QA for Telehealth Solutions – the Essentials and Best Practices

A variety of digital solutions for remote health monitoring, online doctor appointments, communication, patient record keeping, and other aspects of process management keeps growing.

According to Rock Health, the number of venture investments in virtual medicine has tripled during the last three years. Meanwhile, McKinsey reports that 17% of patients already communicate with doctors remotely, via online services, and the majority of users are going to keep using this solution over time.

Сonsequently, the telehealth boom is likely to last. To make this digital transformation worthwhile, however, every new software solution will require thorough testing.

The Importance of Quality Assurance for Telehealth

On the one hand, we are talking about technologies that expressly or impliedly deal with human health and wellbeing. Providers must take it seriously and understand their responsibilities.

On the other hand, companies should objectively evaluate the chances of reaching the set business goals. Testing has a direct impact on this since it helps ensure that software works as expected and is ready to go live.

In simple terms, quality assurance allows:

• finding critical bugs at the early stages;
• estimating products and services from an end-user’s perspective;
• preparing software for scaling in the future.

The particularities of the testing process depend on a specific application. We’ve covered the basics of eHealth software testing in one of the previous posts. In the present article, you can learn about terminology and practical aspects of testing.

Testing Process Setup for the Cancer Research Software

Telehealth vs Telemedicine vs Telecare

Let’s take a step back and get onto terminology. In our previous posts, you could find the term eHealth, which entails information and communication technologies used to enable, improve, or support the delivery of healthcare services. Similarly, there is mHealth, which describes specifically mobile technologies. eHealth is used interchangeably with Digital Health, which is actually preferred by WHO.

There are several other terms one can see in the media as often as the abovementioned words: telehealth, telecare, and telemedicine. So what does each mean, and what is the difference between them?

Telehealth is an umbrella term that encompasses the other two. It includes all the health services institutions can deliver remotely to a certain extent. Remotely in this context means “over the internet”.

Thus, telehealth includes:

• remote patient monitoring;
• online appointments;
• video consultations;
• diagnostics employing digital technologies;
• digital treatment-related services;
• online correspondence;
• patient records in the cloud;
• administrative services;
• even medical education, and much more.

Telemedicine refers specifically to medical services that enable remote delivery of healthcare services. Thus, telemedicine software companies focus on doctor-patient relations.

Finally, the word telecare describes tools that connect patients with caregivers (both family members and hospital alert systems) and various medication reminders. Wearables make a great share of these digital solutions.

It’s easy to get confused with so many terms being actively used. If it’s not that significant to the process, don’t get fixated on the classification. Telehealth, telemedicine, telecare, mHealth, digital health – QA teams can test your software solution regardless of the category where it formally belongs.

Things to Focus on When Testing Telehealth

Despite all the unique features, telehealth solutions have much in common. When a QA engineer starts to work with your software, they try to answer the following questions.

Does It Work as Expected?

It is significant to make sure that functionality meets the requirements. In other words, software testers aim to verify that the implemented features behave as explained in the documentation. A QA engineer starts with user registration and accessing the system. Then, they begin to interact with a system mimicking the behavior of real users. QA specialists check appointment scheduling, data synchronization, the correctness of calculations, and so on. It is essential to cover at least business-critical features before the release.

Do Online Calls Provide the Same Experience as Offline Visits?

Video and audio features belong to the area of functional testing explained in the previous paragraph. Nevertheless, that’s a significant aspect of many telehealth solutions, and it deserves special attention.

Patients must receive the same experience with healthcare professionals as they would receive during in-person consultations. In casual communication, freezing video and problems with audio are irritating. During a conversation with a doctor, the same interruptions can have a much worse effect.

If a digital health solution has a video calling functionality, software testers check how these features behave under different network conditions. They also make sure it is easy to set up the communication features. In particular, the software will need to access the microphone and camera, and it shouldn’t cause any difficulties.

Does It Work on Different Devices?

If a telehealth system doesn’t imply usage on specific equipment (such as medical diagnostic tools or particular wearables), a device used to access it shouldn’t affect the overall experience. It is critical to make sure that a system works correctly on different operating systems, devices, browsers and their versions. It is possible to ensure through compatibility testing.

QA for Healthcare App: Features, Compatibility, and User Interface

Is It Digitally Inclusive?

Accessibility is important for all kinds of software. In telehealth, it has a pivotal role. One of the benefits digital technologies bring to the healthcare field is easier access to care services. In particular, it is supposed to be an advantage for patients with disabilities. Thus, it is crucial to adjust the features for different groups of users, including those with physical and cognitive impairments.

Make sure to include accessibility testing on the list of QA activities when you discuss it with a software testing company. The QA specialists will check the compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines to ensure that:

• Users can adjust the size of content, page colors, and contrast.
• Software supports assistive technologies, such as mobile screen readers.
• The features are easy to access through different controls.
• Onboarding guidelines are straightforward and easy to follow.

Is It Easy to Use?

Last but not least, there is a UX/UI part. The QA Madness team focuses mainly on the latter since UX analysis should involve marketing professionals and user research. Nevertheless, when inspecting different kinds of controls and interfaces, we find functional bugs and some layout inconsistencies that affect user experience: broken links, overlapping fields, unreadable texts, and so on.

The Best QA Practices for Telehealth Solutions

Quality assurance goes beyond testing. It also entails business analysis, audit, requirement engineering, configuration and release management, etc. Remember about this when looking for a QA company. Maybe they can help with more than just testing.

A list of best practices will probably vary from company to company. Below, you will find a few words about some of the most common and most important ones.

Testing Documentation

Test artifacts, such as requirements, test cases, checklists, test plans and strategies, etc. help structurize the process and keep it more organized. Even in Agile teams, there is a minimal amount of documentation used. With relevant test artifacts, QA and development teams, as well as stakeholders, can track the testing progress, updates, and changes to stay on the same page. Long story short, it makes cooperation easier and more efficient.

Custom Testing Solutions

We believe that QA teams should provide a personalized experience. Every telehealth solution is unique, even if we are talking about slight differences. Thus, it makes sense to offer what is relevant at the moment. For example, smoke and regression testing are a must for every product and service. Meanwhile, compatibility, performance, and some other types of testing, as well as automation, may be not necessary in a specific case or at the specific point of the development process.

Flawless User Experience

Applicability and convenience are what ultimately shape audience loyalty. Various telehealth solutions are designed to facilitate the delivery of healthcare services for both patients and professionals. Working functionality, overall reliability, and good performance make software in-demand. These are the core aspects QA engineers focus on during their work. Through thorough testing, they help detect critical bugs and share recommendations on further quality improvements.

Security Audit

Since telehealth systems store and process lots of sensitive data, it is vital to ensure their security. QA companies that specialize in security testing provide a wide range of services to detect potential issues. For example, it is possible to:

• conduct a cybersecurity technical audit and check the entire system;
• run app security testing, focusing on a product only;
• have a vulnerability scan, etc.

The specialists can help to choose the best solution for a specific telehealth product or service.

Business Analysis

If you want to scale a product and aren’t sure how to do it (or aren’t sure about the scaling opportunities so far), a Business Analyst can help you. By analyzing software performance on the market, user feedback, and technical aspects, a BA specialist can help you start moving in the right direction.

Healthcare App Testing under Changing Requirements

To Wrap Up

Testing telehealth solutions is one of the essential steps of the development process. Companies aim to provide functional products and services that will be in demand. To make it happen, one needs to estimate software from an end-user’s point of view first. That’s when software testing specialists step in.

A QA team can join at any stage of the development, depending on the need and processes. Just remember to think about it beforehand, as finding QA specialists can take time.