How Customer Software Development Can Bridge the Care Gap Plaguing the System

Unsurprisingly, the United States is in the middle of a healthcare crisis. As a country, we spent over $4.5 trillion on healthcare. For reference, that is more than the economies of all but three countries. But what do we have to show for it?

The United States suffers from one of the worst medical outcomes among first-world countries. Additionally, we have gaping inequities in the healthcare system that seem to impact some parts of the population disproportionately.

In this blog, we will discuss some of those inequities and how custom software development can help reduce them.

Geographical Disparity in Care

One of the most visible examples of inequity in US healthcare is in access to care for distant, rural communities. People living in urban areas can access a wide range of specialists and care services. However, People unfortunate enough to live in rural places need to travel far just for a specialist consultation.

Patients suffering from chronic diseases and women who need prenatal care often need to travel to urban locations. This is especially difficult for people who have a hard time finding a means of transport.

But custom software development like Flatworld Edge has stepped in to alleviate their problems. The kicker is that it took a global pandemic for everyone to realize that software for telehealth can lower inequalities posed by geographical distances.

Telehealth uses digital and telecommunications technologies to facilitate the access and dissemination of medical services. Companies involved in customer software development can build a wide range of applications that can help people in remote locations access medical services. These include apps for scheduling appointments, having virtual consultations, teleradiology, and others. 

While these apps may not completely address prevailing challenges in access to care, they do help lower the inequities that many people face. Consider this as an example, the District of Columbia has a high density of MFM (Maternal Foetal Medicine) physicians.

There are about 47,000 physicians for every person. On the other hand, North Dakota has a low density of MFM physicians at about 760,000 for every person. So, pregnant women in North Dakota need to drive long distances to receive crucial prenatal care.

However, a teleradiology solution in clinics and hospitals in North Dakota can help several women looking for prenatal care. A custom software for teleradiology can transmit ultrasound images in real-time from a rural clinic in North Dakota to an expert in an urban location. This would eliminate the need for pregnant women in North Dakota to travel long distances to see a specialist.

Mental Health Care

The existing mental health crisis in the United States was worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. Studies show that more than 1 in five adults (22.8%) in the country suffer from at least one mental illness. In addition to high costs and insufficient insurance, distance also worsens this problem. Studies show that nearly one-third of Americans live in locations without a single therapist or counselor. 

Custom software development for healthcare has shown enormous potential to alleviate this problem. Applications for virtual care can allow people to access mental health care and therapy using a smartphone or laptop from the privacy of their homes. This will help people living in distant locations to find and speak to therapists without having to travel long distances. 

An app for virtual therapy also has the added advantage of helping people to open up more about their issues. It is no secret that most people are not comfortable with opening up and talking to someone about their problems. However, the privacy and comfort provided by virtual therapy applications can help people open up more.

Racial Inequity in Care

There is a sharp disparity in the access to care between white Caucasians and other ethnic minorities. These minorities tend to be poorer, work in lower-paying jobs, and are more prone to higher rates of illness and death across a wide range of health conditions. Additionally, their care requirements would also tend to differ from others. All of these factors tend to result in them suffering from poorer clinical outcomes.

Companies involved in customer software development for healthcare can help address this inequity. These companies can use the latest technologies to develop healthcare analytics solutions that help public health experts garner insights about disparities in care. These systems can process medical information about large portions of the demographic and produce results that can help insurance companies as well as policymakers to take steps to alleviate this problem.

Software for hospital & medical analytics can become a useful tool for fighting epidemics by identifying patterns in locations, health outcomes, disease spread, and the nature of disparities. Additionally, it can also help physicians know if a certain race is more prone to certain diseases and adjust their treatments accordingly. In other words, customer healthcare software for analytics can help to identify the causes of healthcare disparity, which helps public health experts make better clinical decisions. 

Conclusion

We have just scratched the surface of the problems plaguing the healthcare system in the United States. Everyone knows that healthcare in the country has serious problems and requires systemic overhaul from the top down. But when it comes to accessing care and the inequities therein, custom software development can go a long way in helping people receive the care they need.

Custom software development holds immense potential to address healthcare inequities. By creating tailored solutions that cater to the unique needs of underserved communities, we can make healthcare more accessible, equitable, and effective. It’s about time we harnessed the power of technology to bridge the gap and ensure that everyone, no matter where they live or what language they speak, has access to quality healthcare.