The Essentials of QA & Testing for Medical Software Companies
Building a successful digital healthcare product involves several strategic steps. Secure data processing, smooth integration between various systems, and compliance with regulations are among them. But how can you provide a ground for safe harnessing of healthcare apps and ensure consumer trust?
That’s where quality assurance comes into play. If you want to create a product that users can trust with their lives, keep in mind to include software testing in your workflow. In this article, we’ll explain why it’s necessary, reveal the key challenges of healthcare app testing, and outline the main criteria for choosing the right QA provider for healthcare software companies. Without further ado, let’s get started!
The Gravity of QA in Healthcare Software
When dealing with such a sensitive niche, the importance of software testing is hard to question. Every mistake in medical software may trigger adverse impacts that threaten human safety and well-being.
For example, an occasional mistake in the health test results may result in the inappropriate treatment. Inaccurate calculations or functionality bugs in medical billing software can cost a user a lot. But what if it’s an app that reminds people with diabetes to inject glucose at the right time? In this case, superficial checks can cost the life of the app’s user. Only comprehensive testing before a release can guarantee the unhindered operation of healthcare software under real conditions.
The other types of shortcomings you can prevent with timely testing include:
- cyber security issues;
- data breaches and misuse;
- compliance issues (GDPR, HIPAA, COPPA);
- deterioration of the brand’s reputation.
Vulnerabilities of Healthcare Software to Check
The healthcare system has multiple layers and consists of a variety of actors, such as:
- providers (hospitals or clinics);
- receivers (patients);
- intermediaries (insurance companies);
- regulatory authorities, etc.
The initial challenge of a healthcare product is to connect all these systems, providing timely and accurate responses. On top of that, you deal with sensitive and valuable medical data. That’s why healthcare software solutions have so many soft spots. Now, let’s see a list of potential vulnerabilities of healthcare applications.
Compliance
Current medical apps exist within a strict regulatory environment: HIPAA, PHI, patient regulations, etc. Fulfilling the requirements of HIPAA, software products for healthcare setting must satisfy a minimum list of rules. It safeguards users and secure apps against data breaches and cyber attacks. So, before medical software company releases the product, the latter should guarantee:
- secure authentication;
- role-based access controls;
- encryption of Protected Health Information (PHI);
- automation of data backups.
Security
This is a point of critical importance. Protecting PHI needs to be bulletproof. Healthcare software should always transmit personal data through encrypted channels and carefully protect stored records. One more challenge is to have a balance between encrypting everything and ensuring the necessary speed of operations.
Medical systems, as a rule, have additional ways of protection, such as login by touch/face ID or optional passwords. Applications that store patient data should have an option for users to delete or download personal information. So, these are the things that are mandatory to check before going live. That’s what security testing is for.
Integration
One of the biggest things to check is integration between applications for different users (individuals, institutions, agents, etc.) and third-party healthcare software systems. A complex medical software system may include electronic health record (EHR), hospital management software (HMS), medical practice management software (MPMS), which can be available for personnel only or patients as well. In addition, every hospital and every piece of medical software can use its own data format, database type, and functionality logic.
Compatibility
When it comes to compatibility of certain healthcare apps with fitness trackers, smartwatches, or other wearables, there can be a point of friction. Among the most common bugs are:
- an app can’t see a device;
- an app can’t connect to it;
- information doesn’t synchronize.
Hardware testing of different medical devices (sensors, trackers) is a necessary thing as well. To ensure your healthcare software doesn’t have any of these problems, a QA team needs to run compatibility testing with all the devices your product is intended to support.
Performance
When we’re talking about healthcare apps for patients, users should have the ability to use it freely despite their location, connection quality, and system load conditions. A QA specialist needs to check all the variables that can influence your app’s speed and make sure an app is scalable. That’s the task for a performance testing specialist.
How Does the Healthcare Testing Process Go?
An efficient testing strategy along with well-organized QA flow help medical software companies detect critical bugs early. A testing strategy for healthcare software solutions should include the following stages.
1. Test Planning
Firstly, the QA Team studies product requirements and the scope of the project to create a test plan. We outline the test strategy, objectives, schedule, time and cost estimates, number of specialists and list of resources required for testing.
2. Requirements Testing
After that, QA engineer(s) analyze all existing requirements for logic gaps and potential risks. To ensure that everything is clear and correct, we check a requirements specification document for completeness, correctness, and consistency.
3. Functional and Non-Functional Testing
The next stage is to verify the correctness of functionality and look for bugs. During non-functional testing, QA engineers perform security, compatibility, performance, localization testing, etc. The scope of testing depends on the project requirements, but the ultimate aim is to eliminate the weak spots of the healthcare software discussed above.
4. Regression Testing
The bug fixing can influence or even break the existing functionality of the product. Regression testing after code modifications makes sure the app works without a hitch. This type of testing is the perfect candidate for test automation. It can speed up the testing process, ensure product stability, and fast-track product releases.
5. Reporting
Bug reports are necessary after each testing iteration to document all testing activities and final test results. These reports can help you to see the big picture of the app’s readiness to hit the market and, what’s more important, describe defects in detail, making it easier for developers to debug the software.
How Can Healthcare Software Companies Choose a Reliable QA Provider?
The more complex solution a company designs, the more important it is to choose a reliable QA provider. Below are several things representatives of medical software companies can keep in mind while doing the research.
- A QA company provides different types of manual and automated testing. Manual testing allows checking the elements of your app that are difficult and impossible to verify via automated tests. When you already have stable unchanged functionality, test automation can facilitate the test effort, save time on repetitive tasks, and streamline the sprints. An opportunity to order both kinds of services from one QA team saves your time and nerves.
- An external QA team can function as a full-fledged part of your team. Firstly, it means full-time involvement in the project, which is usually the case for healthcare software developers. Secondly, the specialists should be ready and able to participate in all the necessary meetings, calls, and discussions. Effective communication is the basis for proper testing and quick debugging.
- QA specialists have relevant experience and domain knowledge. Companies that have experience with healthcare software are more likely to have experts with the required competencies. Moreover, if a person with the skills and knowledge that fits your request is not available at the moment, a company can cover education for a specialist that is new to this niche before they are to join your project (that’s what we practice at QA Madness).
In a Nutshell
A comprehensive quality check allows for eliminating security, compatibility, and usability barriers in a product. Verifying software functionality against the requirements is the only way to make sure this functionality works as planned and, thus, helps take better care of patients’ health, not vice versa.
It is always better to delegate software testing & QA to people who can do it professionally, who pay close attention to the areas prone to defects and vulnerabilities. So if the development of your medical system is in progress or about to start, don’t forget to include QA in the process flow.