About Higi
With Higi’s Smart Health Stations, Deerhold once again got to flex our software development skills. Higi is a healthcare consumer engagement company based in Chicago. While there is no shortage of health services in the United States, many of these resources are not easily accessible. Higi was looking to bridge that gap. Higi’s has an expansive repertoire of progressive health solutions. These include home health devices, digital and mobile tools, as well as their self-screening Smart Health Stations. The Smart Health Stations are a network of over 10,000 FDA-cleared, free-to-use kiosks across the country. The kiosks are located in strategic places so they are easily accessible for the community. These locations include CVS, other pharmacies, hospitals and community centers. The kiosks are also found in places of worship and senior living centers. Customers can use these kiosks to take body measurements, health assessments and risk assessments. They can also track their health data. As an easy-to-use and accessible resource, the kiosks serve many purposes. They improve health literacy and personal wellness. They also create convenient connections between individuals and healthcare providers.
Deerhold’s Role
Higi had a bold vision to create a new kind of digital platform. It would address the healthcare needs of individuals and communities. For this, they needed a strong, robust software solution. A Higi board member had heard of an innovative software development and data analytics company in Boston. This company was Deerhold. We offered diverse technological expertise at a competitive cost. In 2018, we came on board. Higi’s Smart Health ecosystem comprises a hardware and a software component. The hardware can measure height, weight and blood pressure, and take finger and palm scans. The software includes an engaging front-end user interface and back-end data analytics. A website and app make the data available to patients. These allow users to share their health data with trusted healthcare providers. Users receive personalized action plans tailored to their needs and goals. Deerhold built the omni-channel platform to record, manage and analyze the health data. We were able to create a seamless product with data integration algorithms. The software collects and shares massive amounts of confidential health data with ease and efficiency. With consent, the data collected via Higi moves into healthcare partner technology workflows in real time.
Software Development Challenges
This project’s main challenge was its scope, which expanded as the project grew. Initially, we were tasked to create a small module. The team consisted of only two front-end software developers and a project manager from Higi. We were a small but resourceful and hard-working team. A few months into the project, Higi required more QA automation engineers. Higi asked to interview the candidates themselves, and we were more than happy to adapt to the client’s needs. We identified 15 candidates and Higi picked three. This new team began working on making an integrated application with more features. As the project grew, Deerhold continued to bring in more talent. We trained junior engineers for this project in web and mobile QA automation. Within four months, they were up to speed and ready for the project. We had impressed our client by hiring and training top talent. They looked to us and our network to find more people for their project. When they needed a data visualization expert fluent in React and Looker, they asked Deerhold. We assembled a team with experience in data analytics and had them trained on Looker within four weeks.
