Today, there exists a mobile app for each business or sector. 2021 is all about embracing the latest technology advancements, including seeing a doctor or how our health is inspected! While we compare the different business segments and their rapid development speed, healthcare definitely charts as #1. Thanks to the significant advancements that the healthcare sector has brought in over a couple of years for making our lives easier.
Healthcare Applications Overview
The landscape of medical apps has evolved significantly in recent years, particularly driven by the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on telemedicine, AI, and remote patient monitoring (RPM). According to CB Insights, investment in these sectors surged nearly 300% in 2020, setting the stage for continued growth and innovation in digital healthcare.
Despite the slowdown, sectors like Artificial Intelligence, Telemedicine, Mental Health, Digital Therapeutics, and Omics have seen record-high funding, reflecting ongoing investor confidence in transformative healthcare technologies.
Looking ahead to 2024 and beyond, healthcare executives remain focused on enhancing patient experience through telemedicine expansion, EHR interoperability improvements, and patient portal development. Although the deal market has slowed, optimism persists among investors, with significant dry powder indicating potential for renewed growth when market conditions improve.
Telehealth apps continue to dominate, as doctors and patients seek innovative ways to connect remotely. As of 2024, there are approximately 54,000 health apps on the Apple App Store and over 65,300 on Google Play, showcasing diverse solutions catering to various healthcare needs.
The Digital Health market consists of three markets: Digital Fitness & Well-Being, Digital Treatment & Care, and Online Doctor Consultations. The worldwide revenue of US$170.25 billion in 2023 is expected to increase to US$274.93 billion by 2028.
Overall, while the investment landscape has fluctuated, the healthcare app market remains dynamic and poised for future growth, driven by ongoing technological advancements and evolving patient care needs.
What is a Healthcare App?
A mobile healthcare application is designed to narrow the bridge between the patients and the doctors, patients and the hospitals, patients and the medical stores, patients and the different health clinics including pathological laboratories, X-ray centers, and more.
Monetization Models of a Healthcare Application
Monetizing a healthcare application involves implementing strategies to generate revenue while providing value to users.
Here are several common monetization models for healthcare applications:
1) Freemium Model:
- Description: Offer basic features of the app for free, while charging users for premium features or additional functionalities.
- Example: Provide essential health tracking and monitoring features for free, but charge for advanced analytics, personalized reports, or access to specialist consultations.
2) Subscription Model:
- Description: Charge users a recurring fee (monthly or annually) to access the app and its features.
- Example: Offer different subscription tiers with varying levels of access to features such as telemedicine consultations, personalized health plans, or unlimited access to health content and resources.
3) Pay-per-Use Model:
- Description: Charge users based on their usage of specific services or features within the app.
- Example: Charge patients for each telemedicine consultation, medical advice session, or premium content accessed within the app.
4) In-App Purchases (IAP):
- Description: Offer virtual goods, upgrades, or additional features for purchase within the app.
- Example: Sell virtual health coaching sessions, digital health courses, or premium content packs related to specific health conditions or wellness goals.
5) Advertising and Sponsorship:
- Description: Generate revenue through displaying advertisements or partnering with healthcare providers or pharmaceutical companies for sponsored content.
- Example: Display targeted health-related ads within the app based on user demographics, location, or health interests.
6) Data Monetization:
- Description: Aggregate and anonymize user data to sell insights or analytics to healthcare providers, researchers, or pharmaceutical companies.
- Example: Offer aggregated data reports on health trends, patient behavior patterns, or treatment outcomes to healthcare institutions for research purposes.
7) Affiliate Marketing:
- Description: Earn commissions by promoting products or services related to health and wellness within the app.
- Example: Recommend health products, medical equipment, or wellness services through affiliate links within the app, earning a commission for each sale made through the referral.
8) Licensing and White Labeling:
- Description: License the app’s technology, platform, or data to other healthcare organizations, providers, or institutions for their own use.
- Example: Offer a white-labeled version of the app to hospitals or clinics for patient management, remote monitoring, or telemedicine services, charging a licensing fee or royalties.
The 5 Steps to Build a Medical App
Building a medical app involves careful planning and execution to ensure it meets regulatory standards, addresses user needs, and operates securely.
Here are the steps broken down:
Step 1: Define your target audience.
Identify who will use your medical app and their specific needs:
- Patients: Determine if your app is for managing chronic conditions, tracking health metrics, providing telemedicine services, etc.
- Healthcare Providers: Consider if it’s for EHR access, clinical decision support, teleconsultations, etc.
Administrative Staff: Assess if it’s for scheduling, billing, inventory management, etc.
Understanding your audience helps in designing features and user interface that cater to their preferences and requirements.
Step 2: To build or not to build a healthcare app?
Assess the feasibility and necessity of building a healthcare app:
- Market Research: Determine if there is demand for your app and analyze competitors.
- Regulatory Compliance: Understand legal requirements such as HIPAA compliance (for US-based apps) or GDPR (for EU-based apps).
- Resource Allocation: Consider the costs, time, and expertise needed to develop and maintain the app.
Decide whether to build from scratch, use existing platforms, or customize existing solutions based on your findings.
Step 3: How do Security, APIs, and Agile blend in a medical app?
Ensure security, API integration, and agile development practices:
- Security: Implement robust security measures to protect sensitive health data (encryption, access controls, secure authentication).
- APIs: Integrate with third-party systems (like EHRs, payment gateways) using secure APIs to enhance functionality.
- Agile Methodology: Adopt agile practices for iterative development, allowing flexibility to adjust based on user feedback and changing requirements.
Compliance with healthcare data regulations (e.g., HIPAA, GDPR) is crucial throughout development.
Step 4: Why sneaking up on users is a good thing.
Engage users early and iteratively to refine the app:
- Prototyping: Create prototypes or MVPs (Minimum Viable Products) to gather user feedback early in the development process.
- User Testing: Conduct usability testing and gather insights to refine features, user interface, and overall user experience.
- Iterative Improvement: Continuously update and improve the app based on user feedback and emerging needs.
By involving users from the beginning, you ensure the app meets their expectations and solves their pain points effectively.
Step 5: Is your healthcare app built to last?
Plan for scalability, maintenance, and future enhancements:
- Scalability: Design the app architecture to handle increasing user base and data volumes without performance issues.
- Maintenance: Establish a plan for regular updates, bug fixes, and security patches to keep the app running smoothly.
- Future-proofing: Anticipate future trends and technological advancements to incorporate into the app (e.g., AI, IoT) to stay competitive and relevant in the healthcare industry.
Ensure long-term viability by planning for ongoing support and enhancements post-launch.
Types of Healthcare Apps
- Doctor booking app
- Medicine delivery app
- Online doctor consulting app
- Healthcare reference & database app
- Training and fitness app
- Patient health education app
What is a Doctor Booking App?
Considering the various healthcare app development types, the doctor app is one of the best discoveries so far. It helps the patients to book their appointments with their concerned doctor or hospital via a smartphone application. It eradicates the hassles of calling at the hospitals, checking for availability, and requesting a sooner checkup. With the doctor booking app development, the hospitals or clinics make it transparent and easy for the patients to check the doctor’s availability and the nearest vacant spot for health checkups.
Who needs a doctor appointment booking app?
- Clinics who would like to switch their appointment calendars online
- Doctors who wish to get their booking via a smartphone application
- Multi-specialty hospitals
- Doctors who are ready to visit the patient at home with a scheduled visit
Benefits of Healthcare Apps For Doctors And Patients
Healthcare apps offer numerous benefits to doctors and patients, enhancing various aspects of healthcare delivery and management.
Here are the key benefits for each:
Benefits for Doctors:
1) Improved Efficiency:
Healthcare apps streamline administrative tasks such as scheduling, charting, and billing, allowing doctors to focus more on patient care and reducing time spent on paperwork.
2) Enhanced Communication and Collaboration:
Telemedicine apps enable remote consultations, facilitating easier communication with patients and colleagues. This improves care coordination and allows for quicker consultations without geographical constraints.
3) Access to Patient Information:
Electronic Health Record (EHR) apps provide instant access to patient medical history, lab results, and treatment plans. This comprehensive view enhances diagnostic accuracy and informed decision-making.
4) Clinical Decision Support:
Apps with clinical decision support systems offer evidence-based guidelines and alerts, helping doctors make informed decisions about diagnoses, treatments, and prescriptions.
5) Continuing Medical Education (CME):
Medical education apps provide access to CME courses, medical literature, and updates on best practices and research findings, supporting ongoing professional development.
6) Remote Monitoring:
Apps for remote patient monitoring (RPM) allow doctors to track patient health metrics (like blood pressure or glucose levels) remotely, enabling proactive intervention and personalized care plans for chronic disease management.
Benefits for Patients:
1) Convenience and Accessibility:
Telemedicine apps enable patients to consult with healthcare providers remotely, reducing travel time and wait times in clinics. This is particularly beneficial for patients in rural or underserved areas.
2) Improved Engagement in Healthcare:
Health apps empower patients to actively participate in their healthcare journey by providing access to personal health records, educational resources, and tools for self-management.
3) Enhanced Communication with Providers:
Apps facilitate secure messaging and video consultations with healthcare providers, improving communication and ensuring timely access to medical advice and follow-up care.
4) Medication Management:
Apps help patients manage medications effectively by providing reminders for dosage schedules, tracking adherence, and offering information about medications and potential side effects.
5) Health Monitoring and Insights:
Fitness tracking apps and chronic disease management apps monitor health metrics (like activity levels, heart rate, or blood sugar) and provide insights into progress, promoting proactive health management and behavior change.
6) Personalized Care:
Apps that utilize AI or machine learning can offer personalized recommendations based on user data, tailoring health advice and interventions to individual needs and preferences.
How Doctor Booking App Works?
The working of a doctor booking application is quite simple and easy. There are a total of two healthcare apps that are designed for creating a successful doctor booking app solution.
1. Patient App
The patient application is designed to schedule their appointments with the concerned doctors online. An in-depth technology and advanced features allow the patient to search for the nearby doctor and schedule their appointment. Let’s focus on the features.
2. Doctor App
The doctor app is crucial for setting up the profile and other important information about his practice, including the clinic or hospital. Many doctors visit two different hospitals in a single day. In this case, the doctor can set up his calendar on the app concerning the particular hospital. Let’s check the features.
3. Admin Panel
When a hospital or clinic manages the doctor booking app details for various doctors as per their specialties, there is a need for an admin panel for overall control and management. For the same, there is a requirement for an admin panel.
What Does Patient Want from a Doctor Booking App?
Patients are using the smartest mobile phones in regular use. Now, they are aware of the benefits of utilizing a smartphone for booking various appointments, including the doctor booking service. Moreover, after using mobile healthcare apps like Practo and Lybrate, the patients are aware of the benefits of using a doctor booking app. Hence, if you are going for a doctor booking app development, you need to consider all the modern features while designing your healthcare app.
Nevertheless, patients need the smartest, swiftest, and secure payment gateway for paying their appointment fees online. Hence, your healthcare app development company needs to design a secure payment integration for allowing the patients to proceed with in-app payments while scheduling their appointments online.
Here is a quick nutshell of what your doctor booking app must include:
- Fastest healthcare app for booking in-clinic appointments with doctors or radiologists
- Secure payment gateway
- User-friendly interface for exploring the various app features
- Track appointment history
- Cloud data-backup for storing health records
- Integrated medicine buying feature
Building a Doctor Booking App!
Many healthcare startups are coming up with innovative mobile apps. If you are a healthcare professional looking forward to taking your operations online with a doctor booking app development service, you need to consult us at iCoderz Solutions.
iCoderz Solutions have designed various healthcare apps for medical professionals around the world. We have designed a medicine delivery app, doctor booking app, on-demand doctor app, and medicine and doctor booking app like Practo. We have got readymade on-demand app solutions to offer each business, including healthcare, grocery, food, liquor, pizza, laundry, taxi, etc.