Full Guide to Healthcare CRM Development

One of the most common mistakes healthcare organizations keep making is investing in expensive medical equipment while completely ignoring collaboration with clients. Nowadays, with so many healthcare options, focusing on the customer is often what makes a health center successful instead of just getting by. Which side do you want to be on? If we’ve got you right, you definitely need to invest in healthcare CRM systems. 

In this post, we’ll tell you what features a good healthcare CRM system must have and what challenges healthcare CRM software development may entail. We will also look at the pros and cons of using ready-made solutions vs. custom CRMs so you can make an informed decision about which route to take to achieve improvement in the overall performance and productivity of your organization. 

“Health tech is the next frontier for innovation.”

Arpit Kothari (CEO of HolaMed Healthcare Technologies)

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What Is a CRM System in Healthcare

CRM stands for customer relationship management, while the part “healthcare” refers to its specific application within the healthcare industry. Sure enough, the features it has are quite unique compared to traditional CRM. They embrace the many facets of healthcare management, such as patient care, electronic prescriptions, medical records, duty schedules for healthcare specialists, and so on. 

A CRM system in healthcare serves as an effective technological and strategic advancement tool. It boasts extensive capabilities that health facilities can use to identify new care opportunities, build proper strategies, and minimize medical errors and risks related to incorrect data maintenance. A healthcare CRM offers comprehensive visibility into how to better facilitate communication and interaction between patients and healthcare providers.

How CRM and EHR Differ

While both healthcare CRM and electronic health record (EHR) systems are used to store patient data, they are not the same. The key distinction between them lies in their target users. EHRs are tailored for use by physicians, testing laboratories, administrators, and insurance companies. CRMs, in turn, are specifically designed to meet the needs of marketing and sales departments. 

As you’ve guessed, the purposes they serve are also different. EHRs help medical staff optimize the treatment process by providing them with effective means of communication. CRMs are focused on enhancing patient satisfaction through close monitoring of patient interaction and feedback. 

These systems aren’t interchangeable — they have different features, objectives, and strengths. That said, CRM can be integrated into EHR. By integrating CRM into the electronic health record systems, hospitals can enjoy a multitude of benefits, including but not limited to:

• No double entry. All booking records are stored in the systems, eliminating the need to enter the same data several times.
• Easy information management. Any patient record, be it prescriptions, past appointments, or treatments, can be easily retrieved from the system in just a few clicks.
• Improved patient experience. The ability to provide patients with real-time data and fast onboarding leads to better experience and higher retention rates.
• Automated responses. Based on the data garnered from reports, medical centers can create automated responses to boost engagement with patients and provide more personalized care service.  

This integration offers the greatest value, providing healthcare institutions with a comprehensive view of patient data, including patient behavioral patterns, preferences, and interactions.

Below, in the table, we’ve outlined the peculiarities of both CRM and EHR so you can see their key distinctions.

Why Use a Healthcare CRM System?

Healthcare organizations’ biggest challenge is finding a way to centralize the growing volume of healthcare data. Just so you can get a picture, the healthcare industry generates 30% of all the 328.77 million terabytes of data generated every day, which is a huge number, to say the least. And all this data needs to be stored properly and analyzed to provide more efficient operations and improved patient outcomes. 

Of course, each medical facility in isolation doesn’t produce as much data, but the volume of medical records they have to deal with every day is far from negligible. That’s exactly where a medical CRM comes into play. By centralizing patient data, it makes it easily accessible and updatable across various systems and departments. This makes it easy for doctors and nurses to retrieve it when they need it without having to worry about going through a lot of paper records.

Another reason is the ability to engage and retain customers. Today, people are spoiled for choice, and when selecting a medical provider, they often favor the one that offers personalized care. With their ability to analyze patient data and tailor interactions accordingly, CRMs are proving invaluable here. They can automatically reach out to patients with personalized appointment reminders and send informative health-related content, making people feel more valued and cared for. 

In addition, let’s not forget about the administrative burden that grows on medical staff as the volume of healthcare data increases every day. The paperwork and manual processes involved in scheduling appointments, administering treatments, billing, and insurance claims can be tedious. However, a healthcare CRM can help reduce the workload on healthcare professionals and minimize the likelihood of errors and malpractice risks by automating all of these tasks. 

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Overview of the Healthcare CRM Market

Without making it too boring for you, let’s look at the most interesting numbers that best speak of the dynamics of the healthcare CRM market. 

In 2019, the value of the healthcare CRM market was $5.8 billion. Fast forward to 2021, and that figure tripled, reaching the mark of $14.3 billion. Looking to the future, we can see that the size of the global healthcare CRM market is only set to grow. It’s already predicted that by 2032, it will reach $36.79 billion, that is, more than twice as much!  

What do these numbers mean? The threefold increase in market value over just two years shows the urgency with which healthcare providers from all over the world are adopting CRM solutions. And, as we can clearly see, they will continue to do so in the future. This means that those who don’t jump on the bandwagon quickly enough risk being left behind in a highly competitive healthcare landscape. 

The growth of the healthcare CRM market is also driven by IoT, which increases at an annual growth rate of 12.32%. As the number of devices connected to healthcare networks continues to rise, so does the demand for efficient data management and patient engagement solutions, underscoring the importance of embracing healthcare CRM. It’s no surprise that medical tech founders from around the world are eager to get a piece of this lucrative pie.

Benefits of CRM Application in Healthcare

With all things digital and customer-focused approaches in practically every industry, healthcare providers have to live up to the expectations of today’s digitally aware patients who look for high-quality customer service and better communication efforts. Here are the main opportunities a good healthcare CRM system offers for the improvement of patient care practices and management of internal processes.

Personalized Care

Personalization is an important process in building successful relationships with your existing and prospective patients. A good CRM enables healthcare providers and patients to input, store, and otherwise manage valuable patient data such as personal information, medical records, and appointments. Using this data, health facilities can engage patients with personalized interactions and experiences: 

• personalized messages for special occasions like birthdays;
• discounts on relevant medical treatments;
• appointment and medication reminders;
• newsletters with personalized health tips.

In addition to building better relations through communication, CRM appointment management tools and automated reminders will also help reduce waiting times for patients and optimize hospital workloads.

Medical Error Reduction

With patient data well-structured and updated in real time, medical staff can provide more timely and accurate treatment. Doctors can quickly find every piece of information they’re looking for, from emergency contacts to what the patient is allergic to, even when there are no relatives around or the patient is unconscious. They can analyze changes in the patient’s condition, compare test results, avoid repeating treatment that wasn’t effective before, etc.

Patient Feedback

It’s easier to evaluate customer satisfaction when patients have the digital means to leave feedback about their experience. A healthcare CRM can automatically send patients post-visit feedback surveys, then aggregate and analyze this information to provide health facilities with a full picture of the goods and bads in their services, eliminating guesswork. Thus, they can introduce the necessary quality-of-life changes in a timelier and more efficient manner.

Attracting New Customers

CRM tools enable health facilities to run targeted campaigns with relevant content or discounts to groups of prospects such as people with particular health conditions, patients of different age groups, or expecting parents. These tools can also be used to facilitate tracking and management of referral patients, for example, by helping healthcare providers monitor referral appointments and reach out to prospects who, for some reason, skipped their consultations.

Business Insights

A good healthcare CRM system is an efficient tool for the continuous improvement of business performance. The system facilitates the business analysis, reporting, and decision-making processes in healthcare with valuable data-based insights that can be effectively applied to optimizing expenditures and improving KPIs.

Compliance and Security of Patient Data

The higher the security of patient data from being lost, leaked, or stolen, the more credibility the healthcare provider gets from its existing and prospective patients. Quality healthcare CRM software incorporates various means of patient data protection, including multi-level authentication and data encryption. With a good CRM system in place, your digital care programs will tick every box on the HIPAA compliance checklist.

Resource Management

Healthcare CRM software provides real-time information on available personnel and resources to facilitate the management system. It enables your administrative staff to keep better track of prescription drugs and medical equipment maintenance. It can be used to optimize medical staff workloads and appointment scheduling. The system will suggest the most suitable appointment slots and help with rescheduling. A healthcare CRM system can also help the HR department with automated calculation. Working hours, sick leaves, vacation days, salaries—a big relief for large healthcare providers.

Medical Billing

By means of a healthcare CRM system, it is easier for a provider to collect and update the financial information and payment details of their patients. Thus, they can use this data to efficiently generate bills, track payments, and send automated reminders on due payments to their customers.

24/7 Customer Support

Most often, health facilities don’t have the staff capacity to answer all of the phone calls and messages from patients without delay. To solve the problem and speed up your customer support, a healthcare CRM system can be customized with chatbot functionality. An intelligent bot will be able to provide patients with timely and effective responses to most common concerns and requests they may have.

3 Types of Healthcare CRM Software

When it comes to the types of healthcare CRM software, they can be divided into three categories:

• Collaborative;
• Analytical;
• Operational.

Let’s talk about each of them in detail so you can see how they compare and decide which one suits your specific needs best.

Collaborative 

Collaborative CRM aims to improve communication in huge healthcare organizations with multiple divisions. It allows authorized team members to quickly access past interactions from different communication channels and, instead of repeating themselves when talking to new clients, get straight to the point. 

Collaborative CRM provides support for multiple communication channels so healthcare professionals can speak with their clients in any way they choose. In addition, it has analytical tools. These tools can help make sense of data collected from different channels and allow companies to tailor their services to improve engagement and boost retention rates.  

How It Works

Collaborative CRM focuses on customer retention rather than sales. It has many collaborative features, such as real-time data sharing and task management, that make it easier for different departments to communicate and access information. 

Best For

This type of CRM is a good choice for large medical organizations that struggle to keep their staff on the same page and/or have multiple divisions spread geographically.  

Analytical

Analytical CRM gathers customer data and helps extract valuable insights from it so that healthcare organizations can better understand their customers’ behaviors and choose the right tactics to attract and retain more users. The insights companies gain from analytical CRM can help build long-term relationships with clients. When people feel that they are treated with care, they are more inclined to stay with the same health provider. 

How It Works

This CRM stands out for its data mining feature, making it ideal for strategy development. Clinics and medical centers using this type of CRM can analyze large data sets, identify trends, and develop more personalized approaches based on insights from data collected over time. 

Best For

Analytical CRMs are perfect for medical institutions that have a lot of data and don’t know how to use it effectively. 

Operational 

Operational CRM provides an array of features to visualize and manage the customer journey. 

From the moment patients first land on the company’s website to the moment they fill out a contact form and become customers, it draws a detailed map of a customer’s path across all touchpoints. With these insights, companies can recognize gaps or inefficiencies in the pipeline and take proactive steps to enhance the entire customer journey. 

The main job of operational CRM systems is to streamline processes by automating repetitive tasks, including sales, marketing activities, lead generation, and services. This lightens the burden on medical staff, allowing them to focus on their core competencies and providing great customer service.  

How It Works

In addition to standard features found in the other two CRM solutions, this type includes some extra features designed to study how people perceive the clinic and what steps they take before becoming customers. Automation features, in turn, can help create newsletters, provide personalized recommendations, and determine details that a doctor needs to help a patient effectively.   

Best For

This solution can be a smart choice for medical organizations that want to make the most of the information they have while streamlining processes.  

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3 Common Myths About CRM Healthcare

While the growing popularity of medical CRM software is undeniable, there are many myths surrounding it that confuse some healthcare administrators. Let’s look into these myths and dispel them.

1. Exclusively for Sales Departments

CRMs are indeed powerful tools for sales and marketing. However, their usability extends far beyond these domains. Hospital managers working with healthcare CRM systems understand customer characteristics better than sales managers and can help enhance practice management by pointing out some lacking areas.. Moreover, CRMs hosted on the cloud can be accessed by everyone from the team, so, contrary to the common belief, not only sales departments can effectively use it for day-to-day operations. 

2. Easy to Integrate Into Existing Infrastructure 

Another myth widely spread among new adopters of CRM is that it can be easily integrated into the existing healthcare practice. In general, it’s not that far from the truth. With the right strategy in place you will experience fewer pitfalls. That being said, it’s not that easy, either. Since the core component of a CRM is formed with medical records, it’s important to scrutinize all this data carefully to avoid any disruptions or data inaccuracies, which can take a lot of time and effort. 

3. Redundant When Other Systems Are Used

Some organizations believe that if they already have several systems in place, they don’t need CRM. However, if it somehow works, it doesn’t mean it works well. CRMs offer a different kind of value. Additionally, a CRM allows you to develop your own custom platform with unique features that are lacking in other systems but are important for the needs of your healthcare organization. Existing systems don’t offer this kind of customization and, therefore, cannot be considered as a replacement for CRM. 

Custom Healthcare CRM or Off-the-Shelf Solution: Which One to Choose?

There are at least 1,787 CRM providers in the US, and 50 of them are known worldwide, giving quite a number of choices for companies looking to get started quickly. You most definitely have heard of names like Salesforce Health Cloud, Influx MD, VerioMed, and many others (we will look at them a little later) that offer a range of solutions suitable for both small and large-scale projects. 

At the same time, it’s worth noting that choosing a ready-made subscription-based platform isn’t always the best option. Let’s look at the positives and negatives of an off-the-shelf healthcare solution and custom CRM to help you make the right decision. 

SaaS Healthcare CRM Pros:

• Rapid development. Off-the-shelf solutions are pre-built and ready to use, allowing for quick implementation. This can be particularly beneficial if you need to get up and running swiftly. 
• Lower initial costs. These solutions typically have lower initial costs compared to custom CRM platforms. You won’t need to invest as much in development, which can be appealing for budget-conscious organizations. 
• Industry expertise. Many off-the-shelf healthcare CRMs are designed by industry experts and are often updated to comply with the latest healthcare regulations and standards. This can save you the effort of keeping up with compliance changes. 
• Long track record. Since these solutions have been in the market for a while, they have been tested extensively and have a long track record of reliability and performance. 
• Community and support. Mid-range and large CRM providers often have large user communities and robust support systems, which can come in useful when facing issues or seeking functional enhancements. 
• Scalability. Off-the-shelf solutions are typically built to accommodate a range of organizations, from small clinics to large hospital networks, making them suitable for various growth needs. 

Cons:

• Limited customization. Off-the-shelf platforms are designed to be one-size-fits-all, which means they may not fully align with your unique processes and workflows, leaving you with a less flexible system.
• Inefficient workflows. Since these solutions cater to a broad audience, they may include features and functionalities that you don’t need and may actually overcomplicate your system, ultimately leading to inefficient workflows. 
• Vendor lock-in. You become reliant on the CRM provider’s updates and roadmaps. If they discontinue the product or make significant changes that don’t quite fit your needs, you may be forced to adapt or migrate to a different solution. 
• Hidden costs. While the initial costs of off-the-shelf solutions may be lower, there can be hidden costs associated with add-ons, customizations, or scaling as your organization grows. These expenses can add up over time and make your total bill rather steep. 
• Data security concerns. Last but not least, it’s quite possible that the standard security measures offered by most CRM providers may not fully meet your organization’s specific data security, which could leave you vulnerable to data breaches. 

Custom Software Development Pros:

• Tailored to your needs. Custom systems are designed from the ground up to fit your specific workflows, processes, and unique requirements. 
• Competitive advantage. When you develop your own solution, you can get a competitive edge by including features and capabilities that are distinct and catered specifically to your business model. 
• Flexibility and future-proofing. You have full control over updates and adaptations as your organization evolves.
• Integration capabilities. One of the biggest advantages of custom solutions is that they can be seamlessly integrated with other systems and databases within your enterprise.
• Data security. You can rest assured knowing that your data is stored not in the cloud but on your secure servers, where it cannot be accessed by unauthorized parties.

Cons:

• High initial development costs. Since every feature needs to be developed from scratch, the cost of healthcare software development can exceed the budget of many healthcare organizations.
• Extended development time. Building a product from the ground up takes longer compared to off-the-shelf options, which can delay the implementation of CRM.
• Maintenance and support. Custom platforms require ongoing maintenance, updates, and support. This means you will need a dedicated team or partner to ensure the system remains secure and functional.
• Risk of failure. Like with any development project, creating a CRM carries the risk of failure, especially if the requirements are not well-defined or the development team lacks experience.

As you can see, both options are viable and can be suitable depending on your organization’s specific needs, budget, and long-term goals. However, in general, creating a custom platform proves to be a much better fit for most organizations. For one, they only include features that are essential for work. Most healthcare organizations engage their staff to discuss the functionalities of a CRM so they can bring the most value. After all, the effectiveness of CRM largely depends on how each nurse, doctor, or any other healthcare professional interacts with it. And for two, they provide seamless integration with other systems, unlike premade solutions that are often too hard to optimize, leading to high abandonment rates.

So, make sure to weigh the pros and cons of custom and SaaS solutions and make the right choice. 

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Must-Have Features of Healthcare CRM Software

Today, there are numerous off-the-shelf and custom healthcare CRM solutions on the market. Each comes with a comprehensive set of features from automated data backups to appointment management to staff performance tracking. And while the various systems may have hundreds of different features depending on the specialization of a health facility they were built for, all this functionality can be conveniently grouped into categories of essential components a good CRM must have to cover today’s patient care needs. When building your own healthcare CRM solution or choosing a ready-made one, make sure it features the following:

Patient Data Management

A good CRM should be more than just a database of patient names and contact details. It is important that the system helps healthcare organizations efficiently manage prescriptions, appointments, clinical records, corresponding lab tests and notes, and other health-related patient information. In addition to keeping records of patient-related data and providing medical staff with instant access to it, the system has to be able to update this data in real time. This will help medical staff create and maintain comprehensive patient profiles to minimize diagnostic and prescription errors while marketing teams can improve the quality of communication with patients.

Communications Management

The possibility of direct communication with existing patients and prospects is an absolute must for any CRM in today’s digital world, and the healthcare sector is no exception. Healthcare organizations should be able to manage notifications and calendar events in real time. This includes things like automated email distribution, customer support, and tracking of appointment reminders and marketing campaigns. Patients should be able to check timetables and availability of medical staff, schedule calls, manage their appointments, alerts, and reminders.

Customized Reports

Healthcare providers can effectively use CRM systems to perform comprehensive data analysis and generate different types of reports that can benefit themselves and their patients in many ways. For example, an open issues report makes it much easier for health facilities to estimate the severity of patient complaints and deal with things like inventory and equipment management, patient treatment adherence, etc. Instant access to information such as medical staff performance, customer support efficiency, and marketing campaign ROI facilitates budgeting and enables healthcare providers to improve the productivity and profitability of service.

Interoperability With Other Healthcare Solutions

One of the essentials of a good healthcare CRM system is its ability to integrate with other healthcare solutions such as electronic health records (EHRs), practice management software, diagnostic technologies, e-prescribing tools, enterprise resource planning (ERP) tools, and other existing management and digital care delivery solutions. Such a level of interoperability enables healthcare organizations to significantly improve patient data collection and structuring, leading to higher quality data management, fewer medical errors, and better patient outcomes.

Availability on Multiple Platforms and Devices

The easier it is to access your CRM system, the better. A good CRM should never be limited to a desktop computer, single platform, or web browser. Multi-platform and cross-device availability combined with cloud-based solutions enable medical staff to access and input data from their smartphones and tablets anywhere on and off the hospital premises. This saves doctors and patients a lot of time and makes data more accurate than if a doctor or a nurse had to quickly fill in a paper chart and then run back to a computer to re-enter the data again. Instant access to real-time patient information also makes doing rounds and checking on patients a lot easier.

Best Ready-Made Medical CRM Solutions

If you’ve decided to opt for a ready-made CRM, you may find our list of the top CRM solutions handy. We’ve hand-picked the top 5 platforms from reputable providers that will ideally align with the needs of both small and large medical enterprises. Here they are:

1. Salesforce Health Cloud

The most popular solution in the healthcare CRM industry made by one of the biggest cloud-based software providers out there. Features a native mobile application, real-time messaging, and a patient portal with several associated apps.

2. Hg Mercury CRM

An intelligent engagement platform that enables healthcare providers to ease patient access to quality care and pinpoint market opportunities with valuable insights. Features powerful predictive analysis tools, progressive profiling, and intelligent campaign building.

3. Influx MD

A medical sales and marketing automation software that consists of four powerful modules for customer relationship management as well as automation of medical sales and marketing tasks. Features an integrated email tracking system, EHR/schedule management tools, and a communication app with multiple security layers.

4. Pega Customer Service for Healthcare

A unified platform for personalizing interactions, eliminating channel barriers, and automating processes in patient care. Features a self-service advisor, Pega’s customer decision hub, and an abundance of marketing and sales automation tools.

5. VerioMed

A comprehensive healthcare solution for hospital and clinic laboratories designed to enhance patient engagement and streamline healthcare operations. Its features include appointment scheduling, telemedicine capabilities, an interactive patient data management dashboard, and advanced analytics for data-driven insights. 

Steps to Develop a Healthcare CRM

While it may seem that creating your own solution is quite challenging, the devil isn’t as black as it’s painted, especially when you have a clear algorithm to follow. Below, we provide a detailed guide to healthcare CRM development, so you know what follows what and don’t miss anything important.

1. Define Requirements

First things first, start by defining the requirements for a project. To do this right, involve key stakeholders, healthcare professionals, administrators, and IT personnel to gather insights into their daily workflows, pain points, and wish-list features for the CRM. 

2. Find a Tech Partner 

The next step is to find a skilled software development team to assist you in building a CRM. Enlisting the help of professionals can help you not only speed up time-to-market but also eliminate potential issues and bugs that may arise later in the project and require major rework. 

When looking for a development team to create a CRM, consider the following aspects:

• Whether or not they have experience in healthcare development;
• What tech stack they use;
• The size and expertise of the team, including programmers, database specialists, and UX/UI designers;
• Their familiarity with healthcare regulations and compliance standards, such as HIPAA, GDPR, or other relevant requirements in your region;
• References and testimonials from previous clients to gauge their reputation and the quality of their work;
• The capability of their solutions, ensuring that the CRM can grow with your clinic’s needs;
• Project management methodologies and tools they use.

Don’t limit yourself geographically. Finding qualified developers isn’t easy, particularly in the healthcare sector. Thus, it is best to outsource the development of a healthcare project to a custom software development company in offshore regions. By doing this, you’ll not only get access to a broader talent pool and cost-effective resources, but you will also significantly speed up the implementation of your CRM solution.

Our developers, for example, have years of domain expertise, which is proved by a long track record of portfolio. We work with cutting-edge technologies, like AI and IoT, and are well-versed in all sorts of healthcare software development services. What’s more, we offer a customizable approach that allows you to hire as many IT specialists as you need, depending on the specific needs of your software. 

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3. Conduct Research

Before you move on to the prototyping stage, take the time to thoroughly research existing healthcare CRMs, market trends, and emerging technologies. Discuss your project’s goals and objectives with your team so that everyone involved in the project can speak up and share their vision. A collaborative approach is very important during the discovery stage of product development as it can point out areas that need improvement and prevent you from overcomplicating your solution. 

“Don’t build until you’ve talked to people and always ask for help.”

Mike Cardona (Founder of Busy to Leveraged)

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These are three steps that are directly under your control. Now let’s take a look at what happens behind the scenes after the project requirements are generated and handed over to the developers. This will help you gain a deeper understanding of the process. 

4. Creating a Prototype

Once developers have clear project requirements, they can move to the phase of prototype creation. Creating a prototype helps you visualize healthcare CRM and map the entire customer journey from point A to point B, identifying pitfalls and areas for improvement. Plus, prototyping allows you to gather early feedback from your team and eliminate mistakes that might be too costly to fix down the road. Quite often, at this stage, businesses may realize that their ideas aren’t all that great and decide to rework their CRM concept.

5. Designing Software Architecture

If the prototype is viable, the team proceeds to the next crucial step of custom healthcare CRM development — designing the software architecture. This stage serves as the blueprint for the entire development process, ensuring scalability, security, and efficiency of the CRM.

When building CRM architecture, developers pay special attention to modules, data models, and planned integrations. How well the architecture is structured determines how effectively the platform will meet the evolving needs of a healthcare organization. 

6. Developing Software

When the software architecture is ready, the software development process begins. This phase entails writing the code for your healthcare CRM, designing interfaces, and integrating any other systems and technologies that medical staff will need for work. 

7. Testing and Debugging

Testing the software and debugging it are essential in creating a robust and stable solution. Therefore, the sooner testers are involved in the project, the better. By conducting QA throughout the development process, issues and bugs can be detected early in development and fixed at a fraction of the cost. 

Remember, testing isn’t a one-time process. In case you introduce any updates or new features, completing the testing is necessary to ensure that the changes do not affect your CRM functionality. 

8. Deployment

Finally, the product can move to the finishing stage. When everything is ready, the IT team installs the CRM on the servers and configures the settings. It goes without saying that  the software must be customized for end users from the start so that all people on the team, regardless of their technical expertise, can get the knack of it without a steep learning curve. 

9. Post-Development Monitoring

The development process doesn’t end with deployment. When the product goes live, you need to closely monitor its key performance indicators, such as user satisfaction, software adoption, and system uptime. By tracking these metrics, you can figure out how successful your CRM implementation has been and act quickly if any issues arise. 

Challenges of Healthcare CRM Software Development

If you decide to go for custom software development, it’s a good idea to become familiar with the key hurdles that may come your way. This will help you proactively plan and overcome challenges.  

Scalability

If your business model implies growth, it’s vital to plan for scalability from the get-go and ensure your CRM can seamlessly handle increased volumes of patient data without sacrificing performance. 

Security

Not only does your platform have to be protected against data breaches and cyberattacks, but it also must comply with healthcare regulations and standards to avoid penalties and reputational damage. 

User Adoption

Even the most well-designed CRM won’t benefit your organization if it’s not adopted by users. Therefore, at the initial stage of product development, it’s important to consider the needs of all end users, including clinicians, administrators, and stakeholders, to avoid creating a product that’s not practical or too difficult to use. 

Integration With Emerging Technologies

The healthcare industry continually evolves with the introduction of new technologies like telemedicine, wearables, and AI-driven tools. And while most SaaS CRMs come with a range of pre-built integrations that make it easy to connect them to existing tools and databases, integrating custom platforms requires a team of skilled developers with relevant expertise. 

Best Tech Stack to Develop a Medical CRM

Whether you choose to build a CRM in-house or outsource development to a remote team, it’s helpful to know what tech stack is best to use to build healthcare CRM. Further down, we’ll take a look at the most popular programming languages and frameworks used for this purpose. However, popularity alone isn’t enough to make a choice. Above all, when choosing the right tech stack, consider the size and complexity of your project, your team’s experience, budget, and scalability requirements.

Frontend Tech Stack

Let’s start by taking a look at the best stack for frontend development. Here are our top picks:

1. Angular

Angular, developed by Google, is one of the most robust JavaScript frameworks that has become widely used all over the world. It offers a range of tools and features for building modern web applications, making it an excellent choice for developing custom healthcare solutions. One of its strengths is its material UI kit. This kit allows developers to create outstanding UI designs without much effort. 

Another ace in the hole is typescript, which helps keep the code error-free. In addition, it has a two-way data binding feature that ensures automatic data synchronization, allowing you to work with real-time data and resource-intensive apps. 

2. React

React is a JavaScript frontend framework that is often used for creating healthcare applications. It follows the component-based architecture, which means that the code has a modular structure where each component is separated from the other. Not only does this promote code reusability, but it also accelerates development and facilitates the integration of healthcare-specific elements into your CRM. 

React is also well regarded for a virtual DOM that enables efficient updates to the user interface, making it perfectly suitable for data-intensive tasks. As a result, healthcare professionals can access and work with patient information with remarkable speed and precision without slowdowns. Additionally, React is compatible with a variety of backend technologies, allowing you to easily integrate new healthcare systems with your CRM and maintain its flexibility. 

Backend Tech Stack

When it comes to backend, we prefer the following solutions:

1. .NET

.NET framework is another great option for building CRM software. Not only is it highly scalable and reliable, ensuring round-the-clock app performance, but it also provides support for role management, which gives it an extra layer of security against unauthorized access. 

Also of note is its built-in caching system, which allows you to store data without using any other tools. Moreover, the caching system significantly speeds up data loading, resulting in an improved user experience and higher retention rates. 

2. Node.js

If you’re on the lookout for a robust backend stack that can accommodate the growth of your CRM without any glitches, you should consider Node.js. This framework is rightfully called one of the best backend frameworks, as it can be used for building any kind of applications.

The advantages of Node.js are numerous, but where it certainly stands out is in its ability to scale. It can be scaled both horizontally and vertically, making it one of the best alternatives to most JS servers. Aside from it, Node.js is known for its fast code execution and extensive library support. Plus, using Node.js eliminates the need for keeping two teams of developers as it can be used for developing frontend and backend codes.

3. PHP

PHP is a widely used server-side scripting language that has been a staple in web development for many years. While it may not be as trendy as some of the newer technologies, it remains a solid choice for healthcare CRM development, especially if your existing team has expertise in PHP.

PHP has a vast library of healthcare-related plugins and extensions, making it easy to integrate important healthcare functionalities into your CRM. It also can be used with various database systems, such as MySQL, which can streamline data management and retrieval. One of PHP’s other benefits is its performance and efficiency, making it a suitable choice for resource-intensive healthcare applications. 

In general, PHP is more of a backend framework, but it can also be used on the frontend if used along with popular frameworks such as Drupal, Laravel, and Symfony. 

Mobile Stack

Two best technologies for building a mobile CRM are React Native and Flutter. Let’s briefly touch on each of them.

1. React Native

The main advantage of choosing React Native for developing a mobile CRM is its code reusability. Once the code is created, it can be reused for other platforms without much work on the developer’s side. This not only optimizes development but also ensures faster launch. Plus, the product is easier to maintain afterward due to its single codebase. 

Aside from that, React Native is famous for the many additional built-in functions that enhance development by bringing more diversity to it. Thanks to this, you will not have any extra spending associated with coding, and the testing of these functions won’t take long.

2. Flutter

Just like React Native, Flutter has a single codebase, meaning developers don’t need to develop and test different codes for different operating systems and can launch the product quickly. It seamlessly works with all operating systems, including older versions of Android and iOS, and has desktop app support. The customizable widgets of Flutter help developers create flexible interfaces that can be continuously refined through real-time UI iteration. 

Another feature making Flutter a great option is Hot Reload. If any changes to the code are made, developers can see them in real-time, which saves them a lot of time and boosts their productivity. This, along with the many security features of Flutter and its compliance, makes it one of the best choices for building a CRM. 

Bottom line

To bring it to an end, the healthcare industry is actively developing. Look at the average life expectancy in developed countries. Compared to just a few years ago, it has increased significantly and is now 82 for females and 75 for males. As you can imagine, the number of active years of life has also increased, largely due to the critical role of medicine, including preventive and diagnostic practice. These considerations lead us to recognize the growing demand in healthcare. Not only will people continue using medical services, but the number of these services will keep growing as well, making CRM solutions a must-have now and in the future. 

In this article, we’ve covered the main types of CRM, the benefits they bring to healthcare facilities, and how much time and resources it takes to build them, so you make the right decision. By and large, there are plenty of ready-made solutions designed to cater to the needs of small and large healthcare enterprises. But in the long run, the most cost-effective solution will always be to build your own proprietary software tailored specifically to your organization.  

Whether you’re looking to build a healthcare CRM system from scratch or need help customizing a ready-made one, reach out to us and we will make sure you succeed with your business goals.