How Quality Engineering is helping the New Age Transformation in Healthcare?
As healthcare in North America transitions from fee-for-service to fee-for-value, ensuring quality through rigorous testing becomes even more critical. Let’s explore how technology trends in testing are adapting to this shift, while keeping population health, 21st Century Cures, and FHIR transformation in mind:
Testing for Value-Based Care –
• Outcome-based testing: Focus moves from simply checking functionality to measuring how applications directly impact patient outcomes and cost-effectiveness.
• Real-world data (RWD) integration: Testing platforms analyze RWD to assess the real-world performance of applications and identify areas for improvement.
• Predictive analytics: AI-powered tools analyze data to predict potential complications and guide interventions, enabling proactive testing and improved care management.
Testing for Population Health –
• Interoperability: Healthcare applications need robust testing to seamlessly integrate with diverse systems and share data for population-level insights.
• Social determinants of health (SDOH) considerations: Testing includes scenarios that address factors like food insecurity and income inequality impacting population health outcomes.
• Public health surveillance: Public health agencies leverage AI-powered testing tools to identify disease outbreaks and trends, requiring rigorous validation and accuracy checks.
Aligning with 21st Century Cures and FHIR –
• Interoperability testing: Ensure healthcare applications comply with FHIR standards for seamless data exchange across systems.
• Patient access and control: Testing focuses on user interfaces and functionalities that empower patients to manage their own health data securely.
• Clinical trial support: Streamline clinical trial processes with advanced testing tools for data capture, analysis, and regulatory compliance.
Additional Trends –
• Blockchain for secure data sharing and transparency.
• Cybersecurity testing for healthcare data protection.
• Voice-enabled interfaces and chatbot testing for patient engagement.
• Ethical considerations in AI-powered testing for healthcare.
Remember –
• Collaboration across stakeholders: Developers, testers, clinicians, and patients need to work together to ensure applications are valuable, effective, and ethically sound.
• Continuous improvement: Testing is an ongoing process, adapting to evolving technologies and healthcare needs.
• Data privacy and security: Secure and ethical data handling is paramount throughout the testing process.
These trends showcase the exciting evolution of healthcare application testing in North America. By embracing cutting-edge technologies and aligning with value-based care, population health initiatives, and regulatory frameworks, we can ensure healthcare applications deliver the best possible outcomes for patients, providers, and the entire healthcare ecosystem.