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What is Data Encryption and Why Is It Important?

A majority of businesses today have quite a lot of private information and data stored digitally, whether it’s in the cloud or on internal servers. Technology has advanced to the point where everything is online - medical records, banking info, financials, etc. Data encryption is how all of this…

The Risk of Using Legacy Medical Devices with Outdated Software

The healthcare industry is a prime target for cyberattacks and has been for years. The main reason being that personal health information is worth more on the black market compared to any other data. These cyberattacks have disrupted operations within hospitals, resulting in patient safety issues…

What to Consider When Creating a Portal for Healthcare

There are plenty of reasons for a healthcare organization to create a portal, whether it’s for patients, employees or both. Having a custom portal increases productivity and efficiency, as well as creates a better overall user experience. Now that we know this, when is it time to create a portal or…

Categorizing & Comparing Examples of SaMD

In the recent past, we reviewed examples of software as a medical device (SaMD) as well as how SaMD is categorized in two separate posts. Now we are going to put these together, outlining how some real world examples of SaMD are categorized and comparing how they differ. We’ll also take a quick…

The 10 Most Common HIPAA Violations

All HIPAA violations could be considered potential threats to your medical-related organization, but there are some that are much more common than others. And, seeing that HIPAA violations can bring fines reaching up to $50k per occurrence and a maximum penalty of $1.5 million per violation, it’s…

What’s the Difference between ERP and CRM Systems?

You’ve likely heard the terms CRM (customer relationship management) system and ERP (enterprise resource planning) system before. They’re commonly used software tools for many types of businesses, including manufacturing companies. Do they do the same thing? If not, what’s the difference between…

How SaMD is Regulated in the US

There are many different medical markets around the world, with the largest two being the US and the EU. In this article, we are going to focus on the regulation in the US. SaMD is considered an actual medical device, so it is regulated in the US by the FDA just as traditional medical devices are.…

What are Progressive Web Applications (PWAs)?

Progressive web apps are defined as “web apps that use service workers, manifests, and other web-platform features in combination with progressive enhancement to give users an experience on par with native apps.” That’s pretty technical, but it basically means that PWAs are applications that…

7 Steps in the System Integration Process

Companies in the advanced manufacturing space commonly use multiple systems in their daily operations. One system may monitor shipments and orders, while another might track inventory levels. One major issue with using multiple systems is they do not naturally communicate or exchange information…

7 Examples of Software as a Medical Device (SaMD)

Software as a medical device is a relatively new and revolutionary tool in healthcare. It can collect massive amounts of data much faster than traditional means and perform complex medical manipulations like diagnosing, clinical management, and suggesting treatments. If you’re interested in…

Prepare Your Manufacturing Business for a Recession

Although not officially announced yet, it seems likely that our economy will be going into a recession (2 consecutive quarters of negative GDP). For advanced manufacturing companies, this could mean reduced orders and revenue due to less products being purchased, so customers need less invetory. If…

Why We Love Building SaMD: BloodHub

At The Refinery, we have designed and built a huge variety of software, applications, portals, websites, etc. for multiple industries and sectors. And sure, they have an impact on people's lives in one way or another. But designing and developing SaMD (software as a medical device) is different,…