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Healthcare. Java. Java Philippines.

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!

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

PhilHealth. Java. Java Philippines.

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.

POS. Java. Java Philippines.

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.

Healthcare. Java. Java Philippines.

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.

Health. Java. Java Philippines.

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.

Healthcare. Java. Java Philippines.

Healthcare Crisis Demands Use of the Cloud (2020)

Healthcare Crisis Demands Use of the Cloud (2020) 768 487 Exist Software Labs

The pandemic has placed institutions around the world under a heavy burden.  Except for national governments, no other institution or organization has taken the full force of the effect of the COVID virus than the healthcare industry. The immensity of the response needed, saving lives in addition to those that are infected while protecting their own care teams is unprecedented possibly since the post World War.

But we are, by no means still in the industrial age.

Technology has advanced to the point that people can stay in touch with families and workmates while physically apart across continents.  What this also means is that systems can be serviced and operated remotely while interfacing with other systems in order to provide valuable data and/or service that workers need to perform their jobs.  At its core, most if not all businesses, institutions including hospitals, require software systems in order to run their operations and coordinate the disparate but dependent functional parts.

We have at our disposal the use of magnificent machines that we’d never thought would be smart enough to turn on and off and operate by themselves. Inside the modern hospital, we’re used to seeing nurses carry tablets instead of paper charts, programmable infusion pumps instead of IV drips, and patients viewing lab results from the mobile phone instead of reading them on paper.

Yet all this may not be enough and the situation right now and post-crisis demand that healthcare upgrade and become more digital.

It has been said that the web is the future and along with it, is the use of cloud computing.  But this isn’t true at all because the future is upon us already!

The window for getting by with anything manual or use of outdated software applications that require complicated installations and effort-intensive management has just about closed.  The current crisis just illustrated how fragile are the systems that are highly dependent on onsite physical support. Unless, you’re a care provider – a doctor or nurse or medical team member, any function that can be performed remotely can mean lives being saved and less burden on medical services.

To believe that this is temporary and that things will return to normal soon is to remain in denial.  The world has changed and expectedly, so will the tools.  

One can bet that this crisis will spur innovation that will bring about better technology for hospitals, businesses and other industries than what we have right now.  The kind that allows people to focus and invest on work that is truly valuable like bedside care and directly saving lives.

But until that time comes, it is best to perform an honest audit of what keeps your business up and running. Heaven forbid that IT systems experience downtime and can’t help hospitals stay afloat.  Because every medical personnel’s fervent wish is for people to stay home, expecting the hospital systems and processes running efficiently (from admissions, discharge, orders, billing and cashiering among others) while they do their jobs is probably high on their wish list, too.

Digital Banking. Java. Java Philippines.

Digital Banking: Bridging the Social Distance

Digital Banking: Bridging the Social Distance 768 487 Exist Software Labs

The social distancing measures imposed to contain the spread of the global pandemic COVID19 pushed people to limit themselves from physical exchanges. The current scenario also puts restrictions on accessing necessities in which finances remain the lifeblood. Even so, the gradual shift into digital banking allows many banks and their clients to keep financial matters going.

The crisis and the quarantine measures implemented painted a clearer picture of how banking systems should step up their game, for instance, not limiting it to on-premise processing of transactions. We can say that such development will not be in vain even after this global concern clears up.

Digital Banking is an idea that pushes forward the minimization of physical transactions while maximizing operations and achievement of business goals.

Major Benefits of Digital Banking

No need to visit an actual branch; faster and easier registration and onboarding process; do bank transactions anytime, anywhere

  • Traditional banking requires a client’s presence in a physical branch. The process, account application, for example, mandates them to allocate enough time to finish the initial processing. It puts going to a store, falling in line, filling out documents by hand, and submitting the documents into view. Such a scenario will take much of the applicant’s time, needless to say, effort. Through digital onboarding, a person will only need access to a device and sufficient internet connection. Case in point, Exist’s partner PBCOM in the Philippines enables its market to apply for an account online by just providing the necessary information through an application specifically designed for the said process. An application can also operate 24/7, allowing the person to apply anytime he/she feels to do so, no cut-offs, no closing time, and we have fewer people exhausted by the end of the day.

Offer the longed-for banking application; attract more unbanked individuals to register

  • Onboarding is the first opportunity to build a relationship with a client. Therefore, it should offer ease to him/her at first glance. As stated above, traditional onboarding can be tedious for most people, however. In addition to that, a single branch can only cater to applicants within the covered area. Such limitation leaves banks with less market as well. Imagine what a mobile banking application that does the job like account opening on behalf of the bank staff can do. The method will require less human supervision and is accomplished via a mobile phone, thus, leaving the one-at-a-time system behind, enabling the bank to have more applicants at once. By expanding availability through the application, banks will also keep their clients within reach, creating a more interactive platform for both parties.

Gather valid customer data through the eKYC onboarding process; upsell/cross-sell to existing clients faster

  • Paper-heavy transactions have been the long-accepted method. But with the rise of digitization, the world has been moving steadily into paperless ones. Digitally gathering the clients’ information lessens the effort of both the bank and the clients. It also creates a leeway into having a single source of truth about the client, which lowers mistakes caused by tediously transferring the data from paper to computer wherein human error can also transpire.

Easier, faster, and smarter banking: the call for leveling up the banking system is nothing new. It has been a running topic for quite some time now. The enhanced community quarantine only underlined the idea that going digital can bridge the gap between banks and their market even better. It is a race towards digital transformation, and stalling behind is not a sound choice.

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 over 20 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.

Healthcare. Java. Java Philippines.

Push for Philippine Healthcare Transformation Continues

Push for Philippine Healthcare Transformation Continues 768 487 Exist Software Labs

The Hospital Modernization Summit series has just concluded its latest stop in Manila last February 20, 2020, at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila. 

Aptly titled Digital Hospital Transformation Conference, Philippines, the event united local healthcare leaders, executives, care providers, and stakeholders to address the pressure of improving healthcare amidst the increasing challenge brought about by the need to incorporate universal healthcare, rising population, costs, and the threat of new diseases.

Exist and Medcurial have once again teamed up with Zebra, a global leader in providing handheld and mobile devices, printers, and computers that are vital towards elevating the patient experience and promoting efficient hospital and clinic operations.

With Zebra products and our MERX hospital information system, visitors and attendees were able to glimpse how the right device and hospital system integration are simple ways for hospitals to make the technology leap into innovations that make practical sense. From simple printing of labels and patient tags on virtually indestructible, tear-proof stickers that capture the admission, lab order, and results, to the patient and item tracking via advanced RFID scanners, we have demonstrated that technology tools are already available which will greatly prevent significant medical errors and replace labor-intensive manual activities.

Below are some photos that were taken during the event:

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

New and Enhanced ANAHAW Retail Solution Grabs Fresh Interests in Stores Asia Expo 2019. Java, Java Philippines

New and Enhanced ANAHAW Retail Solution Grabs Fresh Interests in Stores Asia Expo 2019

New and Enhanced ANAHAW Retail Solution Grabs Fresh Interests in Stores Asia Expo 2019 768 487 Exist Software Labs

Bannering Anahaw’s latest version, Exist Software Labs once again captures new eyes in this year’s Stores Asia Expo held at the SMX Convention Center, Pasay City last August 15-16, 2019.

Featuring better and faster performance, enhanced reporting, simplified navigation and more, the new Anahaw retail solution was successfully unveiled during the exhibition. 

Exist’s participation in the said event garnered significant inquiries from various industries including retail and hospitality to name a few. Several hardware providers also expressed their interest to establish a partnership with Exist.

The annual event is one of the country’s biggest retail suppliers’ exhibitions. It has been an avenue for retail suppliers all around the country to showcase its flagship products to engage the interest of their primary market. 

With the continuous advancement for the retailing industry that the company promotes, Exist eyes on participating in more retail events to acquire new connections and market, and further solidify its brand.

SPIELING: NO SPILLS. Exist’s Sales and Marketing Team boasts ANAHAW Retail Solution’s newest upgrades to targeted markets

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.

Exist, Ashnik and EnterpriseDB Power Digital Transformation through EDB Postgres for the Philippine Electricity and Power Sector in 2019. Java, Java Philippines

Exist, Ashnik, and EnterpriseDB Power Phenomenal Digital Transformation through EDB Postgres for the Philippine Electricity and Power Sector in 2019

Exist, Ashnik, and EnterpriseDB Power Phenomenal Digital Transformation through EDB Postgres for the Philippine Electricity and Power Sector in 2019 768 487 Exist Software Labs

At the recently concluded The Future Energy Show Philippines 2019, Exist, Ashnik and EnterpriseDB teamed up to highlight the advantages of using EDB Postgres for a number of IT projects specifically within the electricity sector.

During the 2-day event, booth visitors and fellow sponsors personally listened to the stories about how Exist, Ashnik and EnterpriseDB were able to provide their skills and expertise for the local energy sector which began not too long ago.  

With years of experience working on enterprise systems across a diverse range of industries from banking and finance to retail and healthcare, Exist was able to get the opportunity and win the trust of the main local energy corporations PEMC and WESM for developing mission-critical systems required to bring the electricity spot market closer to achieving its goal of having a transparent, fair, competitive, and reliable market for the trading of electricity throughout the Philippines.

Working closely with Ashnik as a partner, the push for the use of EDB Postgres has always made the most sense as the choice of database with the balanced mix between cost and features that make it the most complete open source-based data platform.

One of the highlights of our participation at the event is our talk entitled “Postgres Powers Digital Transformation in Southeast Asia – Success Stories”, presented by Rekha Ramaswamy, Enterprise Sales Manager at Ashnik and Jenish of Vyas, Solutions Engineer, SE Asia and Hong Kong at EDB Postgres. In this session, they shared compelling business cases and customer success stories highlighting the value of the open source-based EDB Postgres Platform in helping enterprises confidently deliver on the promise of digital business.

“Based on the open source Postgres platform, we’ve enhanced it in such a way that it has additional application security and improved performance. [In using EDB Postgres] we are not compromising on existing features but giving added flexibility with [their] existing legacy database.”
Jenish of Vyas, Solutions Engineer, SE Asia and Hong Kong at EDB Postgres

Check out the slides and videos below: