Remote Patient Monitoring Solution for Urology

• Project: Mobile and web remote patient monitoring software development for urinary and prostate health
• Duration: 2+ years, ongoing
• Technologies: Kotlin, Swift, React Native, Firebase, ReactJS, GraphQL, Apollo, NodeJS, NestJS, Prisma ORM, Google Cloud Platform, CircleCI
• Target audience: healthcare providers, patients, interested users

MenHealth provides innovative mobile solutions to help male patients monitor their urinary and prostate health. The company focuses on preventive medicine and creates value for patients and doctors by supporting them with tech tools to control medical conditions.

The Client’s Request

MenHealth was looking for a partner with expertise in healthcare app development as their previous software vendor lacked some industry focus. The company wanted to develop a comprehensive platform for patients and doctors to practice effective remote patient monitoring. Thus, they turned to Velvetech to enhance the existing medical solution and increase user engagement.

The initial request involved the implementation of payment functionality, messaging features, and overall improvement of the solution performance.

Process

It takes both patients and physicians to conduct remote patient monitoring. Therefore, it was essential for MenHealth to support all of their target users with an advanced solution to deliver unique value and a seamless user experience.

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To address the company’s goals, the entire scope of work was divided into two major parts — web platform overhaul and mobile apps redesign. With skilled project managers and business analysts on board, our team created a step-by-step project plan in line with the best agile development practices.

Web Portal for Patients and Physicians

One of the first steps the project started off with was the implementation of payments subscriptions for the web app. MenHealth needed to monetize their product more efficiently and provide users — practices and individuals — with more payment options.

Velvetech has completed a variety of web development projects, including the ones that required payment functionality. Thus, our team slickly designed and delivered the billing module that enabled the Client to manage subscriptions and track information on contracts and payments.

In order to ensure flexible subscription plans and support different account types, it was necessary to implement roles and permissions for key user groups — individuals, small practices, and large clinics. Also, there was an important extension of the administrator’s role who now could manage permissions and provide free trial access to the app.

Another part of the project our team tackled was messaging service. To support patient-centric healthcare and an RPM approach, in particular, it was important to enable easy communication between doctors and patients. Thus, MenHealth required chat functionality embedded into their web platform. As a result of this stage, physicians and patients could organize group chats with several participants or exchange instant messages.

Read up on the Development of a Telemedicine App with a Live Chat

On top of that, patients and doctors can monitor uroflowmetry test results and view dashboards right in the web portal. All this is available thanks to synchronization with a mobile app that we’re going to explore further.

Among other minor features updates, Velvetech helped the Client enhance their platform’s marketing research. It was achieved by launching promo codes and referral registration links with tags to invite users and analyze the target audience.

Uroflowmetry Mobile Solution

Initially, MenHealth approached our team with a mobile app that rested on the Client’s patented solution based on a mathematical algorithm. The app allowed patients to record and analyze the sound of urine flow, thus enabling early detection of urinary symptoms.

However, this application required major improvements since there were some gaps in its performance. The product faced critical issues that affected user experience. Hence, the Client asked Velvetech to work on boosting the app’s efficiency and adding new features. Among them were Apple in-app purchases and an offline mode to deliver in the first place.

Native Mobile Apps Design

While starting to work on the new features, our team had to make changes to the project plan. The point is that existing apps for Android and iOS were built with cross-platform technologies. Cross-platform development provides multiple benefits, but in MenHealth’s case, it couldn’t support enough flexibility to design new features.

Experienced in native app development, Velvetech leveraged Kotlin and Swift to create efficient mobile applications for Android and iOS platforms. To decouple backend components, we transferred the mobile API to a new app server that was implemented from scratch using the NestJS framework. The algorithm’s logic was also moved to the new server, which allowed for processing the tests only for users with an active subscription.

Another deliverable here was the UI/UX design development for the remote patient monitoring software applications. Our team provided a fresh and intuitive look & feel for both mobile apps to achieve a consistent user experience and help MenHealth build trust with the target audience.

New Features Implementation

As mentioned above, first, we extended the app functionality with an offline mode. Now, patients can take flow tests even when there’s no internet connection, and the processing is done automatically once the net access is back.

The Client wanted to make their remote patient monitoring software easy to use and facilitate a self-testing procedure. Thus, we’ve added calendar and dashboard features to monitor results over a certain period. That included various widgets like the BPH Questionnaire and a number of customized charts.

There are also push notifications to inform users of various statuses — whether the test is recorded, processed, or pending. To further enhance patient experience with the solution, test results come in the form of diagrams based on one-time measuring or over a set historical period. On top of that, users can export data to a PDF file and share it with their physician.

Finally, to enable users to make payments from their mobile devices, our team set up in-app purchases. This option is available for an iOS application, while for Android it was decided to encompass the Braintree payment gateway and leverage API integration.

Explore more about Mobile App Payment Gateway Integration

Challenges

On the way to successful project delivery, our team faced a couple of challenges that required special attention.

To provide users with a more seamless experience, the offline mode had to work without a pull-to-refresh action. So, once the internet connection is back, the data is processed automatically, and the user doesn’t need to upload the recording manually.

Taking into account the target users’ age, which is often above the middle, the mobile apps needed to run smoothly on a wide variety of devices. That necessarily included old OS versions and different screen sizes.

Last but not least, all the applications had to be HIPAA-compliant and meet the key industry standards like HL7 and FHIR. Since our team is well familiar with all of them and has vast experience in developing digital healthcare projects, it was just a matter of double-checking to ensure the solution is up to regulations and protects PHI data.

Learn more about HIPAA-Compliant App Development

Outcome

As the result of the MenHealth and Velvetech partnership, the digital healthcare market has been enriched with an innovative tech solution. It created a competitive position for the Client and helped them foster a modern approach to urology.

The product, consisting of a refurbished web platform and new mobile apps, enables male patients to make urinary tests and monitor physiological parameters like maximum flow, average flow, voided volume, and hesitancy time.

Concurrently, physicians can analyze test results that help them diagnose urinary conditions and offer treatment plans. The solution allows MenHealth to leverage remote patient monitoring and promote preventative care.

What’s Next

Velvetech and MenHealth continue to enhance the product’s performance and work on the new capabilities. For example, we’re adding a smart link feature, so a patient joining the platform is automatically attached to the corresponding physician.

Also, our teams are implementing batch invite functionality. It will allow for extracting patients’ data from a CSV file and sending a registration link to all required contacts at once, thus avoiding manual entry.