Things to Consider when Building a Healthcare App

The telehealth industry records a 38x increase in users post-pandemic, increasing businesses’ profit potential.

The global pandemic has disrupted the daily lives of millions all over the world. People have turned online to continue working or stay in touch with others. Not only that, a great deal of industries, like healthcare, have retreated digitally to resume operations.

Currently, there is an increased number of medical professionals using mobile apps to conduct electronic consultations and connect with patients. The market for mobile health is expected to even burgeon with a compound annual growth rate of 11.8% from 2022 to 2030, according to Grand View Research. For many companies, this can mean a new business venture yet to be explored. However, before diving into healthcare mobile app development, here are some details to ponder.

Reasons for healthcare app development

Telehealth is not a new concept. As a matter of fact, remote health related services had a steady rise in terms of use before March 2020 in the US. Having said that, a study by McKinsey reveals that there has been a surge in telehealth usage about 38x higher than prepandemic numbers. Both healthcare practitioners and patients also have a noticeable change in impression towards mobile healthcare apps as modes to improve accessibility of medical care.

Additionally, a full-service venture fund called Rock Health reports that investment in healthcare has almost tripled in June 2021, which is equivalent to about $3.1 billion compared to only $1.1 billion in June 2020. The funding further stimulates innovation in this particular industry.

As expected, healthcare apps have become more prevalent in use. Nonetheless, why do firms develop medical-related applications? Well, one reason is finding additional ways to provide healthcare services. Another is delivering new solutions offering electronic health information access to professionals, appointment scheduling for patients, etc. In each case, the primary idea is to build apps that provide support, convenience, and efficiency—improving the ways healthcare operates.

Still, before deciding on whether or not to invest in building a custom healthcare application, consider a few factors first. One, organizations should anticipate the costs, especially the hiring of an in-house team of skilled healthcare app developers. In addition, creating mobile apps for either iOS or Android requires different skill sets. So, recruiting engineers dedicated to each platform increases the expense.

Another point to take into account is if there is a necessity to develop the healthcare app in the first place. Unless there is a unique concern to address, most of the time, the smartphone app that the company needs is probably already out in the market.

However, after thorough evaluation, if the firm arrives at the conclusion that an app is fundamental, then the next step is to assess what features to include.

The process of developing a healthcare app

The initial course of action when it comes to mobile health app development is determining the purpose. Know if the application is geared, for example, toward the Internet of Medical Things—another version of the Internet of Things—which is basically anything worn for health-specific reasons. A healthcare app may also be developed to augment current clinical practices digitally, or to simply facilitate communication between a specialist and the patient.

Next, distinguishing the target audience. Essentially, this means who the app is for, such as the primary care providers or the patients. Keep in mind how the healthcare app development impacts the stakeholders. Conducting user research is imperative to learn what issues consumers commonly encounter in order to formulate the appropriate solution.

Another crucial step is having a comfortable and intuitive interface, which creates a positive experience for the end user, and often translates to user retention. Apart from that, a guide (or a video training) on how to operate the mobile app can be produced to help customers.

Finally, designing a communication channel is critical, since patients will most likely have inquiries and as a result, seek frequent professional support. Furthermore, in healthcare mobile app development, a chat room removes the need for physical appointments to some extent and helps to deliver diagnosis quickly, thereby saving time.

In general, healthcare app development comes with countless benefits and can actually be quite profitable if done correctly. Thus, if you are absolutely set on creating bespoke software, find competent and knowledgeable healthcare app developers, who can support you in every step of the process, so you can ultimately reach your business goals. Make sure the engineers are aware of the security risks that accompany the building of medical-related apps and are compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and/or the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).