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Telemedicine. Java. Java Philippines.
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Telemedicine in 2020: A House Call in its New & Improved Form
Telemedicine in 2020: A House Call in its New & Improved Form 768 487 Exist Software Labs

It used to be that doctors were the ones doing the consult visits and by the patient bedside performing a medical consultation.  In modern times, these were replaced with the patient’s going to doctors’ offices and interaction was now happening across the desk. Factoring infection risks and patient comfort, telemedicine provides a necessary alternative — one which may soon become the norm.

The trip to the doctor, a rather uneasy experience for most people, suddenly turns to be a thing of the past.  The threat of COVID has put everyone on alert that even periodic out-patient visits have to be second-guessed in light of the risks. Unsustainability and population growth have put an end to doctors doing house calls in the same way that the threat of infection prevents people from showing up in clinics or hospitals.

Regardless of one’s attitude towards the use of technology, it is without a doubt that it has been part and parcel of the way that the practice of medicine continues to evolve.   Lab equipment and imaging machines aside, medicine and technology go hand in hand and would continue to do so. Right now, it teams up once again to bring the patient and the doctor together via a screen display.

While there are certain situations where a personal visit is warranted, the use of telemedicine presents a valuable tool in limiting the risks, especially in today’s pandemic.  Though talking to a screen would seem to replace the warmth of face-to-face interaction, the cold reality is that telemedicine provides each participant with a level of comfort by being in familiar surroundings.  Truth be told, it is probably not telemedicine that makes this interaction awkward because talking virtually with friends is certainly something most of us would look forward to.

Telemedicine and its Importance

Whether face to face or virtual, logic dictates that people heighten their guards when discussing serious topics, and talking about a health issue does fit into that category.  A smoker would certainly feel less comfortable being visited in his home by his pulmonologist because it exposes the reality that despite the advice, evidence at home would probably present more of an embarrassment.  For years, the privacy of a doctor’s office serves the patient more than the doctor.  Using telemedicine, a peek into the patient’s environment seems possible – which yields more valuable information (eg. senior citizens and home hazards like stairs, etc.) but only for those patients who have developed stronger relationships with their providers.

“In essence, COVID-19 has allowed us to lower our psychological barriers to the adoption of technology,” Professor Vishall Ahuja says. “All of a sudden, we realize we’re not as inflexible as we thought we were. We’re not as tech-adverse as we were. Necessity is the mother of invention.”

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Quality Management. Java. Java Philippines.
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Quality Management in Healthcare in 2020
Quality Management in Healthcare in 2020 768 487 Exist Software Labs

If there is a word often used (and abused) in marketing, it is the word ‘quality’.  Why not?  Positive quality connotes class, distinction, and a cut above the rest.  More often than not, it also subtly echoes what being upscale is as opposed to bargain type items as well as services.  From the abstract (one’s life) to the mundane (pencil, paper, computers), there is nothing quite as aspirational as shooting for superior quality.

In healthcare, patients, doctors, and care institutions pursue quality at every touchpoint.  Yet, knowing whether they’re (patient) getting or providing  (doctors, nurses, providers) quality care has always been a matter of debate.  Even medical professionals can’t always judge this. Quality management in health care works to measure the health benefits of doctors’ and hospitals’ work and improve patient outcomes.

Tip:

Quality Management in health care works to reduce errors and improve patient care. The safety and effectiveness of treatment are two of the most critical measures of quality.

Mr. Fraser Sherman writes an excellent piece about the challenge of measuring quality in healthcare.  

Put simply he writes that, “Quality management in health care works to reduce errors and improve patient care. The safety and effectiveness of treatment are two of the most critical measures of quality.”

He writes further that formulating healthcare metrics is complicated in healthcare compared to other businesses dealing with bottom-line sales and revenues. In health care, different patients may have widely different problems, even in the same specialization such as OB-GYN or oncology. Despite similarities, treatment, and services to patients’ conditions have to be individually tailored, not mass-produced.

Despite this, health care quality is measurable!

According to Tefen Management Consulting, it’s the degree to which programs, policies, services, and research produce good health care outcomes and lead to conditions in which people can stay healthy. 

The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) describes quality management in health care as a strategy or strategies that meet the needs of the industry’s customers, the patients.

You can read more on the informative piece here: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/quality-management-health-care-62136.html#socialshare

The effectiveness and safety of treatments are particularly important. Prioritizing quality management in these areas yields the best results.

Check out our healthcare product, MEDCURIAL, and see how it helped some of the biggest hospitals in the country provide better patient outcomes.

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Retail. Java. Java Philippines.
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Importance of Online Payment in Retail
Importance of Online Payment in Retail 768 487 Exist Software Labs

The pandemic has drastically changed the tone of retailing. As a result, retailing businesses have suffered principal losses. The health crisis became a roadblock that leaves retailers, mainly medium and large, with only two options: to take a detour or injure themselves.

In previous years, one of the primary movers of digital transformation in retail is the rise of a more digitally inclined population, accompanied by fast-evolving technology that displayed a threat to traditional, physical retailing. This threat was later on called the “retail apocalypse” which is signified by a rapid hike of sales in online retailing.

The Retail Industry

If we observe, data from 2019 shows that around 9,300 physical retail branches were closed due to excessive numbers of them being built instead of going for online sales (Forbes). Such is just one of the numerous proofs that retailing has already been going online.

We are way past the introduction stage to digital retailing. However, the global health crisis has created a higher demand for change to retail businesses, particularly from customers. 

A tremendous change in consumer behavior, the digital transformation that the pandemic called for is on a bigger scale. There is pressure for retailers to deliver their products through other channels, and still offer the most efficient service they could provide.

Nearly 50% of global shoppers are using digital payments more than pre-COVID. The majority of whom plans to continue doing so even after the numbers depress. E-Wallets and contactless cards are the top payment methods benefitting from this change, as consumers use less cash and make more purchases online (Global Online Payment Methods 2020 and COVID-19’s Impact Report).

The term “dirty money” pertains to not just unlawfully obtained money but to its by-the-book definition – unhygienic. In the United Kingdom alone, the use of cash was cut in half ever since their government banned its usage following the ascent of COVID19. Retailers are obliged to render contactless payments only, creating a cashless economy.

Before-mentioned synopsis emphasizes the pressure for the retail industry to provide more payment options. Retailers, therefore, should anticipate further developments from this point forward. Aside from its timely relevance of diminishing the need to do physical transactions, online payment has more to offer to the different stakeholders of retailing, which includes the following:

Faster transactions

Since it can be done by using the user’s mobile device, capacitating your business with online payments will make way to faster transfer in comparison to a card or cash payment. With the technological upgrades that mobile devices have nowadays, executing the transfer can be seamless and can only take a short while. 

Security

Online payment gateways have now evolved to address security issues that worry the users. They are encrypted, with several layers of security, which include protecting the information of both the sender and the receiver.

Personalized customer experience

It lessens the necessity to wait in long lines and the inconsistency of each transaction time, which is influenced by human factors. It also allows the business to acknowledge customers’ needs in real-time, regardless of their category or level of priority.

Affects buying behavior

The possibility of customers to retreat from purchasing a product may be affected by the unavailability of the payment method that they prefer. So, if a good number of the retail market will go for online payment if it is in place, it will be a grave move not to equip your business with this ability.

As the global health crisis pushes the retail industry to change the ecosystem, shaping your business fit for online payment is a step towards survival.

Get to know ANAHAW, our retail solution specially built to adapt to modern retail business requirements, and to specifically work on providing you an edge over the rest.

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Technology Innovation. Java. Java Philippines.
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Exist Technology Innovations: Adapting Tomorrow’s Technology In Today’s Retail Business 2020 Webinar Highlights
Exist Technology Innovations: Adapting Tomorrow’s Technology In Today’s Retail Business 2020 Webinar Highlights 768 487 Exist Software Labs

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.” – Charles Darwin

According to Forbes and Microsoft, these are the main technologies in retail in 2020:

      • Chatbots
      • Mixed Commerce (e-commerce X in-store)
      • Loyalty on Mobile
      • Blockchain
      • Data-driven Business
      • Artificial Intelligence
      • Augmented Reality

Technology innovation is a key parameter for innovating your business right now. KPMG, a multinational audit firm, recently illustrated a graph of three (3) options to drive retail businesses.

Keeping the business-as-usual model means that you are a legacy type of business. You are comfortable with the tried and tested model that you have right now that has worked in the past but is uncertain to work in the future. It is like ignoring the changes that are happening around you and how the consumer behaves. Remaining in this grey area despite all the shifts that are happening in the industry will lead to becoming irrelevant over time.

However, if you are thinking of leveraging or being the platform for retail, you are responding to the changes, and to different consumer behaviors. That is leveraging technology to respond to new demands, and anticipate those that might occur in the future, making sure that you are still at the growth path.

One example is how Jollibee dealt with the changes engendered by the pandemic.

Jollibee has been opening a lot of stores locally and globally. They have been doing the same growth strategy for decades with less integration of technology on their operations compared to what they developed right now.

Jollibee built “cloud kitchens” to offset the losses that they had during this period. They have invested 7 billion pesos to set up these “cloud kitchens” to continue to bring their products to their customers without the need to build the usual dine-in, brick-and-mortar facilities. Instead, they built delivery outlets located in discreet, low rent sites that serve as hubs. Cloud kitchens are now available in the United States, the United Arab Emirates, and Singapore. This presented how important it is to be on the lookout for opportunities to innovate and adapt to the possibilities in the market using technology.

When you talk about innovation, you should not only talk about how you can provide your services online. Your business should be encompassing three (3) fronts and is able to empower these three. You have to be smart and have a data-driven strategy. Bringing your business online is just one part.

Customer

      • Seamless Online and In-Store experience (Web-mobile platform, In-store tech hub)
      • Data Source (I.e. CRM – Know your customer, Loyalty Engine – Reward your customer, A.I. – Understand your customer)

Employee

      • Empower your employees with the information. 
      • Seamless Online and In-Store experience both customer and business
      • (Mimic online experience in-store)
      • Data Source (I.e. Real-Time Inventory, Inventory Projections, Smart Suggestions, Special offers for targeted customers)

Partners

      • Engage and enable your partners
      • Data Source (I.e. Supply Chain Automation, Vendor Management System)

Technology innovation does not only cover how you can provide for your customers. It has to be perceived holistically.

So, How do you do it?

There are five (5) stages of an organization’s journey.

Business as Usual (No changes at all)

This is when you are not adopting any changes right now. You might be trying to get by with the tested business model. This puts your business into the risk of being forgotten, of failing, or of suffering drastic losses.

Experimentation (R&D)

You want to learn more and test something to see what fits your business.

Strategic Planning

It is when you are laying out a strategic plan that will fit your business from the data that you have gathered for the past months.

Organizational Roll Out

When you already have a strategic plan, you have to roll it throughout your organization to align every aspect of your digital strategy to every section of your organization.

Full Adaptation

Continuously innovating to see where else can you improve.

Five-step Iterative process

These are the processes to help you out with your journey of being part of the digital economy.

      1. Strategic Intent – you want to inject a digital strategy as part of your objective
      2. IT Feasibility Validation – checking if it is feasible to do in your organization in an IT perspective
      3. Business Unit Engagement – getting everyone on board
      4. Organization Injection – execution, making it part of your business culture
      5. Rapid Release of the Next Generation Business Services

It does not have to happen in one go. Even after releasing your first digital milestone, you may go back to the first step to see what else can be improved.

Case Studies and Insights

Walmart

(in an interview with then CTO, Jeremy King)

      • In 2018 Walmart and Microsoft announced a five-year partnership to drive digital transformation across Walmart, boost shopping speed, and empower retail associates.
      • Customer-facing technologies are in Microsoft’s Azure cloud
      • Machine learning as one of the most important technologies Walmart is using. 
      • Predictive Inventory accurately addresses one of the biggest consumer complaints, which is accurately providing the right availability of items that they have.

Starbucks

      • They incorporated Data Analytics into their Marketing and Sales efforts.
        • what kind of coffee their customers are ordering and adjust their offerings accordingly.
        • Personalize offers and marketing materials.
        • Increase sales and cut costs of ineffective ads and marketing
      • Starbucks Mobile app: Starbucks has been using reinforcement machine learning technology (ML) to provide a more personalized experience for customers who use the Starbucks mobile app
      • IoT – measure consumption of coffee beans in partnership with Microsoft
      • BlockChain – trace coffee beans from its source

Domino’s Pizza

In the mid-2000s, Domino’s was struggling with both brand image…they recognized the need for rock-solid digital strategy to improve customer engagement and overall brand image

      • Marketing and IT  aligned to communicate Domino’s digital transformation story to the users (consumers). This led to the social listening platform Think Oven, a social listening platform which allows Domino to get real-time feedback from their customers. This was launched in the mid-2000s, back when social media is starting to gain dominance.
      • After a successful rollout of their mobile app, they introduced Domino’s Anywhere: customers can order from a plethora of devices including Amazon Echo, Google Home, Siri, Smartwatches, Smart TV’s, Slack, Facebook Messenger, Twitter and more
      • Extensive use of Cloud technology via MS Azure’s PaaS, all of their core systems – digital ordering systems, ERP, back-office operations, and supply chain systems in the cloud.
      • Domino is planning to invest in conversational AI and cognitive technologies (NLP) to further enhance the user experience.
      • In 2017, Domino Pizza overtook Pizza Hut to become the largest pizza company in the world generating $12B in global revenue.

IKEA

Cultural Transformation (Interview with Chief Data Officer, Barbara Martin Coppola)

This is how they achieved a digital mindset:

      • “In order to be successful, digital needs to be embedded in every aspect of IKEA. Digital is a way of working, making decisions, and managing the company.”
      • “At IKEA we’ve divided our digital transformation into four main areas:
        • Meeting the customer
        • Empowering co-workers
        • Digital Foundation
        • Digital DNA”
      • “When speaking of digital transformations, it is imperative to think of it as a strategic paradigm shift, and culture can either enable that transformation or it can severely hinder it.”

Technologies per Business Size

Companies or people before put up a small store, and they were only using cash register machines and accepting cash as payment. Now, this CRM is now being replaced by POS. Along with this, people are also changing and tend to use tools like GCash or PayMaya. 

On another part, people who are not able to put up a physical store make use of e-commerce platforms, like Lazada and Shopee, to make it available to the public.

During the pandemic period, people had to adapt and be more creative. They are utilizing Facebook as their channel. People who are doing transactions here usually start with a COD payment method until they have established their customers’ trust, but definitely switch to utilizing mobile wallets.

With all these models of small enterprises, inventory is done manually.

Physical stores become more scattered within the city, across the city, or all over the country. With the utilization of POS, companies are able to control these brick and mortar stores and to communicate with applications in the headquarter. 

Some companies start as e-commerce. But eventually, these retailers would want physical presence and put up physical stores, putting up brick and mortar, and e-commerce to form their mixed channel of selling.

For databases, the structured data will require the use of SQL technologies, while document databases are used for non-structured or semi-structured data.

Examples:

      • SQL Technologies (PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, MS SQL Server)
      • Document Database (MongoDB, CouchDB, CouchBase)

The large enterprise model is similar to medium, but it presents more potential for the company to do more, and utilize more technologies. There will come a point in time that the company will need to use corporate applications/ERP. It handles all of the operations of the business.

In 2019, more brick and mortar stores adopted the use of kiosks to perform other functions.

Large enterprises also have plenty of vendors and need to have applications to manage their operations.

It is expected for such a size of businesses to have an executive information system in place, basically like business intelligence already. When a variety and volume of data come in, Big Data also does because it already has so much data to consider.

There are three (3) types of data analytics:

        • Descriptive (under business intelligence)
        • Predictive (statistical models; used for forecasting)
        • Prescriptive (artificial intelligence; machine learning; draws up specific recommendations)

Greenplum fits best if you want all of these. It is a data hub, a repository for all your data. It has AI and machine learning libraries.

If your system is future-proof, it is capable of putting all of these technologies together.

DevOps should be in place if you are undergoing a digital transformation for a more seamless deployment.

Current to Tomorrow’s Technologies:

Artificial intelligence (AI)

Allows visual recognition or customized image recognition to fit the business needs, It detects and identifies people, emotions in images. In Amazon Go, a person can pick up an item from the store and immediately leave with it. The payment is automatically deducted from the person’s bank account. The same concept is also a running idea for hotels.

Retail use cases:

      • Amazon Go
      • Cardless Membership

Internet of Things (IoT)

A system of interrelated, non-traditional computing devices with unique identifiers, usually IP addresses. It also has the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.

Retail use cases:

      • Amazon Go’s IoT sensors
      • AWM Smart Grocery
      • Smart Shelves/Shelf Tags
      • Thermostat Control
      • Flonomics’ counting system and retail analytics technology help retailers determine optimal staffing levels for different dates and times, improve marketing strategies, gauge traffic flow, enhance customer service, and more.

Chatbot

A software application used to conduct online conversations, like Alexa, Siri, and more. It provides live contact with a human. An example of this is Globe’s Dude, a chatbot to monitor employees’ health launched during the enhanced community quarantine.

Retail use cases:

      • Tommy Hilfiger Chatbot
        • recommends client based on the information provided
      • Support use
        • Answering queries – FAQs
        • Respond to customer concerns and informing the support team
      • Globe’s DUDE – monitor employee health

Augmented Reality

An interactive experience of a real-world environment where the objects that reside in the real world are enhanced by computer-generated perceptual information.

Retail use cases:

      • IKEA Place
      • Fitting Rooms App

Blockchain

Is a growing list of records, called blocks, that are linked using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data (generally represented as a Merkle tree).

      • Retail use cases
      • tracking shipments, 
      • centralizing databases
      • stopping fraud and counterfeits
      • and increasing transparency

Key Takeaways:

      • Business strategy must include the ability to adapt/embrace change
      • Technology adoption is a major contributor to long term success
      • Digital Transformation will help define and execute the digital strategy road map
      • Choose the technology that best fits your strategy

Get to know ANAHAW, our retail solution specially built to adapt to modern retail business requirements, and to specifically work on providing you an edge over the rest.

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Digital Banking. Digital. Java. Java Philippines.
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What Sparked the Emergence of Digital Banking
What Sparked the Emergence of Digital Banking 768 487 Exist Software Labs

As we live in the computer age, the existence of online banking appears ordinary to us. Every major bank tailors a system that is capable of online access. The absence of such is almost unimaginable, especially these days.

The evolution of digital technology presented an invaluable advantage to banks as it attempts to address the limitations that the old brick-and-mortar set up brought to sight.

These limitations sparked the emergence of digital banking.

1. Building cost.

Before the rise of digital banking, the banking sector depends on expanding its branches to reach out to a broader market. But the hefty price of building a bank branch is one of the major turning points of gradually moving online. 

More than just the amount the land and construction of the building per se, establishing a physical branch takes into account the landscape/exterior, interior design, technologies, and devices to be used, as well as the security measures to be implemented. Banking businesses, therefore, target building a facility in commercial areas. This scenario creates a boundary between the banks and the possible market from far-flung places.

2. THUS, limiting the bank’s presence in many areas.

The first limitation springs another one. Banking was less accessible to most people outside business districts. Additionally, a physical branch can only attend to as many clients as the store, and its personnel can accommodate.

As banking became more present in the digital ecosystem, the market also had more inclusion. It also fostered a better synergy. Banks can swiftly respond to concerns as fast as users can address their concerns.

3. More customers require more bank employees.

Even before the rampancy of digital banking platforms, banked individuals have always kept increasing, the implementation of digital technology in this industry only accelerated this increase significantly. A corresponding increase in bank staff always comes after the constant growth, or forecasted growth, in the number of banked individuals. The same goes for adding more physical stores.

Digitization allowed processes to speed up as most of it is being automated. This induced changes in the traditional workforce requirements of banks. With the decrease in the need for human supervision in many operations, banks can now concentrate their forces on their core competencies.

4. Incoherent customer journey.

The improvements in the customer journey that digitization presented were also promising. The customer journey begins with awareness. But where does it end? The simple answer is it never does. Continually nurturing the clients even after you have acquired them is one of the most critical steps, if not the most, in rendering a fulfilling journey.

Think of having to do every step of this journey physically. Tedious, right?

Digital banking broke this stigma. The targeting, marketing, acquiring, and now even responding to the market became a lot easier, delivering a more personalized and customer-centric experience.

5. Consumers are online, so should banks be.

The evolution of digital banking expands from the creation of ATMs to going online. Why not? The market is rapidly becoming more inclined to the internet, and they want to accomplish things faster than ever before. The screens became the window to what the world has to offer, either convenience or luxury.

One of the fundamentals of running a business is placing it to where your target segment is situated. The rationale is pretty simple: you should be where your prospects are – keep within the sight. Banks get to be where their market is, a superpower that brick-and-mortar cannot grant – OMNIPRESENCE.

Digital banking was able to hit these pain points and is anticipated to keep driving notable changes in this age, especially as the global health crisis accelerates the demand for more digital services. The current condition advanced the call for virtual collaboration, thus the innovation of the virtual platforms. It is inevitable. It is only a matter of who is going to be the pacesetter – the one at the front of the transformation race.

Exist Software Labs, Inc. is committed to extending our assistance to several banks with their Digital Onboarding requirements. We have been in the business for 18 years, and the mission to enable corporations to go on digital and have a competitive advantage in this fast-changing world is at our core.

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Healthcare. Java. Java Philippines.
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COVID Puts Spotlight on Healthcare IT in 2020
COVID Puts Spotlight on Healthcare IT in 2020 768 487 Exist Software Labs

Immune to IT’s charms, digital healthcare gets an unwelcome boost.

Every crisis is a challenge as well as an opportunity.  It has always been the case for healthcare. Right now, the case for hospitals and care centers to go digital has never been stronger. 

In the IT industry, it only takes weeks to months to jump and move into action when there’s a glimpse of technology that could potentially disrupt the way things work. Small, incremental improvements are often enough to elicit a quick decision to adopt a particular app or system into an existing process. Winning the business battle in today’s economy often begins in the front-ends and back-ends but like the rest of the other verticals, healthcare executives still suffer from cold-feet about this.

Until COVID 19 happened.

Within a month, care providers and institutions have realized that fighting the pandemic requires equipping the workforce with digital cover. At Geisinger, these digital efforts were organized in three areas:

      1. Communicating information to prevent future infections;
      2. Leveraging technology to advance clinical protocols; and
      3. Shifting the majority of the workforce to telecommuting.

Information about the COVID 19 virus was unfolding by the day requiring that communication platforms and channels were kept running smoothly to provide timely and updated guidance into managing the disease as an institution.  

Corollary to this is the rise of contact-tracing apps aimed at preventing the spread of infection. Hospitals can rely on this app to protect both staff and family visitors who need to be with the patients. Aside from being an effective monitoring tool for persons that were at a given location, these digital apps limit the need for in-person touchpoints which reduce the risk of contagion.

Information resources about COVID 19 are just as essential when news about treatment reaches both the medical community and the public at roughly the same time. Note however that in the practice of medicine, the job of separating facts from fiction passes through stringent medical research which is most likely under the greatest pressure it has ever been.  

Simply combing through research papers about COVID 19 wouldn’t work in this hectic scenario. Ensuring that doctors, nurses, and the entire hospital team operate using updated and guided protocols at the point of care requires implementing and integrating decision support resources into hospital systems to reduce the variability of care.

The use of virtual teams and telemedicine has never been so important to keep a semblance of a patient-doctor relationship amidst social distancing. Infrastructure teams perform important work in keeping networks running and secure at all times. Software teams are scrambling to improve apps that allow full patient experience done virtually from home including appointments, video consultation, payment, and remote monitoring which benefits the doctors and hospitals as well.

By reducing the need to meet personally, the need for doctors and hospital staff to be onsite is also minimized and this keeps them safe as well. For hospital IT teams, the use of web-based frameworks allows them to monitor, update, and perform fixes for hospital systems offsite which reduce crowding the premises as well. 

We are nowhere near the end of the pandemic as all businesses, including healthcare have been greatly affected by COVID 19. Whether hospitals will continue with a ‘patch and resolve’, segmented, and siloed IT approach or incorporate all this into a comprehensive and cohesive strategy remains to be seen. Regardless, the benefits of adopting a digital approach will continue to reveal itself. Let’s just hope it doesn’t take another global pandemic to enforce this realization.

Join us as Wolters Kluwer and Exist host a learning session on “How Reducing Variations is Key to Improving Patient Outcomes (and Defeating Covid 19)” and take a deeper look into proven approaches for improving your hospital organization’s care quality and clinical effectiveness!

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PhilHealth. Java. Java Philippines.
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PhilHealth: Promoting Quality Care For Filipino Patients
PhilHealth: Promoting Quality Care For Filipino Patients 768 487 Exist Software Labs

As the country’s largest health insurance provider and primary source of hospital funds, PhilHealth can single-handedly affect healthcare policy changes unlike any other.  Even as the Department of Health(DOH)  struggles with handling the COVID 19 pandemic – the accuracy of reporting, recruiting, and empowering medical personnel not to mention managing its public persona, PhilHealth has continued to stealthily move powerful care institutions to do its bidding with less fanfare.

This is not to say that resistance is non-existent.  On the contrary, PhilHealth is among the most difficult to please, for being quite unpredictable and dynamic as it responds to situations with its advisories via its circulars.  One must understand that it is responsible for a huge amount of money. Leaving hospitals huffing and puffing with sudden policy changes and updates to ensure proper disbursements, claims and billing departments can only breathe a sigh of relief if their counterpart team of doctors, nurses, and other care providers are as flexible as their IT personnel.

Beginning in 2018, PhilHealth has made and remade its eClaims system not just as the primary payment system for medical services but a valuable cross-checking clinical tool.  It wouldn’t be surprising that as time passes, the eClaims will be requiring more and more supporting data in the form of clinical information that will be good enough to paint a picture of patient health statuses and clinical protocols for every medical condition.  

What may initially be just diagnoses, the data in eClaims submitted by hospitals for their patients include procedures, medications, and other forms of treatment received. By being digital, cross-referencing the case rates with allowable treatment is now possible. One could surmise that the eClaims will not just offer proof but more importantly, ensure that globally-accepted, evidence-based clinical protocols were followed to approve the reimbursements.

In this scenario, hospital information systems will play a vital role in streamlining the process of eClaims processing.  While doctors and care teams ensure that correct and minimally varied treatment protocol is followed in treating patients, they would also be looking to match these with case rates and requirements as well. With digital systems in place that store clinical data such as EMR, the eClaims reimbursement forms would then require minimal manual encoding and prevent literally, ‘costly’ errors.

If payment reimbursements are not enough reason to adopt better hospital IT systems and use of medical records instead of paper, then they will need to find other sources of revenue and prepare to suffer business consequences.  

Once all things fall into place, patients would also get to benefit the most.  With the requirements outlined in the eClaims, they get to receive the right treatment their condition requires and hopefully, the improved patient outcomes that healthcare institutions are primarily in existence for.

Check out our healthcare product, MEDCURIAL, and see how it helped some of the biggest hospitals in the country provide better patient outcomes.

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POS. Java. Java Philippines.
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Why a Future-proof POS System is what You Need Right Now
Why a Future-proof POS System is what You Need Right Now 768 487 Exist Software Labs

The sudden outbreak of the pandemic placed the global economy on a tough path. This crisis is unlike any other economic challenges that the world had to deal with in the past decade. Its effects befell from small to large businesses.

The retail industry is among the most affected strands by this pressure. Retailing, especially medium and large, has to transcend from its conventional approaches, influenced by several factors that will most probably be normalized even after the health crisis. 

New customer preferences are one of the principal motives why medium and large retail businesses have to transform their enterprises. In the retail industry, customer satisfaction is what you should always aim to achieve. The present circumstances will most likely engrave habits and preferences to your customer as they now normalize caution in every interaction.

“Safe retailing” is and will be the new normal. Hence, a retail solution that is flexible and ready to succeed, even post-pandemic, is a must-have. 

To cater to the possible changes, upgrading your POS System per se can bring an optimal improvement. Although it is undeniable that the outpour of technologies in the past years brings a shipload of viable additions to your current system, you will only enjoy it if you have a solid base.

You need to have a future-proof POS system.

The fast-evolving nature of technology simply sends the message that there would never be a one-size-fits-all solution to retail businesses. Thus, having a scalable and extensible system is gravely important.

What does that mean?

A scalable solution defies the memory, user, location, and other limits. Therefore, it will allow you to increase the system’s capacity and use it across different branches.

Whereas, extensibility allows the system to expand its features and functionalities without major downtime, making the system conveniently customizable.

With these two as the foundation of your POS system, you readily available for omnichannel retailing. This will let you break the barriers of conventional retail solutions. It will increase the resiliency to provide what your market wants as you can easily integrate it into different systems and devices, and centrally manage your facilities and POS terminals.

These make the solution ready to adapt to any technological changes as needed by your business. It also opens new opportunities for future augmentations to better tailor it to your business strategy, a retail solution that can adapt as fast as your customers’ demands.

Get to know ANAHAW, our retail solution specially built to adapt to modern retail business requirements, and to specifically work on providing you an edge over the rest.

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Healthcare. Java. Java Philippines.
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A Playbook to Improve Clinical Effectiveness and Reduce Variability in Care
A Playbook to Improve Clinical Effectiveness and Reduce Variability in Care 768 487 Exist Software Labs

Rules and payment models keep changing, revenues falling while demand for care quality is at an unprecedented scrutiny. To thrive, hospitals need to address clinical variability.

For years, our team at Exist has made it a priority to build technology capabilities that tear down the barriers of siloed systems particularly in healthcare.

From our clinic system which connects both users and clinics to our hospital system that integrates every available important service within the institution around the patient data and the care that they received, we believed that achieving significant and quality care outcomes required connecting dots via promoting effective care coordination.  After all, a superhero doctor approach – which traditionally has been the case, is unsustainable, if not constrictive.

While ‘interoperability in healthcare’ presents a tremendous gain, it is still not the end goal. What connecting through data unlocks is access to information that could lead to evidence-based care protocols and if taken to heart, reduce care variabilities.  

It is apparent that hospitals globally are under tremendous challenge, not only from containing diseases but operationally with slow revenue growth that results in a sustainability challenge.

This sustainability gap for healthcare providers is a result of multiple factors, not limited to:

    • Rules keep changing midgame
    • Shifting payment models
    • Regulatory changes
    • Rise of non-traditional competitors with tech advantages such as Google, Apple, and Amazon.

It is quite a challenge!  

Many hospitals will try to tighten their revenue cycle management — contain costs by streamlining operations and reducing staff and adding technology — but it would only be a short-term measure because it won’t be able to close this gap unless variability – source of inefficiencies, adverse events, increased lengths of stay, and higher mortality rates is addressed until consistency of care becomes the norm.

At the root, two critical factors emerge that need to be addressed: the decisions clinicians are making every day and the engagement and preferences of your patients. 

For institutions, however, addressing variability is an itch better left unscratched since it involves challenging traditional approaches and behavioral change for an overburdened care workforce, it can get pretty tricky.

Unless doctors and clinicians come across a common care playbook that could make the transition easier and by which they could all align with.

Healthcare is under siege and new approaches are needed. Learn more about evidence-based playbook to reduce clinical variability and address the sustainability gap.  Download the eBook Reducing Variability in Care: Drive Behavioral Changes That Improve Clinical Effectiveness to take a deeper look into proven approaches for improving your organization’s clinical effectiveness.  (Registration required).

Check out our healthcare product, MEDCURIAL, and see how it helped some of the biggest hospitals in the country provide better patient outcomes.

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Health. Java. Java Philippines.
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Our Share in this COVID Warfare
Our Share in this COVID Warfare 768 487 Exist Software Labs

The year shocked us with a change we have all not foreseen. For the first time in years, perhaps, decades, we had to turn our backs from the living condition that has grown on us. The world has taken a hiatus from almost all of its activities. The population succumbed to the walls of their homes in fear of acquiring the virus.

At the forefront of this global health crisis are fighters equipped with medical weapons and gowns, the first line of defense in this war. While we remain in the comfort of our homes, hospitals keep striving. It has served as heroes’ quarters even in retrospect, saving lives at the best of their guts. But a pandemic can take anyone by surprise.

Throughout history, viruses, bacterias, and parasites have been killing more than wars and natural calamities. We have heard of similar diseases like SARS and MERS before. But even with hundreds of health cases related to this, the COVID-19 is a whole new deal. Medical experts are still seeking answers. The world is still yet to discover the cure for it.

As the crisis magnifies each day, humanity and empathy for those in the frontline also amplify. Assistance comes in many forms from different people and institutions.

As technology innovators, we hope that our technology is serving health workers from our partner hospitals well. Compared to the risks that they are taking, it might be little. But it draws us more to continuously work in advancing our healthcare technologies, knowing that it is serving a great purpose in these troubled times and might even be useful in the future.

Having a system that can effectively manage medical records digitally can save some of their time. It also contributes to reducing errors that could affect patient outcomes.

There might still be millions of unknown diseases comparable to COVID-19 that the world may encounter again. Thus, an effective documenting system to gather information about the patients can help in medical research, developing vaccines, and improving medical practices.

This phenomenon hit us with the reality that a multitude of possibilities is still unknown in the field of medicine. Takeaways from this event will likely propel a much intensive organizational development and the adoption of modern solutions for modern problems. 

We hope that once the brighter days are upon us once again, we will have more chances to work hand in hand with those in the health sector, improving their operations while enhancing our healthcare products. So that when another biological threat comes in our way, our medical practitioners are better geared, having better access to medical knowledge. We can be more ready than afraid.

Check out our healthcare product, MEDCURIAL, and see how it helped some of the biggest hospitals in the country provide better patient outcomes.

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