The coronavirus pandemic has brought great harm to all of humanity; however, it has given a great impetus to the development of medicine. It became clear that the existing medical and pharmaceutical industries could not cope with such a load. It has led to a considerable increase in the number of medical applications. For comparison, there were only 880 thousand applications; after a few years, this increased to 325 thousand, and this number continues to grow.
Overview of medical applications
Various Medical Applications are created to simplify the communication process between doctors and patients as much as possible. Even though the pandemic has subsided thanks to vaccination, hospital owners are still investing heavily in telemedicine, electronic health record interoperability, and patient portals.
Every aspect of healthcare related to telemedicine, artificial intelligence, and remote patient monitoring (RPM) has dramatically improved (according to CB Insights, investments have grown by almost 300%). As you can see, this direction is promising.
Types of medical applications
If we analyze all existing medical applications, then they can be divided into 3 categories:
- for patients (scheduling appointments and reminders, self-diagnosis, tracking habits, fitness and health, social networking, women’s health, and more);
- medical personnel (remote patient monitoring, telemedicine, diagnosis, etc.);
- administration (doctor/nurse marketplace, EMR/EHR, Inventory management, billing, etc.).
As you can see, for each category, there are several other subcategories, so choosing the most suitable option for you will not be difficult.
Advantages of mobile applications for doctors and patients
An excellent medical application brings many benefits to both doctors and patients.
Benefits for doctors
Healthcare software development services allow you to create incredibly convenient applications that will be very useful for doctors. There are several significant benefits:
- Faster decision making;
- More accurate diagnosis;
- Less stress and problems with professional burnout;
- Improves communication between specialists of different specialties;
- Reducing the cost of providing medical services.
In addition, it can be beneficial if the patient is in self-isolation. Using a mobile application, the doctors can provide the necessary assistance while not risking their health.
Benefits for Patients
It is worth saying that patients can also appreciate the benefits of such a solution:
- Higher quality of received services;
- Accessible on-demand care;
- Good control over health data;
- Secure payments and more.
Mobile applications store information about test results and doctor visits. So, after the appointment, you can re-read all the doctor’s recommendations again and compare the test results on your smartphone.
In addition, you can contact a specialist without visiting a medical facility.
What are the required features in Medical Applications?
eCommerce statistics 2022 shows that the number of medical applications has increased dramatically over the past few years, but this is because they will solve essential questions.
Every mobile health app must have:
- Integration with GOOGLE FIT, HEALTHKIT, and SAMSUNG HEALTH;
- Profiles of patients and doctors;
- Reminders and notifications;
- Telemedicine options;
- Impeccable security.
All data about clients, doctors, and prescribed therapy should be well protected, so it is worth using special encryption of personal data so that no one can steal it.
5 steps to create a medical application
Before developing software, you must think through the UX design plan and other essential details.
Software development involves the following steps:
- Step 1. Identify the medical problem that needs to be addressed;
- Step 2. Define the target audience;
- Step 3. Design a scalable design;
- Step 4. Think about security;
- Step 5. Test.
Each of these steps is important if you want to create a high-quality and useful product.
So, the first thing you need to start with is developing an idea. It is essential that your application is as helpful as possible and that the market niche is not crowded with other similar products. When developing software, special attention should be paid to security. After completing the work, you must conduct thorough testing. It will avoid possible problems.
How much does it cost to create a healthcare app?
The cost of creating medical applications can vary greatly depending on the technologies used.
If you are afraid to invest a lot of money in developing an application, you should first create an IoT-enabled MVP. It is much cheaper than starting a full-fledged mobile application, but it will allow you to ensure that the features included here can be helpful to your chosen audience.
The US average cost of developing such software is between 55,000 and 350,000 USD. Of course, the price can vary greatly depending on the technologies used, the work’s speed, and the specialists’ professionalism. However, it is possible to create a helpful product with little investment today.
