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However, things have changed. Healthcare app development has made a significant impact on our lives and health. Healthcare apps are no longer a luxury but a necessity. Before we get into the positive side of mobile app development in the healthcare industry, let us review some digital facts.
- The digital health market surpassed $141.8 billion.
- It is expected to increase by more than 17.4%.
- The Play Store currently has 53,054 apps for healthcare.
These staggering stats show the rapid development of healthcare apps and the efficiency with which they are being developed to reduce the workload of medical professionals and bridge the digital and economic gap between patients, their families, and doctors. Are you ready to make a move toward developing mobile healthcare apps? Are you interested in learning more about outsourcing app development? This article may give you great insight into the subject.
What is the Purpose of Healthcare App Development?
Healthcare app development, or healthcare software development, creates an app for mobile devices that allows users to track and monitor their health in real time. Mobile health app development is an option for EHR (Electronic Health Records), hospital services, digitalised insurance claims, and other related functions.
What is the purpose and function of healthcare development?
Healthcare mobile app development serves different purposes:
- It is helpful for doctors and other medical professionals.
- Patients: The mHealth app development aims to track well-being, get medical recommendations, and book appointments.
With just a few taps, mobile healthcare apps let users access a wide range of information and medical facilities. Healthcare professionals can also use mobile healthcare apps to consult patients via video and audio conferencing and diagnose and prescribe medications.
Accenture's survey found that 75% of users already know the purpose and benefits of app development based on healthcare. Although we refer to healthcare applications and medical services, it is easy to get confused.
Why is it so Important for Businesses to Develop Healthcare Apps?
The primary reason healthcare mobile app development is so popular is that it meets the needs of patients and doctors. Mobile app development for healthcare is a great way to benefit business professionals and general users. It also helps the industry grow. Let's look at the benefits of mobile healthcare software development for different users.
Types of Mobile Apps for Healthcare Development
Many healthcare apps are on the market. More apps are being developed and launched every day. Healthcare apps can be classified according to their intended use: apps for patients, medical facilities, or health professionals. Two categories are typically covered by healthcare mobile app development:
- App development for professionals
- App development for patients as well as general users
Let's look at each category and its branches in more detail.
Mobile Healthcare App Development for Professionals and Medical Institutions
These apps are meant to be helpful to doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals. They are, therefore, more complicated and have more reliable features.
Here are some examples of mobile app development for healthcare professionals:
Apps for Medical Networking
Even though medical professionals and experts are often busy with patient services and consultations, they must communicate with medical experts to share their expertise and improve communication. Medical networking apps are a great way to communicate with other medical professionals. These are some of the most well-known medical networking apps:
- Doximity
- Sermo
- WeMedUp
TeleHealth
These apps allow doctors to schedule appointments and conduct medical consultations via in-app messaging or video calls. Telehealth apps are convenient for patients and doctors as they allow them to avoid physical contact and offer care from their homes. These are some of the most popular telehealth apps:
- TelaDoc
- Doctor on Demand
- GoodRx care
Apps for Medical Records
Medical record app development is a simple way to collect and update patients' medical data. Data records include blood pressure, temperature and medical examinations. They also contain prescriptions and appointments. Many criteria can be used to track your medical health. Doctors love many medical apps, including
- Health-e
- Meditab
Apps for Medical Prescriptions
Prescription apps allow healthcare professionals to pick the right medication for their patients, organize it, and track usage. Some medical apps allow you to print prescriptions that can be printed and taken to the nearest pharmacy.
Mobile Healthcare App Development for Patients
The name says it all. This software and apps are meant to help patients and others to live easier lives. These healthcare apps provide basic medical assistance but are sensitive to various wellness aspects.
There are many types of mobile application development for healthcare that patients can use:
Apps for Mental Health
The mental health apps are designed to make therapy more accessible, flexible, and efficient for all users. These apps can help you fight anxiety, depression, and insomnia by providing pre-recorded sessions, game elements, breathing exercises, and other helpful features. Healthline lists the following popular mental health apps:
- MoodKit
- Headspace,
- Mindshift
Apps for Health Monitoring
Because they are always in demand, many businesses specializing in healthcare app development invest in health monitoring apps. These apps can monitor and manage chronic conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure. These are just a few of the most well-known monitoring applications:
- WebMD
- Ada
- The Diary
Apps for Medical Education
Medical education apps aim to maintain a reliable medical database that provides current medical information to students, doctors, and other medical users. These are some of the best examples of medical education applications:
- Clinical Sense
- Medscape
- Prognosis
- Epocrates
Apps for Health and Lifestyle
This mobile health app development category for patients combines apps such as self-improvement apps, weight loss apps and mind training apps to help us live a healthier lifestyle. These are some of the most popular apps for health and lifestyle:
- HealthPal
- Remente
- MoodPath
Many other healthcare apps could be developed, but these are the main categories in the vast digital healthcare space. While different medical and healthcare apps can serve different purposes, the ultimate goal is to improve patients' health.
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Major Use Cases for Healthcare Apps
A mobile healthcare app is an effective tool for attracting patients and streamlining hospital operations. These apps allow you to perform various operations efficiently and effectively, from registering patients to discharging them.
Here are some of the most popular uses for healthcare apps that can boost your business and improve patient care.
Electronic Health Records (EHR)
By integrating EHR systems, healthcare apps can now easily store, track, and retrieve all patient information. This allows for the sharing of patient data between healthcare institutions and saves time.
Telehealth and Telemedicine
Telemedicine and telehealth software solutions like SaMD (Software As a Medical Device) are in great demand. These applications are top-rated following the COVID-19 pandemic, social isolation, and other factors.
These technologies enable healthcare professionals to offer remote care services, communicate online, and provide top-quality medical care more quickly. Doctor-on-demand allows healthcare professionals to provide consultations via video and audio calls. It allows patients to make appointments on their own time.
Built-in Diagnostic Systems
allow data collection and processing from embedded and IoT devices integrated with EHR platforms. Doctors can quickly diagnose and track the progress of remote patients and decide on treatment.
E-prescribing
E-prescribing apps enable doctors to prescribe the correct medicines to patients, set dosages to avoid side effects and cancel prescriptions. These apps reduce errors and save time for patients and doctors. Medscape, for example, allows doctors to upload prescriptions directly to the app according to patients' needs. We now have all the information we need about the location of mobile app development for health care.
Now we can move on to app and mobile healthcare software development. The initial development of a healthcare app idea is the first step. However, there are a few things you need to know before you start the actual mobile app development. Learn how to create a medical startup, the challenges you should avoid, and which markets are best for your products.
Use Modern features in your Healthcare Apps.
Let's look at some of the most recent features that can be integrated into healthcare apps. These features are essential in the redefining of healthcare and improving customer experience.
Telemedicine Services
Healthcare experts claim that 75% of hospital visits can be managed easily via video or phone calls. Telemedicine is the solution. Telemedicine allows patients to communicate with their doctors from the comfort of their own homes.
Telemedicine and telehealth are already changing the healthcare industry in a big way by bridging the gap between patients, their doctors and caregivers. Telehealth will continue to grow in popularity and be a key technology in home healthcare.
Wearable devices Connection
IoMT (Internet of Medical Things) is a remarkable technological advancement sweeping the internet. IoMT refers to connecting medical devices and wearables such as FitBand, Health Trackers and many more to your smartphone for a daily update. The majority of the audience supports wearable technology. Here's proof.
High-end operating features are also part of many technically graded mobile apps for healthcare. These features can be used to measure specific medical conditions. You will need an expert team to develop a similar healthcare app.
Blockchain
Blockchain will be a key trend in healthcare app development. Blockchain is being used to manage EMR and EHR data. It also helps conduct research and improve hospital and insurance billing processes. Blockchain is used by more than 40% of hospitals and medical services to manage and anticipate patients' medical records and secure transactions.
Cloud-based Healthcare Solutions
Cloud computing services for healthcare apps allow patients to access information anywhere and anytime, providing certain benefits like health data analytics. This is a noteworthy feature of cloud-based healthcare apps. Cloud service features will help you streamline communication and storage.
Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality (AR/VR)
AR/VR will majorly impact healthcare. It will help patients improve and allow practitioners to improve their procedures in a virtual environment.
The AR/VR industry in healthcare is expected to grow to $4.64 billion by 2025. Although AR/VR is still far away, it already impacts many areas of healthcare, such as the fitness sector. The FitXR BoxVR sport application is an example.
These features will not only improve the functionality of your app but will also increase engagement. We now know how to create healthcare apps and which features you should include to keep your users interested. The only thing left is the cost.
Why are Healthcare Businesses failing?
Even though the market is growing, many healthcare providers hesitate to launch an application. Why? Why is this? You can understand why healthcare companies fail and how healthcare solutions struggle to make a lasting impact on the lives of millions. This will help you design your mobile app so that it becomes a guide for those stakeholders who are unsure whether they should take their healthcare on mobile.
Let's now move to why healthcare is constantly thinking about mobile.
Inadequate focus on any Domain
Mobile health is a growing market. Businesses that enter it fail to realize that stakeholders are not like super apps offering many things in one app. A patient or doctor will almost always look for a solution to a single issue when they install a health app. They are searching for solutions to one problem and not multiple.
Instead of having multiple apps that address the same problem, a healthcare app would be more helpful.
Non-compliance with the Law
The mobile health sector is governed by multiple compliance bodies all over the globe. A healthcare app developer must be aware of what HIPAA compliances mean. They have direct access to the app's data protection and the provisions it has in place to verify the accuracy of any advice, data or information.
Although getting a seal of approval can be difficult, it is one of the main reasons healthcare stakeholders don't believe in the system. Stakeholders are kept away from the system by the absence of a seal of approval from the FDA, a HIPAA-compliant badge on the home screen of the application or screenshots in the App Store or Play Store.
Security is Lacking
Thousands of stories have been written about patients' data being lost or hacked due to insecure storage infrastructure. While security should be a top priority for every healthcare organization, few apps take this task seriously. Although the compliance we discussed in the previous pointer solves the problem, it boils down to each brand's steps to create a security-first model.
The Mobile Health domain is Prone to Negative Sentiment
There are still solutions you can take to resolve the mistrust issues - which we will examine later - but there is no solution or direct way to fix the negative sentiment problem. Particularly when they are valid. Ineffectiveness in healthcare has been a frequent theme. Multiple reports have shown that many mobile apps for weight loss in stores offer incorrect weight loss methods. However, severe cases have seen mobile apps fail to recognise lesions later diagnosed with melanoma.
Multiple Channels and Devices are Present
Interoperability is a major challenge for developers of health apps, with so many devices and channels on the market, including smartphones, voice assistants, smart TVs, and other devices. It is becoming increasingly important and difficult to ensure that private medical data does not flow in the cloud.
Partnering with a reliable and experienced doctor app development company will help you overcome these challenges and make healthcare mobile application development go more smoothly.
10 Health App Development Benefits
It is important to note that mobile apps have both positive and negative effects on the healthcare industry. Let's take a closer look at each one.
1: Enhanced Healthcare For Remote Patients
While we don't believe mobile apps can teleport patients directly to doctors, it is possible for people living in rural and remote areas to access high-quality medical services, professional advice, and appointments with doctors. Patients who live far away from the hospital do not have to travel and wait in line unless they are urgent.
We have fitness bands, which you can connect to your smartphone via a healthcare app to record your activities such as heart rate, steps, diet check, and sleep schedule. Doctors will have real-time access to your electronic health record. These apps allow people to get their medicines delivered directly to their homes without ever leaving the house.
2: Streamlined Workflows For Healthcare Personnel
Do you recall how the healthcare staff managed all their documentation in pre-IT? They used to have hundreds of thousands of hard copies to work with. It took a lot of work to do this. Many mobile apps can help nurses and doctors keep track of patient history and records. Doctors can also help patients in emergencies and save lives. Patients can now talk to their doctors, ask questions about health and make appointments via healthcare app development 24 hours a day without the need to book an appointment.
3: Improved Diagnostic Accuracy
A better workflow means more accuracy. Doctors are humans, and mistakes can have devastating consequences. Doctors now have access via blockchain and machine learning to data from the healthcare network. Doctors can now view the patient's entire history and offer efficient treatment. Reports would also be more accurate if an automated system were used. Patients can also store prescriptions and reports in the cloud more precisely. Healthcare staff can also save patient data and be more attentive in treating them.
4: Integration Of The Internet Of Things & Healthcare Market
The Internet of Things has revolutionized healthcare like all other markets. The IoT healthcare sector is changing at lightning speed and is expected to grow to $188 billion by 2024. This futuristic technology can simplify a variety of tasks for healthcare professionals. The integration of these two areas will change the way healthcare works.
IoT also makes it easier for healthcare professionals to monitor vital health parameters and alert the provider if they exceed the limit. More professional devices will be made due to the increasing popularity of fitness watches and other health wearables. This will lead to improved patient care and increased revenue for all stakeholders.
5: Emergence Of New Opportunities
Multiple vital factors drive growth opportunities for the healthcare app development market, including implementing advanced technologies and delivering patient-focused care services. The global mHealth market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 33.3% by 2025 and reach $213.6 billion in 2025.
These healthcare apps have many categories, including telehealth, sports, fitness activity tracking, and pregnancy care. People download these apps more frequently, creating solid opportunities in this area. Apple's CareKit framework, for example, is creating more opportunities for healthcare app developers and empowering this sector.
6: Convenient Payment Options
No longer waiting in a long line to pay your medical bills. Healthcare mobile apps include secure payment gateways that simplify bill payment. Many options include debit/credit cards and mobile payment gateways such as Paypal. You can then choose the best method to pay your bill on time. The apps can also send reminders to you if you forget your bill payment.
Cedar Pay, one of the most renowned tech companies, has partnered with healthcare service providers to create a seamless smartphone payment experience. This initiative has increased patient satisfaction and helped to boost the business.
7: Personal Health Monitoring
This is the most remarkable advantage mobile healthcare mobile app development has offered people: monitoring and tracking your health each day. Fitbit is one of the many brands that have created smartwatches and wearable devices to monitor and improve your health.
Wearables can be used to measure these health parameters:
- Blood pressure
- Level of cholesterol
- Steps and heart rate
- Sugar level
- Weight
Patients can also take prompt action if the parameters exceed their threshold values.
8: Real-Time Communication
Healthcare app development can be beneficial for sharing real-time information, consultation, and collaboration with doctors worldwide. Patients can have a continuous check on their health and make informed decisions. Doctors can also share their knowledge and advice in real time globally.
9: Cost-Effectiveness
Healthcare mobile apps offer patients convenience and ease of use, significantly reducing medical expenses and bills. Regular consultations with a doctor can run between $100 and $200. Medical apps, however, will only cost $119 per year. This includes 24*7 online healthcare from well-respected doctors.
Healthcare mobile apps can be highly beneficial if you have a one-on-1 consultation with your doctor and need him to write you a prescription or any other emergency tasks.
10: Increased Brand Value
Healthcare institutes and hospitals can increase brand recognition and value by developing healthcare apps. Although mobile phones are becoming more popular, only so many healthcare institutions have developed mobile apps. Healthcare mobile apps could open up many new opportunities in this sector.
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Final Notes
The rise in healthcare app development is poised to transform the entire healthcare sector. These innovative apps will benefit all involved - doctors, hospital administrators, patients, doctors, and anyone else.
Do you have an idea that could change the future of healthcare? Look for a reputable healthcare app development company to help you turn your idea into a mobile application and make history!
