Cross-Platform Mobile Application Connects Patients with Provider

Executive Summary

As Acadiana’s leading regional health system, Lafayette General Health (LGH) needed iOS and Android applications so that patients could find the nearest hospitals, what the Emergency Room wait times are, and doctors by their specialty. They also desired a way to view illness concentrations by area. Because of our expertise with cross-platform development using Xamarin, we were able to deliver two mobile applications at a cost savings to LGH. 

About LGH

Lafayette General Health (LGH) is Acadiana’s largest non-profit, community-owned regional health system committed to always delivering excellence. The system has over 4,000 employees, serving the south-central region of Louisiana by aligning with facilities across Acadiana. 

CHALLENGE

Patients had no easy way of finding facilities or doctors in Lafayette General Health’s network, especially a specific type of doctor. Wait time information was not available for the public, and there was no way for a customer to view illnesses in the area. LGH needed a way to share this information with their customers as well as a way to manage on-time location and physician information.

SOLUTION

Sparkhound created a cross-platform solution using Xamarin and Apple/Google Maps to maximize code-sharing. This allowed us to deliver an additional application for a fraction of the cost. The application runs on iOS and Android phones and tablets, but with Xamarin’s Test Cloud, we were able to test it on numerous devices to expand our device support and ensure a higher quality experience for a larger customer base.  

In Azure, we also created a web service for the mobile applications to interact with and a portal for LGH to administrate the data. Using Azure will increase the uptime and reliability of the web service at a relatively low cost to LGH.

The solution compromises of the following application technologies:

• Search: Customers can search for a location by a specific type or for the nearest one using geolocation, and physicians can be searched by their specialty or provided services.

• Wait Time: Urgent Care locations display their current wait-time so that a customer can find the shortest wait at a glance. 

• Illness Map: This highlights certain zipcodes with high occurrences of an illness providing customer-awareness for “what’s going around” in their area.

• Social Media: Customers now have access the latest LGH news in the palm of their hand as they connect with their new Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube platforms.

• Device Integration: Using Apple/Google maps to show locations and draw images on a map, Geolocation pins allow a user to find custom distances from their personal location.

IMPACT

Lafayette General Health now has a way to easily provide up-to-date medical information to their customers in just a matter of seconds. With internal administration of the application data, LGH has the means to relay critical information so that customers in the Acadiana region can make the best decisions in planning for both expected and unexpected hospital visits. In the case of a serious event, this application has the potential to make all the difference.