How to Create EHR Software in 2024: Development Flow, Features, and More

EHR software development reduces the paperwork and grants access to patients’ healthcare data in just a few clicks. Research from Health Affairs Scholar showed that basic EHR adoption surged from 6.6% to 81.2% in the post-pandemic realm since it significantly improves physicians' productivity and can increase the revenue of a healthcare establishment.

As a company with 12+ years of experience in healthcare software development, we are here to share our expertise and help you understand how to create EHR software, including its basic features, rough cost estimation and challenges the system helps to deal with.

The Electronic Health Record (EHR) system and the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system are often used interchangeably because both terms refer to the digital management of patient data. Both of these concepts play a key role in modernizing healthcare, contributing to improved quality of medical care and the efficiency of healthcare institutions. However, they have important differences concerning the scope, use, and accessibility of information. To better understand these differences, let's examine both terms in detail.

An Electronic Health Record (EHR) system is a healthcare digital product utilized to capture, store, and exchange patient data in a structured manner. It can be shared among various healthcare facilities through enterprise data systems or network-connected ones to be used or researched by different medical teams. EHR software development allows to digitally store a pile of data including but not limited to patient history, immunization status, treatment flow, data concerning allergies, personal health statistics, and other critical medical information.

Physicians that apply to EHR use can manage different patient data, which is currently essential (e.g., chronic diseases, vaccines used, etc.). Moreover, the EHR system can be integrated with other platforms to engage patients better, so its capabilities can be borderless.

The main goals of EHR system design are:

• Providing a wider view of patient health. EHRs integrate data from various healthcare providers, giving complete information about the patient's health status.
• Improving care coordination among various healthcare providers. EHR use facilitate seamless communication and coordination between medical practitioners involved in patient'spatient care.
• Promoting disease prevention and better management of chronic conditions. EHRs support proactivity, enabling better management of chronic illnesses and preventative measures.
• Reducing healthcare costs. Efficient data management and improved care coordination can save costs by avoiding unnecessary tests and treatments.
• Empowering patients to manage their health. EHRs can integrate with patients’ health apps to provide access to their health information, encouraging active participation in their health care.

EHR is often confused with EMR, which is mistakable — both systems differ. So, let’s look at what Electronic Medical Records software is.

An Electronic Medical Record (EMR) software is a digital version of a patient’s medical history created and maintained within a single medical practice. It includes information about visits, diagnoses, medications, allergies, immunizations, and other healthcare services the patient receives.

Let's review the main purposes custom EMR software development can serve for:

• Improving the organization and accessibility of medical records. Digital records are systematically organized and easily retrievable when needed.
• Enhancing the efficiency of healthcare providers. EMR software development allows to provide simplified access to patient information, accelerates and streamlines the medical care delivery.
• Reducing the risk of medical errors. Electronic medical record system provides clear and accessible information that helps prevent errors in diagnosis and treatment.
• Facilitating more informed decision-making in patient care. Comprehensive and accurate data allow doctors to assess patient conditions better and choose optimal treatment methods.
• Enhancing the quality of patient care. Rapid access to medical histories and other data improves the quality and timeliness of healthcare services.
• Simplifying the exchange of information between healthcare providers. It becomes easier to share information between specialists and medical institutions, improving the coordination of patient care.

Choosing between EMR software development and EHR, you should thoroughly analyze your current business situation to understand which of the two solutions is appropriate for your company. Here are major distinctions between EHR and EMR software:

• Scope of use. EHR is mostly intended to be integrated into the existing infrastructure and used to integrate with storage, while EMR mostly holds internal data.
• Data sharing. EHR allows access to patient information from different healthcare providers, while EMR data is typically confined to a single medical practice.
• Interoperability. EHR offers a high level of interoperability, enabling communication between different systems, while EMR is limited to working within the specific software ecosystem.

Thus, EMR integration would be ideal if you plan to operate with information only in your medical establishment for internal use. However, in this article, we'll dive deeper into the peculiarities of EHR software development, as it is often used to integrate with healthcare that empower them.

EMR/EHR software development presents many challenges due to the complexity and nuances of medical solutions. We've compiled some of the most critical points to consider to ensure reliable and smooth Electronic Health Record system operation.

Building an EHR system requires careful attention to protecting patient data, as healthcare software contains sensitive medical information. All data must be protected from unauthorized access, information leakage, and hacking attempts. Another layer of complexity is added by ensuring the system is resilient to cyber threats, including phishing, malware, and denial-of-service attacks.

Solution: Partner with a software vendor who provides high-quality EHR software development services to implement strong encryption methods and strict access controls to protect patient data. For example, we at Cleveroad utilize such cybersecurity measures:

• MFA, automatic logouts
• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
• Activity tracking
• Data encryption at rest and on client devices
• Industry-standard Data encryption

How to develop an EHR system with no legislation issues? You should remember that EMR/EHR software must comply with domain regulatory requirements such as HIPAA (US), GDPR (EU), PIPEDA (Canada), CCPA (California), HITECH (US), etc. Compliance with these laws is necessary to avoid legal penalties and protect patient privacy.

Solution: Partner with an experienced EHR development company with deep expertise in healthcare software development services that will build software that meets all medical domain regulatory requirements. This includes following data processing best practices, conducting regular compliance audits, and staying up-to-date on regulatory changes to maintain ongoing compliance.

While building an EHR system, you should remember that it must easily integrate with other healthcare systems, such as laboratory information systems (LIS) and prescription management systems. Healthcare app development requires ensuring secure and reliable data exchange with other medical solutions and establishments suitable for EHR software development needs to provide comprehensive patient care.

Solution: An expert vendor will implement interoperability standards such as HL7 and FHIR to ensure seamless integration with other healthcare systems. The team will utilize secure methods of data exchange to ensure data integrity and confidentiality. Software development using standardized data formats will facilitate integration and data sharing with other healthcare providers.

User training is crucial for ensuring that EMR/EHR software is effectively utilized by physicians, nurses, and other healthcare providers. It is essential to equip all staff members with the necessary skills and knowledge to navigate and use the software efficiently in their daily workflows.

Solution: Prepare comprehensive training programs to ensure the maximum efficiency and effectiveness of the EHR software usage. These programs should cover various aspects of the EHR or EMR system, including navigation, data entry, retrieval of patient information, and documentation.

The functionality you can implement when building an EHR system will vary according to your current healthcare needs and your staff requirements. Anyway, if you wish to test your idea, you can create software with minimum features that’ll perform essential functions. Later on, if your idea appears successful, you can add advanced features in further updates. So, let’s go through some of the must-have features for EHR software development.

The centralized patient information hub is a crucial feature of an Electronic Health Records system, providing a platform where authorized personnel—doctors, lab technicians, and patients—can access Protected Health Information (PHI) and electronic Protected Health Information (e-PHI). This data includes demographics, medical history, allergies, lab results, medications, and other essential data.

Physicians can actively record, add, and review patient data through the EMR software's information hub, making it indispensable and foundational to the system. Integrating this functionality while building an EHR system’s Minimum Viable Product (MVP) version, which includes only basic features, is essential to ensure its comprehensive utility and effectiveness.

This feature for electronic health records software development lets physicians prescribe drugs remotely. Physicians can easily issue electronic prescriptions to patients, reducing processing time and improving prescription accuracy. Patients, in turn, can conveniently track their prescriptions through the portal, receive notifications for medication refills, and monitor remaining quantities of medications. Integration with pharmacy systems enables patients to quickly obtain prescribed medicines.

Documentation management in an EHR system provides physicians with tools for creating, storing, and managing electronic patient records. Physicians can create detailed electronic records of patient visits, including medical history, physical examination results, and treatment plans. Using templates and libraries of pre-created records reduces documentation time and enhances record accuracy.

Electronic signatures ensure the legal validity of documentation, which is crucial for regulatory compliance and protecting patient rights. EHR system development with clinical data management features streamlines healthcare professionals' recording and management of patient information in the EHR system, ensuring accurate and up-to-date records.

Integrating with labs is a crucial step forward in EHR system design. This feature enables doctors to efficiently track and receive test results, facilitating informed decision-making for patient treatment plans. It streamlines the entire healthcare process, enhancing its efficiency and reliability. Through lab integration, healthcare providers can seamlessly communicate and exchange data with labs, ensuring timely and accurate test orders and results. This capability integrates patient medical histories with ongoing procedures and empowers lab technicians to identify condition markers and collaborate directly with doctors, ensuring comprehensive patient care.

Effective access control is pivotal in maintaining the security and confidentiality of patient information within a custom EMR or EHR system. By assigning specific access rights healthcare facilities ensure that only authorized personnel can access sensitive medical data. Here are the examples of access controls you can integrate into your EHR system:

• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Assigns access to data based on roles such as doctors, nurses, and administrators, depending on their responsibilities and functions.
• User-Based Access Control (UBAC): Grants access to data based on unique user attributes, such as identifiers or associated metadata, defining the level of access.
• Context-Based Access Control (CBAC): Manages access based on the context of the request, including factors like time, location, and other parameters that may influence data access.

The most commonly used access control is RBAC, but you can choose any option that better suits your healthcare business needs. Integration of this feature allows you to build EHR software that complies with privacy regulations and safeguards data integrity, fostering trust and efficiency in managing Electronic Health Records.

This feature allows for the secure sharing of patient health information between various healthcare organizations or facilities. It enables the exchange of medical records, test results, treatment plans, and other important data, promoting effective collaboration among healthcare providers and improving the continuity of care for patients. HL7 integration ensures the secure transmission of data, facilitating interoperability and seamless communication between different healthcare systems.

Note: This list of features is approximate. That’s why it’s recommendable to consult the healthcare software development provider as to the functionality essential to build your own EHR software.

Building your own Electronic Health Record system can provide numerous benefits tailored specifically to the needs of your medical practice or healthcare facility. So, let's review why is it worth investing in EMR and EHR software solutions:

A custom-built EHR system automates many repetitive tasks that bog down healthcare providers, leading to streamlined workflows and faster decision-making. By eliminating the need to store and manage bulky paper records, you save space and reduce overtime labor. This increased efficiency improves employee performance as medical personnel can focus more on patient care and less on time-consuming administrative tasks.

Building an EHR system allows you to implement robust healthcare data security measures tailored to your needs. You can ensure compliance with HIPAA, GDPR, and other relevant regulations, safeguarding patient data against breaches and unauthorized access. Custom security features help maintain patient trust and protect your clinics from potential legal and financial repercussions.

Custom EHR software development empowers healthcare providers with the right tools to deliver superior patient care. With less time spent navigating inefficient software, doctors can dedicate more time to their patients, which results in stronger patient-physician relationships and more personalized care. Enhanced efficiency and access to comprehensive patient data also contribute to lower readmission rates and increased patient loyalty.

A custom EHR software allows you to integrate it with other healthcare systems and third-party applications seamlessly. This improved interoperability ensures smooth data exchange between different departments and facilities, enhancing care coordination. Better integration capabilities mean you can adapt more easily to new technologies and healthcare standards, keeping your practice at the forefront of technical innovation.

How to build an EHR system? It is a complicated process, as there are a lot of technical moments to consider. That's why you may need the assistance of a qualified software development vendor. We'll briefly enlighten you on the EHR development process and the things you should think out to have a robust and seamless medical software system. Typically, the EHR software development process is performed according to these steps:

The first step in building an EHR system is conducting a thorough requirements analysis. This stage involves the examination of the specific needs and workflows of your healthcare facility. Engage with your medical staff to gather insights into their daily operations and pain points. Identify the essential features that your EHR system must have to satisfy your healthcare needs. A comprehensive requirements analysis will lay a solid foundation for your EHR project.

Selecting a reliable EHR software development partner is crucial for the success of your system. Look for a company with extensive experience in healthcare software creation and a proven track record of delivering high-quality EHR solutions.

To find the best custom EMR and EHR software development company, pay attention to these points:

• Ensure that your partner has experience in developing healthcare solutions and understands the specific requirements of custom EMR and EHR app development
• Ensure that software developers deeply understand healthcare regulations and compliance standards such as HIPAA, GDPR, PIPEDA, DCOM, FHIR, and others relevant for EMR and EHR software development in your region
• Review feedback from other clients on hiring platforms like Clutch and Goodfirms to learn about their experiences working with the development team and assess customers satisfaction
• Assess the technical skills of healthcare software developers and their experience with specific tools, technologies, and software integrations required to create EHR software from scratch

Here is what Torsten Meister, CTO at TBS AG, says about their cooperation with Cleveroad on creating a biometric system for the healthcare institution. You can read full review at the Clutch page.

Once you have selected your development partner, the next step is to prepare detailed EHR requirements. This includes defining the electronic health record system's functionality, user roles, data flow, and integration points. Pay special attention to medical regulations and compliance requirements to ensure your EHR system design adheres to all necessary standards.

The EHR should necessarily comply with international regulations so as not to get fined for improper health data security. How do the companies deal with it? For instance, Cleveroad provides solutions that adhere to GDPR, HIPAA, PIPEDA, etc. - depending upon your country and other laws and standards, guaranteeing all pertinent health information is fully protected (PHI for HIPAA). In practice, this means you have to implement data encryption at rest and on client devices and support HL7 integration, HTTPS, or encrypted WebRTC. In addition to the necessary functional aspects, we focus on access control, data storage, and transmission.

Once the system requirements are defined, designers focus on crafting a user-friendly EHR system design that is crucial for success. This phase is pivotal as it directly influences how healthcare providers interact with the software. Designers collaborate closely with you to understand user needs, conducting research and usability testing to refine prototypes and create software with an intuitive and convenient design. UI/UX design for EHR systems focuses on:

• Structuring complex medical information clearly
• Allowing customization for different healthcare roles
• Prioritizing efficiency and usability for healthcare professionals
• Ensuring compliance with data privacy regulations like HIPAA
• Facilitating seamless integration with other healthcare systems
• Addressing accessibility needs and incorporating user feedback iteratively

After the design is ready, the project is handed over to the software development team, who begin to build EHR software functionality. The development process is performed by sprints, and during each sprint, software developers create a part of the functionality. QA engineers check each feature for flawlessness. If they find bugs in the developed functionality, they will make a bug report and hand it over to developers for hotfixes.

Moreover, electronic health records software development implies integration with other essential solutions that you may need in your work, which were pre-discussed earlier.

Here are some examples of the systems to integrate with EHR software:

• Health Information Exchange (HIE) Networks facilitate seamless sharing of patient information between healthcare providers and organizations.
• Integration with Laboratory Information Systems (LIS) empowers EHRs to store laboratory test results directly in patient records.
• Integrating Radiology Information Systems (RIS) and Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) within EHRs allows direct access to radiology reports and diagnostic images.
• EHR integration with Patient Portals and Personal Health Record (PHR) Systems empowers patients to access health records, test results, and communicate with healthcare providers conveniently.
• Integration with Medical Billing Software and Revenue Cycle Management Systems streamlines financial workflows and automates billing processes, enhancing administrative efficiency.
• Integrating EHR and Medication Management App development aids in preventing prescription drug abuse and ensuring patient safety through data tracking.

Once development and testing are complete, the IT team begins deployment. This process starts by installing and configuring the system on servers and workstations. After that, the specialists migrate data from previous systems and set up information exchange with all necessary systems. The team conducts extensive testing to identify and troubleshoot potential interoperability issues. Once this process is complete, the EHR system is ready to be fully operational in your healthcare ecosystem.

Nevertheless, complex and extensive systems like EXP require ongoing support and stable updates. We at Cleveroad are ready to provide support and maintenance services at your request. They include checking the platform's functionality for bugs that might arise and upgrade it based on the collected early customers’ feedback. This way, they ensure your EHR stays flawless in its functioning.

The cost to build EHR software is a complex variable that depends on different factors. It is hard to estimate the exact price without considering all the business and technical requirements. To give you an overview of the EHR price estimation, let’s explore the main aspects influencing the cost:

• Complexity and the number of features. The complexity and range of features in the EHR software will impact the development cost. Advanced features like AI-driven analytics, telemedicine integration, and decision support tools raise costs.
• Scalability and customization. When considering customization and scalability, it is essential to note that a highly customizable and scalable EHR system tailored to the specific needs of different healthcare providers will likely have a higher development cost than a standardized solution.
• Integrations with third-party systems. Integrating the EHR software with other healthcare systems, medical devices, and third-party applications may increase the development cost, particularly if complex interfaces are necessary.
• UI/UX design. Creating an intuitive and user-friendly EHR system design requires skilled designers and additional investment. A well-designed interface can enhance user adoption and satisfaction.
• Compliance. Implementing strong data security measures to comply with healthcare regulations such as HIPAA is necessary, but it may result in higher development costs. It is important to prioritize privacy and security standards in order to safeguard patient information.
• Tech stack. The choice of technology stack, programming languages, and frameworks can impact the development cost. Implementing advanced technologies may result in higher expenses but can also improve performance and scalability.

Considering these factors, the approximate price for EHR software development is $50,000 - $300,000+.

The EHR system development price will also depend on the vendor’s location and the time spent by developers on creating and integrating system. So, let’s see how much the specialists’ employment will cost you based on a provider’s country.

Now let’s analyze the time required to build your own EHR:

• Small to medium scale EHR systems - 6-12 months
• Large scale EHR Systems - from 12 months to 24 months or more

Based on our experience, the EHR software development costs from $50,000 to $300,000+. To understand where this numbers come from, let’s study EHR integration cost breakdown:

• UI/UX design cost will be approximately $4,000 - $5,000 for web and $5,000 - $7,500 for one platform
• Average cost of EHR implementation ranges between $40,000 - $70,000+ for web and $30,000 - $80,000+ for one mobile platform
• Compliance adjustments may cost anywhere from $5,000 to $50,000+
• Integration with other systems will add about $5,000 - $150,000+ to overall budget, based on your practice needs

During these calculations, we took $50 as an average hourly development rate. Mind that this estimate is approximate and doesn’t include such services as Project Management and Quality Assurance - their price is calculated separately.

Cleveroad is a healthcare outsourcing software development provider located in North and Eastern Europe, particularly Estonia. With more than 12+ years of hands-on experience in providing EHR/EMR software development services for clinics, hospitals, healthcare providers, and telehealth service vendors, our team has helped clients worldwide boost their medical activity and profit through top-quality digital solutions.

We want to share with you our experience in creating EHR/EMR platforms with a brief case study:

Our client is a USA rehab clinic offering remote care and online consultation. Their current EMR system was inflexible, had partially odd functionality, and was distributed as a SaaS solution. So, they needed the healthcare software development vendor to replace it with a custom Clinic Management System with EMR.

To address the client's business needs, we developed custom clinic management software with an EMR module. The platform also has a solution for comfortable appointment management and is aligned with billing management functionality working as one digital ecosystem. It is also compliant with HIPAA, and user information data migration to a new platform passed successfully.

As a result, our client got a bespoke and robust clinic management system with an EMR module in its core that can be used legally. Moreover, its use becomes more cost-effective for the client’s budget, allowing them to allocate necessary resources to other business tasks. The system also plays a great role in time savings, allowing the clinic to properly manage appointments and workflows, preventing schedule conflicts.

By choosing Cleveroad to build your own EHR system, you will get such benefits:

• Experience in robust and secure EHR/EMR solutions development compliant with specific industry regulations, such as GDPR, HIPAA, PIPEDA, FDA, FHIR, DCOM, etc.
• Cooperation with ISO-certified company who received ISO 27001 standard certificate for security management and ISO 9001 standard certificate for mature quality management
• Experience in integrating EHR/EMR software with 3-rd party services, such as Kareo, Athenahealth, MedlinePlus, OpenFDA, HealthTap, TruePill, etc.
• On-demand healthcare software development services: building medical solutions from scratch, software modernization services, IT consulting services, cloud development, UI/UX design, etc.
• Flexible cooperation models to suit your EHR project needs: Staff Augmentation and Dedicated Development Team services

Planning to build your EHR/EMR system, you probably want to see it in action to receive a sense of its capabilities. Our team has designed a demo version of the software so you can see how the EHR/EMR system can look and work.