How can Healthcare Application Testing help in the Success of your Telemedicine App?
The dawn of COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a paradigm shift in the way industries operate today. Healthcare is no different, which is why telemedicine as an idea is being adopted by most companies in this sector. As of 2019, the global telemedicine market was valued at around 45 billion U.S. dollars. A Statista report suggests that this market is predicted to reach a value of 175 billion U.S. dollars by 2026.
The need for telemedicine app testing
Such a significant rise in numbers indicates that healthcare companies will be using more telemedicine applications in the near future. The main goal of telemedicine is to provide high-quality medical care remotely. However, without proper scalability in healthcare application testing processes, telemedicine apps cannot achieve their end goal of providing holistic healthcare support to their customers irrespective of their locations.
How will QA improve your telemedicine app?
Here is how healthcare app testing will come in handy for telemedicine applications.
1. Data Security
Telemedicine apps deal with a large volume of health-related data of people. In order to build trust among their users, companies need to safeguard this huge amount of sensitive information. This is where security/penetration testing comes into play. With the myriad of pen-testing tools available in open-source, QA experts can dissect any application to validate its security features.
2. Interoperability Testing
Nowadays, every hospital has its customized platform for smooth day-to-day operations. Before their deployment, telemedicine apps of different vendors must be tested on every available platform. Such cross-platform testing makes sure that a telemedicine app can work seamlessly and provides the same user experience irrespective of its platform.
3. Compatibility Testing
Many healthcare centers already use several applications to simplify their ongoing activities. So, before deploying a telemedicine app, the developer must also test the app compatibility with the existing applications in the same platform. Additionally, compatibility testing checks if the telemedicine application can function properly on multiple networks, mobile devices, operating systems, browsers and environments.
4. Functional Validation
Telemedicine apps have several features, some of which are core while others are auxiliary. During an SDLC, it is imperative to test both the types of features and ensure that the app is functioning correctly. Bug-free application is a utopia, but you can always aspire that fewer bugs are reported post-deployment. Functional testing ensures that all the functional requirements/specifications of an app are met.
5. Big Data Testing
In this age of smart devices, efficiently managing a large volume of data is a challenge. In most cases, developers can integrate Big Data analytics into their applications. However, testing the same against real-world scenarios is necessary. Big Data testing helps businesses gauge how well they can manage vast amounts of EHRs (electronic healthcare records) in their systems.
6. Usability Testing
Usability is a parameter that every healthcare app needs to pass through. This testing assesses whether the application is easy to use even without having a prior understanding of its technicalities. It is the usability testing procedure that ascertains if a telemedicine app can ensure effective communication, smooth registration, seamless payment, fast push notification so on and so forth.
7. Regulatory Compliance
In general, the healthcare sector comes under strict scrutiny from regulatory bodies. With the telemedicine applications coming into healthcare, the number of regulatory standards to comply with has only increased. HIPAA, OASIS and MARCA are some of the popular ones in the USA.
Different states of the USA have their respective regulatory bodies; similar is the case with other countries worldwide. Canada uses PIPEDA, while most European countries follow the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Data Protection Directive 1995/46/E.C. and the e-Privacy Directive 2002/58/EC/ IEC 62304. So, it is necessary to test if a telemedicine app complies with each of these regulations.
8. Performance Testing
Healthcare delivery requires a 24/7 operation model, which is why the telemedicine apps must also work at their optimum efficiency, round the clock. Even though the developers take care of it in the SDLC, performance testing becomes crucial. Through performance and load testing, you can thoroughly evaluate the non-functional aspects of the app for its stability, reliability, accuracy, productivity, and availability at optimum levels.
9. False-Positive & False-Negative Testing
This form of testing was always a part of the testing methods. However, with the rise in false-positive cases during the COVID RTPCR tests, it has gained more limelight. These tests measure the soundness and validity of the test cases designed by the testers. They also considerably reduce the possibility of getting false outcomes as well as the brittleness of test cases.
10. System Integration Testing (SIT)
Once, the telemedicine app is fully developed, this test authenticates the app’s connectivity to different downstream systems, including the claim system, provider portal and finance system. This test is undertaken in an integrated software and hardware environment to validate the complete system’s operability. Moreover, SIT considers both the low- and high-level software requirements as mandated in the datasheet and design document.
11. Scalability Testing
There can be many instances when a telemedicine app has to operate on huge volumes of data along with increased traffic and transactions. Scalability testing is a method to check the server-side robustness and degradation of a telemedicine app under excess loads. Through this, businesses can also incorporate facets of scalability for the subsequent variants.
Final Thoughts
With all this information in your repository, you would get a better idea about the importance of telemedicine application testing. But you must be wondering if you have both the bandwidth and time to execute all the aforementioned tests comprehensively. Even if you can conduct all the tests, it is advisable to consult a reputed software QA services company. Getting expert assistance from QA experts will ensure that your telemedicine app can provide you with desired results and more importantly, cater to your users’ needs.
