In this episode of This Week in Health Tech we welcome our very own and close friend Wayne Che to talk about Health System and Mobile Apps - Management, Resources, Build vs Buy, Testing, Infrastructure, Security, Privacy, and more!
This episode aligns well with the new digital product offering of Tido Inc. for the management of mobile and web apps for health systems. Wayne Che works in multiple roles, primarily as CTO of Sowingo Inc., and has tons of experience with the implementation of mobile apps.
We get right into mobile development by starting the discussion on build vs buy.
Vik comments that health systems main focus is improving patient outcomes and it does not make sense to assemble a development team in-house. Wayne agrees that you gain speed of execution and plus allows you to focus on the primary job of using IT for providing better care of patients.
Jimmy asks what to look for in the development shop and Wayne thinks that you need to have a partner that understands requirements and helps to define requirements. Also, the shop should not only have development skills but it is also more important to have management skills to keep the app updated and continuously test to provide the best user experience.
Vik comments that Tido Inc. launched a new digital package to help health systems manage apps and includes custom development of apps. It also includes test automation and maintenance. Wayne indicates that testing and maintenance is a key component otherwise with iOS or android updates app may stop working.
Vik and Jimmy then dive into test automation and the importance of testing on actual real devices. This is where real device testing comes into play. Both Vik and Wayne recommend the selenium framework with real device cloud providers like Sauce Labs or BrowserStack.
Testing helps provide the best user experience and it is so crucial for patients who may be already going through a lot and a frustrating app experience just adds to negative patient satisfaction.
The group then discusses infrastructure for apps. There are many cloud providers and what is the best approach for health systems.
Wayne comments that cloud providers do several things well including staying compliant with HIPAA and PHIPA. Vik comments that using the cloud has another benefit which is to reduce traffic from mobile devices directly into the health system network.
The group then talks about using APIs for data sharing for mobile apps. Also with ONC's Cures Act, it is required that there are no more data silos, but most health systems should go beyond Cures Act for bidirectional data flow securely.
Wayne comments that this is where health systems should look into hiring the expertise for API development and management and ensure security.
Jimmy asks the question of why this urgency of APIs and mobile development now? Wayne and Vik respond that not only Cures Act but from providing the best user experience, health systems have to provide APIs and app support.
Group then talks about the hybrid approach for mobile app development where you have some expertise in-house, maybe a product owner or architect but use an outside development company.
Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com
Twitter: @TWIHT1
Listen to all This Week in Health Tech episodes
Vik Patel - LinkedIn
Tido Inc. - Website
Tido Inc. - LinkedIn