When searching for software, almost everyone looks for free ones. If you simply type in the name of any random software, you’ll probably see a google autocomplete suggestion “free download”. In some cases, it does make a lot of sense in using free software. Why pay for something when you can get it for free? 

Searches for downloading free EMR software have increased with government legislation mandating their use in hospitals. Let us look into why this is a bad idea.

If you’re not paying for it, you’re the product

As a general rule, nobody ever gives you something for free. As economists would say, “If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product”. In the case of most free software, this is the case. Recently it was found that most of the free antivirus apps in the Google Play store actually did nothing. Their purpose? Probably to collect data from your device. This may not affect an average person very much, but if you’re concerned about privacy, you should probably stay away from these software. And when you’re dealing with a hospital management software, this is a key aspect. Data security is a very important aspect especially when you handle patient data. A data leak, however small has the potential to damage the reputation of your hospital. 

Lack of accountability

A hospital management system has to have certain qualifications that assure you that a particular software can fit your needs. When you purchase a software, it is possible for you to verify if these software fit the criteria. But when you download a software for free, there is no way for you to be sure if these software fit the criteria. And since there is no monetary transaction between you and the software provider, it will be difficult to hold them accountable. 

The lack of accountability will be an issue if the software faces any glitches. If the software crashes, customer support is not provided for the system, and you will be on your own. A software glitch in a free android app may be annoying, and will not cause any huge problems even if is not resolved. In case of a hospital, the software handles sensitive patient information and a software glitch can compromise this data, and with no tech support from the providers, it can cause a lot of problems. 

Upgrades? Nope

As government regulations change, and as the technology improves, you may face the need for a better software. If you’re relying on a free software for very important tasks, such as managing your hospital, you may find yourself stuck with an old software. Free software rarely provide any upgrades for long durations. And when you want an upgrade, you may find yourself searching for a new software, and you’ll have to import the existing data into the new software which will require additional resources. 

The story of the open source software

A commonly trusted free software are the open source software. Ubuntu is an example of an open source software. They are usually made by developers across the world, and their source code is available for free, and you’re free to change or modify the code as you wish. Since the source code is available for everyone, it is unlikely that the software can have malicious intents. And as long as the developers continue to improve the software, it will remain up to date with the required features. Open source software appears to offer a very good deal, and they do, in the case of most of the software. But in the case of a hospital management system, it is never a good idea to use an open source software. This is because of a combination of reasons discussed above. First of all, there are no hospital management software with the kind of community that a software like Ubuntu has. If you face any issues, you’re on your own. In the case of popular softwares, there may be forums in which users can discuss issues, and they may get resolved. But for a hospital management software, there are no such forums, and when you’re managing a hospital, you cannot afford to wait for a solution that may never come. And as we discussed, updates will be available for open source software only as long as the developers are working on the project.

What about the free trials?

If you have been looking for free HMS downloads, you may have come across many SaaS healthcare software companies offering lite or trial versions of their software for free, or maybe the complete version of their software, but for a limited time period. These software are generally secure and will be much more robust than software from other software providers. They may even offer regular updates. But remember that these trial versions are just for that. They will be severely limited in their capabilities, and you will definitely have to upgrade at some point. And the providers may not provide tech support if you’re using the free version. But they do provide an easy way to evaluate a software and if available, they serve as a demo for the complete version. 

Lack of customization

Generally across hospitals, or even across departments, there is no uniform workflow. Each department head has their own workflows, and this is the reason why hospital management systems are highly customized. However such customization is not at all possible in a hospital management system, and if implemented, could affect the functioning of the hospital and may prove to be counterproductive. 

To know more about hospital management software, visit MocDoc Hospital Information System.

Introduction

In the city of Mumbai, Bhaktivedanta Hospital has already made an eminent growth since 1998. Now Bhaktivedanta hospital is known for its Multi Specialities in various fields such as pediatrics, orthopedics, ENT, psychiatry, and much more with a gross of more than 1500 happy patients leaving each day.

Overview:

The main reason why Bhaktivedanta approached MocDoc Healthcare Solution was to overcome the problems they faced in the appointment and scheduling of patients. MocDoc HMS provided them with the exact solutions that eventually solved all their problems. The following will list out the problems Bhaktivedanta faced and how MocDoc provided helpful solutions to overcome their problems.

Appointment Scheduling

Bhaktivedanta Hospital was using offline software to book appointments which caused them problems in appointments and scheduling, Adding to it they were still following the traditional practice of pen-paper which at times led to incorrect patient details.

MocDoc approached them with a solution by making Bhaktivedanta Hospital’s appointment scheduling effortless. We provided them with a “White labeled application” which was exclusively provided to the hospital to reduce workload and it made them produce good results in terms of managing patients and their appointments at the hospital. Our “Anytime Anywhere” accessing concept helped them to achieve excellence.

Interdepartmental Communications

Bhaktivedanta Hospital had plenty of departments operating it so the departments in the hospital were in need of proper communication between them and also the information needed to be carried out without leading to any miscommunications.

That’s where MocDoc helped Bhaktivedanta by providing a feature known as “Timeline View” which indeed helped the hospital to keep track of patient flows inside the hospital, and also helped the doctors to follow up on the patients based on their treatment. This made communication clear and patient details were tracked down easily without any misinterpretation.

Booking for VIPs & Emergency Patients

Managing VIPs around the city seemed difficult for Bhaktivedanta Hospital. This led to a situation where the hospital and the patients found a hard time Communicating. They were also facing a few difficulties in appointing and scheduling emergency patients.

That’s where MocDoc stepped in and offered a solution by providing restricted access to VIP appointments at the hospital, where the staff will be responsible for booking appointments for vips and emergency patients without any delays or difficulties. So through this we also ensure the privacy of the patients arriving at the hospital and also the waiting time of the patients was drastically reduced.

Managing the Queue

Bhaktivedanta Hospital was facing difficulties with its queue management. For instance, there was a lot of confusion in deciding if the patients having appointments or if patients holding tokens should be given preference since the hospital was following the call and token system. So the hospital faced some issues in managing Queues.

After implementing MocDoc HMS software each and every appointment was perfectly scheduled in order. These appointments are viewed by the staff who is in charge of the appointment section. Also, we provided additional features which made them classify patients based on their needs, this reduced the workload drastically.

Payment Processing System

Since Bhaktivedanta had offline software for appointment scheduling, processing payments online was not possible also Bhaktivedanta followed Manual procedures for appointment scheduling and payment processing. This was difficult for Bhaktivedanta to keep track of information about patients and payment details.

MocDoc helped Bhaktivedanta by providing a payment gateway for the patients through which they were able to make payments and Bhaktivedanta found it easy to manage patients' transaction details. Even MocDoc allowed the patients to make multiple appointments and at the same time maintain privacy in the transaction.

Benefits :

• Appointments are made easier by patients from anywhere

• Human-Error is completely removed

• Payments were made much easier and more secure by patients

• Problems with the administration were completely restored by MocDoc

• MIS Reports for OP Management and hospital Management were implemented to track doctors and patients.

• Both patients and the Hospital gained satisfaction in using MocDoc HMS

Result:

By using MocDoc HMS Bhaktivedanta Hospital has improved its appointment and scheduling operations. We also helped them resolve their minor and major problems among patients with the help of our trained team. Thus in a world full of competition, MocDoc always pursues to attain Customer satisfaction.

Hospital Management Software is a vital business tool, especially in the healthcare industry. Having a hospital that is automated with Hospital Management Software is now easy. In the midst of this technologically upgraded and model world, every hospital should make use of machines and systems to take care of every manual activity. The current technological world makes use of the people to monitor the devices and network, whereas the systems are busy helping the people in controlling various tasks. 

Some of the benefits of Online Hospital Management Software include Reduced Paperwork, simple access to reference records, effectual billing of different services, enhanced hospital administrations, no record duplications, minimized documentation, rapid information across various departments, optimized bed occupancy checks, critical stock information, improve cost control, and more. 

In this blog, let's check out the best five Online Hospital Management Software that every hospital can use. 

1. MocDoc:

MocDoc Hospital Management Software is the best solution which is completely integrated for any type of hospital from small to multi-chain hospitals. The Hospital Management Software for OP includes Doctor Discovery, Check-In, Mobile apps, Prescriptions, Appointments, Billing, and more. 

When considering the IP management role of Hospital Management Software, deals with Visual Bed Management, Discharge Summary, Insurance Management, Ward Request, Integrated IP billing, and more. 

The Pharmacy benefits included in the Hospital Management Software include Stock Management, FSN Analysis, Purchase Management, Sale Bill, MIS, and more. While considering the Lab benefits in HMS, it handles Custom reports, Smart Notifications, Order Management, Email Reports, Invoice generation, and more. 

Apart from this, there are many features included in the MocDoc Hospital Management Software, namely Multi-location support, micro websites, attractive and easy-to-use dashboards, Role-based access, appointment widgets, and more. MocDoc HMS has more than 3100000+ patient records, can manage about 2600000+ reports, and 5500000+ prescriptions. 

2. Insta:

Insta is known for monitoring and controlling the moving pieces of the hospitals without any hindrances. It also helps in improving hospital productivity by managing all your patients, departments, and staff with ease. The software enhances the experience of patients by making use of better systems for decision-making. 

Hospitals prefer Insta Hospital Management Software for effective operations, enhanced patient retention by 30%, for making better decisions, and more. 

3. Attune: 

The main benefits of choosing Attune Hospital Management Software is that they help in increasing revenue, simplified operations, optimizing productivity, etc. The features of Attune HMS include TPA billing, Insurance, Credit tracking, Patient referral, Radiology information system, in-patient management, Central sterile supply department tracking, MIS reports, Doctor Scheduling and appointments, E-Prescriptions, Integrations with PACS, Nursing care and ward management. 

Other features include Creche Management, Patient registration, Doctor consultation, Pharmacy management system, Accident and emergency care, Operation Theater Management, In-patient diet, and kitchen tracking, IP, OP, Surgery and daycare billing, EMR and SOAP Notes, and more. 

4. ITDose Infosystem: 

HMS is one of the complete tools that controls every aspect of management, marketing, and administration of a hospital to enable them and the doctor software to act better. It helps with documentation as needed by internal laws, is used as a convergent platform to integrate across various setups, prevents misuse of information, makes sure about data security, offers integrity and transparency between multiple departments, and makes sure about the smooth functioning of a complicated hospital environment. 

The ITDose Infosystem Hospital Management Software holds important features like allocation of duties and staff management, bed allocation and managing wards, correct billing, and accounting, multiple user accessibilities for effective all-around performance, controls doctor system availability, scheduling, controlling laboratory equipment, inventory management with a timely warning system, appointment management, and lead management, and more. 

5. Suvarna HIS:

The Hospital Management Software from Suvarna is developed for people who need value-based solutions at affordable rates. The HIS software them has been designed after in-depth research and study into different aspects of hospital functionality. The products are developed to support every feature needed by a hospital and are developed with exquisite architecture, which enables a high level of flexibility and scalability for the end-user. 

The features of Hospital Management Software include a Hospital module, In-Patient Services, Laboratory information system, Billing, Inventory, Gastro-Enterology, Operation Theater, Nephrology, Food, and beverages, Out-patient services, Admission transfer and discharge, Blood bank, Online scheduling, Doctors Organizer, Bio-Medical, diabetes module, Nursing, and more. 

Bottom Line:

Every hospital staff member is capable and has the expertise and caliber to perform all things effectively. However, too much of dependence on the manual process will have a significant impact on productivity as well as a result of unavoidable errors. To keep your hospitals productive and competitive, you should start adapting to technologies like Hospital Management Software. 

Hospital Management Sofware not only controls the treatment schedules, patient records, bills, and reports but also enables different departments like employee and administration management. It's your responsibility to choose rightfully. 

For Further Details Visit MocDoc Healthcare CRM.

When you decide to implement a hospital management system in your hospital, the next step is to decide which system you want to use. Even though researching on the internet and going through the product catalogs of many software providers may tell you what to look for and what features are offered by different companies, it may not give you a complete picture. This is where an HMS product demonstration will be useful. Most companies provide free hospital management systems demos to prospective clients. A free demonstration of the software is an excellent way of knowing what exactly you will be getting when you finally purchase the software. It is like taking a test drive before you buy a car, and like a test drive, you need to know how to best know the software during the demo.

Understand your hospital

For getting a good hospital management software demo, the first step is to get a complete understanding of your hospital. Since you have already decided to get an HMS, you must have done most of your homework. But you need to know what features you will need when you implement the HMS. For HMS to achieve its full potential, the system should meet the requirements of all the users from the hospital administrator, to the lab technicians. To ensure this, discussions will have to be held with the users to get their input. The benefits of these discussions are two-fold. The requirements of different departments will be different and you will be able to know what everyone wants. The other benefit is that the employees of the hospital may have previous experience in using different kinds of HMS, and you will get a lot of insights into the advantages and drawbacks of different systems. And this information will come in handy while getting the demonstration.

Having a thorough understanding of the workflow is also very important. Usually, different department heads will have their ways of managing their departments. This is important both while getting a hospital software demo, as well as when you are implementing the system. Most HMS systems are customized around the workflow in a hospital, and company representatives will need to get a fair idea to provide you with a good solution. So it’s better to have all the answers ready when you’re getting the HMS demo. This will also help you when you implement an HMS system in your hospital

Online demo

Software providers sometimes provide demos on their websites, and this is a way for you to know the software before a face-to-face demo. You can use these online demos to learn the general features of the HMS system. Once you have gone through this demo, you will know what questions you have to ask the company representative. Online demos are free and the least time-consuming way to evaluate software, even though they may not be complete.

Questions you should ask

Once you have talked to other hospitals that have implemented  HMS or if you’re already using an HMS, you are probably aware of the general features all the HMS systems have. So before the demo, you need to keep in mind the problems at your hospital you’re trying to solve, and the features you’ll need to use this. The problems could be the ones faced by doctors or patients, such as difficulty in scheduling appointments, or they could be business problems, such as low returns or pilferage from the pharmacy.

A hospital management system demo usually takes around 45 minutes and starts with an introduction to the software company. After this, the company representative may ask you about the problems you are facing. Most companies are willing to customize their software for your needs, and you have to make the best use of this. Once you have explained the difficulties your hospital is facing, the representatives will probably explain some of the features they have that can solve these issues. During the demo, if you’re already aware of the general features, it is better to focus on these key features to make a good decision.  

There are no set rules on how a demo is conducted, so ask all the questions you have regarding the software. The point of getting a demo is not to make a decision then and there, but to understand all the features of the software. It’s also vital that all the stakeholders understand the software before making a decision, so have representatives from all the departments for the demo. Before deciding on a system, get demos from multiple companies, compare the software, and then decide. 

To learn more about HMS systems and get a demo, visit Mocdoc Hospital Information Management System