When the COVID-19 pandemic closed the doors of a nationwide hearing aid retailer, Techlancer helped them reopen online — rapidly building an audiology-specific telehealth platform that brought together:
- Appointment scheduling
- Patient intake
- Video conferencing
- Patient self-assessment tool
- Ecommerce
Problem
In early 2020, our client was operating 200+ clinics nationwide with plans for continued expansion — until the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered their locations. Hundreds of employees were left without work, and thousands of patients suddenly had little access to audiological care.
With their brick-and-mortar clinics unable to operate, the client contacted us to explore the development of an audiology-specific telehealth platform that would enable their staff to continue safely providing much-needed audiological care to their patient base.
Solution
Brainstorming closely with the client, our team designed and built a state-of-the-art, audiology-specific telehealth platform — technology that has since been patented. Its core capabilities included:
- Appointment scheduling
- Patient intake
- Video conferencing
- A first-of-its-kind internet-based audiometer
- Hearing aid and accessories purchasing
- Patient self-assessment tool
The software presented unique UX requirements for two distinct user groups. On one side of each session sat the client’s audiologists and hearing aid experts, thoroughly trained on how to use the software. On the other side were patients — often not tech-savvy — who needed a highly intuitive UI to avoid problems.
That contrast surfaced interesting feedback and issues during launch. Each reported issue was evaluated to determine whether it was a bug that needed fixing, or whether it was better resolved with additional user constraints or clearer alerting and warnings.
Results / Outcomes
- Patented technology
- Ability to conduct audiologist-led hearing tests remotely
- Hearing self-assessment for patients
- Ability to sell hearing aids and related devices
- Ecommerce for hearing aids and related accessories
Capabilities Demonstrated
- Web App Development
- .NET Development
- Business Process Improvement
- Custom 3rd-party software integration
- User training
- Exception handling and alerting
- Cloud integration
Overview
The unprecedented environment created by the pandemic — and the knowledge that the solution the client needed did not yet exist — meant that many of the traditional steps we take with clients, such as software needs assessment, demos, and scoping, were not possible. The solution had to be developed as quickly as possible, and it would result in something that had never been done before.
Our team and the client’s stakeholders worked at a feverish pace to deliver an MVP (minimally viable product) in three months. Along the way, we collaborated with:
- Sound engineers
- The client’s audiologists
- The client’s UI/UX designers
- The client’s marketing teams
The result was an audiology-focused telehealth solution that now holds a US patent.
Launching the application in beta allowed the audiologists to gradually begin meeting with patients who required assistance, while providing us feedback on the application’s functionality, bugs, and desired features. After launch, our team continued with an Agile development approach — patching bugs, enhancing the application’s feature set, and improving the product based on user feedback.
Features
- Video conferencing
- Medical care accessibility
- Ecommerce
- Online interactive audiometer
Technologies
- Azure
- C#.NET
- Microsoft SQL
- React
- Twilio
- Authorize.net
- DocuSign
- SignalR