Here's How Philips Uses Low Code Apps to Ensure Technician Compliance

It's only natural that regulation and compliance play a huge role at all levels of modern healthcare provision. With patient lives on the line there can be no tolerance for shortcuts and all medical devices must be kept at peak operational performance.

This, of course extends to those responsible for servicing and maintaining medical devices. Medical field service providers must be constantly alert to a shifting regulatory environment and the need for regular audits - both external and internal - of their processes and practices.

As one of the largest players in the medical device game, Philips Healthcare understands this responsibility all too well and has been deploying low code apps to ensure its own service and maintenance technicians remain compliant with the latest rules and regulations while carrying out their critical work.

Low Code Apps

Low code refers to a software development discipline which, as the name suggests, doesn't require much in the way of formal coding.

When developing applications or processes using the low code method, complex programming languages such as C#, Python, or JavaScript are replaced with visual interfaces and basic drag-and-drop-style capabilities. This naturally allows laypeople with little to no formal coding experience to create mobile and business applications quickly and easily for almost any purpose.

With digital transformation being such a hot topic in global industry right now, low code development processes have rapidly risen in popularity as they allow businesses to make digital services available to their customers without the need to hire a programmer or contract out to another company.

According to 2021 research by Gartner, the low code development technologies market is predicted to hit $13.8 billion by the end of the year, signifying a rise of over 22% on the previous year. It is also expected that the increased need and desire for remote working brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic will also help drive low code development uptake even higher.

"While low-code application development is not new, a confluence of digital disruptions, hyper automation and the rise of composable business has led to an influx of tools and rising demand," said Research Vice President at Gartner, Fabrizio Biscotti. "The economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have validated the low-code value proposition."

Philips Healthcare

Leveraging the power of low code apps is helping Philips Healthcare ensure technician compliance through the creation of an innovative paperwork and forms platform which they fill out when carrying out their work.

With the low code app, Phillips can quickly and easily update hundreds of forms across thousands of devices all over the world. This means, when new regulations are introduced or existing rules changed, Philips can react with agility and seamlessly distribute the latest information out to its global workforce in near real-time.

This makes sure Philips Healthcare service and maintenance technicians are fully compliant and all records are accurate and available for audit purposes. Philips Healthcare can pull recordings from anywhere in the world - even those which have been uploaded that very day - for audit purposes and have a significantly elevated level of confidence in the data being produced.

"We've been live now for about six or seven months and we've already responded to over 200 user feedbacks and been able to react quickly which helps with the whole buy in," said Director of Maintenance Services & Technical Innovation at Philips Healthcare, Russell Girton. "We're able to take that feedback and respond as close to immediately as we can and deliver it to our technicians."

Phillips Healthcare had initially developed its low code app in house but found, despite its advantages, it experienced issues relating to having many different data sources and how compatible and portable they were across multiple services. This led Philips Healthcare to move to an outsourced low code platform which made this element of data transference far simpler.

"Acing compliance and meeting complex, ever-changing regulations can feel like a moving target for most medical device manufacturing organizations," says Philips Healthcare's partner on the project, ProntoForms. "At Phillips Healthcare, low-code apps are part of their solution for ensuring technicians automatically complete work in-compliance and that potential audits are painless."

Final Thoughts

Philips Healthcare is still exceedingly early on in its low code journey but has been impressed by the results so far. With regulation and compliance becoming an ever more ingrained element of healthcare provision and adjacent services, the need for innovative solutions such as low code applications is only going to grow moving forwards.

You can hear Philips Healthcare's Head of Solutions and Service Delivery Conrad Smits speak at Field Service Medical 2022, taking place February 28 - March 01 at the Rancho Bernardo Inn, San Diego, CA.

Download the agenda today for more information and insights.