The process of obtaining a quote is significantly simplified these days. Take a look at a few years ago when you had to call an insurance agent and give them all the details about an event and fill out the lengthy questionnaire in person. Many companies now offer you an online quote in no time. All you need to install a special app and have all the most profitable quotes on your screen.

Industry experts distinguished two key features of any health insurance quoting software:

• For customers. Delivering quotes containing important information before requesting personal data.
• For agents. Constantly increasing the number of visitors converted into leads.

Best Quoting Software for Insurance Companies

So as you already got, the process of insurance quoting is based on quotes. Let’s start discussing its pros and cons by clarifying one simple question. What is the use of insurance quoting software? The answer is pretty simple.

Thanks to the advent of the insurance quoting software the potential clients can compare the quotes offered by various companies and choose the one that meets their needs. Insurance agents get commissions, respectively. Companies choose to install an efficient quoting app, as it helps them attract new users and retain the old ones.

Pros and Cons in Insurance Quoting Software

Pros

It’s Paperless

All administration can be done within the system, eliminating the need for paperwork. The system can be accessed from multiple locations. It stores and sorts out all the client data as well as documents attached.

What is more, there is no need for separate document storage as the papers can be emailed automatically or manually after you have read them.

Scalable Flexibility

The principle of flexibility involves that the system is supposed to work for YOUR business. It can be customized to meet the needs of any client. The system is about revolving around your business, not vise versa.

Automation

With insurance software implementation, every process can be automatized. There are many examples of successful businesses that have made this step, but there are also those who’d prefer to make the automatization only partly.

Automation allows the company’s clients to perform all the routine without contacting the insurance workers. Customer experience is another topic for discussion in this case.

By the way, if you want to preserve the live approach, the software systems can also help generate the paperwork, quote, and process a quote right through to and including renewal.

Compliance

The compliance module allows you to track the activity of each broker on the market. You can create a customer compliance checklist to check if everything progresses at every stage. The system stores all the sent or received documents. An audit log and case history are securely stored in the database giving access to only a few people to track the changes put into it.

High Integration

The software can be successfully integrated with your website, application, and any kind of other third-party systems. It also saves your money for the absence of need to have multiple separate systems and the staff to ensure its work.

Customer Experience

You may wonder what kind of customer experience we’re talking about but let us explain a thing. One of the primary purposes of quoting software for insurance was eliminating the amount of paperwork and face-to-face contact.

Here you can learn more about this benefit of insurance quoting software development. However, some clients prefer to automate the process, only partly allowing customers to enjoy the process of live communication. Your customer service team will indeed feel more eager to guide 15 clients rather than 40.

Cons

It’s a One-Part Connection

One of the main benefits of quoting software for insurance can also be considered the major downside. Yet everything can be done automatically without a face-to-face meeting.

There is no one to answer your questions at that very moment. You won’t get the inside tips on saving money and how to conclude the most profitable agreement since you have no idea how the business works from the inside.

Risk of Fraud

Cybercriminals may hide behind the image quote insurance site to collect your personal information. Besides, some companies lack stability and experience in the insurance market and don’t stay there on a long-term basis. 

Quoting Software for Insurance of Various Kinds

Life Insurance Quoting Software

Life insurance’s positive aspects are undeniable( including tax benefit, death benefit, aids in financial planning, etc.).

What about life insurance quoting software, Compulife is a famous insurance software supplier that has been operating on the market since 1987.

Health Insurance Quoting Software

The National Center for Health Statistics’ data has shared that 86.7% of the USA in the age range from 18 to 64 years old had insurance in 2018. The other 13.3% have no personal policies, and so can become potential customers for your team.

Still, the number of Americans who have life insurance superiors, for instance, the number of Indian citizens who have insured their health. Medicaid and Medicare are, probably, the USA’s most known life insurance companies providing clients with the low-income rate and the aged citizens. The two companies also operate on health insurance software.

One of the most common and simple ways of developing a customer health insurance software is cooperating with a team of programmers specializing in the niche. Choosing a team with the relevant skills and experience is the main factor that would influence the development process’s success.

Auto Insurance Quoting Software

Customers rely on auto insurance to help them protect their family’s future by securing the best home and auto insurance coverage for their risks. If you crack an insured car and get it to the mechanics, all the repair expenses will be covered by the insurance company.

A vivid example of Auto Insurance Quoting software is TurboRater. Developed to help the agencies save money by reducing the amount of time spent on running numbers for various insurance quotes.

They promise that your agency can enjoy a smoother workflow by creating standardized operating practices using TurboRater auto insurance software. The main goal here is to minimize any possible errors and reduce the time needed for the new employees onboarding.

To Sum Up

According to multiple sources, insurance quoting is an amount of money that an insurance company calculates as the cost of providing insurance for something. Quotes demonstrate how much one will be paying for insurance coverage received by a company.

Intellectsoft has created impactful solutions for EY, the London Stock Exchange, and EuroAccident. Explore what we offer for the insurance industry.

The post What Is Insurance Quoting Software? appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

The usage of apps in the healthcare industry leads to significant innovations. This article will discuss the advantages of home health care app, learn how useful it is, and check the functions of the top applications accessible today.

Benefits of Apps for Home Health Care

Apps for smartphones and tablets in healthcare now play an essential part in connecting patients with medical experts and helping professionals provide treatment on time or support patients with chronic diseases. The applications give med specialists a chance to follow their patients’ well-being remotely and make decisions faster in emergencies.

Here is a list of the top advantages of healthcare apps:

• Real-Time Connection

Applications serve as a means of communication between patients and physicians. It helps people who live in remote areas to stay in touch with specialists, get consultations, and remote treatment on time.

• Schedule Appointments

Thanks to applications, you can schedule or cancel appointments online. There is no need to wait in lines to get an appointment. You can choose the most suitable time/date and schedule the appointment according to your agenda.

• Track Your Well-Being

Smartphone apps catch and monitor patient’s health on a daily basis. It is useful for patients who are recovering and stay at home and the ones with chronic diseases. The medical experts are able to check the state of their patients and provide better treatment based on the data they get.

• Accurate Diagnoses

The home health care app keeps records of patients’ well-being, thus minimizing errors in diagnosis. Practitioners have up-to-date information and can prescribe the correct medicine online.

• Data Storage

One more advantage of healthcare apps is that patients have personal accounts where important data is saved and stored.

What are the best apps for care providers? Check the list of the top 5.

5 Most Useful Apps for Caregivers

1. CareZone

CareZone application facilitates daily tasks for care providers. It helps you stay organized, coordinated, and in sync. The app has a number of helpful features:

• Tracker: record important wellness vitals of your patients and capture their progress;
• Journal: helps specialists to document the symptoms, make correct decisions, and share the info privately with family members;
• Calendar: keeps a record of the appointments;
• Contacts: have all the contacts organized and in one place. You can include the contact data of insurance providers, pharmacies, and other practitioners;
• Notes: make notes of the important data and keep them secure;
• To-Do-Lists: make to-do-lists not to miss anything important and assign tasks when help is needed.

The application is available for iOS users.

2. Med Helper

Med Helper application is helpful for care providers as it has useful and important features:

• Schedule appointments: both medical experts and patients can use the function;
• Pill reminder: experts know whether the patient takes medicine, is it on time. It can also alarm specialists that a patient missed taking prescribed medicine;
• Vitals tracking: medical professionals get access to the well-being records of their patients;
• Exportable and printable reports: report the data and share it with other staff involved in the treatment of the patient;
• Multiple profiles: have access to the profiles of all your patients.

The app is available for Android and iOS users.

3. Medisafe

Medisafe is an excellent application that helps practitioners, pharmacies, and patients. The app is a medication tracker and has the following features:

• Health journal: records well-being measurements;
• Pill reminder and alarm: reminds your patients to take medicine according to the recipe;
• Caregiver support;
• Calendar: schedule or cancel appointments;
• Medicine tracker;
• Refill reminder.

The application can be downloaded from App Store and Play Market.

4. Caring Village

Caring Village is an organizer that makes it easier for medical specialists to interact with their patients. The app includes features like:

• Messages: stay in touch with patients 24/7;
• Personal profiles: receives updates about the well-being of the patients;
• Calendar: schedule appointments and important tasks;
• To-do-lists: list all the daily tasks, so you will not miss anything important;
• Checklists: help care providers to be ready for any situation;
• Notifications, alerts, reminders.

The app is available for Android and iOS users.

5. Alz & Dementia

The application that helps Alzheimer’s and Dementia care providers to treat and look after their patients:

• Has useful tips and practical advice for care providers;
• 24/7 assistance;
• Access to training materials and caregiver resources;
• The connection between care providers, where they can share their practice and give helpful advice to others;
• Offline access to materials.

It can be installed on iOS and Android systems.

Best Home Health Apps Improve Patients’ Health

Good home health apps help improve the patients’ well-being, as they keep monitoring their well-being 24/7, and specialists regularly check the records to provide on-time treatment and even prevent serious outcomes.

Patients become more involved in the process of treatment and recovery, thus becoming more aware of their health and pay attention to it. It is one of the greatest advantages, as involved and responsible patients get well faster and learn how to support their well-being.

5 Best Apps for Home Health Care: Patients’ Choice

1. Connect Care: Intermountain Health Care Home App

The application allows you to have access to the health provider 24/7. The app is on tap for both Android and iOS users for smartphones and tablets.

Connect Care helps you get in touch with Intermountain physicians any time and anywhere. This is a platform that offers:

• Appointment scheduling;
• Keeping a record of the vital measurements;
• Storing medical records;
• Online doctor visits;
• The list of the nearest pharmacies;
• List of doctors’ profiles;
• Get urgent care from highly-professional practitioners, etc.

Connect Care has proven to provide high-quality services to its patients, it is time- and cost-effective.

2. Doctor on Demand: Schedule App for Home Health Care

Doctors on Demand is another app on our list that helps patients to have an online connection with practitioners. The platform offers to connect with medical professionals via video and schedule appointments. It is important to note that people who need treatment can even contact a doctor in real-time, without any appointments.

It is a free and open app that suits iOS and Android. If you have the conditions listed below, you can get treatment from highly-qualified experts:

• Skin issues;
• Cold/flu;
• Allergies;
• Headaches;
• Stress/anxiety, etc.

3. Medocity: App to Track Vitals for Home Health Care

Medocity personalizes health care experience and helps people to monitor symptoms.  Everyone has an individual account where all the necessary and important vital data is stored.

Medical experts can have access to it, or you can share it. It is helpful in emergency situations, so the professionals have all the recent data and can make decisions about further treatment remotely before they reach your home.

The app can be used to manage medications or as a reminder that will help you remember to take pills on time. Other features include:

• medical summary;
• messages;
• care plan;
• nutrition, etc.

Android/iOS.

4.Caregivers24: Home Nursing App

Caregivers24 is designed to help older adults and patients who go through recovery at home. The application guarantees special attention to its users, as medical professionals are ready to help 24/7, check their patients’ conditions, and provide proper medical treatment.

Available for Android.

5. Medical ID: In Case of Emergency

Medical ID is an application that helps to keep a record of the health conditions and vital signs for emergency cases. It helps medical experts or people who want to help you to access important information about you quickly. List the conditions you have, allergies, etc., as well as add contacts of people who shall be notified in case of emergency.

Available for Android and iOS.

Healthcare is booming with innovations, thanks to the latest technologies and device availability. Nowadays, we can enhance the level of services provided, make people more aware of their well-being, teach them how to look after yourself, especially if they live with chronic diseases.

Intellectsoft offers high-quality assistance in the design and development of various kinds of healthcare IT solutions. By referring to us, you can be sure the solution provided will serve you long, integrate into your digital ecosystem successfully, and manage the data accurately.

We empower companies and their workforce with cutting-edge transformative solutions and data-driven insights. Are you and your organization ready to shift the mindsets and get the most out of innovations?

Talk to our experts and find out more about the topic and how your business or project can start benefiting from it today!

The post Best Home Health Care App for Care Providers and Patients appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

How mature is blockchain in healthcare, and what are the barriers to adoption? Blockchain for healthcare ranks as the number four industry of interest. Moreover, the International Association for Trusted Blockchain Applications (INATBA) creation allowed engaging all stakeholders in a practical discussion on blockchain solutions for health.

Ways Blockchain Is Taking Over the Modern Healthcare Industry

How Will Blockchain Affect the Cost of Healthcare?

Master Patient Index and Cost per transaction. There is an overwhelming amount of duplicated data, which translates into additional storage cost. Furthermore, over 50 different electronic healthcare record (EHR) software systems operate in various hospitals, sometimes in the same city.

MedRec by the MIT team, for example, is offering a transparent and accessible view of medical history. Their project runs on the Ethereum blockchain and is currently under development in partnership with a newly-established Healthcare Information Technology Center in Israel. Simultaneously, it is running tests of a data set from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Taken from MedRec

What Healthcare Data Should Be Put on the Blockchain?

Notably, not all information should be stored within the blockchain, but a distributed ledger can help manage the data more transparently and securely. For instance, IBM is disrupting veterinary medicine by allowing to create and store USDA certificates on the blockchain.

Apart from certificates, there can be proofs of ownership and timestamps of environment conditions, so critical for logistics in the pharmaceutical field. IBM is also working on this in partnership with KPMG, Merck, and FDA.

Finally, mass-market gadgets like smartwatches and fitness trackers can track patients’ state of health. Connecting them with EHRs throughout a lifetime makes it more efficient for the insurance industry to evaluate risks and calculate premiums.

How Has COVID-19 Pushed for Blockchain Adoption?

McKinsey has reported that the COVID-19 pandemic had accelerated telemedicine usage, rising from 11% to 46% in the US consumer adoption. According to them, around $250 billion of current US spending on healthcare could be virtualized.

Gartner reports that healthcare blockchain use cases include a digital asset market amid record-keeping and increasing efficiency. Learn how the Ocean Protocol has aided governments to collect and interpret critical data for improving healthcare.

X-Ray vision by the Ocean Protocol

Will Patients Own their Data?

To say that data access will improve is an underestimation. Having full ownership over your medical data will be more user-friendly and less time-consuming. A recent case is an EU-funded project MyHealthMyData, which is exploring how sensitive medical data is shared.

How will the interaction with doctors be affected? Taken the rise of telehealth, there will often be no need to interact with a doctor to access personal data. Moreover, blockchain will improve healthcare with its key features.

An excerpt from the McKinsey report

Adopting Blockchain in Healthcare

Privacy and Security

With regulations like GDPR and HIPAA, patient privacy is not optional but a default. Organizations that operate with identifier and health information – hence, protected health information (PHI) – can leverage blockchain for such properties as

• Confidentiality
• Integrity
• Availability

Performance and Interoperability

Current healthcare interoperability standards – HIE (Health Information Exchange) and HL7 FHIR (Fast Health Interoperability Resources) – can be used at full potential when paired with customizable blockchain frameworks like Hyperledger. They show impressive throughput and scalability when dealing with lightweight metadata, audit, and transaction information.

Deloitte argues that smart contracts can assist with mitigating inconsistent rules and permissions. These contracts are self-executable on blockchain and can automate and standardize the PHI exchange while providing distributed secure access.

How to Deploy Blockchain?

Healthcare legacy systems urge for an extensive infrastructure transition. There are numerous opportunities, as well as challenges. We, at Intellectsoft, empower companies that are looking for innovative solutions.

One way to start with blockchain for healthcare is to choose the BaaS model. Another option is to deploy its network to collaborate with multiple partners and improve medical information sharing between data owners and service providers.

Talk to our experts and find out more about the differences and how your organization can start benefiting from day one.

The post Blockchain in Modern Healthcare. Adopting Real Cases by 2021 appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

What Is Telemedicine? | The Meaning and Features

Telemedicine is a type of medicine that is provided by doctors to patients remotely through the means of real-time communication we have nowadays, including audio and video tools. In other words, it is an online medical service that has proven to be time- and cost-effective, as well as more accessible, as there is no need to make an in-person appointment, and physicians can use it to send digital images, make a remote diagnosis, or have video consultations.

Simply put, telemedicine is medicine delivered from a distance. For instance, a senior person who is a resident of a care facility doesn’t need to leave it and travel to the nearest hospital to see a doctor. Or, a person who works on the ship hundreds of miles away from the shore or lives in the remote and isolated area can easily contact a doctor when treatment is needed.

Telemedicine has emerged in the 1950s, but only in recent years the field has been rapidly growing and enhancing with the Internet becoming available for everyone and telemedicine solutions that provide distant communication. This notion is narrower in comparison with telehealth. The last one is described as a tool for general health purposes where information technologies are used to support and promote long-distance clinical health care, health education, public health, and health administration.

Telemedicine started with phone calls to the physicians when urgent or quick consultation was needed. Today, most of us use basic telecommunication devices like laptops or smartphones. Improved accessibility and worldwide Internet connection make it possible for people in rural isolated areas to easily connect with healthcare providers and get the required treatment. Thanks to the IoT, more and more devices become interconnected and doctors can monitor the state of their patients remotely.

Telemedicine solutions have only reached general recognition and usage and still, there is much room for enhancement and development, as it is not used on a global level and not all clinics have all the mandatory equipment to provide remote treatment. What types of top telemedicine software solutions are available today?

Remote Patient Monitoring

Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) is one of the telemedicine solutions that enable healthcare providers to view, track, and gather patient data using information technologies. The data is collected in one place and transmitted to medical facilities via digital technologies, so physicians can provide an assessment of the patient’s state and give needed recommendations. So, whether the patient is already released home or stays in a remote area, medical specialists continue to monitor their state using the collected data.

Monitoring programs not only track a wide range of health data, including blood pressure, heart rate, blood sugar, weight, vital signs, etc. but also increase patient engagement in the recovery process. Constant data updates make it possible for health experts to make an early assessment of the patient’s health and prevent more serious outcomes.

Store-and-Forward Telemedicine

Store-and-forward is a telemedicine technique that is used to collect health data and later transmit it to another facility for evaluation. These are not the type of real-time services, as doctors have access to the information after it was collected. For instance, medical experts in rural areas gather vital health data of their patients and send it to another medical facility (usually a bigger one with more equipment) for evaluation or consultation, when face-to-face communication is not required. Usually, emailing data to secure platforms is a form of communication in store-and-forward telemedicine.

Medical specialists can store and share health data like MRIs, patient’s health history, X-rays, photos, pre-recorded videos, etc. This service removes the need in coordinating schedules, as it is not required for the patient and doctor to be available simultaneously.

Real-Time Telemedicine

Real-time telemedicine means using technologies like smartphones, chat rooms, or video calls, so patients and medical specialists can interact with each other in real-time. It’s different from remote patient monitoring and store-and-forward telemedicine, as both parties are present and communicate back-and-forth.

Real-time services are like in-person visits to the hospital and require schedule coordination but there is no need to travel to the hospital or wait in lines to get an appointment. In combination with RPM and store-and-forward services, medical specialists can use the patient’s health history, check lab results, track vital signs, listen to the patient’s comments during the video call, and provide necessary treatment remotely. This type of visit has proven to be time- and cost-effective, thus enhancing health maintenance services.

Must-Have Telemedicine Software Features

Medical experts can choose different solutions to provide their services but, as telemedicine is a type of medical treatment provided from a distance with the help of telecommunication means, there are several major features that should be present in all of them. They include:

Telemedicine Video Conferencing: Instant Online Connection

The ability to instantly set a two-way connection between the doctor and patient is one of the most prominent features of telemedicine. It is crucial for the health facility to ensure that they have a high-quality internet connection, as video conferencing requires it to be stable. In case the video conferencing solution fails to have good quality video or it is slow, there are high chances that your telemedicine practice will fail.

Video conferencing should be also available between different medical facilities, so doctors can discuss and consult each other on certain issues. Additionally, it can be used for the training of medical personnel. Also, telemedicine providers and clinics that use their platforms should make sure that the services are 100% secure, as highly tentative data can be discussed during video conferencing. Programs like Skype or Zoom are not suitable for telemedicine.

Video conferencing greatly improves health maintenance services as it enables healthcare providers, patients, and other medical teams to collaborate on a distance, provide treatment, and have regular checks on patients with chronic illnesses or disabled people.

Telemedicine EHR Solutions: Online Booking, Data Storage, etc.

EHR solutions in telemedicine will help medical facilities to store and document their patients’ data. It is an essential feature, as the integration of the EHR system with the telemedicine platform will make it possible to store information in one place and have instant access to it. Doctors will be able to quickly review health history or check lab results, and provide the treatment. It is especially useful in cases of emergency.

Another EHR feature that should be used is an online appointment arrangement, so both patients and medical workers can access it and book an appointment. It will save a lot of time for the patients and hospital administrators, as patients can choose the time and date for the appointment themselves in accordance with their personal agenda.

ePrescribing is another significant feature that can make healthcare delivery through the telemedicine more efficient. It will be much easier for the physicians to send medical prescriptions electronically to pharmacies and more convenient for the patients, as they can choose the nearby pharmacy and get medicine quicker.

Document sharing and storing require good security as these are the documents with personal information of the patients, so it is essential to make sure that the telemedicine network is protected and the provider constantly improves the security level.

Telemedicine Video Solutions

The video platform is another relevant feature of telemedicine. Nowadays there is a variety of systems that enable this feature. A medical facility should discuss their requirements with software providers in order to create a platform that will suit the needs of the facility and make it possible to deliver high-quality services. There two options here, to create a network that will connect patients via personal desktops or smartphones with the doctors, or create a network between different medical facilities where patients can have examinations by doctors from other locations. The first option means that a patient will have a personal account through which it is possible to get in touch with the doctor, the latter one requires a patient to visit a nearby health center to get treatment, thus making it costlier and more time-consuming in comparison with the first one.

Two Sides of Telemedicine Implementation: Clinical Users and Solutions Providers

The telemedicine software implementation process requires the involvement of two sides: clinical users and solutions vendors. First of all, if a medical facility wishes to use telemedicine to expand and enhance its services, those in charge should have a list of requirements. It matters to know what solutions the facility needs, how the platform should look like, and which features it should have.

On the other side, solutions providers have to be experienced in this field and have all the basic resources to build customized solutions or adjust the existing ones. There is no right to a mistake when it comes to health. So, medical facilities should learn about solutions vendors in detail, check their previous works, read reviews, and communicate with previous customers.

Telemedicine Challenges

The available technologies make it possible for us to provide treatment on a distance. This is an incredible innovation that brings a lot of benefits both for patients and medical experts. It is time- and cost-effective, constant monitoring allows doctors to provide on-time consultations and treatment, thus improving the level of healthcare services. Still, there are several challenges in this field that hopefully can be resolved in the nearest future:

• Lack of good quality Internet connection and tech tools

Not all medical facilities or patients have all the required equipment to practice telemedicine. Quite often, there are problems with the Internet connection, especially in rural or isolated areas.

• Security Issues

Telemedicine platforms require extra security, as different types of tentative data is shared between patient and doctor, doctor and other medical facilities, or doctor and another doctor. Telemedicine software vendors should pay attention to this issue and make sure that data is protected and patients will feel safe to send photos, videos, or give their personal details.

• Lack of Tech Awareness

This issue is mainly concerned with elderly people, as not all of them know how to use computers or smartphones, or simply do not have them, so they choose conventional ways to see a doctor.

Telemedicine Staffing Solutions

We all know how to use smartphones and computers, still, the implementation of telemedicine software in medical facilities requires training. Medical staff should learn how to use all the devices involved in the process, so they feel comfortable and confident to provide treatment to patients. It will enhance the general level of healthcare services, as patients will feel safe to get this type of treatment.

In addition to this, the telemedicine software interface should be user-friendly and intuitive, so it is simple and convenient to navigate and deal with daily tasks.

Who Provides Telemedicine Software Solutions?

If you want to make telemedicine a regular practice in your facility, then you have to choose the right software that suits the needs of your institution. Nowadays, we have a chance to choose among numerous IT companies that specialize in software development and have all the important resources. Intellectsoft is one of the companies that help medical institutions with healthcare software development. Their services are available for outsourcing and they have all the required staff and tools resources to develop efficient software.

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