Find the best Hospital Management Software

Managing a hospital involves dealing with a large number of patients and an even larger volume of patient data every day. Managing this vast pool of data is a task in itself. In addition, you have to cater to the many administrative aspects of running a medical facility: keeping a tab on lab reports, diagnosing patients, treating outpatients, handling medical billing and accounting, and much more. Handling these tasks manually can be back-breaking. Luckily, technology solutions can help automate many of these tasks.

One such tool is hospital management software. A hospital management platform automates the administrative, record-keeping, and financial aspects of running a healthcare organization, such as managing patients’ prescriptions, medical histories, and financial transactions. It helps save time, allowing you to focus more on your patients and less on desk work.

In this buyers guide, we go through the features, benefits, and market trends related to hospital management software to help you understand the software tool better.

Here's what we'll cover:

• What is hospital management software?
• Common features of hospital management software
• What type of buyer are you?
• Benefits of hospital management software
• Market trends to consider

What is hospital management software?

Hospital management software is a software tool that automates the management of various day-to-day operations of a hospital. It helps oversee the administrative as well as financial aspects of running a healthcare facility. Healthcare professionals can use the software to manage patients’ medical records, appointment dates, contact details, insurance claims, payment records, lab reports, and much more.

These functionalities can help a hospital, clinic, or any other medical practice improve records management, reduce the time spent on administrative tasks, increase operational efficiency, and enhance the quality of patient care.

A view of the dashboard in eHospital Systems (Source)

Common features of hospital management software

Here are some common features of a hospital management system:

Appointment scheduling	Allow patients to schedule appointments online and have the appointments automatically reflect on your calendar.
Claims management	Use patients’ claim IDs to track the amount covered under their insurance policies
Patient record management	Maintain a digital record of patients’ healthcare information, including their prescriptions, medical histories, bills, and treatment plans.
Physician management	View the clock-in and clock-out times of your physicians. Check their workload, appointment, compensation, and time-off details.
Medical billing	Manage billing and insurance claims for patients. Generate bills and invoices, adjust claim amounts, check treatment costs and medicine charges, and more.
Outpatient management	Schedule and manage appointments for outpatients. Maintain a record of their medical conditions, diagnoses, treatment plans, and applicable charges.

What type of buyer are you?

Most healthcare software buyers belong to one of the following categories:

• Buyers looking for a stand-alone tool: These buyers may already have a tech stack consisting of electronic medical record (EMR) software or patient portal software, which may be missing a hospital management system. They may also be looking to replace their existing hospital management platform with an upgraded tool that offers better capabilities. These buyers should consider a stand-alone platform that offers key hospital management capabilities such as medical billing, claims management, and patient record management.
• Buyers looking for a suite of applications: These buyers need a hospital management system that’s part of a larger suite of medical software tools. With this tool, they’re looking to manage the full range of medical operations, including patient registration, record keeping and billing, claims management, and outpatient management. These buyers should opt for a suite of applications that includes medical accounting software, e-prescribing software, EMR software, and patient portal software besides a hospital management system.

Benefits of hospital management software

Implementing a hospital management software solution has many benefits, including:

• Better data management: Hospitals generate large volumes of data, including patient records, medical bills, staff attendance records, and appointment records. A hospital software tool helps manage this data better using a centralized data storage system where all of these documents are stored in an orderly manner and can be searched and retrieved easily.
• Improved financial management: A hospital management system can track and record all the financial transactions in a healthcare organization. It can also account for the finances involved in treating outpatients. The software centralizes the management of financial records so that hospital staff can easily retrieve them when needed.

Market trends to consider

Listed below are some trends in the hospital management software market that you should be aware of:

• Blockchain for security and health record management: Blockchain can allow the healthcare industry to share patient data via a distributed ledger, which is a secure and decentralized system. This would help hospitals get timely access to patients’ medical history and provide better diagnoses.
• IoT for automatic patient charting: Creating patients’ charts involves maintaining a detailed record of their medical conditions, allergies, vitals signs, and other relevant information. The charting process can be time- and effort-intensive. However, IoT devices can help automate the entire process. For example, an IoT device can take voice commands and digitally record a patient’s information to create an electronic chart. Automation can save valuable time for doctors and help speed up diagnosis.

Note: The application selected in this article is an example to show a feature in context and is not intended as an endorsement or a recommendation. It has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable at the time of publication.