Healthcare Provider Streamlines COVID-19 Testing and Compliance Using Caspio

In the U.S., over 500 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been given so far, with more than 60% of the population now fully vaccinated against the disease.

Despite this development, the latest surge of the Omicron variant revealed that everyone is still vulnerable to disruption.

Ultimately, it falls on organizations to create safe work environments and re-imagine customer experiences to limit COVID-19’s impact on employee safety and the company’s bottom line. Businesses need digital solutions that help ensure business continuity as they adapt their COVID-19 response programs now and into the future.

Here’s the story of Snap Healthcare and how they used Caspio to build the Snap Healthcare portal, a COVID-19 compliance system that helps healthcare organizations, government agencies and private companies streamline the entire COVID-19 response process.

Schedule a free consultation to see how Caspio helps healthcare organizations build custom applications without coding.

A Turnkey Cloud-Based Solution

Snap Healthcare aims to empower organizations of all sizes to effectively navigate the challenges of COVID-19 using a single turnkey solution.

Not only do they streamline rapid point-of-care and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing for laboratories, private employers, government agencies and COVID-19 testing centers; they also offer a system that expedites vaccine administration, distribution and reporting.

The Snap Healthcare portal makes it all work.

The Caspio-powered solution supports the entire COVID-19 response process, providing a centralized, cloud-based system for Snap Healthcare clients to manage testing, vaccination programs and general employee health.

The Power to Pivot Amid a Pandemic

Prior to building the portal, Snap Healthcare CEO Gene Howell found himself at a crossroads. Adapting to new realities of COVID-19 wasn’t as simple as it seemed.

“I’ve always thought that healthcare is recession-proof. And for the first time, I was proven wrong when overnight, 70% of our business was gone,” Howell revealed. “And so, I needed to pivot very quickly and figure out what we’re going to do.”

Their existing clients played a significant role in driving Snap Healthcare to a new direction.

For instance, a large hospital in Los Angeles required once-a-week testing for all employees — something their own lab couldn’t handle. “There was simply nothing in place that would allow them to report all these things to the employers and manage the samples themselves,” Howell shared.

At that point, Howell decided to take a leap of faith.

He envisioned a secure, scalable and intuitive application that could deliver rapid results while catering to both employers and employees. So, he searched for a digital solution that would enable their clients to administer in-house COVID-19 testing programs. It was clear to him that using existing software and outdated processes wouldn’t allow them to deliver an efficient cloud-based platform.

At the same time, they needed the database to be HIPAA-compliant to ensure patient data privacy while allowing employers to securely manage their employees’ health information.

In Search of the 3C’s: Cloud, Custom and Compliant

Initially, Howell and his team struggled to find a cloud-based solution that can streamline their medical operations, let alone ensure HIPAA compliance.

They tried other low-code platforms, but the products lacked the exact features they needed such as customizable charts and automated notifications. “Every minute counts when delivering COVID-19 results,” Howell said, stressing the importance of using real-time data. “We needed a technology partner who can help us translate our vision into reality and quickly develop a system tailored to our needs.”

Howell soon came across Caspio and scheduled a project consultation. They originally planned to build the application themselves, but their internal team was under pressure and didn’t have enough time to explore all the features of the Caspio platform.

During the project consultation, Howell learned about Caspio’s Managed Application Services (MAS). “I’m an intuition guy. Once I met with my Caspio project manager, I just went with my gut,” he said.

Delivering a Lifeline — in a Snap

With traditional software development, it would have taken at least six to nine months to roll out a sophisticated application like the Snap Healthcare portal. Using Caspio’s low-code platform for ultra-fast development, Caspio’s Managed Application Services (MAS) team built the application in less than two months.

“I have never met such an incredible team who understands you so well and responds quickly to detailed requirements,” Howell said.

Caspio MAS gives clients access to an elite team of developers, business analysts, project managers, QA specialists and other IT talent — all available on-demand as client requirements evolve.

Applications are built using an agile methodology, structured around two-week iterations called “sprints” to deliver fast, high-quality results. This way, clients are frequently updated on project progress and can quickly pivot or redirect resources to address changing priorities.

How Snap Healthcare Cures COVID-19 Testing Woes

The Snap Healthcare portal serves as an all-in-one system to manage COVID-19 response programs, streamlining workflows across employers, employees, healthcare professionals and laboratory staff.

In addition, Snap Healthcare’s clients and their respective patients receive prompt SMS and email alerts once results come in, making it easy to initiate contact tracing and workplace safety measures. Employees can also access the application to report symptoms or potential exposures right away. And most importantly, Snap Healthcare achieved all these while staying HIPAA-compliant in every step of the process.

Howell admitted feeling uneasy at first because he wasn’t sure how the application would be received. But once he started showing it, all his worries went out the window. “It is so user-friendly, no one hesitated once they saw it with their own eyes.”

The portal allows even the smallest organization to utilize the technology typically reserved for large hospital systems, enabling them to calibrate their processes and address patient needs much faster than ever before.

Replacing Slow EMRs With Rapid Vaccination Programs

In addition to COVID-19 testing management, Snap Healthcare recently added vaccination reporting and automation capabilities. As soon as vaccination appointments became widely available, the Caspio team quickly added new interfaces to help healthcare organizations manage vaccination programs at speed and scale.

Now, Snap Healthcare partner organizations can assign vaccine doses to patients from a single interface, rather than weeding through multiple steps and manual processes in their EMR system. “Administering mass amounts of vaccines is very difficult using current EMRs because of the long process to register patients and all other activities that slow you down,” Howell shared.

Howell noted that it was their portal’s proven success in rapid testing that inspired him to expand into vaccination management. “To do mass vaccinations quickly, you need a system that works very much like our rapid testing program.”

HL7/FHIR Integration Helps Onboard More Labs

With the healthcare portal receiving more usage and accepting new partner organizations, Snap Healthcare needed to bring in additional laboratories to accommodate the increasing demand for lab tests and records. However, this would mean engaging with a more complex ecosystem of healthcare partners, amplifying the risk of errors and breaches.

To communicate with other laboratories and serve their growing client pool, Snap Healthcare turned their focus to data integration. With this, they could connect, share and retrieve electronic health records with ease, while keeping every bit of information secure.

But before adopting this new approach, Snap Healthcare had to make sure their processes would remain compliant with international healthcare standards, particularly Health Level 7 (HL7). HL7 standards are in place to ensure healthcare systems keep data flowing securely and efficiently, establishing interoperability within organizations.

The only API that supports HL7 communication, though, is the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources, commonly known as FHIR. Unfortunately, many of Snap Healthcare’s partner healthcare systems are not equipped with FHIR APIs, preventing them from successfully connecting to the portal.

To bridge that gap, Caspio developers sought an effective middleware solution — a move that soon established a successful exchange of data between Snap Healthcare and their lab partners.

After extensive research and testing, Caspio built an API connection with Lifepoint Informatics, a third-party clinical integration that provides an innovative HL7 and FHIR modeling framework for connecting various healthcare systems. Lab partners now connect to Lifepoint, which links to the Snap Healthcare portal through the Caspio-implemented API.

Ultimately, this Lifepoint integration made HL7 compliance much easier to achieve for Howell’s team. It enabled them to gather health records and test results from their partners faster and more efficiently, while ensuring data security and interoperability. With the API integration in place, Snap Healthcare is able to scale exponentially and expand their market reach even further.

Helping Organizations of All Sizes Maintain Business Continuity

As the Omicron variant sets new records for COVID-19 cases, businesses are taking additional steps to increase the protection of both their stakeholders and customers. One way to do this is to track the testing and vaccination status of their employees.

However, companies know this is easier said than done. For one, there is no straightforward way of monitoring each employee result — particularly for large corporations — without a system that streamlines the entire process.

With the help of Caspio, Snap Healthcare expanded their app’s functionality to make sure businesses can easily monitor employee test results and vaccination status.

SIMPLIFYING COMPLEXITY: Snap Healthcare’s latest features help companies of all sizes manage COVID-19 testing and vaccination programs with ease.  

“This turnkey digital platform allows businesses to focus on their business, rather than be consumed with managing the logistics. And not to mention that this solution also helps keep people working,” Howell said.

To make it happen, Caspio enhanced the application’s features and UI for a more seamless experience. The portal also integrates with a new Snap FASTPass mobile app to support end users on any device.

“You can self-register through the Snap FASTPass mobile app and find new functionalities we added to the Snap Healthcare portal, where you can upload your vaccination card and testing results,” Howell added.

Here are some features from the new and improved Snap Healthcare portal:

Iterating and Scaling for the New Normal

Snap Healthcare continues to rapidly scale their operations, thanks to the successful rollout of their application. The system is now being accessed by over 6,000 users from more than 100 organizations, including Fortune 500 enterprises, hospitals, testing centers, government agencies, airlines, retail brands, film/TV companies and sports teams.

By automating complex testing procedures and workflows, Snap Healthcare’s clients grew their testing capacity by 50% while reducing overhead costs by 75%. The portal also enables companies to achieve 99% on-time test results, helping them make real-time decisions to keep employees safe.

While Snap Healthcare is already seeing an increase in overall sales and ROI savings, Howell said the portal is just the beginning of great things to come.

After releasing their vaccine reporting system, implementing the FHIR integration, and updating their system to help clients ensure business continuity, Howell continues to work with Caspio on new initiatives. Snap Healthcare is in the process of adding functionalities like in-app billing, invoicing and many others.

Howell believes that being able to adapt to change is key to maintaining success. “If you’re not constantly pivoting, you’re done,” he said. And to pivot amid a global pandemic, you need a partner to bring your ideas to life — fast.

Gain Business Resiliency Without Coding

Instead of losing 70% of their business to the pandemic, Snap Healthcare partnered with Caspio to launch a new thriving venture – one that’s even more resilient in the face of ever-changing market requirements.

Howell couldn’t be more thankful he took that leap of faith.

“I’ve yet to find a problem Caspio can’t solve. And I think that’s what impresses me the most. I bring them the issue, and then they come back and they’ve figured it out,” he said.

“I’m not usually happy with anything, but I’m delighted with Caspio. Together, we have developed this technology that helps companies stay in business and keeps people working. In effect, we have created a powerful solution that is agile enough to keep up with the virus.”

Gene Howell
CEO
Snap Healthcare

COVID-19 has shown that all businesses – even healthcare companies – are at risk if they do not digitize legacy processes and tools. In the case of Snap Healthcare, they almost lost their entire business overnight. But by being innovative and taking a leap of faith, Howell was able to build a new business model that not only saved their company but also helps other organizations ensure workplace safety amid the pandemic. And he did it without having to deal with the complexities or cost of traditional software development.

If you’re understaffed and under pressure to quickly deliver custom applications, partner with Caspio and watch your ideas come to life.

Schedule a free consultation with a Caspio product expert and start exploring the possibilities.