Fixing the Procurement Puzzle: How We Helped Hospitals Take Back Control
In healthcare, time and access are everything — especially when it comes to critical medications. But for many hospital networks, the process of procuring medicine is anything but fast. It’s often fragmented, expensive, and buried under layers of inefficiency.
Our client — a fast-scaling, multi-platform medicine e-commerce provider based in the U.S. — came to us with an urgent mission: To unify and simplify hospital procurement through a seamless B2B/B2C digital platform.
They weren’t looking for just another vendor. They were looking for a long-term technology partner — one who could take full ownership of their platform’s architecture, development, quality assurance, and infrastructure management.
The Challenge: Fragmentation, Friction, and Delays
Hospitals and insured individuals were struggling with outdated procurement processes. Orders were placed manually with multiple suppliers. There was no central place to manage inventory or track approvals. The experience for patients, too, was often disjointed.
Here’s what the client faced:
- Slow and non-transparent approval flows
- Higher costs due to the lack of vendor consolidation
- Procurement and delivery delays across facilities
- Hospital onboarding that took up to 3–4 months
As the platform began growing, it became clear they needed a structured, scalable approach to both tech and process. They had the vision — they needed a team who could execute and evolve with it.
The Solution: Becoming a True Technology Partner
We formed a lean, high-impact team of developers, DevOps, and QA specialists to take over the full delivery pipeline. Our responsibility spanned across:
- Core platform development (B2B and B2C)
- Secure, role-based procurement workflows
- Automated hospital onboarding systems
- Patient-side interfaces for benefit-based purchases
- DevOps infrastructure and CI/CD pipeline
We collaborated closely with their internal product team, working in fast iterations while aligning on long-term scalability goals.
Suren Azatyan, Head of Business Development at Zealous: “Hospitals didn’t need another software tool — they needed clarity, velocity, and peace of mind. We stepped in not just to build features, but to help shape the entire procurement experience.”
The Build: Centralized Procurement Reimagined
We introduced a modern, modular backend using Node.js, NestJS, TypeORM, PostgreSQL, and Vendure for commerce logic. On the frontend, we worked across React.js, Remix, and Angular (Admin UI) to deliver intuitive user experiences.
The DevOps layer included Kubernetes, ArgoCD, New Relic, Cloudflare, and Doppler, ensuring the platform could scale securely and reliably.
Areg Gareginyan, Chief Architect at Zealous: “We had to strike a fine balance — creating a system flexible enough for hospitals, yet rock-solid at the core. Every decision was made with scalability and maintainability in mind.”
By consolidating all vendor interactions into one centralized platform, we empowered hospitals to:
- Compare pricing in real-time
- Automate multi-step approval flows
- Track orders across all departments
- Purchase directly via insured patient benefits
The system also allowed for hospital-specific customizations — without compromising platform-wide stability.
The Impact: 12x Growth and Frictionless Onboarding
The results were transformative — not just technically, but operationally:
- Hospital onboarding times dropped from months to weeks
- 12x growth in total platform turnover within the first phase of engagement
- B2C channel launched, allowing insured patients to buy medication directly using their benefits
- Improved financial transparency and data flow across vendors, hospitals, and insurance systems
This wasn’t just a tech win. It was a business win. And more importantly, it was a healthcare accessibility win.
Key Technologies Used:
Node.js • NestJS • TypeORM • PostgreSQL • Vendure
React.js • Remix-run • Angular • GraphQL
Opensearch • Redis/Valkey • New Relic
DigitalOcean • Kubernetes (K8s) • ArgoCD • Doppler • Cloudflare • Dagster
What We Learned: Software That Understands Healthcare
One of the biggest takeaways from this project wasn’t technical — it was human.
Procurement, in healthcare, is emotional. It’s not just about line items and vendors. It’s about caregivers getting what they need on time. It’s about CFOs having visibility. It’s about IT teams not having to duct-tape five tools together.
Suren Azatyan adds: “When tech respects the realities of the industry it serves, adoption follows naturally. That’s what we strive for at Zealous.”
Final Thoughts
Healthcare transformation doesn’t come from flashy innovation alone — it comes from solving the painful, practical problems with clarity and care.
We’re proud to have played a role in reshaping how hospitals manage one of their most critical functions: procurement.
If your healthcare platform is struggling to scale, or if your internal systems are holding back your growth — we’d love to talk.
At Zealous, we don’t just build apps. We build the systems that power tomorrow.
