A Commitment to Healthcare Software Development Quality

Comprehensive healthcare software is now a regulatory and financial necessity.

The design and quality of that software is critical to hospital operations and patient care. It is just as important as the quality of the medical supplies used to treat patients. According to HealthIT.gov, 75 percent of providers believe the quality of patient care is closely related to the quality of their Electronic Health Record (EHR) and supporting software systems. EHR vendors like MEDHOST, committed to delivering a high-quality product and continuous quality improvement, promote better patient care and facility profitability. 

MEDHOST’s commitment to quality involves incorporating quality measures at every step in the development process and constant analysis of the end-user experience. Analysis of customer service cases, customer advisory boards, and end-user shadowing are invaluable to identifying improvement areas. Our goals that are designed to result in better quality solutions include but are not limited to: 

• Increase focus on release packaging and software deployment using sound practices and professional methodologies  
• Adhere to software development lifecycle processes that emphasize continuous improvement 
• Decrease deployments  
• Increase stability and predictability of software platform  
• Reduce in call volume and escalations  
• Increase the quality of MEDHOST software  
• Increase customer satisfaction  

MEDHOST Quality Initiatives  

Championed by its executive leadership team, MEDHOST continues to invest heavily in making quality an integral part of all development, testing, implementation, and maintenance processes. Quality-focused programs include company-wide participation and cooperation of all employees and stakeholders.  

MEDHOST dedicates numerous resources to improve areas of quality management. Each quality management initiative aligns with our overall software development lifecycle (SDLC) goal – to improve our customers' clinical, financial, and operational performances.  

Current corporate practices, system requirements, application areas, customer service metrics, and detailed customer feedback are continually assessed to identify opportunities for improvement in four areas.  

Procedure review 

Analysis of current procedures and customer feedback determines what processes are most effective and where improvements can be made. Procedure review involves:  

• Review and revision of existing procedures to make them more efficient to reflect current practices 
• Application of results to all application areas 

Training 

Compliance and education teams collaborate to develop new learning and communication tools to help educate current and new associates on the latest procedures and job expectations. Our training curriculum is accessible anytime on our Learning Management System (LMS) and includes educational modules supporting: 

• Development 
• Testing 
• Implementation 
• Support (Maintenance)  

Each part of the process is recorded as a separate training course and assigned to team members annually for review. The accessibility of content on the LMS adheres to processes and raises awareness while improving training efficiencies and scalability.  

Internal quality audits 

Expanding the guidelines and frequency of internal quality audits helps identify areas for continuous improvement, including creating new tools that help streamline the process. Improvements to the internal audit involve: 

• Increasing number of internal audits  
• Creating an audit checklist of common terms 
• Improving turnaround for audit completion and feedback led by champions, or the internal auditors 
• Conducting internal audits according to the 21 CFR 820 Quality System requirements  
• Developing new data tools to streamline auditing 
• Automating the auditing processes to improve timeliness and communication 

Management reviews

• The leadership team participates in regular management reviews of quality data to determine the effectiveness of the quality processes so they can provide guidance and resources.      

Delivering a Quality Product Through Innovation 

MEDHOST’s culture of innovation and creativity has been vital to the development of its high-quality product. Awareness of HCIT industry developments and trends coupled with constant assessment of the needs of its hospital customers are the core of our product management plans. Some of our innovation initiatives include: 

• Empowering associates through company-wide innovation events and a dedicated process improvement committee. An example of promoting our culture of innovation is “Hackathon.” A company-wide innovation competition designed to bring out ideas that greatly benefit our customers. The 2020 Hackathon is currently underway.
• Partnering with hospitals and other software vendors in the industry to seek new opportunities for improvement 
• Expanding testing automation across the development cycle to enhance stability and efficiency 
• Adding testing focused on the end-user experience and product performance 
• Evaluating quality through key metrics and customer feedback, including but not limited to Beta feedback, weekly metrics, and watching for trends and measuring quality. 
• Identifying areas of opportunity for improving our healthcare information technology (HIT) solutions through our quality management systems (QMS)  

MEDHOST’s Commitment to Quality 

Providing quality products and services to our customers is at the heart of MEDHOST and everything we do. As the healthcare IT landscape evolves, we are committed to continually improving our products and solutions alongside our partners, whose ideas and perspectives help us create better solutions. We believe quality management is critical for patient and provider care. Company-wide education, executive involvement in reviews, and regular audits provide our customers with efficient tools and solutions so they can deliver high-quality care.  

Discover the difference with the MEDHOST experience. Contact us at inquiries@medhost.com or call 1.800.383.6278.