Cost of Developing a Hospital Management System in 2024

Introduction

Since the COVID pandemic, the traction for hospital management systems has been booming. If we search for the same, we will encounter a common question: “How much does it cost to develop a hospital management system?” Well, gauging the cost of development can be difficult. However, according to our research, hourly rates can vary from $18 to $22.

Currently, due to the evolving nature of the global healthcare IT market, it has paved the way for better innovative tools that streamline complex workflows and bring better patient experience. Many hospitals and health care centers are choosing hospital management software to bring out better in their particular niche.

It is always a wonder to know how much it costs to develop a hospital management system. Today, in this blog, we hope to make it easier to figure out the cost of developing a hospital management system and how you can determine the cost of developing your hospital management system.

What is Hospital Management System Software?

A hospital management system is a software product that helps manage the institution to provide enhanced medical care. It is a central network that holds the power to control & manage different departmental operations in a single place.

Hospital management system software works as a binding force between different modules such as admissions, appointments, patient registration, electronic medical records, laboratory management, patient data, medical records, appointments, billing, and inventory management.

The HMS system focuses on streamlining different processes, including reducing paperwork, managing patient care, eliminating errors, and improving the quality of healthcare services. This system uses real-time access to provide inputs to better decision-making and improve patient outcomes.

How do hospital management systems function?

Types of hospital management system software

The different types of hospital management systems handle various functions. Due to the exponential surge in demand for such products, more and more firms are planning to develop healthcare software and enhance their medical services.

Some of the common types of HMS in the medical field are given below:-
1) Hospital Information System
A hospital information system is a comprehensive solution covering different healthcare information management aspects. It focuses mainly on the hospital’s administrative, financial, and clinical needs.

2) Electronic Medical Records Software
This type of HMS involves recording all information digitally related to the patient, including patient history, diagnosis, medication, treatment plans, and other relevant information. It facilitates the core advantage of integrating patient information into other systems.

3) Laboratory Information System
LIS is a system that keeps a tap on the various lab operations that need special attention, such as sample tracking, testing results management, and inventory management. It is also capable of working with systems as well.

4) Radiology Information System
This system is designed to streamline the radiology processes and improve patient care. It manages imaging data, radiology operations, scheduling appointments, and generating reports.

5) Pharmacy Management System
A pharmacy management system is dedicated to managing the pharmacy operations within the hospital. It includes management of medicine and prescription management, billing, tracking assets, etc.

6) Billing and Revenue Cycle Management
This system helps manage the financial aspects of the healthcare facility, including billing, claims processing, and revenue tracking.

7) Picture Archiving and Communication System
The core goal of PACS is to store and manage medical images, including MRIs, X-rays, and CT scans. This enables the healthcare providers to view and share the images electronically.

Key features of hospital management system

Some of the standard key features that are important for developing a hospital management system are:-

1) For patient

a) Patient’s registration

HMS allows patients to reduce the long waiting lines, helping them schedule their appointments conveniently. Data is secured for future visits, eliminating the need to fill out forms repeatedly. This feature maintains accuracy in record-keeping and ensures healthcare providers have access to patients’ information.

b) Billing verification

Billing and payment features provide an easy way to pay securely with more convenience and efficiency. It lets patients view their medical bills, insurance claims, and payment options online.

c) Insurance Verification

Hospital management systems offer a crucial feature that simplifies insurance coverage and eligibility. Patients can input their insurance details, which the software verifies, allowing them to understand their coverage. This reduces billing confusion, minimizes financial surprises, and ensures informed patient decisions.

d) Electronic Health Records

Electronic health records are digital versions of health records, including diagnoses, treatment, test results, medications, and improving efficiency. It maintains the coordination between patients & doctors and empowers them to participate actively in healthcare decisions.

2) For doctor

a) Patient Appointment Management

This feature makes it easy for doctors to manage their patient appointment process. It helps them to schedule the appointments according to their availability. Due to the organized approach in the software, it reduces the no-shows, optimizes the doctor’s schedule, and improves overall patient satisfaction.

b) Electronic Health Record

EHR access features enable doctors to securely update patient information, replace paper files, and make the system easy to search. They review medical history, medications, and lab results, ensuring accurate and timely care, enhancing efficiency, reducing errors, and improving patient outcomes.

c) Telemedicine Integration

The feature enables patients to consult doctors remotely via video or chat, making it more accessible for follow-ups, minor concerns, and challenging physical visits.

d) Laboratory Management & Virtual Care

Laboratory management features enable doctors to access the lab results without needing to collect the lab results. They can access them instantly when readily available on the hospital management software.

3) For hospital

a) Registration & Appointment

The core feature of a hospital is patient registration, which streamlines the process by recording and storing patient information, reducing paperwork, and ensuring accurate records. This feature also aids doctors in efficiently scheduling appointments, providing a systematic approach to medical booking.

b) Staff Management

HMS streamlines hospital staff management by maintaining doctors’, nurses’, and administrative personnel’s records, tracking attendance and performance, and ensuring efficient scheduling and role allocation.

c) Inventory Management

The feature is a digital tool for efficiently tracking and saving vital medical equipment, supplies, medications, and supplies. It monitors stock level expiration dates and automates reordering to prevent shortages and excess supplies, ensuring cost-effective healthcare delivery.

d) Security and Access Control

Healthcare industry security is crucial, and HMS provides robust access control mechanisms to safeguard patient information, ensuring only authorized personnel can access it.

e) Billing Invoices

Billing and invoices manage healthcare services’ financial aspects, creating patient bills for medical procedures, consultations, and medications, and tracking payments, streamlining hospital administration’s financial processes.

How can Openxcell help you integrate these hospital management system features?

After knowing the features, are you looking forward to integrating them by reaching out to a Healthcare Software Development Company? You are at the right place. OpenXcell is the leading company with the required expertise in software development and experience in developing hospital management systems.

We help you develop a hospital management system with all the desirable features crucial to streamlining patient data, other administration-related tasks, and hospital processes. Additionally, we can assist you in implementing data security measures and protecting sensitive data to ensure improved functionality and effectiveness of healthcare institutions.

Reach out to us to learn more about developing a hospital management system!

Benefits of hospital management system

Integration of hospital management system offers a range of competitive advantages to medical facilities:-

a) Improved patient care
Since every vital information about the patient is easy and accessible, it leads to improved patient care.

b) Increased efficiency
HMS certainly increases efficiency by maintaining patient registration and appointment scheduling.

c) Secure data management
Secures data to reduce the likelihood of errors and to make it easier to manage.

d) Drastically reduced cost
It is possible to provide better service at a reduced cost as it mitigates the requirement of paperwork, reduces administrative costs, and improves billing accuracy.

e) Doubled patient safety
Reduced medical errors by accessing patient information and medical history allow double safety, preventing medical errors, misdiagnoses, and others.

f) Seamless communication
A centralized system for patient data and treatment plans helps to maintain better collaboration between healthcare providers and improves patient outcomes.

Steps involved in developing a hospital management system

Developing a hospital management system is essential in this modern healthcare landscape. Below are the steps on how to build HMS effectively.

1) Undertake market analysis

An excellent idea to enhance the hospital management programs is to explore the market to ensure you can fulfill current customer needs and attract customers to yield income. Conducting thorough market research is a guideline to ensure your idea attracts customers and generates income.
– Identify the common challenges
– Understand user needs
– Analyze competition

2) Reflect on development challenges

During the planning stage, it is important to consider the challenges that come with developing hospital management software.
– HIPPA Compliance
– Data integration
– Usability and user adoption
– Clinical decision support
– Scalability

To overcome the challenges mentioned above, it is necessary to collaborate with stakeholders and deeply understand healthcare processes. Below are the strategies to follow:-
– Microservices architecture
– Data integration strategy
– User-centered design
– Usability testing
– Agile development practices

3) Selecting the appropriate type of hospital management system is crucial

The core focus to know before developing a hospital management system is finding out the type of software to be included or available in the market:-
Based on the functions performed by an HMS, these digital solutions are categorized as follows:
– Administrative systems
– Operational & tactical systems
– Task-based systems
– Subject-based systems
– Financial & billing systems

4) Choose the required functionality

When creating a hospital management system, prioritizing core features is crucial for success, as it is impossible to consider all possible functionalities.

Below are a few fundamental features that are defined as the hospital management system:-
a) Registration of patients
b) Electronic Medical Records (EMR)
c) Appointment and scheduling functionality
d) Billing and accounting modules
e) Medical practitioner profiles
f) Stock control
g) Laboratory administration
h) Data Analytics
i) Pharmaceutical operations
j) Integration with insurance services

5) Consider design

The success of HMS mainly depends on UI & UX. An HMS serves various user groups with unique interests and needs.

To achieve the goals of the design, our UX/UI designers highlighted a few helpful tips:-

– It is essential to understand clearly how the healthcare industry operates.
– Ensuring that the design is in sync with the user’s surroundings is crucial.
– Minimize interruptions or diversions to increase focus and productivity.

6) Clarify the development approach

There are two directions for developing a hospital management system: hiring a software development company and using an available SaaS development solution.

Ultimately, the choice differs depending on your goals, duration, timeframes, and budget.

7) Launch a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

MVP development for healthcare can be further for clinical trials. This procedure tests the solution’s feasibility, effectiveness, and safety before it reaches the broad market.

– Fast-to-market
– Cost-effectiveness
– Increased value

8) Launch a full-fledged product

MVP version, when released gives the results of your idea, which is feasible or not. It helps to gather feedback from early users. They may be healthcare providers, patients, or both. Their feedback helps to make it more efficient and helpful.

You can evaluate the success of your solution by predefined KPI metrics. Below mentioned are a few of them:-

– Churn rate
– Average revenue per user
– Customer lifetime value
– Customer acquisition cost

What is the cost of developing a hospital management system?

The cost of developing a hospital management system varies on various factors. Each of them holds greater importance in the overall cost structure:-

a) Size & complexity of the project
The size and complexity of the project influence the cost of hospital management software development. For example, large hospitals have more intricate workflows and operations. This will require increased development time & resources, leading to higher costs.

b) Features & Functionalities to be Included
The more additional features & functionalities, the more expensive it will be. For instance, if an HMS has extended features such as real-time patient monitoring, performing predictive analysis is expected to incur higher costs than basic analysis.

c) Tech Stack
Hospital management system databases, programming languages, frameworks, libraries, and cloud storage are used for HMS development. Let us consider a simple example: if your HMS is compatible with other operating systems such as iOS, Android, and Windows, it can cost you more.

d) Regulatory Compliance
Hospitals must comply with many compliance requirements as it is crucial to protect data privacy and patient safety. To fulfill these requirements can add up additional costs.

e) Maintenance and Support
Developing an HMS doesn’t end with the launch. It is a continuous process that requires continuous maintenance and consistent support. This includes updates, bug fixes, and user support, which can add to the development cost.

f) Development Team
The size and location of the team highly influence the development costs. For example, if you are looking forward to outsourcing your HMS project, it can be comparatively cheaper but relatively expensive if done locally.

g) Integrations with Third-party Services
Integrating technologies like blockchain or augmented reality may significantly increase the development costs of HMS.

The cost is influenced by the development services providers:-
The three primary types of service providers for hospital development services are:
1) Hiring freelancers
2) Project outsourcing
3) Dedicated team

After the selection of the service provider to ensure the best project outcomes, consider the below-given factors:-
1) Location of the development services provider
2) Technical skillset and expertise of the development team
3) Project schedule and extent
4) Project oversight and communication strategies

Our research reveals that the cost of developing a hospital management system can vary between $60,000 to USD 100,000, depending on the system’s complexity. This can be a straightforward or well-planned hospital management system. A more intricate system with cross-platform support may cost more. Additionally, hourly rates for development can vary between $18 to $25, depending on the scope of the project.

Wrapping it up

Developing a hospital management system can be a complex process. Therefore, you need a reliable software development company which can help with HMS development. It is necessary to consider all the risks, outsourcing methods, expenses, and project needs. The results will be exceptional if you manage to get it done with the right one.

If you are looking for a reliable company to assist with HMS development, OpenXcell is the perfect choice.’ The expertise and experience they carry offer top-notch healthcare software solutions. Reach out to them and know the favorable outcomes and suitable solutions for your hospital management system.