Effective management of your medical condition, your medications, doctor consultation, etc. become laborious processes. Healthcare management apps are becoming more and more popular because of their immense help in streamlining the process.
What Is Healthcare Management?
E-health is defined as the use of mobile phones and other devices to inform patients and healthcare professionals about medicines, pathology reports, appointment schedules, and the availability of medicine and medicinal services. E-health apps have made tracking your treatment et cetera very fast, easy, and on your fingertips. Both the medical industry as well as patients are welcoming such apps because of their capacity to efficiently streamlining the whole process.
The Healthcare App Scenario Today
The demand for such healthcare IT solution is escalating very quickly and is still in a nascent stage. To make your app a successful one a lot of brainstorming has to be done on the features that you need to incorporate into your app. These apps are used in emergency situations more often so it should be able to meet sudden surges and demands.
Healthcare app development is undergoing a lot of groundwork research. You have to be specific about the goal of your app and who its target audience will be. Accordingly, the features of the app will be decided based on the target user. For example, patients are the target audience of a telemedicine app, accordingly, the availability of medicine and a purchase portal should be added to the app. But if it is a healthcare information app then doctors and healthcare staff will be the target audience and accordingly features like patient booking, and the record of treatments and bill payment will be added to it.
So, healthcare app developers need to focus on users than on features and finally on the cost of downloading the app as well. If the customer has to pay to download your app in an emergency situation then it will be a very inconvenient situation for him and he might not use your app a second time. Easy navigation is another factor that will decide how useful your app is.
Why Do We Need Healthcare Apps?
The main objective of e-health apps is to improve the efficiency of managerial functions and improve coordination within the industry. It should also be able to smoothen out a patient’s healthcare experience. A patient should be able to get the best information and treatment with ease and in proper time.
For the industry and doctors, healthcare IT solutions should be able to streamline several functions. Some of them are:
- Appointment schedule based on doctors’ skill and availability
- Enable remote monitoring of patients
- Tracking the treatment process
- Accessing and managing clinical reports
- Managing bill records and payment records
- Managing the stock and the availability of medicines
- Managing the purchase and supply of the inventory etc.
E-health apps are also beneficial for patients. Some of their benefits are:
- Searching for specialized doctors is easier and scheduling an appointment can be done quickly
- Searching and purchasing medicines are faster, easier, and also cheaper
- Personal monitoring of the BP or sugar level can be done and recorded so that tracking becomes easier.
- Availing on-call doctors and ambulance services so that patients get on-time treatment etc.
How To Develop A Healthcare App?
Step 1:
you have to be specific about what type of app you need like an app to upload, monitor, and review pathological reports or schedule appointments before you start looking for a mobile app development company.
Step 2:
In the next step, you will have to identify the specific functions that will help users. For example, a payment portal will be useful in a doctor’s appointment app.
Step 3:
Next, you have to ensure the privacy of patients’ data. HIPAA certification is very necessary for proper healthcare app development. Developers should also be able to integrate the app with Google fit and Samsung fit because they are good data sources and will make tracking much easier.
Step 4:
Choosing a suitable platform for a device is very important. Today it will be appropriate to make your app compatible with all devices and platforms since user devices vary a lot. For example, a young patient would prefer a mobile phone while an older patient will use a tablet.
Step 5:
Next, you need to hire dedicated developers who will build a prototype and then integrate the pre-existing solutions into the app. Easy scalability and seamless integration with other services are very important. So first a Minimum Viable Product is created and run for trials and tests and up-gradation is done with every new version.
Risks That May Cause Your App To Fail
- Poor usability and long navigation process make the app clumsy and too many gateway pages make users leave your site
- A lengthy data input process or a long form-filling process will irritate users and cause dissatisfaction in them
- With the absence of a filter option, searching for your site will be a long and difficult process
- The absence of a chatbot or a message box makes it difficult for those who are not very tech-savvy
- The absence of “go-to” or “click here” buttons makes it difficult for a user to go through several pages before he reaches his desired options.
The Cost Of Developing A Healthcare App
The cost varies with the type of mobile app, features that are installed, integration of the app with other devices, and the compliance certification that you need to market the app. Taking into account all of the above aspects, mobile app development companies need approximate investments of 15000 euros for an app. But the marketing cost, maintenance cost, and the up-gradation costs need extra Investments.
Endnote
Healthcare app development is in a growing phase so its initial cost may be large. But it is a futuristic solution for the healthcare industry’s growth requirement so it is predicted to reap rich benefits in the long run. You need to hire dedicated developers who can integrate the latest technology to make your app the solution for your future expansion.
