Scheduler for medical
doctors and clinic
administrators

Onix built a custom system with CRM, EHR, and PHI functions and a scheduler that builds optimal house call routes considering multiple factors

A solution like this may be useful for any institution that sends physicians to visit patients. The fast-working scheduler algorithm can be applied in logistics, e.g., for route planning by delivery companies, as is, as a framework, or customized for specific needs.

Healthcare
Industry
5 specialists
Team size
USA
Location
6 months
Project duration

[ Business context ]

A small medical clinic and doctor service wanted a standalone solution for scheduling numerous house calls.

A group of doctors is regularly visiting patients at their homes, nursing homes, and hospitals. The administrators assign each of the doctors up to 12 patients to visit daily. The goal was to make the planning work easier, save time, and reduce errors.

The new system needed to be synchronized with existing electronic healthcare records (EHRs) of the patients’ medical history, diagnoses, medications, treatment plans, immunization dates, allergies, radiology images, and laboratory and test results in a digital format. The synchronization of the two systems would allow the clinic and doctors to use patient information that is constantly updated by other healthcare providers.

The customer also required a handy application to help doctors manage their schedules, optimize their travel to patients, and provide relevant medical information on each patient when the doctor is on a house call. The application should perform smoothly on a smartphone or tablet regardless of the operation system.

Based on these requirements, Onix started developing user flows for two categories of users:

Clinic and other administrators who need to manage doctors, patients, and house calls

Physicians who need to manage their scheduled house calls, drive to each patient’s facility using the optimal route, and access patient information on a mobile device

The solution and its killer feature

The resulting application has two interfaces and respective sets of functionalities.

Admin panel for the clinic staff

This web application combines mini-CRM (customer relationship management) and protected health information (PHI) functions.

The patient information enters the system in two ways: from EHR, and if a patient is not on EHR, administrators add them manually. All patient data is encrypted on the server.

The administrators manage the patients’ information and create schedules for the doctors.

Progressive web application (PWA) for doctors

The doctors use the PWA on mobile devices in lieu of a native mobile application. It provides info about scheduled house calls and allows doctors to retrieve each patient’s history and past house calls data.

A Scheduler integrated with Google Maps facilitates the doctor’s travel to each patient’s location.

Killer feature: Scheduler

Administrators plan the doctors’ house calls, and a scheduling algorithm builds the doctors’ daily routes based on multiple factors:

The frequency of prescribed house calls, e.g., biweekly or every Tuesday
The doctor’s working time (limited to 12 patients per day)
The location of each patient
The patients’ information
Distances between patients

The algorithm is integrated with Google Maps to determine the optimal route to each patient’s facility. The PWA also can cache information and ensure uninterrupted work even when the network signal is poor.

App user flows

Using the application, administrators can

Add other users (admins and doctors) and edit user profiles
Add patients, addresses and additional detail, and doctor-patient relations
Add information about hospitals and staff
Schedule house calls
Add the doctors’ and patients’ info to routes
View reports of 10 types: Missed Patients, Completed Visits, Audio Notes, Provider Visit Summary, Referral Census, Referrals, Routes, New Patients, Documents, and Weekly Route Overview

A doctor installs the PWA on a smartphone/tablet to

View their daily route as a list of patients/addresses to visit or as the patients’ locations on the map
Change the order of patients in the route
View scheduled patients for weeks and months in advance
Confirm/cancel house calls and add patients to the queue
Make notes regarding a house call in any of the available five formats, including text, audio, and voice-to-text
View each patient’s medical records and past house calls

Typically, a doctor logs in, views the route for the day, and contacts the patients to confirm their house calls. Then, the doctor starts the route, drives to each patient, and, once completed, marks the house call in the application.

Using directions from the app, the doctor visits all patients on their list. At the end of the route, all the information automatically becomes available for administrators to review.

[ Сhallenges and solutions ]

The scheduling algorithm that calculates the doctors’ daily routes using multiple parameters presented the main challenge for the team.

The admin side of the application was developed quickly using templates, which also helped to reduce the initial cost of the demo:

﹂
User roles and permissions (Super Admin, Admin, Doctor)
﹂
Admin panel with a simple interface: adding users, patients, and doctor-patient relations
﹂
PWA: doctor’s login, Google Map integration, daily route page, ‘Start route’

New features were gradually included in several releases of the product so that the end-users could test it as it evolved.

Core technology stack we used

Frontend development

Angular,

TypeScript

Backend development

PHP,

Python

UX/UI design

The design was prepared by Onix’s designers who studied EHR and CRM systems and navigation/delivery applications as a reference. Sketch was used to make the wireframes, and upon the client’s approval, high-fidelity interactive prototypes were created in Invision.

Simplicity was the client’s main requirement. This not only saved on the budget for the user interface design but provided the basis for an excellent user experience. The resulting minimalist interface makes it easier for administrators and doctors to focus on their tasks. There are no showy colors or other fancy elements that might divert attention when doctors need to quickly access and perceive important medical information and directions.

Colors

#459BF6

#028F68

#869FAC

#0C0D0E

Typography

Aa-Zz

Open Sans

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

1234567890(%)?“!”<>.,

Icon pack

Results

The clinic staff really liked the intuitive tool for their administrative tasks and the straightforward and fast scheduling system.

The doctors were happy with having the daily plans and routes always at their fingertips. They also appreciated the ability to see their workload for an entire month.