5 High-Rated Project Management Software Tailored for the Healthcare Sector

Chatting, meetings, calls, supporting information—this is the category of processes that creates the most chaos, especially if there is no unified approach in a company and everything is done with the help of ‘Telegram/WhatsApp management’. And this applies to clinics of any size; even if there are only 2 of you in the project team, you still have to interact and set tasks.

You also want to take into account all the nuances and not waste money and time. If you're a healthcare manager frustrated by chaotic communication and inefficient project handling, you're not alone. Many practices struggle to align their team and streamline workflows in such a regulated environment.

As a practice manager, you must be ready for constant changes and tonnes of structure in healthcare projects. So, it’s vital to leverage the tools to make your job easier and the experience of those around you to succeed. Today we’ll describe 5 high-rated HIPAA-compliant healthcare project management software for multiple specialities that help streamline clinical workflows and increase revenue.

What we have on the menu:

1. Medesk
2. Monday
3. Smartsheet
4. Microsoft Project
5. Asana

Keep Both Your Team and Patients Under Control with Medesk

Every business starts with people and a team. You may not know everything about your business, but knowing your team is a must for a manager. There are so many processes you need to quickly know who can help you with. Medesk is a cloud-based system that allows you to manage processes in the practice from both sides: within the team and when interacting with patients.

Key features:

• Specifically tailored for healthcare teams.
• Task management module with online sessions and reminders.
• Analytics and reporting for resource allocation and clinic performance.
• Integrations with Xero and Stripe for billing workflows.
• Customizable access levels to comply with regulations.
• Patient engagement initiatives like reminders, SMS/email newsletters.

It sets projects back quickly, not being able to find a contact to do a task or get you a number. The software helps you to delegate to your colleagues, keep the team outcome focused, and set reminders for yourself. By using the task management module, you can see all the tasks and assignees in chronologically ordered lists, hold online sessions with your team within the platform, and save money for additional videoconferencing software.

Later, you can analyse your team’s activity and understand who delegated tasks and what was done with the reports and analytics module of Medesk. For example, you can look into how many calls were handled by specific colleagues, the overall amount of bookings via the patient portal, completed appointments, and even the conversion of tasks into appointments by the acquisition channel.

The analytic module gives you insights on resource allocation. Here's how the chain works. The module analyses data on the number of appointments with each specialist, consumables, duration of the appointment, the number of available clinic rooms, and the profitability of each role. You get a report in the form of tables, pie charts, and Gantt charts at your discretion, draw conclusions about optimal utilisation of clinic assets (e.g., rooms, equipment) and resource usage, and adjust project finances. Moreover, with Xero and Stripe integrations, you are always aware of your accounting and billing workflows and can avoid unpaid bills and lost revenue.

Your task as a manager is to ensure seamless team members' collaboration within the software. But we are talking about a healthcare organisation, which means patient data security is no less important. While working in Medesk, you can customise access levels for each healthcare team and make sure that only specialists working with patients' health records will have access to the Electronic Health Records (EHR). This way, you comply with regulations like GDPR and HIPAA, perform document management for legal purposes, and are ready for a clinic audit.

The patient management issue is also solved with the project management solution. Just as you send reminders to your colleagues to complete tasks, you can also send appointment reminders to patients that reduce no-show rates and remind them of follow-ups. In addition, the email or SMS newsletter tool can be used as a marketing channel: send special birthday newsletters to patients, offer bonuses, promotions, and gifts for brand loyalty.

Pros:

• Highly specialized for healthcare needs.
• Detailed reporting and analytics.
• Inclusive pricing without user-based fees.

Cons:

• Less suitable for general or non-healthcare industries.

The Medesk healthcare management software has a 15-day free trial. Paid plans do not depend on the number of users and therefore will be more favourable for small and medium-sized teams with complex clinical management tasks.

Monday Work Management for Enhanced Integrations

Monday.com is a working platform for basic tasks and team collaboration based on Kanban boards. The platform is quite simple and will appeal to fans of the Agile method or when collaboration across departments is needed. It's easy to set up and visually intuitive, though it can fall short for more construction-focused or complex projects. Unlike Medesk, Monday doesn't specialise in healthcare professionals’ teams, but some features may be useful in clinic work.

Key features:

• Kanban-based platform with multiple views (Calendar, Gantt).
• Templates for various industries (though not healthcare-specific).
• Easy integration with popular apps like Slack and Zoom.
• Visual task tracking with customisable color tags.

With Monday, you can track projects and associated deadlines in real time. Several project views are available based on individual preferences, including Calendar, Kanban, and Gantt. Depending on your specific needs, whether you want to see project progress at a glance or a larger picture of things, you can quickly switch between the different views and even zoom in and out by period. Customization is a strong point of the software.

The project is automatically divided into tasks, each of which has a separate chat window. Anyone can use these chat windows to start a discussion or give feedback. You can also tag team members to improve teamwork and set up notifications to let your colleagues know about the updates and changes.

To avoid creating projects from scratch, use the platform's template library. You will find examples of projects for marketing, project management, sales and CRM, design, and HR. Unfortunately, there are no medical templates.

Clinic marketing teams can use Monday to create content calendars, track campaigns, and analyse results. The platform allows for visual presentation of ideas and strategies—just use colour tags for status updates and filtering.

Monday.com integrates easily with many popular apps:

1. Zoom
2. Google Calendar
3. Slack
4. Excel
5. Zapier etc.

Keep in mind that the platform automatically compresses large images. In the work of a healthcare provider, this can be a hindrance if we are talking about photos of ultrasound, MRI, colposcopy, etc.

Pros:

• User-friendly and visually intuitive.
• Strong integration capabilities.

Cons:

• Limited features for complex or healthcare-specific workflows.
• Automatic image compression unsuitable for medical imaging.

Monday has a great marketing team and flashy features, but at the end of the day, it's not as dynamic as Smartsheet or Medesk are. The platform offers a free plan with limited features as well as paid plans starting at $9 per month per user. It seems good for simpler projects requiring collaboration. For a complex project like a healthcare organization, it can be too simple.

Smartsheet’s 10,000ft Feature: a Bird’s Eye View of the Team’s Work

Smartsheet is renowned among users as the best software for transitioning from traditional project management to innovative project management. Like Monday, it is not designed for the healthcare industry but can be used in medical project management.

Key features:

• Offers customisable views like Gantt and Kanban.
• 10,000ft feature for workload assessment.
• Performance dashboards with widgets for monitoring.
• HIPAA and GDPR compliance.
• Integrations with Microsoft Office, Google G-Suite, and more.

All work takes place on one platform in real time to make it easier for team members to track progress. The interface can be customised to suit your project (Kanban, Gantt): build projects from scratch or use ready-made templates. However, users note that it's not easy to get started on the platform, especially if you've never worked with Google Spreadsheets.

You can use Smartsheet for workforce planning in a manner consistent with HIPAA, GxP, CCPA, and GDPR regulatory compliance. It's better to start at the Solution Centre, where you can find all the boards and tools you need. You can set up automatic alerts when you change tasks and projects, receive a new appointment, or cancel an appointment.

We recommend trying the 10,000ft feature. It gives you a bird's-eye view of the team's work and allows you to assess which team members have free windows and which team members are stretched thin. The 10,000ft feature breaks down every project and tracks each employee's workload in detail, allowing you to keep projects moving seamlessly. Knowing the workload of each doctor will make it easier for you to plan your schedule and optimise the use of appointment rooms.

Use the built-in performance dashboards to analyse your clinic's activities. They are presented in the form of widgets; it is easy to customise them and select the reports you need. There are ready-made templates for project, resource, financial, and event monitoring. Unlike Medesk, Smartsheet's analytics are limited to in-built dashboards. You cannot create any report from scratch.

Pros:

• Great for transitioning from traditional to modern project management.
• Detailed workload analysis through the 10,000ft feature.
• Comprehensive integrations.

Cons:

• Steeper learning curve for new users.
• Limited reporting customization.
• Support team accessibility issues.

Software users complain about the support team: if you need help from a real person, you have to submit a support request via the online request form and wait.

Smartsheet provides a free trial period. Standard plans start at $14 per month.

Microsoft Project’s Gold but yet Limiting Standard for Managers

MS Project is the gold standard for traditional project management, offering tools for resource planning and integration with Power BI for analytics.

Key features:

• Resource management and Gantt charts for structured planning.
• Integration with Power BI for analytics.
• Templates for specific use cases like New Product Launch.

MS Project is great for detailed, structured project planning, especially with large teams, complex project timelines, and resource management. It excels in traditional project management (like waterfall), but the licensing can be limiting.

The disadvantage of MS Project is that it can sometimes be prohibitively expensive for some organisations. Project is much more closed and orientated to be used and maintained exclusively by PMs. It is not really a self-service project management tool, and healthcare sector representatives may find it difficult to use.

The programme is similar to MS Excel but contains more functions. Visually, it looks like this: in the left part there is a table with data: tasks, time tracking, and labour costs. The right side contains graphs, for example, a Gantt chart. There are different templates in the programme, e.g., New Product Launch or Flexible Project Management. Choose the appropriate structure or open New Project.

When you enter the initial project data in the table on the left, a Gantt chart is automatically drawn on the right. All tasks are automatically numbered by the software as they appear. Next, you will be able to distribute tasks to the team. If some employee is overloaded, the programme will show it:'red men icon’ will appear to the left of the task.

One of the key functions of MS Project is resource management. You can assign resources (people, equipment, materials) to tasks and track their utilisation. This helps to avoid overloading resources and optimise their use.

MS Project allows you to create lists of resources and assign them to specific tasks. You can track the occupancy of each resource, see which tasks require the most time and effort, and reallocate resources as needed.

Quick Look helps you quickly see how your project is doing. As in Asana, this field shows attachments, additional tasks, and project status. For detailed analytics, you need to install the PPM Reports for Microsoft Project Online integration.

You will have access to a suite of reports to analyse your project portfolio. Unlike Medesk, in which all reports are built-in and available even during the idle period, in Project you need a FluentPro Datamart license to use the reports.

Pros:

• Excellent for large teams and complex timelines.
• Advanced resource management tools.
• Familiar interface for Microsoft Office users.

Cons:

• Expensive for small teams or budgets.
• Not user-friendly for non-PMs or beginners.
• Limited built-in reporting; additional licensing needed for advanced analytics.

MS Project prices start at $10/user/month. A free trial is available for all plans for 30 days.

Try Asana and Get a Perfect Agile

User-friendly and designed for collaboration, it’s perfect for Agile projects. However, Asana may lack depth for complex timelines. It doesn't provide extensive customisation options by default, instead offering a clear operating logic sharpened for team collaboration.

Key features:

• Designed for Agile project management with task and sub-task hierarchies.
• Multiple project views (boards, lists, calendars).
• Automated dashboards for tracking tasks and costs.
• Message View for team updates.

The foundation of Asana is projects, tasks, and sub-tasks. Create projects for large collaborations with multiple steps and stakeholders who need to view information in different views. The project format is suitable for a clinic where staff from different departments interact.

Choose tasks if you need to formulate a separate task for one person that can be completed in a few minutes or business days. Example: set up automatic mailings to the patient base or send invoices. Sub-tasks are needed to divide the work. In relation to a clinic, sub-tasks can be used to divide duties between registrars.

Projects can look like lists, boards, chronologies, and calendars depending on the need of the project. Use ready-made Asana templates or create your own. Compared with Smartsheet, it has no team chat. Instead, Asana offers Message View, which is a simple project message board where you can post updates for your team.

Statuses in Asana open the way for regular management. Employees know exactly when and what information they need to send to their colleagues and what they should receive in return. With this approach, employees don't need to be reminded of status in person, and managers don't have to chase anyone down and ask for reports. However, there are some drawbacks to it. For example, any executor can change a task, shift its deadline, and even delete it without notifying or authorising the task author.

All reporting is performed in the form of dashboards. Asana will auto-populate the dashboard for you with existing data from your project the first time you use it, and then you can add charts of your own. You can track the data about the amount of money you’ve spent and completed/uncompleted tasks. But it won’t show you patient care-specific reports like Medesk.

Pros:

• Ideal for team collaboration and Agile workflows.
• Intuitive setup with ready-made templates.
• Suitable for multi-department collaboration.

Cons:

• Limited customization for complex projects.
• Higher cost compared to similar tools.
• Key features locked behind premium plans.
• Lack of patient care-specific reports.

Asana is more expensive than competitors like Monday and Medesk, and most key features require a premium plan. The pricing begins at $10.99 per user, per month.

Secure Your Future in Healthcare Management

Managing projects in the healthcare sector is no easy task, but with the right tools, you can overcome the chaos of manual processes, stay compliant with regulations, and significantly improve team collaboration and patient satisfaction. Among the top-rated solutions we’ve reviewed, Medesk stands out as a comprehensive platform tailored specifically for healthcare needs.

Clinics using Medesk have reported a remarkable transformation in their workflows. For instance, Dr. Ali’s practice saw a 30% boost in productivity within just a month of using Medesk.

Medesk is designed to optimise every aspect of your clinic’s workflow, from team collaboration to patient management, while keeping data secure. With its analytics module, resource management features, and seamless integrations, you can eliminate inefficiencies and focus on delivering quality care. And the best part? You can experience all of this with a 15-day free trial with no user-based fees—making it especially cost-effective for small to medium-sized teams.

Even if you’re not ready to commit today, signing up for Medesk’s free trial gives you an opportunity to explore its capabilities risk-free. Set up workflows, automate routine tasks, and experience the difference firsthand. You’ll gain valuable insights that can redefine how you manage your practice.

Don’t let chaos rule your clinic—start your free trial with Medesk today and watch your productivity soar!