Top medical software available in India and their applications

Multifaceted and fast-evolving, modern healthcare encompasses a whole gamut of activities, taking a doctor’s focus beyond treating patients. Today, medical professionals also need to supervise administrative wings of their private clinics and hospitals.

With FinTech (financial software) and InTech (insurance software) becoming buzzwords in India, medical software is becoming increasingly popular as they provide innovative solutions by seamlessly integrating technology with healthcare. This software can help doctors:

1. Increase their efficiency
2. Reduce costs
3. Save time
4. Improve intra-department and patient communication

Game changer for practising medical professionals is that medical software helps them manage patient files and records and keep track of insurance claims and payment structures. Also, the entire array of HR functions—offering a technologically advanced solution without any complexity. Connected to laptops and smartphones and giving various degrees of access to in-house staff, dedicated medical software is a sure-shot way to increase efficiency and effectiveness while keeping the processes simple. By setting up a comprehensive system in place, they give doctors the information they require at the touch of a button.

Applications of medical software

With advanced medical software, the following healthcare-related tasks have become much more manageable:

1. General administration and management

Physically storing patient files, staff files, and salary payment slips along with bills related to inventory, equipment, and general clinic upkeep can not only be a cumbersome job. Still, they can also raise problems when it comes to finding the right document at the right time. Medical software enables paperless storage by having all the information on the cloud, which helps doctors and staff manage their time better by focusing on patients’ problems.

2. Patient history and record-keeping

Having information on patients' past treatment(s) and having instant access to their tests can make a huge difference in prescribing a patient’s current treatment and giving doctors a basis for analysis. Electronic record-keeping by medical software provides easy access to patient records and helps streamline processes. Medical software captures the diagnoses, suggested treatments and prescribed medication and allows doctors and surgeons to upload physical records, generating a unique ID number for each patient for ease of recordkeeping.

3. Patient insurance and billing

One of the biggest hurdles in clinic or hospital management is maintaining a patient’s billing information and insurance details. Physical files are not only easy to damage but also make access very difficult. Thus, medical billing software comes in handy. It can generate automatic invoices and store each patient's detailed insurance and billing information, thus expediting the pre-and post-treatment process.

4. Scheduling, booking and communicating appointments

A doctor’s daily schedule is highly variable; making physical notations of their surgery time, consultation time, and personal time can lead to disastrous consequences. Since clinics and hospitals need to ensure timely patient care and respect a patient’s appointment time, the right scheduling software allows doctors to block their time on the go. In case of delays, reception staff can view updates in real-time and send automatic messages to patients about the new appointment time. A centralised appointment booking software also restricts double booking and clerical errors.

Additional Read: Doctor loans - everything you wanted to know

5. Performance reports

Running a clinic or hospital is much like running a business. Without the right software, doctors and upper management don’t know the number of patients treated in a given period or the operational efficiency in lean/ peak times. The proper performance software helps generate efficiency reports that can help doctors and surgeons better understand the areas where their clinic can improve its competency.

6. Inventory management

If your hospital or clinic runs a pharmacy or medical retail store, you would know that physical bookkeeping is a mammoth task. It also becomes a problem to order or discard expired inventory, order medications and other paraphernalia. An inventory management software has multiple benefits. 1. Prevents stock pilferage 2. Improves internal stock management 3. Alerts staff on stock purchase and disposal 4. Increases transparency.

Leading medical software in India

Here are the six best medical software available in India today that can help doctors ace their practice:

1. Datamate Mediware by Datamate Infosolutions

Cost: Rs. 80 lakh onwards

What does it offer?

A cutting-edge medical solution, Datamate Mediware offers comprehensive tools to keep track of everything-from front office administration and inpatient and medical records to general administration, pharmacy, health insurance and housekeeping management.

Why it stands out?

The software leads to cost reduction, elimination of pilferage and wastage, increased inter-department communication, and faster and improved quality of patient care while reducing human error.

Datamate Mediware being expensive equipment, could pressurise a practice’s funds. For this purpose, many lenders offer customised loans against property for doctors to fund such high-ticket medical purchases. Coming with a high loan amount of up to Rs. 5 crore, these loans are a smart way to acquire equipment without hampering your practice’s monthly income and daily operations.

2. TCAS (Total clinic automation system) by M2ComSys

Cost: Rs. 10,50,000 onwards

What does it offer?

An impeccable IT solution, TCAS is a web-based solution that doesn’t require any installation. It is entirely customisable and is CCHIT 2011 Ambulatory and ONC-ATCB - 2014 certified. It offers everything from patient administration and electronic charts to medical billing, lab and radiology integration and e-prescriptions.

Why it stands out?

It helps efficiently control all clinic activities, attached labs, and pharmacy for smooth and efficient functioning.

Practices considering installing TCAS could purchase with a business loan for doctors offering loans up to Rs. 55 lakh. This loan differs from a loan against property as it is collateral-free and generally gets credited to the borrower’s account within 48 hours* of loan approval. Hence, based on your need, you can choose a financing option that is suitable for you.

3. Accurate Administrator Plus by Accurate Info Solution

Cost: Rs. 5 lakh for 25 users

What does it offer?

Offering strategic and operational value, Accurate Administrator Plus is designed for a multi-specialty clinic or hospital. It provides patient management, consultation management, inventory management, pharmacy and radiology management and payroll and HRD management as an all-in-one solution.

Why it stands out?

Used across hospitals and clinics worldwide, it unites technology with administrative and management functions to provide an integrated solution for all your needs.

Additional Read: How loans for doctors help you to offer better healthcare

4. Hospital Biz Software from DCS Infoway

Cost: Rs. 2.5 lakh onwards

What does it offer?

This highly secure software provides a one-of-a-kind solution for managing all operations, including patient registration and staff, lab, pharmacy and accounting solutions. It can also be implemented in multiple locations and be customised by doctors and their staff.

Why it stands out?

It enables access to critical information for timely decisions and allows administrators to configure employee access levels based on their roles. It helps streamline operations and leads to cost control and improved administrative control as well.

Don't let finances come in your way in your quest to equip your practice with the right software. Get the best software for your needs by taking a business loan for doctors. With low-interest rates, easy eligibility and quick online application, these customised loans are the perfect solutions for your financial needs.

5. Dyn Medlar by Yash Infosystems

Cost: Up to Rs. 3 lakh

What does it offer?

With clinical, back office and overall management features, this software is the one to choose to make your clinic or hospital completely paperless. It offers tools for reception management, billing, IP management, accounts and payroll and more while being user-friendly and secure. It has the added advantage of providing smartphone integration with mobile-friendly features.

Why it stands out?

It helps automate the clinical process, support functions, finance, supply chain, and billing and administration for the smooth running of a small or medium-sized clinic.

Adopt an effective medical software that takes care of your administering, billing, and scheduling tasks, leaving you the time and peace of mind you need to dedicate yourself to your patients. Whether small or large your clinic or practice is, investing in medical software may be the best business decision you make!

4 ways for doctors to increase their CIBIL score

A CIBIL score, given by the Credit Information Bureau India Ltd., is one that indicates your financial history and borrowing behaviour. It is a 3-digit number that can range from 300 to 900 and signifies how creditworthy you are. It is important because every financial institution considers your credit score before it decides to lend you money. So, to a large extent, your CIBIL score dictates whether your application for a loan will be approved or rejected, or whether you will receive a high or low loan amount. As a result, it is important that you work on increasing your credit score. Here are 4 measures that will help you do this.

1. Clear outstanding dues

Outstanding debt can weigh down your credit report, so ensure that you pay your outstanding dues at the earliest. If you have too many debts, you may find that the interest rate is too high for you to manage and as a result, you may miss payments and incur penal interest as well. To ensure that your debt easy to manage, and to repay it swiftly, you can consider taking a debt consolidation loan. This will allow you to make one payment instead of many, and clear your debt in a short span of time. In effect, your credit score will get a boost and you can check your cibil score to plan further accordingly.

2. Use loans wisely

While it is okay to use loans, ensure that you don’t rely too heavily on borrowed funds in both your personal and professional life. When you take too many loans, it shows that your debt to income ratio is high, which means that you aren’t able to live within your means. This shows up as a negative mark on your credit report and brings your CIBIL score down.

3. Limit the number of credit cards

Having too many credit cards shows increased dependency on credit, which again lowers your score. Restrict credit card usage to only one or two cards and pay off credit card balances in full. This will boost your credit score significantly. Also, don’t let credit cards lie idle. Instead, identify the ones you don’t use and have them cancelled.

4. Don’t make too many loan applications

Every time you make a loan application, it shows up on your credit score. So, don’t apply for a series of loans to see which one you will get approval for. Instead, study loans online, compare them, and only apply for one or at best, two loans. Check the eligibility criteria to only apply for loans that you are sure that you will qualify for. This will also help you boost your credit score.

Armed with these measures, you will be able to significantly boost your credit score and notice a marked improvement in just 6 months to a year.

Additional Read: EMR software for clinic

Additional Read: All about electronic health records

Additional Read: Get your clinic up-to-date with EMR software