CareersAndroid or IOS: Important Features for Healthcare App Development
Overview & Guide to App Development for Healthcare
Technology is gradually transforming every venue of your life, beginning with how you wake up to how you live longer. Technology controls your food habits, fitness habits, and even your lifestyle habits. Many of you tend to rely on technology to perform menial tasks that would otherwise take more time. With technology-oriented solutions, productivity has been enhanced.
Among others, the healthcare industry is implementing digital technologies and using mobile devices for the development of healthcare apps. MHealth (refers to mobile health) is a general term used for the application of mobile technologies and devices (smartphones, wearables, tablets) in medical and public health practice. The development of mobile apps for healthcare provides several benefits.
Imagine that in 2017 around 3.7 billion apps were downloaded offering mHealth mobility solutions. The heavy use of smartphones and smartwatches has contributed even greater growth to the mobile health consumer app market. Moreover, FDA cited that by 2018, 1.7 billion smartphone users will adopt mobile apps for healthcare. Therefore, this is certainly the right time to develop mobile apps for healthcare.
How to Design and Develop a Mobile Health Application
The use of technology to improve healthcare in amazing and meaningful ways is an advanced task that requires cooperation and participation from various parties. Best healthcare app development ideas need to undergo medical and ethical analysis after presenting a proposal to the development core. Design and development must adhere strictly to all regulations developed and enforced by laws protecting critical health information in order to prevent data breaches.
To build a successful medical mobile app, the patient’s best interests should be a primary concern. Effective medical apps must be developed in a way that they can be easily adopted, and developers should understand that the ultimate goal of any app is to assist its users.
Present State of Healthcare Mobile Apps
Consumer tests conducted in the U.S. report that a quarter of adults in the U.S. are using one or more health tracking apps and a third of physicians have suggested an app to a patient in the previous year. Internationally, around a billion smartphone users consume a health or wellness app, and this stat is predicted to triple in the coming years.
App stores already have over 165,000 health apps and as this innovative technology-enabled type of healthcare continues to grow, hospitals and other relevant stakeholders have started developing medical mobile apps to offer patients new, more helpful ways to effectively collect and share health-related information.
Not all of these digital interventions are successful, however. Due to poor user experience, confusing user interfaces, and unsatisfying functionality, many medical mobile apps do not live up to customer requirements.
To create an incredible mobile app for patient care, it is important to understand where the development of hospital apps has so far failed. The primary weaknesses of many apps currently on the market are:
- An unclear structure which does not resolve a particular problem
- Low user-friendliness
- Absence of clinical inputs
- Refusal to comply with strict privacy regulations and security practices
Latest Must-Have Features of Healthcare Mobile Apps
We have observed an enormous level of growth in the healthcare industry over the past few decades. Thanks to mobile healthcare apps which not only refined our health-related needs but also helped us to maintain our health effortlessly with just a few clicks. The constant evolution of the mobile healthcare app’s operating capabilities has brought about a huge improvement & progress in the healthcare unit.
As according to Statista, it is being predicted that;
“Digital health market is expected to reach 206 billion U.S. dollars by 2020 specifically by mobile and wireless.”
So, if you are developing a healthcare mobile app, include these features in your app. They will ensure the success to your app:
Blockchain – Healthcare transformation
The blockchain is a leading technology that has not only transformed the fintech industry, but has also changed the world the of healthcare industry. Incorporating Blockchain technology into the mobile healthcare app will leave patients with decent & synchronized healthcare ecosystem and assure high-end security & confidentiality for patient data. Blockchain actually works efficiently on the established cryptographic network that establishes a secure supply chain to secure it from any fraud. The robust & protected Blockchain network will surely take safety & security of the mobile healthcare app a step ahead of user expectations.
Telemedicine Services
Long appointments for hospital visits or doctor meetings are the big concern in the healthcare industry. This scarcity of medical healthcare facilities often gives rise to health deterioration. But Telemedicine has addressed this concern extensively. Telemedicine is an innovative feature which takes the app’s functionality a step ahead. This feature helps ensure a network for patients & doctors in which they can easily manage their doctor visits & appointments through remote communication. It is the latest healthcare mobile apps trends.
With the help of this technological feature, doctors can look deeply through mobile devices to their patients without any visit. Now the patient can be diagnosed with their sickness through a video call process. Telemedicine helps patients receive medical attention from their doctors without visiting a hospital or clinic.
Data Security for Healthcare Apps
The greatest concern typically arises after installing or using the healthcare app on mobile phones is data security. Being a healthcare mobile app development company, you must ensure that your patient has complete data security including personal information, login credentials, financial data & credentials, and much more. In this respect, the latest mobile health apps are constrained by specific rules and regulations that help companies protect patient data. The high-end operating capabilities of mobile healthcare apps are always focused on data encryption and risk management. A highly secured app will thus provide doctors with accessibility in a secure manner.
Healthcare Cloud-Based Solution
The introduction of mobile healthcare apps has made the complex process of visiting a doctor, advising on health issues an easy task. Thanks to cloud-based support from the mobile apps. Cloud computing services not only enable patients to access information anytime and anywhere but also provide them with various benefits. Like, Electronic records via which cloud computing healthcare assistance guarantee’s an easy and synced archive of patient records and medical images. Through Health Data Analytics, you can easily track data in the cloud with more personalized care. And with Simplified communication cloud computing helps to store data, mobile devices or any healthcare app that supports cloud computing will speed things up and ensure streamlined communication even at a distance. Among the best ideas for healthcare apps, cloud-based solution are the best ones.
Connecting Wearable Devices
The year 2017 left us with several notable technological development & ideas that are still dominant in the digital & health industry as well. One of them is IoMT (Medical Things Internet), this is essentially a process of connecting your devices over the internet. This concept of a connecting device over the internet has introduced a new device in the digital space that is ‘Wearable Device.
The higher number of audiences agree that wearable devices such as fitness bands & activity tracker have enabled them to care for their health concerns seamlessly. These devices automated their health-related issues without going heavy in their pocket. Several technically graded wearable devices and mobile apps include high-end operating features that quickly monitor significant issues including heart rate, blood pressure, sugar level, and much more. Moreover, it provides a seamless medium where medical reports can be readily available anywhere, anytime.
Types of Healthcare Apps
There are 7 different categories under which mobile apps for health care fall into. Although there may be more types, here we will put the emphasis on the main parent categories and see how each of them works.
1. Emergency/Urgent Care Apps
These apps prove to be extremely useful in emergency situations. Offering patients and general consumers with information including the location of the nearest clinic or hospital, directions, estimated travel time and waiting time, and physician availability at that location, such apps help patients hit the right hospital as quickly as possible.
2. Medication Tracking Apps
This kind of apps motivates patients to follow their prescription regimen by tracking their doses, time intervals, meals, and reminding them to take medicine timely. Such medication tracking apps also prove to be among the best and most useful healthcare apps.
3. Apps for Maintaining a Healthy Lifestyle
Apps falling into this category tend to help educate patients, keeping them on schedule with a pregnancy tracker for appointments and care. Put it simply, this category includes health apps for pregnancy and baby development, diet monitoring apps, healthy nutrition, exercise manuals and fitness tracking apps.
4. Doctor Related Apps
Such apps are intended for those directly involved in the healthcare industry, including hospitals, independent physicians, and other healthcare professionals. Doctor apps are designed to store patient-specific information, offer good access to medical records, pharmaceutical recommendations, and pill prescriptions depending on the patient’s current health status.
5. Women’s Health and Menstruation Tracking Apps
These apps are available specifically for women, enabling them to schedule appointments with doctors and obtain information related to the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, fertility, breastfeeding, child care, etc.
6. Medical & Diagnostic Assistant Apps
These kinds of medical app features generally offer additional access to personal health records, including electronic charts review, digital imaging (X-Ray), laboratory test details and results, and information about specific symptoms.
7. General Hospital Apps
Hospital mobile app features can highlight branding and messaging. This sort of healthcare apps typically includes hospital information, hospital virtual tour, list of doctors and their availability, types of health services offered, and waiting lists for ER.
Cost and Time Estimation for Healthcare App Development
You must be wondering how much does it cost to develop an app for healthcare?
A health or medical app’s price will depend greatly on the nature of the app and the number of hours spent developing it. The time and healthcare apps cost for every medical app development company offering medical app creation services differ. Making a mobile health app for Android will approximately take 40-50 days, and developing an app for the iOS platform will require the same amount of days. It will take about 20-25 days to design both operating systems.
As for cost estimation, the cost will vary depending on the requirement and the complexity of the app. If you want our help with developing a mHealth app or personal healthcare app for your concept, we’re all pleased to provide cost estimates for your project. Contact us and we will get in touch with you within 16 hours. The consultation is completely cost-free.
Why Mobile Apps are Beneficial for Healthcare Businesses?
The technology advances & innovations undoubtedly put a stop to the endless lines in the hospital hall, patients’ desperation to get inside the doctor’s chamber, and hurdles to arrange diagnostic tests that require proper monitoring of past health conditions. Mobile healthcare apps devoted entirely to multiple categories including emergency care, healthy lifestyle and fitness, general hospital appointment, clinical and diagnostic consultants, and medication tracking not only disrupt the delivery of healthcare but also help clinicians/physicians to take proactive decisions.
Here are the top benefits of using mobile apps for healthcare businesses:
Great Blessing in Remote Regions
We are living in the internet era today where smartphones are reaching every nook and corner, individuals living in rural areas can also expect to get the best health services. Healthcare apps assist them to make an appointment with doctors and purchase medicines directly without having to travel to the hospital. Moreover, they can also get information about important healthcare tips from time to time through push notifications.
Boon for Doctors and Medical Staff
Healthcare apps have become a boon for hospital-associated doctors, nurses and various other medical staff. The apps help to update doctors about their patients’ health condition. Indeed, even the doctors ‘ prescription has been digitized, which means it can be accessed on your device. It helps medical professionals to examine all your reports through the app, making it much easier to make quick and appropriate decisions in emergency cases. The information can be traded within no time. The apps adequately prepare a customized approach to treat each patient as every ailing person needs special care.
Decrease the Risk of Misdiagnosis
Any flaw in a patient’s medical diagnosis can cause severe damage to a patient’s health condition. Mobile healthcare apps with intelligent diagnostic functionality can minimize error rates and provide drug predictions. The feature is not constrained to accurate diagnosis, but also help physicians to use cloud-based mobile applications to store patient records. Hence, errors resulting from poor deduction from patient history or mixed/missing records can be minimized to a great extent.
The Rise of New Business Models and Opportunities
It’s not that the healthcare apps showed their special emphasis on doctors and patient, but it also offered new business models and opportunities. The medical staff no longer use outdated practices, but instead mobile apps for making referrals. This is essentially a referral management system based on the cloud. They can also write resourceful referrals, which in turn affect healthcare organizations to digitally promote themselves through the upsurge in patient information.
Recently, the healthcare industry’s exposure has extended and become much diversified by leaps and bounds. People install healthcare apps for multiple purposes such as weight reduction, women’s health and pregnancy care, elderly healthcare, etc. which opens up new vibrant opportunities in the process.
Hassle-Free Payment of Bills
Before the introduction of healthcare apps, paying for medical expanses wasn’t that easy. You don’t need to stand in a queue to pay the bill; but with a highly secured payment gateway integration, the app is supported allowing users to pay the amount swiftly. In fact, you may also pay your bill on time and select a payment plan accordingly. If you forget to make the deposit, you will receive a notification as a reminder to do what is necessary.
There are other payment options, such as paying by debit or credit card or using online banking in addition to the mobile wallet app.
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