PERIOP

Medical Data Exchange and Tracking Solution

Project Background

Perioperative Services is a US-based company that provides a full range of services to anesthesiologists and pain management specialists. A Periop representative turned to Asapy to solve an important issue with patient-related data management. Asapy team conducted a consulting stage and decided to improve Periop work process by introducing a specific tracking system that would use an API of a third-party service to get control over patient files management and status. Creating such a system would allow the company to radically reduce the amount of time and costs spent on processing patients’ files, improve the accountability and get full control over documentation management.

After a short period of negotiations, Asapy outlined the main features of the future project. The client’s problem required to be promptly resolved, so Asapy immediately allocated a dedicated team of developers. Due to the nature and type of the project, the client followed Asapy’s recommendation and chose the T&M model as the most suitable one.

Solution

Asapy’s cooperation with Periop resulted in the creation of Periop Batch Tracking System. Batch is a set of important patient’s files. Each batch is given an ID with a specific naming convention and number schema.

The system enables users to monitor the status of each batch while they are being transferred to Periop for further processing.

The application allows to:

Enter, create and edit batch information
Enter and track batch status
Provide reports for tracking and performance reviews
Track batch position in the workflow
Automatically import batches from a third-party service
Manage data update rights in accordance with current priorities (some important data may not be updated after being modified by a Periop employee)
Configurable schedule of future deliveries
Alerts triggered by discrepancies between actual and expected batch deliveries

One of the important features of the system is the possibility to get full control over missing batches. If a batch has not arrived within 3 business days from the date of service, a reminder is set to check up on the facility to find out whether they are closed or whether the batch has been delayed or underway. A system provides a variety of reasons for batch delays.

Batches can be submitted in three different formats:

Electronically
On paper
As an image or a PDF file

Development process

The development process required considerable efforts on Asapy’s end. The urgency of the project made it impossible to prepare the documentation before the start of development, so some team members had to assume certain BA functions. Apart from writing thousands lines of code, the developers had to gather, process, discuss, analyze and systematize the client’s requirements.

Moreover, the work process created certain issues that had to be dealt with:

Requirements were often changed by the client, which resulted in additional development time
Some new requirements were conflicting and their implementation required great analytical skills and flexibility from the Asapy team
The client did not have enough documentation, so the team had to maintain constant communication with a number of contacts on the client’s end

These issues were the reason why Asapy used Scrum extensively on this project. This methodology helped the team adapt to constantly changing requirements, and finally deliver a high-quality product. Daily meetings helped ensure that Asapy’s work is in line with the client’s requirements, both new and existing ones, and to set goals for further development.

Asapy also had to overcome issues related to the use of third-party services. The API it provided had no authentication capabilities. This issue required some time to get fixed and was beyond Asapy’s control. However, the team was able to communicate their needs to the third-party service provider and resolve all technical issues.

Technologies

Asapy used the following technologies and tools in the course of the development process:

Backend:

ASP.NET MVC 4

MSSQL Server 2008 R2

Front-end:

HTML5
CSS3
jQuery

Twitter Bootstrap
Databases

Result