As a mobile healthcare app development company, we have been working on applications for healthcare for more than 10 years. This article will give you profound insights from our experiences as well as industry experts to help you take your first steps in developing mobile apps for healthcare.
According to a survey conducted recently that found 56 percent of US physicians reported that they had spoken about an app or digital application with a to their treatment or diagnosis during the past year.
Although the advantages mobile applications provide in improving the patient experience and increasing interoperability are multiple a successful application for healthcare also requires attention to the finer points in terms of security and privacy of data which makes healthcare mobile app development quite different from typical app development.
If you’re thinking of taking an in-depth look at developing medical or healthcare-related mobile apps These are the most popular mobile apps for healthcare categories you can choose from.
Different types of healthcare Mobile Applications
1. The focus of the apps is on Providers and Clinicians. applications
The applications include anything from medical referencing guides to providers’ apps that streamline the clinical workflow using EHR Integration capabilities.
2. Telemedicine apps
Mobile apps for scheduling and offering online consultations and virtual appointments with health professionals via audio/video conference and texts.
3. Remote monitoring applications
Healthcare applications that work with medical devices, allow the gathering and analysis of medical information and vitals of patients like blood glucose levels as well as blood pressure, heart rate oxygen saturation levels, etc. to ensure healthcare delivery in a remote location.
4. Lifestyle applications to help with health
They cover diet, nutrition training, fitness, and other specifically designed applications. They also include menstrual, baby development, and pregnancy-related applications. Apps that monitor sleep or aid in mindfulness training are also included under the category of lifestyle apps.
5. Health reminder applications
Mobile apps that remind patients of their schedule for medication and refills due are apps for reminders. A lot of private practices and hospitals offer reminder applications to notify patients about upcoming appointments.
6. Information apps and medical resources
Apps for finding details about illnesses that are asymptomatic and a possible diagnosis. These could also include medical information applications as well as provider information apps that help you connect to the appropriate doctor.
Step-by-step instructions for developing mobile apps for healthcare
The smartphone app marketplace is competitive. Making your mark in the market in reaching the intended users and gaining downloads while being able to interact with and keep the customers is not an easy task in these highly competitive times.
Beginning the right way is crucial as a project that has been started is only half complete.
Here’s a 10-step procedure that healthcare entrepreneurs looking to venture into the healthcare mobile app development industry must adhere to maximize their chances of success.
1. Develop and test the idea of a healthcare app
The secret to transforming your idea into reality and creating the most successful healthcare applications is knowing the problem you’d like your app to help the users.
Concentrating on the reason instead of the product will result in the creation of an app that your customers need instead of an application that you believe your customers would like.
The real-world applications and the people you’re creating the app for cover many different categories. This is why the wide range of applications, there is a long range of features for healthcare apps that you could consider appropriate for your app and ought to be integrated.
However, having a clear understanding of the problem you would like your app to tackle will give you the necessary concentration. It also stops you from chewing too much than what you’re able to chew.
Be sure to conduct an exhaustive analysis to be sure you don’t waste your time or resources creating an app like the one already on in the marketplace.
If your app operates similarly to an existing application, make sure that you include something that differentiates you from your competitors and sets the bar a bit.
The problem must be defined, then explain how your application can aid in solving it, and, more importantly, the people it will solve it for. Knowing the intended audience also allows you to identify the particulars that you might have missed.
For instance, if you develop a mobile app to assist inpatients at a hospital, you’re likely to concentrate on interoperability and integration with the hospital’s management system rather than designing an app that is designed for users with a more general user base.
2. Analyze your competitors
Market analysis is a vital stage in mobile healthcare application development. It’s not just providing insight into your target market’s requirements, but will also allow you to determine the solutions that are already in place.
Once you know the problems your app needs to address, you can begin researching about all the existing complimentary and other mobile apps available on the market. What are their features? What are their strengths and flaws?
The weaknesses of the competitor app have to be transformed into opportunities for you, while their strengths provide the minimum standards you will need to achieve in the marketplace. It’s not possible to develop an excellent healthcare mobile application by analyzing the things your competitors are doing.
A high degree of competition in the health app category you’re trying to target could create a more competitive market to break into. But, it also indicates there’s a market for apps that are similar to yours, and it is a place where there is a lot of opportunity.
Researching your competitors will help you narrow down the features you’d require to incorporate into your mobile healthcare app. The result of the analysis of competition should result in an outline of functions and features that make your app superior to any other app on the market.
3. Choose the platform for app development
Once you’ve identified the problem and who the app will solve the next step is deciding on the platform you’d like to target when creating your app.
Android, iOS, or both simultaneously? If we’re talking about mobile applications. But, there’s a massive market, mainly driven by web applications too – the healthcare industry SaaS software. The core principles are the same, as discussed in this whole article, no matter if you’re developing an online-based SaaS software or mobile app.
The solution to this issue is to look at your needs and the resources at hand.
The native Android as well as iOS apps provide a better user experience, however, they need twice the time and resources required to develop apps for Apple as well as Android devices.
Based on your audience’s preferences, you can put one platform over the other. If your target customers are spread across different devices, including iOS and Android are viable options, you should consider cross-platform development.
It’s less expensive to develop than native applications with the capability to run on different platforms.
Cross-platform frameworks such as Flutter or React Native enable faster development of apps that run on multiple platforms based on a shared codebase that can be implemented simultaneously across both platforms.
4. Choose the method of either going all-in or building incrementally
When creating a mobile app it’s natural to seek out an app that is comprehensive and offers the best combination of features, but adopting an MVP-first approach is more likely to be more beneficial to its success.
The minimum feasible product (MVP) is the simplest version of your application that includes all the essential features but does not include any extravagant bells and whistles in the form of fancy features that will be added at the horizon in later versions of the application.
Some of the top applications of the present like Uber, Facebook, Airbnb, and Instagram were founded as MVPs, so following the MVP-first approach will put you in the best company.
It speeds up your time to market, allows you to evaluate your idea for an app, and incorporates feedback from users into the next versions of the app, bringing you closer to achieving market-to-product match.
Start by creating the most basic version of your health app and then align it with your future high-end vision of features by building slowly.
5. Create and create the app for healthcare to provide an exceptional user experience
When you’re creating an app for medical professionals or users as end-users the user experience your app delivers could determine the success or failure of your app. Start by creating a prototyping of your application.
Prototyping shouldn’t feel like rocket science. It’s as easy as sketching the layout on the paper or a whiteboard. In contrast, you can select from a wide range of prototyping tools that you can use to build your digital application prototype.
Even if this doesn’t sound like a viable option using an app development firm that offers prototyping services could help you transform your app idea into working prototypes that are clickable and allow you to test your app through real-time feedback from users.
Be extra attentive to the design of your UI/UX application. The appearance of your app can have a significant impact on its usability overall and user engagement.
A program that delivers users with a poor user experience will most likely be deleted at some point. The healthcare application doesn’t just have to work well but it must look nice too.
Utilizing an iterative method of development and developing incrementally into separate modules lets the developer modify the application without impacting the overall functionality.
Integrating frameworks and APIs from third parties that are already available aids in developing more quickly since it doesn’t require the team to create a new framework.
Integrations between apps and EMRs or EHRs are vital to the promotion of interoperability in healthcare.
With the recent advances in IoMT, the Internet of Medical devices (IoMT) connecting to fitness and health wearables, and utilizing the data that is being gathered to improve healthcare outcomes is something else you’d have to consider.
Modern health apps utilize Artificial Intelligence algorithms to make use of the information collected to make insightful and actionable conclusions.
6. Be attentive to the tests you take.
The requirements for quality in healthcare applications are extremely strict and the test phase of the application must be free of any error whatsoever.
The standard for safety, quality security, and accuracy in medical applications has been raised very high, so your app has to go through the highest quality assurance standards before being accepted into the store for apps.
If you opt for the manual or automated test Here are the factors of quality assurance that software testers must remember before releasing the software to the market.
Security of data- Health information is a prime security concern for hackers. Therefore, every vulnerability area needs to be uncovered and eliminated during the testing phase of the testing process itself. Secure encryption of healthcare information through the use of a transport layer security aids to validate data in the app for healthcare.
Privacy and confidentiality of the data strict authorization and access control procedures must be implemented within the healthcare application to ensure that data is only available to the intended recipients.
Usability- There is absolutely no margin for error when it comes to the usability of a healthcare app because usability issues can turn into clinical issues affecting overall health results. Even the smallest usability issues that are encountered within the application can result in a negative user experience.
Performance- Healthcare applications might require ready access to patient data whenever needed. Therefore, testing for performance is crucial when designing healthcare applications. Your application must be tested against performance and load benchmarks.
7. Do not forget the security of your data
mHealth applications that collect any kind of personally identifying information need to meet regulatory compliances like HIPAA.
This act, known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountable Act (HIPAA) applies to the entities covered and the business partners of those entities.
Non-compliance can result in huge fines so ensuring you have followed all the steps of the HIPAA checklist is a requirement that all developers of healthcare apps must be aware of.
A healthcare software development firm like Artoon which offers a broad range of experiences in the field of developing healthcare apps and is knowledgeable about the compliance and security issues associated with healthcare apps pays off over the long term.
A company that develops software that specializes in healthcare may surpass their needs and provide useful insights based on their past experiences.
Based on their prior experience, they can help you from the initial conceptualization stage to the launch of your app, and thus become key players in your success.
8. Implement a monetization strategy for your app in place
A financial plan and a monetization strategy for apps are something that you ought to think about proactively instead of putting it in an afterthought.
A lot of entrepreneurs in the field of health technology have concerns about the costs of developing healthcare apps when they first begin. But, while planning for the initial expenses is essential, it’s equally essential to plan an income-generating strategy that can not just recoup that expenditure, but also make your mobile healthcare application profitable over the long term.
The abundance of alternatives for free apps and an app that is paid for will limit the number of downloads you can make in the app store. But, if you believe that paying for your app is the option you’d like to explore offering a trial for free for users to try before they sign up to the app would be a great method.
Subscriptions however are among the most well-known and efficient methods of monetizing apps of mobile healthcare applications.
It doesn’t matter if you plan to launch a freemium application. You can offer memberships and in-app purchases, or rely on advertising as a revenue source, developing a strategy at the start is essential to ensure the success.
9. Support and maintenance
The process of developing an app doesn’t end at the moment of launch however, it extends far beyond that. Support, maintenance, and scalability are key elements you must be aware of and prepare for when you are developing an app for healthcare.
To be successful in the highly competitive market for healthcare gathering feedback from customers and incorporating it into future versions of your app is essential.
The long-term implications of development demand an enjoyable partnership with an experienced healthcare application development firm rather than using one-time stakeholders to develop and maintain your app.
What is the cost of Developing a Healthcare Application
What will it cost to create a mobile app for healthcare?
The question is at the top of the minds of all healthcare entrepreneurs who are looking to create an application in the healthcare industry. The answer is a bit ambiguous. Costs for developing apps for healthcare depend on a variety of factors, including the types of features and functions you decide to incorporate into your mobile app. Also, consider the style the app’s complexity the development platform you choose to use your location for the app developers on mobile that you decide to work with, and also the hourly development costs for the region.
Based on a study by Mobile Health News the price of creating an app for healthcare comes to about $425,000 in the US. The most expensive apps with more sophisticated features will likely be more expensive, whereas basic apps with only basic functionality would cost less to create.
These are the aspects that will impact the healthcare app development cost.
- App design
- Complexity of the feature
- Development platform targeted (iOS/Android/cross-platform)
- Expertise and the size of the development team
- Development time frame
Do You Think Your Health App Requires FDA Approval
FDA employs a risk-based method to determine what applications require approval. The ones that have a minimal risk don’t require approval, whereas those that pose a significant risk require approval from the FDA. If an application is employed to automatize processes, assist in self-management of illness, or complete a non-medical job approval from the FDA is not necessary.
Although determining if your application needs FDA approval or not might be difficult, the FDA has listed some examples of the functions that software on devices performs that it controls through its site. Medical mobile apps that are primarily designed to streamline practice workflows won’t need approval. But, if the app you’re creating is designed to be used as a medical device. It will require approval from the FDA.
Our Experience in the Development of Healthcare Apps
With more than a decade of expertise, Artoon Solutions ranks among the top software developers for healthcare firms.
From the creation of telemedicine platforms and EHRs that are cloud-based to surgical workflow software and doctor engagement software, our group of experts has assisted healthcare businesses to succeed in the app stores, while also raising millions of venture capital.
We’re also listed as one of the top healthcare app development companies by DesignRush.
Contact us now for a no-cost estimation of your project.
