Critical Mission System in Renal Health

The Critical Mission System of Médica Santa Carmen was developed with GeneXus. Discover the details of this application focused on renal diseases, which has been cataloged as the most complex of its kind in Mexico.

 

Critical Mission Systems are applications that are essential for the operation of a company, organization, or government. They are considered Critical Mission Systems because if they are damaged or fail, they can cause the collapse of all processes and operations.

 

SANUS 2.0 is the Critical Mission System of Médica Santa Carmen, which is the network of clinics specialized in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of kidney diseases in Mexico.

With this solution, created with GeneXus, the operability of the 11 branches that this renal health network has in Mexico City and the states of Puebla, Querétaro, Guanajuato, and Jalisco is managed.

 

Médica Santa Carmen was founded in 2011 to offer well-being to patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) through 'accessible, effective, and dignified' care.

 

They started by attending to 40 patients per day. Today, they have 600 employees and around 2,500 patients, to whom they provide more than 30,000 therapies per month.

 

The problem

 

From its inception, Médica Santa Carmen established itself as a digital company. However, as the organization experienced significant growth, they began to face challenges due to the lack of scalability of their SANUS system.

 

The limited flexibility to integrate new technologies and functionalities led José Jaime Izzo, Director of Technology at Médica Santa Carmen, to look for a Low-Code platform that would allow them to create, innovate, and maintain software in an agile and secure manner.

"We started with Low-Code software that worked well, was fast, and easy to use, but it was not scalable. We ended up having several applications to solve different needs. Each of these systems had different databases, and they were also hosted on different servers," explains Izzo.

 

The challenge

 

Médica Santa Carmen needed a Low-Code platform that would allow them to develop complex and scalable solutions in-house, and that was also fast and flexible in terms of maintenance.

 

The main objective was to establish a comprehensive system to securely manage all the information of the company and the patients in a single environment.

 

The selection process began with an exhaustive 8-month investigation. During that time, they participated in demonstrations of Low-Code platforms available in the market.

 

After a thorough review, GeneXus stood out as the platform that best suited the short and long-term needs of Médica Santa Carmen.

 

The solution

 

The project to develop SANUS 2.0 started in September 2021, with the support of Fusion IT, the Official Distributor of GeneXus in Mexico.

 

The implementation phase took place in August 2022. Initially, a trial phase was carried out in one branch, followed by another. The expansion to all clinics was done in April 2023.

Through this solution, the comprehensive update and consultation of the information corresponding to the more than 30,000 treatments they offer each month is achieved.

The application uses HL7, a set of standards designed to facilitate the electronic exchange of clinical information, and through which they establish a connection with the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS).

 

The connection with IMSS allows them to consult relevant information about new patients, such as the social security number and additional medical data. It also allows sending real-time information to IMSS about each patient.

 

SANUS 2.0 also has an API that queries the Unique Population Registry Code (CURP) to avoid duplicate patients or to indicate, when appropriate, that the person is a foreigner and does not have CURP.

 

The application is mainly composed of a web version, representing 98% of its functionality.

For the mobile platform, a module has been designed to manage patients' electronic signatures, necessary for obtaining consent before starting any treatment. For this process, the nursing staff provides the patient with an electronic tablet for digital signing.

 

Through the system, nephrologists record and document relevant patient information, including specific instructions for their treatments. Following these indications, nurses configure the hemodialysis machines (therapy that filters toxins and excess water from the blood) to adapt them to the needs of each user. During treatment, the system records vital signs, playing a crucial role in preventing potential complications.

 

In terms of administrative management, the system allows for the comprehensive consultation and management of all aspects related to monitoring laboratories and contracts they have with the public sector.

 

This comprehensive approach not only optimizes consent management but also significantly contributes to improving efficiency in the execution of treatments. Effective coordination between nephrologists, nurses, and the system ensures personalized and safe care for each patient, thus improving the quality and safety of the hemodialysis process.

 

"GeneXus has allowed us to develop everything we want and more. It has also allowed us to operate in a more efficient and reliable way. With GeneXus, managing information, making maintenance, and changes for improvements is much easier. These operational efficiencies have not only contributed to a more profitable management of the clinic but have also paved the way for our expansion to the United States, where we have already established a couple of clinics in Texas. It is worth noting that all this progress was made in a surprisingly short period, thanks to the work of a team consisting of only three people. It is important to highlight that in Mexico, no organization has an advanced electronic record system focused on renal disease like the one implemented by Médica Santa Carmen."

 

The Power of GeneXus

 

The impact of GeneXus has been evident in numerous aspects of the system. Tasks that could represent risks or some kind of cybersecurity vulnerability for the company are now backed by GeneXus Access Manager (GAM), the functionality of GeneXus that resolves authentication and authorization issues of the applications.

 

With SANUS 2.0, all information is centralized in a unique database hosted on the Amazon Web Services cloud. This consolidation has strengthened the security and efficiency in the management of patient data, providing a uniform database for all branches.

 

"Before this project, I had no experience as a developer. GeneXus has allowed me to tackle large and complex tasks easily. That seems impressive to me. The peace of mind that GeneXus gives us is tangible; the clinics operate from Monday to Saturday, from 6:00 to 23:00 hours, and I know that I can enjoy my vacations without receiving calls for system failures, something that did happen with our previous system," expresses Izzo.

 

The functionality of GeneXus Query has also been highlighted. The generation of reports at the corporate level has been significantly simplified, connecting to a single point compared to the multiple exports required previously from different servers. This has allowed the clinic to make decisions based on administrative and operational metrics.

 

Adding new clinics has also become a quick process; it is simply a matter of incorporating them into the branch catalog in the application and configuring the necessary parameters. On the branch side, only access to the Internet and the corresponding device, such as tablets, is required for nurses to access the web application while attending to patients.

 

Plans

 

"We have plans to migrate the current system of the Texas clinics to GeneXus. In the short term, our goal is to progressively eliminate other platforms to consolidate everything in GeneXus. Also, we seek to make the application accessible not only for staff but also for patients and their families. With this initiative, we aim to improve overall user interaction and experience."

 

They also plan to integrate Artificial Intelligence into the system with GeneXus Enterprise AI. "Currently, we manage our virtual library with the Google suite, storing policies, procedures, and work instructions there. However, our collaborators find it difficult to access information. GeneXus Enterprise AI could solve this problem and facilitate access to information more efficiently."

 

Contact us!

To learn how to build Critical Mission Solutions or how to migrate your solutions securely, write to us at hello@genexus.com or visit our contact page.