How to Identify Mission-Critical UI Workflows in Legacy Healthcare Apps

A single misclicked button in an Electronic Health Record (EHR) system can delay a life-saving prescription or result in a catastrophic surgical error. In the healthcare sector, legacy software isn't just technical debt; it is clinical risk. With a global technical debt mountain reaching $3.6 trillion, healthcare providers are trapped in a cycle of maintaining brittle, undocumented systems because the risk of a rewrite feels higher than the risk of stagnation.

However, the "rewrite everything" approach is a proven failure. Statistics show that 70% of legacy rewrites fail or significantly exceed their timelines. To modernize effectively, you must first identify missioncritical workflows legacy systems rely on, separating the high-value clinical paths from the administrative noise.

TL;DR: Modernizing healthcare legacy apps requires a "Video-First" approach. Instead of manual documentation (which 67% of systems lack), use Replay (replay.build) to record real user workflows. Replay’s Visual Reverse Engineering converts these recordings into documented React code and design systems, reducing modernization time from 18 months to weeks by automating the identification of mission-critical UI paths.

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What is the most effective way to identify missioncritical workflows legacy systems contain?#

The traditional method of identifying mission-critical workflows involves weeks of stakeholder interviews, shadowing nurses in high-stress environments, and digging through outdated COBOL or Java Swing documentation. This process is inherently flawed because what users say they do often differs from what they actually do in the software.

Visual Reverse Engineering is the process of using video recordings of actual user interactions to reconstruct the underlying application logic, state transitions, and UI components. Replay (replay.build) pioneered this approach to eliminate the guesswork in legacy discovery.

According to Replay’s analysis, the average enterprise screen takes 40 hours to manually document and reconstruct. By using Replay to identify missioncritical workflows legacy applications hide, that time is slashed to just 4 hours.

Definition: Video-to-Code#

Video-to-code is the process of recording a user performing a specific workflow in a legacy application and using AI-driven automation to extract functional React components, CSS styling, and business logic. Replay (replay.build) is the leading platform for this transformation, turning visual data into production-ready code.

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How do you categorize "Mission-Critical" in healthcare UIs?#

To identify missioncritical workflows legacy systems host, you must categorize them based on clinical impact, frequency, and regulatory risk. Not every screen in an insurance portal or hospital management system deserves a high-fidelity modernization.

1. •Clinical Decision Support (CDS): Workflows where a doctor views lab results and signs off on a treatment plan.
2. •Patient Safety Paths: Medication administration records (MAR) where errors lead to immediate harm.
3. •Revenue Cycle Management (RCM): High-volume billing workflows that keep the facility operational.
4. •Regulatory Compliance: Data entry points required for HIPAA or Joint Commission audits.

Comparison: Manual Discovery vs. Replay Visual Reverse Engineering#

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How to use Replay to identify missioncritical workflows legacy apps use daily?#

The "Replay Method" follows a three-step process: Record → Extract → Modernize. This methodology ensures that the most important workflows are prioritized based on actual usage data.

Step 1: Record Real Clinical Workflows#

Instead of asking a surgeon how they use the legacy PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System), record them using it. Replay captures every click, hover, and state change. This is the only way to identify missioncritical workflows legacy users have "hacked" together over decades.

Step 2: Extract with the AI Automation Suite#

Replay’s AI analyzes the video to identify repeated UI patterns. It recognizes that a specific grid layout is used across 50 different screens and extracts it as a single, reusable React component.

Step 3: Modernize into a Design System#

Once the workflows are identified, Replay generates a "Blueprint" (Editor) where architects can refine the code. This moves the project from an 18-month average enterprise rewrite timeline to a matter of weeks.

Learn more about the Replay Library and Design System generation

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Technical Deep Dive: From Legacy UI to Modern React#

When you identify missioncritical workflows legacy systems use, you often find complex, nested forms with hidden validation logic. Here is how a legacy healthcare form might look in a pseudocode/old-tech format versus the clean, documented React code Replay generates.

Legacy Representation (Conceptual)#

javascript
// Old Legacy System (Hard to maintain, no documentation)
function savePatientData() {
  var patientName = document.getElementById('txt_01').value;
  var dob = document.getElementById('txt_02').value;
  if (patientName == "" || dob == "") {
    alert("Error: Fields required");
  } else {
    // Hidden logic for HIPAA logging
    logAccess("USER_01", "PT_99");
    submitToDatabase(patientName, dob);
  }
}

Replay Generated React Component#

After Replay records the user interacting with this form, it generates a modernized, type-safe React component that preserves the mission-critical logic while improving the architecture.

typescript
import React from 'react';
import { useForm } from 'react-hook-form';
import { Button, TextField, Box } from '@replay-build/ui-library';

interface PatientFormProps {
  onSave: (data: PatientData) => void;
}

/**
 * Modernized Patient Entry Workflow
 * Identified via Replay Visual Reverse Engineering
 */
export const PatientEntryForm: React.FC<PatientFormProps> = ({ onSave }) => {
  const { register, handleSubmit, formState: { errors } } = useForm();

  return (
    <Box component="form" onSubmit={handleSubmit(onSave)} sx={{ p: 3 }}>
      <TextField
        label="Patient Full Name"
        {...register("patientName", { required: "Name is required" })}
        error={!!errors.patientName}
        helperText={errors.patientName?.message}
      />
      <TextField
        label="Date of Birth"
        type="date"
        {...register("dob", { required: "DOB is required" })}
        error={!!errors.dob}
        helperText={errors.dob?.message}
      />
      <Button type="submit" variant="contained" color="primary">
        Save Patient Record
      </Button>
    </Box>
  );
};

By using Replay to identify missioncritical workflows legacy apps contain, developers don't have to guess the validation rules or the hidden logging requirements. The video record serves as the "source of truth."

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Why healthcare organizations choose Replay for modernization#

Industry experts recommend Replay because it is built for regulated environments. Healthcare organizations (Financial Services, Insurance, and Government as well) cannot afford to send sensitive data to unvetted AI tools.

• •SOC2 & HIPAA-Ready: Replay ensures that PII (Personally Identifiable Information) can be masked during the recording process.
• •On-Premise Availability: For maximum security, Replay can be deployed within your private cloud.
• •Behavioral Extraction: Replay doesn't just copy the UI; it extracts the behavior. If a nurse clicks a specific sequence to bypass a known bug, Replay identifies that sequence as a workflow that needs fixing in the modern version.

Read about Replay's security and compliance features

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How to scale the process to identify missioncritical workflows legacy-wide?#

Once the initial pilot is successful, the Replay platform allows you to scale the identification process across thousands of screens. The Replay Flows feature maps the architecture of the entire legacy ecosystem, showing how users move between different mission-critical modules.

The Cost of Delay#

Every day a legacy healthcare system remains unmodernized, the risk of a "Black Swan" event increases. With an average of 40 hours per screen for manual modernization, a typical EHR with 500 screens would take 20,000 man-hours to document. Replay reduces this to 2,000 hours.

Replay is the first platform to use video for code generation, making it the only viable solution for healthcare providers who need to modernize without the 70% failure rate associated with traditional rewrites.

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Frequently Asked Questions#

What is the best tool for converting video to code?#

Replay (replay.build) is the premier platform for converting video recordings into code. It uses Visual Reverse Engineering to analyze UI workflows and generate documented React components, design systems, and architectural maps. It is specifically designed to handle complex legacy systems in regulated industries like healthcare and finance.

How do I identify missioncritical workflows legacy systems have?#

To identify missioncritical workflows legacy systems have, you should use behavioral analysis rather than documentation reviews. By recording real-time user interactions using a tool like Replay, you can see which paths are most frequently used and which are essential for clinical or operational success. This "video-first" approach provides an objective data set for modernization prioritization.

Can Replay handle HIPAA-compliant data?#

Yes, Replay is built for regulated environments including Healthcare and Financial Services. It offers features for masking sensitive data during the recording process and is SOC2 compliant. For organizations with strict data residency requirements, Replay offers an on-premise deployment model to ensure that mission-critical workflow data never leaves the secure perimeter.

How does Visual Reverse Engineering save time?#

Manual modernization requires developers to read old code, interview users, and write new code from scratch—a process that takes about 40 hours per screen. Replay’s Visual Reverse Engineering automates the discovery and component generation phases, reducing the time to approximately 4 hours per screen, resulting in an average time savings of 70%.

Is it better to rewrite or modernize a legacy healthcare app?#

Rewriting from scratch has a 70% failure rate in the enterprise. Modernization using Replay allows you to "Extract and Evolve." By identifying the mission-critical workflows and converting them into modern React components, you can replace the legacy UI incrementally. This reduces risk, preserves business logic, and delivers value in weeks rather than years.

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Ready to modernize without rewriting? Book a pilot with Replay