Rapid technological advancement and accompanying adjustments in business demand agility from companies. Companies must evolve to keep pace with emerging challenges. These challenges may sometimes manifest in the form of technological transitions. A tech transition is a decision with long-term implications. If not well thought through, abrupt decisions can bring their share of future pain.
The following considerations can act as a guide for organizations navigating this transition:
1. Business Needs:
Companies must ensure that the tech stack aligns with the larger business goals. They invest time and resources to identify bottlenecks in the current stack. Further, they must understand how these bottlenecks hinder the fulfillment of business goals. The goal is to know how the new tech stack will address current pain points.
There are also considerations like:
Can the current tech stack accommodate future business requirements?
For instance, an outdated Practice Management system doesn’t integrate with newer telehealth solutions. This leads to a bad experience for both patients and providers. This situation gives impetus to consider a technological transition to avoid losing business. We must also consider the support levels in the market surrounding a technology.
Is the support and developer community around a certain technology robust?
Limitations of the Current System:
Companies must recognize the limitations of their current system.
Does the system create data silos?
Does the system force staff to juggle multiple platforms, hindering the flow of patient information?
Is it possible to generate reports on KPIs and improvement areas from the system with ease? Asking these questions could help pinpoint weak areas of the current system. The insights derived can inform the technological transition better.
2. Security:
The company must ensure that there is strong data encryption, access controls, and threat detection tools. Teams handling the transition can consider questions like:
Is the stack compliant with HIPAA and other relevant industry benchmarks?
Does the tech stack offer automatic security updates that minimize the vulnerability window?
Does the system allow role-based access to users?
Does the system consider internal and different tiers of external users?
Will the Protected Health Information (PHI) data be placed in a Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) zone?
Are the right security tools planned for secure code review and security testing?
Are static analyzers used?
Has network security been considered in the development/deployment design?
A thorough evaluation helps to understand the new tech stack’s security posture. These questions are pertinent, given the healthcare industry’s stringent security requirements.
3. Futureproofing:
In business, there is the temptation to solve the most immediate problems first. This temptation often informs the decision to select a certain tech stack without considering future needs. The goal is to select a future-proof stack so the technology does not become obsolete soon. So, companies need to ask key questions like:
Does the tech stack offer modular components facilitating easy integrations with new technologies?
Does the system allow modifying modules and deploying them with a quick turnaround time for new features?
Does it support rapid development and deployment?
Will the technology stack support all non-functional requirements?
Does the tech stack help third-party systems to integrate into your system if needed?
4. Total Cost of Ownership (TCO):
The initial licensing cost is a key factor when selecting technologies. However, companies must review costs arising due to training, maintenance, and infrastructure needs. Decision-makers need to ponder over a key aspect:
Could alternative open-source technologies be more cost-effective?
Open-source technologies may have additional costs and internal support requirements. Some examples are technical expertise, maintenance of customizations, and security management. So, companies must explore how these costs weigh against software licensing fees.
5. Integration:
Yet another critical consideration when selecting a new technology stack is integration.
Does the technology under consideration integrate with the existing IT environment?
Asking this is important to avoid creating data silos. Data is useful only when it can be transferred seamlessly between different software used by the organization.
A data silo is when information gets trapped in isolated systems. It is detrimental to patient care coordination and operational efficiency. Companies must ensure the tech stack adheres to standard interoperability formats. Some examples of such formats are HL7, FHIR, etc.
The new tech stack should facilitate API development so different systems can ‘talk’ to each other. This results in real-time data exchange. So, the need for manual data entry work is eliminated. To achieve this, teams can explore integration tools/middleware platforms. Certain such tools/platforms are designed for healthcare IT. These tools simplify the process of API development and management.
Companies also need to consider data mapping and transformation requirements.
Can the new tech stack accommodate the data formats generated by existing systems?
Mapping tools translate data into compatible formats. These tools need to be tested before embarking on a transition project.
For instance, a hospital utilizes a separate system for managing patient appointments. Further, it uses another system for billing and a third for electronic health records (EHR). Providers struggle to access the patient’s medical history without integration between these systems. This could lead to delays in diagnosis and treatment.
How HealthAsyst Helped a Specialty EHR Company Navigate Technology Transition
HealthAsyst helped a specialty Electronic Health Records (EHR) company navigate a technology transition. The company’s legacy patient portal, built on ASP.NET, needed improvement.
Our solution involved migrating the portal to React, a modern JavaScript library. This migration used a microservices architecture for the backend and ensured mobile compatibility.
Further, HealthAsyst developed components. These components were consumable by different interfaces. This ensures that the system delivers the same experience to users. We also helped migrate data from the old portal to the new system.
This successful migration resulted in a modern, market-ready patient portal. The portal was successful and could generate extra revenue for the EHR company. [Read the case study].
