Heads Up — Health Tracking Platform

Time frame2019-present

Dedicated development team

Heads Up provides a health analytics solution for medical professionals and patients. Our team helped the company speed up development and hit their goals faster. In 2024, Heads Up secured Series A funding.

Country

USA

Industry

Healthcare

Established

2014

Company size

11-50

0/0

Project Background

Heads Up is a digital health platform that brings patients’ fragmented health data into one place. Healthcare professionals can use it to monitor and manage clinical, lifestyle, and nutritional data in a centralized dashboard. Patients can use it to get a clear view of their health by tracking lab results, data from wearable devices, and other health metrics.

Heads Up includes an admin panel and two interconnected applications: 1) portal for patients to track and interact with health data; 2) portal for healthcare practitioners to analyze data across all their patients.

When we joined the project, the healthcare provider portal was still in early stages of development. Our client needed to speed up development to add new functionality, improve the user experience, and deliver more value to their customers.

Reasons to
partner with Clockwise
Software

Our client wanted to improve their platform while keeping development fast and efficient.

With expertise in data visualization and product development, we joined the team to finish functionality for the healthcare provider portal. Our tasks also included implementing a fresh design, adding new functionality to the patient portal, and rebuilding the Android mobile app.

Team

2 Frontend
developers

Mobile App
developer

Backend
developer

2 QA
Engineers

Technologies we used

React

React Native

Kotlin

Swift

Redux

D3.js

From implementing new features to optimizing performance, we handled the development work so the platform evolved exactly as the client envisioned.

Challenge #1

Migrating from the legacy technology stack

Heads Up was initially built with jQuery — a solid tool in its time but not a fit for the project’s current frontend needs. jQuery didn’t support modern UI practices, which made it difficult to add new functionality. Plus, some pages ran on Ruby on Rails with html.erb files, making performance and usability improvements tricky.

Solution

We started migrating the app for healthcare providers to React — one of the fastest and most versatile UI frameworks — while keeping the Ruby on Rails back end. React’s rich ecosystem lets us build any functionality. We used Redux to manage states and store data. D3.js was our choice for data visualization and dashboards.

Challenge #2

Speed up development of functionality
for healthcare professionals

When we joined the project, the app for healthcare professionals included only a patient list and contact details. After securing new investments, Heads Up was ready to speed up development and expand functionality.

Solution

Using design mockups from the Heads Up team, we built a user management system where practitioners can manage patient lists, invite new patients, create accounts, and organize their teams.

Next, we improved the client table, making it easier to track and edit a wide range of health metrics, visualize trends in dynamic chats, and navigate large datasets without slowdowns. Even with extensive patient data, load times remain fast, ensuring a smooth user experience.

Challenge #3

Enhance functionality for
patients

The platform’s early version displayed lab results in a simple color-coded table. The client saw room for improvement, as patients needed a more interactive and practical way to engage with their health data.

Solution

We refined the lab results dashboard with a cleaner UI, easier manual data entry, and an option for exporting summary reports in PDF format. Now, patients can access, understand, and use their health data more effectively.

Challenge #4

Rebuild the MVP mobile experience

The early MVP of the mobile app had its limits. The client wanted to future-proof the app with a stronger, more flexible tech stack that would enhance the user experience.

Solution

Using the designs our client provided, we migrated the app from React Native to Swift (iOS) and Kotlin (Android). This switch gave the app a smoother user experience and a tech stack built to scale.

Challenge #5

Optimize platform performance

The in-app messaging tool had a slow server response time, especially when practitioners had multiple ongoing conversations. It took longer to find conversation threads, which made it harder to effectively manage patient communication.

Solution

We set up a caching mechanism to store backend server responses so messages would load faster without putting extra strain on the back end. Now, practitioners can access any number of conversations without delays. Plus, we made sure everything stays HIPAA-compliant by setting cache expiration times and clearing data after a browser tab is closed.

Challenge #6

Improve wearable data integration

Heads Up wanted to bring Polar smart devices into its ecosystem while improving existing integrations with Garmin, Withings, CardioMood, and Oura. The goal was to ensure seamless data collection, efficient processing, and reliable authentication across all devices.

Solution

We built the Polar integration from scratch, implementing logic to fetch new health metrics and ensuring a smooth data flow. For the existing integrations, we worked with webhooks to enable real-time updates, optimized processing times, fixed data inconsistencies, and fine-tuned authentication methods. Our team worked with various authentication types: OAuth, bearer tokens, and basic authentication.

Features we implemented

As we worked on the project, we enhanced Heads Up’s functionality, adding important features for both patients and healthcare professionals.

For patients:

Custom dashboard

We updated the tile design and made the dashboard fully customizable. Users can rearrange, add, hide, and create new tiles to match their needs.

Analyzer

Users can pick health metrics and time ranges to generate instant visual dashboards for tracking trends. Data can be exported in CSV, PDF, and PNG formats.

Lab Results

Patients and practitioners can log test results in a unified table, track them with dynamic chats, and export data in CSV and PDF formats.

For healthcare professionals:

Dynamic patients table

This table pulls in data from wearables, third-party apps, and manual inputs. Doctors can customize how they view patient metrics and use filters to track progress based on specific report criteria.

Notes and Templates

This built-in system allows healthcare practitioners to add, store, and share notes on treatment plans, recovery, and diet recommendations. This feature is built on top of the TinyMCE WYSIWYG HTML editor for easy formatting.

User management

This bulk management tool allows healthcare providers to organize team members and patients. Practitioners can invite patients to join the platform, manage accounts, and edit personal details like email and date of birth.

Assessments

Practitioners can create and assign assessment forms like PROMIS to gather insights on patients’ physical, mental, and social well-being.

Project outcome

New functionality and optimized performance improved the user experience and customer satisfaction with Heads Up. Now, healthcare providers can easily manage patients, track health trends, and offer personalized recommendations.

The Heads Up app keeps gaining traction, with over 50,000 customers worldwide and plenty of positive feedback. Heads Up also secured Series A funding in 2024, fueling further growth.

Series A

Funding raised in 2024

50,000+

Сustomers worldwide

Future plans

Right now, we’re continuing to enhance the platform by expanding integrations, updating existing functionality, and adding new features. A new Android app built with Kotlin is also in progress.

Alongside platform improvements, our partnership with Heads Up is expanding. We’ve already brought in QA engineers, including a QA lead who helped establish testing processes for both the web and mobile apps and continues to maintain them. Soon, another backend specialist will join the team to enable more integrations and support development.

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