Moving to a Cloud-Based JavaScript SaaS solution in the Healthcare Industry

Healthcare's data gap

Working in Healthcare IT, you understand that sensitive information can mean the differences between life or death. It is vital that medical information is accurate and accessible to those who need it quickly and securely. The 21st Century Cures Act passed in 2016 requires that providers of electronic health records (EHRs) remove any roadblocks that would keep a patient's information from another provider. Systems must be able to share and receive EHRs from other providers outside of their system. To fulfill this requirement, healthcare organizations need a robust data-sharing infrastructure to connect technologies and work together.

Since this, many in the healthcare sector are looking for a cost-effective and technologically advanced way to share, analyze, and report EHRs to create more data transparency and provide better care to patients. However, this becomes tricky in the healthcare industry because it involves a diverse set of public and private data collection systems. These systems include health surveys, administrative enrollment, billing records, and EHRs. These separate data collection systems would interact between different healthcare providers to access up-to-date patient information in an ideal world.

The future of achieving transparent medical information like this depends on embracing emerging SaaS trends and API technologies. Together they can bridge the communication between the different systems and provide doctors, nurses, and even patients with up-to-date information.

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Migration to the cloud and use of APIs

An increasing number of healthcare CIOs are considering moving to a cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model for their healthcare IT solution (Plebani, 2021). In the past, the idea of moving to a SaaS model caused healthcare IT teams to sweat. Still, today's SaaS technology is being used more often to save money, offer greater scalability options, and allow more access to healthcare-dependent entities with greater security precautions than before. Some have already begun deploying SaaS applications in hospitals for EMR (electronic medical records), EHR, PACS, telehealth, and even for some nonclinical system applications such as RCM, billing, and supply chain.

Suppose your company is considering moving from standalone software to a Cloud-Based SaaS application. In that case, APIs can play a critical role in not only making the transition easier but improving already existing workflows for your consumers. For years, the healthcare industry has used Excel (.XLSX) files for information management processes, such as scheduling doctors, contact information, medications, and prescriptions. Excel is a great tool that allows users to filter, find trends, and display data in a meaningful way. It only makes sense that it would be used in the day-to-day of many Healthcare providers. However, Excel workbook processes come with common spreadsheet issues such as confusing workflows, sharing files yield a higher security risk, and do not get me started on document version control!

In moving to a Cloud-Based SaaS Healthcare application, a common requirement could be to keep the same Excel-like familiarity and functionality that users are already accustomed to reduce the amount of new training and faster app adoption rate. Developers might even be asked if they could add a button to export data to an Excel file. Maybe even a request to support importing Excel files data to avoid hand typing information directly into the application. I am sure the idea of trying to make everyone happy feels nearly impossible, but there is a saving grace. Introducing: SpreadJS, a JavaScript Spreadsheet API! SpreadJS allows you to embed the power of Excel directly into your application.

Improvements to Healthcare applications with SpreadJS

SpreadJS is the World's #1 selling JavaScript spreadsheet API solution. It's an industry leader with 25 years of experience in creating spreadsheets for professional developers. With no dependencies on Excel, SpreadJS includes a high-speed calculation engine that supports over 500 Excel functions and gives users complete document control. With this comprehensive spreadsheet API, users can create custom spreadsheets templates, advanced grids, dashboards, reports, and data input forms. SpreadJS also supports importing and exporting Excel files, PDFs, and much more!

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Here are just a few of the benefits that SpreadJS can bring to your Healthcare SaaS application:

Familiarity and Accessibility Benefits

Using SpreadJS in your SaaS Healthcare application can make information more accessible and help make data more transparent. Using our familiar, excel-like, client-side interface lets users visualize and interact with your companies' data using charts, sparklines, shapes, and more. It is important to note that SpreadJS gives complete power to developers to limit an end-users editing operation by using our sheet protection and cell locking feature.

When it comes to accessibility, SpreadJS provides support for assistive technologies and is also browser and platform-independent: Windows, Linux, Mac, Android, and iOS.

Document Version Control Benefits

Document version control can be a daunting task; version control is the task of keeping document versions well-organized and consistent so that data is accurate. Mistakes due to version control are an aggravatingly common issue that SpreadJS can help solve! By embedding SpreadJS in your application, you not only give your users a way to interact with a workbook, but SpreadJS offers Event hookups that can trigger the workbook to save any changes that you can then store in your backend storage. Once the changes/updated data are sent to your backend, when another user access that data, they will see the most updated information. This removes the need for the consumer to use external workbooks on their individual PCs, making document version control a past issue!

To give your end-user the full look and feel of Excel, check out SpreadJS's Designer Component add-on that allows developers to embed the Excel-like ribbon to interact with the SpreadJS spreadsheet instance.

Security Benefits

When handling personal and medical information, security is of the utmost importance! According to Verizon 2020 Data Breach Investigation Report (Verizon Business, 2020), an estimated 90% of malware that is delivered through email is hidden in common Microsoft file types, such as Excel files (.XLSX). The high demand for this sensitive information mixed with old and outdated systems is why healthcare is a big target of fraud scams and malware emails.

Implementing SpreadJS can cut out the need to send and receive Excel files from external emails, minimizing the risk of malicious malware finding its way into your company's system. Something to always keep in mind is some regulations must be followed when sharing medical information, like HIPPA, to ensure the security and privacy of the information. A security benefits built-in to SpreadJS that can help with this requirement is the support for importing and exporting Excel files that are password protected and encrypted. SpreadJS also does not save or record any information that is displayed in its UI, ensuring that your data will remain only within your organization.

Healthcare and the migration to data transparency

Here we've discussed the transition most of the healthcare industry is making by switching to a cloud-based platform built on SaaS to help make information more readily available to any healthcare provider. When making this transition, it is important to keep in mind the day-to-day processes of the consumer and how a new application can improve its workflow processes. SpreadJS is a powerful JavaScript API that can assist in this goal by leveraging the Excel-like power in your application. Try SpreadJS today by downloading our latest release!

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References
Mackenzie Albitz - Product Marketing Specialist

Mackenzie Albitz

Product Marketing Specialist
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