The power of data mapping in healthcare: benefits, use cases & future trends. As the healthcare industry and its supporting technologies rapidly expand, an immense amount of data and information is generated. Statistics show that about 30% of the world's data volume is attributed to the healthcare industry, with a projected growth rate of nearly 36% by 2025. This indicates that the growth rate is far beyond that of other industries such as manufacturing, financial services, and media and entertainment.
14 min read

Healthcare CRM development: solution types, features, and benefits

Picture a busy clinic grappling with no-shows and hectic workflows. Employees there often find themselves bogged down with tedious administrative tasks that leave little time for actual patient care and meaningful communication. Every day, these issues pile up and lead to disrupted care, frustrated patients, wasted resources, and lost revenue.

A solution for these systemic issues is customer relationship management (CRM) software, a system that helps get patient communication back on track and boost engagement. Let’s dive into how CRM makes these changes possible. Here, we’ll cover common types of healthcare CRMs, share practical examples of must-have features, and compare popular off-the-shelf solutions with custom-made systems.

What is CRM in healthcare, and how can it boost practice performance?

CRMs become a true staple for medical organizations. According to SNS Insider, 65% of healthcare providers have adopted cloud CRMs that help manage patients in real time. Built to meet the industry’s unique needs, CRMs handle patient communication, improve healthcare provider trust, and personalize services.

Think of a CRM as a digital assistant that tracks patient interactions, appointments, and feedback and helps providers understand patient needs and preferences. Thus, it supports targeted marketing, automation, and self-service for patients — all to boost practice efficiency and patient satisfaction.

CRM software in healthcare: key market stats

9.76%

healthcare CRM market CAGR between 2025–2034

Source: Precedence Research

$43.4B

is the expected healthcare CRM market size in 2034

Source: Precedence Research

35%

of healthcare providers incorporated AI CRM features

Source: SNS Insider

Types of healthcare CRM software

At first glance, most healthcare CRMs seem pretty similar, but they actually fall into three categories depending on the specific needs they address. Figuring out what’s most important for you in a CRM can be a good starting point in choosing or planning an ROI-driving system for your medical practice.

Healthcare CRM for patient service

Designed to streamline patient interactions, customer service CRM in healthcare is all about consistent communication and pleasant patient experiences — say, managing inquiries, sending timely follow-ups, or appointment reminders. These systems often employ features like AI chatbots, automated messages, and ticket management. Customer service CRMs enable personalized care, all while boosting care satisfaction, reducing wait times, and providing real-time support.

Marketing CRM for healthcare providers

Marketing CRMs help healthcare organizations improve their outreach and attract new patients with tailored offers. Thanks to advanced analytics and workflow automation, they enable audience segmentation, targeted campaigns, personalized offers, patient retention strategies, and engagement tracking. Ultimately, CRM insights empower healthcare providers to drive patient acquisition while fostering trust with long-time patients.

Operational CRM for healthcare providers

Focused on the internal routines of medical practices, operational CRMs optimize daily workflows, like scheduling appointments, handling referrals, or managing resources. With strong automation features, these CRMs lighten the load for medical coordinators and reduce human errors. As a result, clinical and non-clinical teams work together more effectively while patients get better care and are more satisfied with the services.

Off-the-shelf vs. custom CRM solutions

So, you’ve decided to give CRM a try. At this very moment, many healthcare providers find themselves at a crossroads, wondering whether a ready-made system or a custom one is the way to go. Both options have pros and cons, so the right choice really depends on what your practice needs. Here’s a quick comparison that may help you make up your mind.

Parameter Off-the-shelf Custom
Cost Lower initial costs; may have additional licensing and customization fees Higher initial development costs; potentially lower long-term costs due to tailored solutions
Implementation time Faster to implement; involves customization rather than development Longer due to design, development, and testing phases
Flexibility Limited; designed for a broad range of users with constrained customization options High flexibility; tailored to specific needs and workflows
Maintenance Lower; vendor handles updates and support, often included in the license More complex and costly; requires ongoing support from the development team or consultants
Scalability Limited by software design; may require upgrading to more advanced versions Highly scalable if properly designed
Hosting Typically hosted by the CRM vendor or a third-party provider Can be hosted on-premises or in the cloud, depending on the organization's preference and infrastructure
Accessibility Generally provides broad accessibility through web browsers and mobile apps Can be designed with specific accessibility requirements in mind, such as integrating unique interfaces or custom workflows

Features to expect from a healthcare CRM

If you don’t know what capabilities to look for in a healthcare CRM, check out the list of must-have healthcare CRM features that we at Innowise often recommend to our clients.

  • Patient data management
  • Patient relationship management
  • Document management
  • Task management & collaboration
  • Sales & marketing automation
  • Reporting & analytics
  • Patient self-service portal
  • Integration with EHR systems

Patient data management

Each CRM features a central hub where all patient-related data comes together, from medical histories and test results to scheduled appointments and support chat requests. With access to comprehensive medical records and interaction histories, healthcare providers and medical coordinators can make precise decisions and resolve patient requests faster.

Patient relationship management

Central to healthcare CRM, relationship management helps handle interactions between providers and patients, address inquiries, schedule follow-ups, and personalize communication based on patient preferences and medical histories. This level of attention helps strengthen patient engagement and further streamlines care.

Document management

Organizing patient documents into a central digital repository, document management ensures that all relevant information is easily accessible to healthcare professionals. It also helps control document versions and share medical records, consent forms, insurance claims, and other essential documents.

Task management & collaboration

With CRM, it’s easier for medical teams to keep track of ongoing tasks and stay in touch regarding patient management. Staff can easily track task progress, synchronize schedules, and get patient information in real time. Thus, the teams stay on top of what’s important without the stress of juggling patient care and administrative work.

Sales & marketing automation

With CRM sales and marketing tools, healthcare providers can automate email campaigns to identify and nurture potential patients and retain existing ones. Crafting tailored communication strategies for different audience segments and sending targeted instant messages directly from the CRM keeps patients engaged and informed.

Reporting & analytics

CRM reporting and analytics tools give teams real-time insights into patient data, trends, and operational processes. These tools turn data on patient demographics, treatment, engagement, and practice performance metrics into straightforward, actionable information for more efficient and more responsive care.

Patient self-service portal

Patients can access their health information, schedule appointments, request prescription refills, and communicate with their providers via a self-service portal. This empowers patients to take a more active role in their care and simplifies administrative tasks for healthcare providers, enhancing overall efficiency.

Integration with EHR systems

Connecting the CRM with the EHR system ensures a seamless flow of data across platforms.

It allows healthcare providers to view patient records, lab results, and treatment histories without switching systems, leading to faster decision-making and lowering the risk of errors due to fragmented data.

Patient data management

Each CRM features a central hub where all patient-related data comes together, from medical histories and test results to scheduled appointments and support chat requests. With access to comprehensive medical records and interaction histories, healthcare providers and medical coordinators can make precise decisions and resolve patient requests faster.

Patient relationship management

Central to healthcare CRM, relationship management helps handle interactions between providers and patients, address inquiries, schedule follow-ups, and personalize communication based on patient preferences and medical histories. This level of attention helps strengthen patient engagement and further streamlines care.

Document management

Organizing patient documents into a central digital repository, document management ensures that all relevant information is easily accessible to healthcare professionals. It also helps control document versions and share medical records, consent forms, insurance claims, and other essential documents.

Task management & collaboration

With CRM, it’s easier for medical teams to keep track of ongoing tasks and stay in touch regarding patient management. Staff can easily track task progress, synchronize schedules, and get patient information in real time. Thus, the teams stay on top of what’s important without the stress of juggling patient care and administrative work.

Sales & marketing automation

With CRM sales and marketing tools, healthcare providers can automate email campaigns to identify and nurture potential patients and retain existing ones. Crafting tailored communication strategies for different audience segments and sending targeted instant messages directly from the CRM keeps patients engaged and informed.

Reporting & analytics

CRM reporting and analytics tools give teams real-time insights into patient data, trends, and operational processes. These tools turn data on patient demographics, treatment, engagement, and practice performance metrics into straightforward, actionable information for more efficient and more responsive care.

Patient self-service portal

Patients can access their health information, schedule appointments, request prescription refills, and communicate with their providers via a self-service portal. This empowers patients to take a more active role in their care and simplifies administrative tasks for healthcare providers, enhancing overall efficiency.

Integration with EHR systems

Connecting the CRM with the EHR system ensures a seamless flow of data across platforms.

It allows healthcare providers to view patient records, lab results, and treatment histories without switching systems, leading to faster decision-making and lowering the risk of errors due to fragmented data.

Benefits of CRM in the healthcare industry

Resource and cost savings

CRM systems help healthcare organizations streamline administrative tasks, reducing the need for manual data entry and repetitive processes. Thus, medical providers can allocate resources more efficiently, cut costs, enhance overall workflows, and reduce overhead.

Ultra-personalized care

With a CRM, providers can analyze patient data to tailor care plans and communication, making each treatment more relevant to the individual. By tracking preferences and history, healthcare organizations can deliver a level of care that’s uniquely aligned with each patient and strengthen the relationships.

Streamlined patient data management

CRMs consolidate patient records, appointment histories, and communications into a single, easily accessible system. This streamlined management ensures that healthcare teams spend less time searching for information and more time providing high-quality care, improving both efficiency and patient satisfaction.

Seamless patient experiences

Thanks to task automation, self-service features, and a high degree of personalization, CRM refines patients’ journeys. This reduces frustration for patients and makes their interactions with healthcare providers consistent, personalized, and positive.

Targeted patient outreach

Healthcare organizations can easily segment patients based on age, sex, chronic conditions, history with the provider, and preferences. It makes possible highly targeted outreach campaigns, whether for health reminders, promotions, or educational content, making sure communication is effective and not just white noise.

Improved doctor collaboration

Communication among doctors becomes much smoother as all care team members have a unified view of patient histories. This collaborative approach helps coordinate care better, make more accurate diagnoses and treatment plans, and ensure alignment.

Data-driven business decision-making

Collecting and analyzing data from various sources, CRM systems provide actionable insights into patient behavior, treatment outcomes, and operational efficiency. Healthcare providers can use this data to make decisions faster, improve strategies, and optimize resources.

Better referral management

CRM systems make the referral process much smoother, as they handle referrals from start to finish. With everything in one place, it guarantees timely follow-ups, cuts down on missed opportunities, and gives both the referring and receiving providers real-time updates.

Ready to experience these benefits of a healthcare CRM?

Healthcare CRM software development process

When it comes to the success of healthcare CRM implementation, the devil’s in the details — from the careful solution planning to continuous testing and timely maintenance. Check out a proven process Innowise’s team follows when developing or implementing a healthcare CRM.

01
Requirements gathering
Innowise works closely with you to learn specific needs, goals, and compliance requirements, capture every detail, and include it in the project.
02
System architecture design
We plan the CRM: its architecture, integrations with your existing systems, data management, workflows within the app, user roles, and many more.
03
Technical implementation
Our developers build or implement the healthcare CRM based on the design, integrate it with your IT environment, and ensure everything works well.
04
Migration of existing data
Innowise migrates the necessary patient and operational records to the new CRM system, focusing on data quality, accuracy, and security.
05
CRM deployment
Once the CRM is configured and ready, we deploy it across your medical practice, making sure it integrates with other systems, like EHR, as intended.
06
Testing and technical training
Our team thoroughly tests the system to ensure everything works perfectly while also training medical staff on using the new CRM effectively.
07
Post-development support
We provide continuous support after deployment, offering troubleshooting, updates, and any help needed to keep your healthcare CRM running smoothly.
01 Requirements gathering
Innowise works closely with you to learn specific needs, goals, and compliance requirements, capture every detail, and include it in the project.
02 System architecture design
We plan the CRM: its architecture, integrations with your existing systems, data management, workflows within the app, user roles, and many more.
03 Technical implementation
Our developers build or implement the healthcare CRM based on the design, integrate it with your IT environment, and ensure everything works well.
04 Migration of existing data
Innowise migrates the necessary patient and operational records to the new CRM system, focusing on data quality, accuracy, and security.
05 CRM deployment
Once the CRM is configured and ready, we deploy it across your medical practice, making sure it integrates with other systems, like EHR, as intended.
06 Testing and technical training
Our team thoroughly tests the system to ensure everything works perfectly while also training medical staff on using the new CRM effectively.
07 Post-development support
We provide continuous support after deployment, offering troubleshooting, updates, and any help needed to keep your healthcare CRM running smoothly.

Healthcare CRM software development services we offer

We get it — handling CRM development or implementation in-house may be a frustrating task, especially if your IT department doesn’t have relevant experience with this type of software or the chosen platform. Innowise’s team is ready to take over this task and offers a range of healthcare CRM development services.

  • Healthcare CRM software customization

Innowise implements and customizes healthcare CRM software to fit any organization’s specific workflows. This means that we have set features to support unique patient care processes, integrate CRM with existing IT systems, adapt the user interface, and more.

  • Healthcare CRM software migration

Our team handles the entire migration process to the new healthcare CRM system: data extraction, cleansing, transfer, and reconfiguring workflows and integrations. We maintain data integrity and get the CRM working with minimal downtime and business disruption.

  • Healthcare mobile CRM solution development

Innowise builds mobile CRMs for healthcare to bring all the essential features right to mobile devices. Our mobile CRM apps make it easier for healthcare professionals to manage patient information, arrange appointments, and communicate with patients on the go.

  • Healthcare CRM software development

With a rigorous project management approach, we build custom healthcare CRM software focusing on quality, functionality, and user experience. You get a tailored CRM that boosts patient engagement and fits your IT environment seamlessly.

  • Healthcare CRM software consulting

Our healthcare IT consultants assess the client’s business needs and strategic goals, recommend the fitting CRM platforms, choose optimal software features, and lay out the plans for software customization and integration.

  • Healthcare CRM software maintenance

With regular maintenance, Innowise helps keep the healthcare CRM performing well and tunes the software to meet changing needs. We handle things like applying patches, managing upgrades, fixing issues, and ensuring regulatory compliance and security.

How we handle healthcare CRM security and compliance

Keeping patient data safe is non-negotiable for us. Innowise’s healthcare CRM solutions come with rock-solid security features, in-transit and at-rest encryption, access controls, and more. During development and maintenance, we regularly audit CRMs to make sure there are no vulnerabilities that can put protected health information at risk. 

We’re all about doing things right, so we follow all applicable industry and regional regulations when developing CRMs, including HIPAA, GDPR, and HITRUST. You can be sure our CRM systems do not just meet the bare minimum but instead set the bar high when it comes to compliance.

Innowise’s partnerships with major CRM providers

For many years, we’ve been partnering with leading technology platforms like Microsoft, Salesforce, and Odoo. Thanks to these strategic alliances, our clients can be sure of the quality of our services and get the healthcare CRMs they need.

  • With Microsoft, we tap into top-tier cloud computing, AI, and business intelligence tools, boosting productivity and maintaining reliable infrastructure. 
  • Our certified partnership with Salesforce means we offer customized CRM solutions that supercharge customer engagement and drive sales success.
  • With Odoo, we bring versatile ERP software, accelerating everything from accounting and sales to HR.

“For many of our healthcare clients, going for a CRM system was a much-needed step on the way to earning patient trust — and it worked wonders for engagement. Now that we’ve been implementing CRMs for healthcare providers for years, I can be confident that we know all the ins and outs of this process and can deliver a CRM that fits your needs perfectly.”

Portfolio manager in Healthcare and Medical technologies /Account Manager

Get a CRM solution tailored to your healthcare practice

Best CRM software for the healthcare industry

Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare combines the strengths of Microsoft Azure, Dynamics 365, Microsoft Power Platform, and Microsoft 365. This tool offers advanced analytics and AI-driven insights — to deliver more engaging, secure, and connected patient care.

Salesforce Health Cloud is a tool that adapts well to the size and needs of any medical organization. Seamlessly integrating with healthcare IT systems and offering AI-driven features like predictive analytics and automation, it’s a powerful tool to enhance patient care and operational efficiency.

Veeva Vault CRM grows in popularity thanks to its focus on the life sciences and pharmaceutical industries. CRM’s features meet this domain’s needs and include provider relationship management, field sales analytics, marketing automation, and customer service.

Odoo CRM is well-known for its ability to scale and adapt to every business with ease. And thanks to its integration with other Odoo modules, each workflow — from billing to inventory — weaves together and supports a comprehensive approach to care.

Designed to work smoothly with Cerner’s EHR and healthcare software suite, Cerner CRM is all about simplifying how you manage patient interactions. What sets this tool apart is its use of data analytics to deliver actionable insights into patient trends and preferences.

CRM software for the healthcare industry: near future

Now, healthcare CRM software is undergoing a transformation, with advanced technologies like AI, ML, IoT, and big data analytics shaping the healthcare industry. Already now, 35% of healthcare providers say they incorporated AI CRM features, and overall, around 70% of healthcare organizations will pursue or have already implemented gen AI.

Looking ahead, CRM software will evolve to foster deeper patient engagement through automation and streamlined workflows. With the rise of integrated telehealth and virtual care, CRMs will further facilitate smoother communication between providers and patients.

Wrapping up

Used by healthcare providers for decades, CRM is a tried-and-true way to manage patient interactions, upgrade workflows, and boost efficiency. Don’t miss out on the opportunities that the healthcare CRM opens to medical practices — from enhanced scheduling and patient engagement to truly personalized care.

If you’re looking to implement a CRM solution, take the time to evaluate your specific needs. Whether through off-the-shelf software or a custom solution, Innowise is here to help you adopt the right CRM for your practice, making sure it meets your needs and stays aligned with the latest tech advancements in healthcare.

FAQ

Is healthcare CRM software compliant with HIPAA?

We ensure HIPAA compliance with the CRMs we develop and implement. Innowise’s team adopts robust security features, including end-to-end encryption, strict access controls, and thorough audit trails. Plus, we sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) to guarantee we handle protected health information in line with HIPAA requirements.

Absolutely. During healthcare CRM development projects, our team integrates the solution with EHR or EMR systems, keeping patient data flowing securely between both platforms. The integration helps healthcare professionals get a complete view of patient history without missing or duplicate entries. This all leads to better care coordination, more informed decision-making, and more efficient day-to-day operations.

Many CRM features are about keeping patients engaged in their care. For starters, self-service portals let patients feel more agency over their care: they can easily schedule appointments and access their test results and records. Then, thanks to analytics, smart marketing tools, and automated reminders, patients get only relevant messages. And finally, with automated surveys, patients can easily share their thoughts and feel like their voices are heard.

Healthcare CRM costs depend on several factors, but most importantly, it depends on whether you go for an off-the-shelf or custom CRM. Off-the-shelf solutions are often more budget-friendly initially but may come with extra costs along the way. Custom-built CRMs start with a higher price tag but are completely tailored to your needs. With a cloud-based CRM, you usually pay a subscription fee, while on-premise systems often require a one-time licensing payment plus ongoing maintenance expenses.

There’s no definitive answer to this question. It depends significantly on what you need: type of CRM, scope and complexity, integrations, necessary preparation, and planning (like data migration or system configuration). For example, an off-the-shelf CRM with built-in EHR integration API will take much less time to implement than a complex custom system with APIs built from scratch. Innowise’s IT consultants can share a more precise estimate, so don’t hesitate to drop us a line.

author
Aleh Yafimau Delivery Manager
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Aleh Yafimau Delivery manager

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