Digital Healthcare Evolution: The Power of DevOps for Better Patient Engagement

Abstract

The healthcare industry is under immense pressure to modernize its technology infrastructure as patient expectations rise, regulatory complexity grows, and the risk of cyber threats loom. Traditional monolithic healthcare systems may be foundational but struggle to keep up with the demands of today's digital-first healthcare landscape. This paper explores how DevOps – the synergy of development and operations – is the game changer in healthcare software development, delivering fast, compliant, secure, and scalable patient-centric applications. By automating, continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD), and DevSecOps, healthcare organizations can overcome the challenges of telehealth scalability, fragmented legacy systems, and rigid compliance frameworks. The study shows how DevOps enables personalization, real-time data interoperability, and agile feedback loops to drive patient engagement and care outcomes. Through real-world use cases, including EHR modernization and telehealth platform optimization, this paper demonstrates how DevOps enables healthcare providers to deliver secure, intuitive, and adaptive solutions that meet evolving patient needs and regulatory standards. Additionally, we introduce a machine learning (ML)-driven approach to predict patient survey response rates, leveraging Logistic Regression and Gradient Boosting models. Our findings indicate that Gradient Boosting outperforms Logistic Regression, achieving 63.08% accuracy, suggesting that predictive analytics can enhance patient engagement strategies when integrated with DevOps automation pipelines. Machine learning insights in DevOps workflows have proven to be a game changer in automating patient outreach, personalizing engagement, optimizing survey response mechanisms, and improving digital healthcare experiences.