patients, this will bring a whole lot of opportunities. Let us bind healthcare and technology together!

What Is Monolithic Architecture?

Monolithic architecture is the development of an application on a single code base with a unilateral code. The single codebase incorporates all the required functionalities of the defined project to fulfill the business requirements. Developers design the application in different layers and deploy the code in a single war/jar file.

Monolithic architecture is a traditional software application design model, developed as a unified unit, independent of other applications.

Developers construct a monolith in three parts client-side UI, server-side app, and database. In the early stage of project development, tasks like cognitive overhead, code management, and deployment become extremely easy with monolith architecture.

What Are The Benefits Of Monolith Architecture:

Easy & Speedy Development:

While considering app development with monolith architecture, a unified codebase and simple structure make the development process fast and easy.

Easy Deployment:

Developers can deploy the entire codebase in a single war/jar file. Hence, monolith apps can be deployed easily.

Simple Testing:

Monolith apps are centralized and built on a unified codebase. So, end-to-end testing is simple and quick.

Easy Debugging:

In a centralized and self-contained app architecture, where all business concerns are integrated into a singular codebase, it becomes easy to find issues and resolve them.

Performance:

A single API in monolith architecture performs the same functions as a group of APIs in a microservices architecture.

What Are The Disadvantages Of Monolithic Architecture:

Change Is A Challenge:

Monolithic app development is convenient only within a limited length of the codebase. As the codebase keeps growing larger, code management becomes difficult to handle.

To make a small change in a single function, developers need to compile, test, and redeploy the entire codebase. So even a minor change becomes a big challenge.

Low Scalability:

Monolithic architecture does not allow scaling individual components.

Less Reliability:

The app is built on a unified codebase. So, a minor error in any module affects the performance of the entire platform.

Lack Of Flexibility:

Monolith apps are monotonous. So, they only support the tools/technologies with which they are built.

Against Agile Development:

Continuous development is not supported by this type of architecture. Once the code is released it becomes difficult to deploy changes.

High Maintenance:

Upgrading to advanced technology, switching to a new programming language, or adapting to a new framework. Modifications in monolith apps are both expensive and time-consuming.

What Is Microservices Architecture?

Microservices architecture is a service-oriented app development approach that divides an application into a series of loosely coupled services for implementing different business requirements.

Each service is intended with a specific business logic and can be deployed independently. These services are interconnected and intercommunicable. Moreover, each service has unique functionality and a database with a specific goal.

Microservice is a decentralized architecture where major business concerns are distributed into separate codebases according to their domains. Tasks are distributed into small processes, functioning independently yet contributing to the overall development.

Microservices architecture does not reduce the complexity of app development, it just makes complexity more visible and manageable.

The best feature of microservice architecture is that it enables the continuous delivery of large and complex apps with minimum effort.

What Are The Advantages Of Microservices Architecture?

Continuous Development & Deployment:

As compared to monolithic architecture, pulling out updates is easier and faster with microservice architecture. With CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery), developers can easily update the code and accelerate release cycles. In case something goes wrong, they can roll back and redeploy within no time.

Increased Flexibility:

45% of organizations claim that microservices architecture is highly beneficial for development teams as it allows innovation, creativity, and better team collaboration.

Your development team can run a series of experiments in any instance, without affecting the performance of the entire application. Moreover, the microservice architecture supports a wide variety of technologies, tools, frameworks, and programming languages.

Higher Scalability:

When a microservice reaches its full capacity, the new instances of this service can be easily shifted to the associated cluster. By doing this, multiple instances with larger sizes can be supported to relieve pressure.

Reliable:

Developers can deploy changes in any service, without affecting the entire platform.

Independently Deployable Components:

In a microservice architecture, each service is independent of the other. This means each part can be developed, deployed, updated, and scaled independently, without impacting the other.

Supports Agile Development:

Microservice architecture supports the agile development process. The application undergoes a continuous development process where small tasks are deployed often in fast-release cycles.

Minimal Maintenance:

Testing of individual components, as well as finding and fixing bugs, becomes an easy task with microservice architecture. Overall code management is easy and demands less maintenance.

What Are The Disadvantages Of Microservice Architecture?

Increased Complexity:

55% of organizations already using microservice architecture find it more complex and challenging.

Microservice architecture is a decentralized ecosystem made up of distributed services. It is a challenge to figure out how different components are interacting. This results in unintended complexity. Increased complexity and unmanaged growth result in development sprawl.

Development Sprawl:

There are services developed by different teams, distributed in a decentralized ecosystem. Poor management of these services can result in slower development and lower performance of the app.

Extra Attention To Team Coordination:

As different teams are working on the development of individual services; a well-established internal communication channel is mandatory. Miscommunications can lead to major errors, so the collaboration and coordination of development teams become crucial.

Higher Development Cost:

Every microservice has cost for developing its test suite, deploying playbooks, monitoring tools, hosting infrastructure, etc. This sums up to increased overall development costs.

Complicated Debugging:

Firstly, individual microservices consist of a personal set of logs; this makes debugging complicated. Secondly, a single business process runs across multiple machines, which adds to complications in debugging.

No Clarity On Ownership:

In a microservice architecture, several instances are developed and deployed in fast-release cycles. For this, many development teams are running simultaneously. Over a period, it becomes difficult to claim ownership of components. Also, confusion arises on which team to contact for support.

Lack Of Standardization:

Microservice architecture offers higher flexibility when it comes to using programming language, logging standards, frameworks, technologies, or tools for development. As there is no common platform for development, microservice architecture lacks standardization of protocols.

Monolithic VS Microservices Final Showdown!

Let us have a Monolithic v/s Microservices architecture showdown to understand this better.

Below image represents Monolithic Architecture v/s Microservices Architecture:

When To Consider Migrating From Monolithic To Microservice Architecture?

Many businesses opt for monolithic architecture in the initial stage of project development. Increasing code length, the addition of new features/functionalities, or pulling out updates, give rise to unintended code complexity, unmanaged growth, and development sprawls.

With this risk of bugs or irrelevant features appearing in the app, code conflicts become frequent. When the development process takes an undesirable turn, know that it is time to migrate from monolith to microservice app architecture.

It is important to note that if you are a single-product company, there is no need to migrate from monolith to microservice architecture. Especially if the codebase of your application has a limited length.

Not every organization need to migrate from monolith to microservices. Breaking a perfectly functioning monolith is not always a good idea. However, when an organization undergo expansion, the expectations on an application increase. At such times, it is wise to consider migration.

How To Migrate From A Monolith Architecture To A Microservices Architecture?

Devise A Migration Strategy:

Migrating from a monolithic to a microservice architecture is a major and critical decision to take. You must sit with your development team and strategize the pre- & post-development plan. It is necessary to define the flow of events in which you want the migration to take place.

Moreover, when it comes to migrating customers, you must first study their profiles and usage dynamics thoroughly to map a migration plan efficiently.

Invest In A Migration Tool:

While opting for migration to microservices, choosing the right tool for migration is crucial. Before migrating your customers right away, consider investing and creating a suitable tool for migration

For example, you can develop a tool that can track, monitor, and report the information of all the microservices. Or a tool that can automatically check the design, security, and reliability of a code before it enters production. You can also consider investing in a tool that is built around the tech stack.

It Is Teamwork:

Assign a dedicated team to carry out the migration process efficiently. To make improvements permanent, the team should work on investing and implementing the latest tools and technologies.

Moreover, when a large organization is migrating from monolithic to microservices, it becomes important to convey crucial information like the major impacts of migration, benefits of migration, Return on Investment, etc. Make sure that your partners, executive team, stakeholders, customers, R&D team, and other associates know what you are up to.

Take Cultural Shift Positively:

When your organization is working with a monolithic architecture, it is simple and sorted. A single development team is assigned for the development and deployment of the entire application. Fewer resources are working at a time and there are lower scopes for tracking and monitoring the project as a whole.

While migrating from monolithic to microservices architecture, everything changes. You must assign the development of individual components to separate development teams, depending on business logic. There is a wide scope for monitoring and tracking team activities because you must ensure that teams are working in collaboration. A lack of coordination can result in a pool of errors.

So, the important thing is, migration is not just limited to technical changes. Migration is a long-term change at the organizational level. So, plan this cultural shift optimistically and efficiently.

Make It Reliable And Trustworthy:

Once you start migrating, take it at a low pace and observe the impacts of changes in your organization. Many companies, in order to rush through the migration process, forget to gauge the performance and reliability of the shift they are leveraging. As a result, their customers may find them less reliable or trustworthy after migration.

So, always set up a system of tracking, checking, monitoring, and balancing the migration to support high reliability and maintain quality standards. Keep a keen eye on the migration process and check with your engineers for weak areas. Because following a systematic approach from the initial stage eliminates the chances of errors as well as saves time and resources in long run.

Wrapping Up,

The global microservices architecture market is growing at an accelerating CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 18.6% and is projected to garner USD 8,073 million by 2026.

Furthermore, according to Statista, over 85% of respondents from large-scale organizations having more than 5,000 employees are already using microservices as well as 14% are already planning to migrate in the near future. So, what are your plans?

We at Softqube Technologies are one of the best software development companies with a reputed clientele. We can help you manage the complexity of a decentralized and distributed ecosystem while undergoing a migration from monolithic to microservices architecture. Our well-experienced team of experts can efficiently guide you through the process and help you strategize the migration precisely.

So, what do you think about migration from Monolithic to Microservices architecture? Leave a comment and let us know. If you have already undergone migration, do let us know its impact on your organization. Moreover, for any question, query, or inquiry, you can always reach out. Let us connect right away! Contact us for a free consultation.