The Healthcare industry has gained huge popularity among businesses and professionals in recent years, especially post-pandemic. Similarly, the market for mobile app development in healthcare is in its constantly evolving phase where every professional wants to experiment with healthcare and medical applications and software. The primary reasons for the escalating adoption and demand for healthcare app development are:
Owing to the above reasons, the healthcare and medical mobile app market is estimated to grow over $11 billion by 2025. The mobile healthcare apps, also known as mHealth apps, are an exceptional way to make the lives of patients and doctors easier by enabling better and faster diagnosis, thus improving overall patient care. mHealth app development brings along a wide range of improvements that apps can bring to medical services.
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While businesses are still innovating with mobile healthcare application development, 8 out of 10 mobile healthcare apps fail to meet the expectations of modern customers due to lack of strategy, technical guidance, meaningful impact to cover medical challenges etc. This is why, we need a healthcare app development guide that talks about:
- Various healthcare and medical apps
- Types of healthcare mobile app development
- Business benefits of mobile healthcare application development
- mobile healthcare app development process
- Healthcare app development cost
- Why healthcare apps fail
- And how your business can develop healthcare mobile app solutions the right way
So let’s jump right in and find all the answers for you. But before we start, you might want to know the current healthcare market status.
Healthcare Market – An Overview
According to a recent survey, the digital healthcare market should reach nearly 660 billion USD by 2025. In the past two years, businesses and digital health investors have invested more than 21 billion in digital healthcare projects. Besides the increasing market size, there’s also a surge in overall app usage. Since the outbreak of Covid-19, the number of healthcare app downloads has increased by 60% worldwide.
Additionally, as per Statista, there were 52,565 healthcare apps on the Google play store in the first quarter of 2022. On the other hand, there were 51,370 healthcare and medical apps (iOS healthcare app development) in the Apple App Store in the first quarter of 2022.
These numbers indicate the growing popularity of mobile health app development. Hence, it’s not surprising to see so many companies and healthcare professionals investing in healthcare mobile application development.
Digital healthcare is also widely categorized and leverages the considerable potential of the latest innovative tech trends, like IoMT (Internet of Medical Things), Big Data, and AI, for the sake of both patients and healthcare providers. Take an instance from the image below and imagine the business scope in the healthcare market in any prospective field.
Now that we know the numbers and stakes on mobile healthcare apps, lets see what healthcare app development is all about.
What is healthcare app development and what is its purpose?
Healthcare software development or healthcare app development is the process of developing an app for mobile devices to help its users successfully track and follow their health issues in real time. For instance, mobile health application development is a big yes for EHR (Electronic Health Records), medical service experience, hospital services, digitized medical insurance claims etc.
Now what is the purpose of healthcare development?
Healthcare mobile apps development serves different purposes :
- For Doctors and medical professionals- It helps in monitoring, patient tracking, staff management, appointment scheduling etc.
- For patients- mHealth app development is to track wellbeing, seek medical recommendations and book appointments.
Mobile healthcare apps allow users to access a plethora of information and a variety of medical health facilities with a few simple taps on their mobile devices. Not to forget that healthcare professionals also use mHealth apps to consult patients on video and audio conferencing,make diagnosis and prescribe medicines.
An Accenture survey revealed that 75% of the users are already well aware of the purpose and uses of healthcare based app development.
While we are talking about medical and healthcare applications, you can often get confused between them.
How is healthcare app development different from medical app development?
While both healthcare and medical app development serve the purpose of wellbeing, there is a fine line difference between both. Healthcare mobile application development aims to provide health-related solutions for all kinds of smartphones and communication devices. For example, apps for
- Physical activity tracking
- Yoga and meditation
- Nutrition
- Searching for medical assistance nearby etc.
On the other hand, medical app development involves creating a software solution on mobile devices that doctors can apply to regulate their medical devices. For example, apps for:
- Telemedicine
- Remote patient monitoring
- Patient data collection and management
- Chronic disease management etc.
Here’s more;
| Healthcare mobile app development |
Medical mobile app development |
| These apps are for general public and can be used by anybody |
Medical apps are strictly developed for medical professionals |
| Healthcare apps focus on prescriptions and medical information based on a specific health condition |
Medical apps focus on diagnosis based on analytical data |
| Healthcare app development can deal with any given instance without needing a protocol or claim |
Medical app development complies to medical evidence, therefore has to meet the testing and adherence protocol |
| These apps provide access to daily healthcare tracking data |
These apps provide support and access to medical devices and information such as EHR. |
| Mobile healthcare application development usually costs less depending on various factors |
Medical app development process can be costly |
Now that we have seen the difference, it’s important to know how these medical and healthcare apps are essential to business.
Why is healthcare app development essential to business?
One of the primary reasons why the healthcare mobile app development process became so popular is that it fulfills the needs of patients and doctors. Custom mobile app development for healthcare offers countless benefits to general users and business professionals while facilitating the progress of the healthcare industry. Let’s take a look at mobile healthcare software development benefits separately for different users.
Benefits for medical professionals
Developing a healthcare app is a time consuming and often expensive process, however it proves extensive value to its investors and stakeholders in:
- Faster decision making- When professionals have integrated medical records of patients through healthcare apps, they are faster with decisions and prescriptions.
- Accurate diagnosis- With accurate diagnosis comes better treatment plans, timely healthcare delivery and effective outcomes. For instance, VisualDx is among top diagnostic support systems and healthcare apps for personalized guidance.
- Improved communication- Various telehealth application platforms help doctors connect with each other remotely for important consultations and discussions.
- Less stress and burnout- Application and healthcare software development frees professionals from mundane tasks by increasing the reliability of medical systems and processes. It is surprising to see how removal of paperwork from hospitals and medical centers resulted in 61% increased productivity among doctors and staff.
- Better service and equipment management – Modern equipped technologies allow healthcare organizations to track equipment in real time and optimize its use accordingly. For instance, developing a healthcare application to track all active on-premise ventilators.
- Overall reduced cost of healthcare provision – All the benefits mentioned above, add up to the overall cost reduction of healthcare provision and service.
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Benefits for general users:
- High quality care – Along with all automation available to providers, users can receive personal health plans and solutions that respect their specific medical needs.
- Accessible healthcare data – A healthcare mobile app platform can export medical records and share them over to medical services for better monitoring. For instance, UpToDate is a mobile healthcare app that tracks workflow, medical news, healthKit and daily achievements of users.
- On-demand accessible care – Mobile app development for healthcare makes on demand medical services accessible. It’s like ordering a bowl of sushi from your nearby restaurants with a few clicks. This means the care gets delivered faster including drug delivery and prescriptions.
- Secure payments – In-app payments with credit cards are applicable and super secure with healthcare software development. Speaking of secure, Blockchain for healthcare can also be used to perform transactions.
- Better communication – There are medical apps that are specifically used in hospitals for maintaining real time communication with patients. For reference, Appinventiv designed and developed “YouCoMM health app”, a multi-request format platform for in-hospital patients to connect with nurses when they need help for basic needs. The app runs on head gestures, voice commands and many more advanced features that keeps medical staff updated of their patient’s situation.
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E-health solutions, healthcare software development and application platforms give users more control over their therapy making them active participants in the digital healthcare space. The more engagement from customers means more opportunities for businesses to develop healthcare mobile app solutions.
Looking at the above benefits, if you have decided to work on a healthcare application development idea, you should consider different types of healthcare app solutions available in the industry.
Types of healthcare mobile app development
There are a plethora of healthcare apps available in the market, and more apps are being created and launched each day. Depending on their purpose of use, healthcare apps can be divided into apps for patients, health professionals, and medical facilities. Typically, healthcare mobile app development caters to two categories:
- App development for professionals
- App development for patients and general users
Let’s consider each category and its branches in detail
Mobile healthcare application development for professionals and medical facilities
These healthcare apps are supposed to bring value to medical staff, facilities, doctors and physicians which is why they are developed in a more complex way with advanced and reliable features.
Some of healthcare mobile app development types for professionals are:
1. Medical Networking apps
Although medical staff and experts are quite busy with consultations and patient services, it’s crucial for them to communicate with other medical experts and share expertise to improve the overall communication process. This communication is done through medical networking apps. Some of the well known medical networking apps are:
2. Telehealth
These healthcare applications let doctors schedule appointments and provide medical consultations using in-app messaging and video calls. Telehealth app development is convenient to both doctors and patients since they help avoid physical contact and provide care at the comfort of home. Some popular telehealth apps are:
3. Medical record apps
In simple terms, medical record health app development is done to simplify collecting and updating patients medical data. The data records consist of blood pressure, temperature, medical examinations and diagnosis, prescriptions, appointments and various criteria to track the medical health. Several medical health apps quite popular among physicians are:
4. Medical prescription apps
Prescription healthcare apps help professionals pick the right drug for their patients, pack it in a list and manage usage and time. Some of the medical apps even allow printing prescriptions for patients to show in the nearby pharmacy.
Mobile healthcare app development for patients
The name speaks for itself. These healthcare software and applications are designed to assist patients and general users to make their lives easier. With basic medical assistance, these healthcare apps are simple yet mindful of a wide range of wellness aspects.
Different types of mobile healthcare application development for patients are:
1. Mental health apps
Mentals health apps target on making therapy more accessible, flexible and efficient for general users. These apps usually assist in fighting anxiety, depression, insomnia with the help of various pre-recorded sessions, gaming elements, breathing exercises etc. According to Healthline, some of the popular mental health apps are
2. Health monitoring apps
Many businesses in mobile app development for healthcare invest in health monitoring apps since they never run out of demands. These health monitoring apps help track and manage chronic conditions such as diabetes, blood pressure and so on. Few well-known monitoring apps are:
Another fascinating instance for health monitoring apps is “Soniphi”,the very first resonant frequency based personal wellness healthcare app developed by Appinventiv. This wellness system accesses vocal information to create a detailed well being analysis report.
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3. Medical education apps
The primary objective of medical education apps is to maintain a reliable database with up-to-date medical information for doctors, students and medical users. Some of the good examples of medical education apps are:
4. Health lifestyle apps
This category of mobile healthcare application development for patients brings together different applications such as fitness apps, self improvement apps, weight loss apps, mind training apps and many more that help us achieve a healthy lifestyle. Some of the popular health lifestyle apps are:
While there could be more since the healthcare solutions keep on evolving everyday, the above healthcare app types are the primary categories of the vast healthcare digital space. Although different healthcare and medical app development serve different purposes, the end goal is to make progress in the well being of users.
Now that you know the healthcare app development types and their functions, it’s time to catch up on some use cases of these healthcare apps.
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Major use cases for healthcare apps
A healthcare mobile app is an effective tool to attract users as well as streamline the hospital’s functioning. From registering to discharging the patient, these healthcare and medical apps help you perform different operations easily and effectively.
Below are a few trending uses of healthcare apps to boost your business functionality and improve overall patient care.
1. Electronic Health Record (EHR)
With the integration of EHR solutions, healthcare apps can easily track, store, and collect all information related to a patient on a single platform. This saves time, eliminates errors, and allows the exchange of patient data between different healthcare institutions.
2. Telehealth and Telemedicine
The use of telemedicine and telehealth software solutions such as SaMD (Software as a medical device) and more, between a patient and doctor is in high demand today. Such applications have become especially popular after the COVID-19 pandemic and social isolation.
These technologies allow healthcare professionals to deliver remote healthcare services, communicate online and offer top-notch medical care faster.
Doctor-on-demand is one such application that allows healthcare professionals to offer consultations via video or audio calls. It also helps patients to book appointments at their convenience.
3. Built-in diagnostic systems
These systems enable the collection and processing of the data from embedded and IoT devices integrated with EHR platforms. The doctors can easily analyze and diagnose the condition of remote patients, track progress, and determine treatment.
4. E-prescribing
E-prescribing apps allow doctors to prescribe the right medicines for patients and set dosages to avoid side effects or cancel prescriptions at any time. These systems help in minimizing errors during check-out and the time that a doctor and a patient can save.
For instance, Medscape is one such app that allows doctors to upload prescriptions in the app itself according to the patient’s requirements.
By now, we have all the information required on the whereabouts of mobile app development for healthcare. We can now finally move to the mobile healthcare software and app development process. While the initial development process begins with the healthcare app idea itself, there are few factors you must know before starting the actual mobile app development for healthcare.
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Important factors to consider before developing a healthcare app
Healthcare software development is one hectic and complex process that involves thousands of sub processes. You don’t want to begin and hang up in between which is just going to take more time and expense. To ensure you get a smooth mobile app development process, here are a few factors to keep in mind before starting with the development.
1. Ensure that you are following all the compliance rules
There are a number of legal compliances that you have to adhere to when developing a mHealth application. While there are over 50 different compliances, the ones generally most consciously looked after are – HIPAA, HIMSS, FDC, etc.
Now just like the FDA, knowing whether or not you even have to adhere to these compliances can be very tricky. So, on that note, you must be aware of the basics of developing HIPAA-compliant mobile apps.
Besides, the healthcare industry is very strict when it comes to compliance with security and legal protocols. Before developing and launching your healthcare app, make sure it complies with:
- CCPA- This is the law for foundation of confidentiality in the United States which involves informing the client about what data is being collected and managing the client data report.
- GDPR- These are personal data protection rules introduced in Europe in 2018, however, all healthcare apps in the European Union must comply with them. GDPR strictly applies to healthcare businesses that collect and store personal data.
- NIST- This is another collection of standard protocols, tools and technologies created to protect user data from medical applications in the United States.
- HiTech – These protocols focus more on EHR systems data security, quite valid for healthcare and medical apps.
- PIPEDA- If you decide to introduce your healthcare app to the Canadian market, then ensure your app complies with PIPEDA. If it’s compliant with PIPEDA, it’s most likely to comply with GDPR as well since the regulations are the same.
2. Single-focused purpose
As we have already mentioned above, there are a number of app categories operating in the healthcare market – fitness tracking, postoperative care apps, appointment booking apps, etc. What works for apps that excel in these respective fields is the fact that they focus single-handedly on one app category and do not run behind giving multiple offerings within one application.
When companies focus on a single expertise area, they are able to offer in-depth value to the stakeholders and answer their exact pain points in utmost detail.
3. Interoperability
Passing information from one device to another is the essence of healthcare mobile apps. It is imperative to develop a clear line of interoperability that is real-time and 100% secure.
There are a number of apps in the market that work in the line of getting all the consolidated data from different health-based wearable devices and placing them on users’ apps in a way that they have complete information about their vitals in one place.
In order to ensure that the experience is very smooth, you will have to ensure that the connectivity you are offering is absolutely seamless and offers heightened value to the life of the users.
4. Selection of feature set
The success of a health solution rides heavily on the healthcare mobile app features. While the set varies from one application to another, there are some elements that are commonly present –
- Monitoring health
- Scheduling appointment
- In-app payments
- Integration with wearables
- Reporting functionality
- Social integration (if a fitness app)
5. Easy to flow UI and UX
Imagine all the situations where a stakeholder usually opens a health application. And see how all those situations are more often than not the doing of a condition of urgency – the urgency of consulting a doctor, the need to start with the fitness regime, the required promptness to fill in the details of the home visit in the app, etc.
Now imagine doing one or a few of these urgent tasks in a healthcare application that takes stakeholders through multiple clicks and processes and even then is cluttered enough to not show what is to be done in a clear space.
Would be a turn-off, no? It is.
The presence of a bad UI and UX in the mobile app is the doom of a healthcare application in many ways. So, ensure that the design strategy that you are making is the one that ensures you give a simple and, in most cases, a quick in and out option to the stakeholders.
6. Hack-Proof security
There are no two ways around the fact that your health application has to be absolutely hack-proof, and there is not even a single blank left to be filled that can get hackers in.
Although, when you develop an app around healthcare legal compliances like HIPAA or HIMSS, there is a level of security that is already adhered to, it is still your top priority that your app is 100% safe from breaches and data thefts.
In addition to safeguarding your healthcare application from any security breach loophole, it is also equally important to ensure that the device it would function on is protected. Now, while you cannot make your users take measures to keep their devices protected, you can make it a mandate for them to put in a screen lock before accessing your app or you can even give them a lock within the application.
7. Proper testing of the healthcare app
Testing, in the case of any app category, is anyway very crucial. There can be a number of dire consequences if you launch your application without any proper in-depth testing. It cannot just lead to leaving a negative image in the market but also can open you to your expensive lawsuits.
And when the category you are functioning in is a healthcare app, the cruciality that you will have to pay on testing becomes even more important. While the steps of manual and automation testing are more or less the same, there are some additional features that you have to pay attention to –
- Test security for PHI, PII, and several other regulations.
- Test the functional working of your app, specifically healthcare workflows.
- If yours is an app that requires geolocation to function properly, check that the APIs that you are using to enable it is safe.
- If the app interprets the data from multiple inputs, check all the inputs in multiple units from a different network, device, and locations.
- Test in poor connectivity condition.
- Do an in-depth usability testing of your app.
8. Hardware choice
The app that you are planning to launch does not necessarily have to function on a smartphone. It can be a wearable app or a desktop version. Either way, as business people looking to enter the healthcare space, it is very important to understand that there can be multiple hardware choices where you would be able to push your application.
And likewise, there can be instances where it would be needed to make two or multiple devices interact with each other. In such a situation, you will have to ensure that the hardware devices that you choose can actually co-work.
9. Choice of APIs and integrations
Application Program Interface (API) is a very handy functionality that sees its usage in multiple stages across the whole mobile app development process – from users onboarding through social media login API to giving the health app developers a possibility to connect the app with some server or database.
With so many APIs functioning in the market, it can be a difficult choice to shortlist and go with the one that would not just make your processes real-time but also completely safe and hack-proof.
But, in order to offer the health and fitness apps service to its complete perfection, it is absolutely important that you make the right API and integration choice.
10. Presence of medical practitioner in the core team
The number one issue that the stakeholders face is in terms of mistrusts that originate out of incomplete or wrong information being presented in the mHealth app. This one problem can easily become a deal-breaker for your mobile app both in terms of the image it has presented and in terms of legality.
The fact is solving this one problem is something that is in your hand. You can easily ensure your smartphone health app is delivering the right information by having a medical practitioner in the team – someone who would validate the accuracy of the information you are sharing with the stakeholders.
So, here are the ten important considerations that would help you in delivering solutions offering real value to the stakeholders while being a medium that they can trust and get comfortable using.
Now that you know the important things to consider when investing in healthcare application development, it is time to get acquainted with the final step-by-step healthcare development app process.
Step-by-step healthcare mobile app development process
It’s impossible to develop a healthcare application without a clear understanding of your app’s goals, features and functionalities, and a definite plan. You must decide what kind of app you want, who will be your target audience, what problems it will solve, and how.
In this section, we will go over each step of the mobile application development process for the healthcare sector to uncover this process for you.
1. Identify a problem
An important part of the healthcare app development process is to understand the end-users’ needs. Understand the problems they are facing in the existing solution and how your application can make it better. Define the user persona to utmost preciseness and their willingness to go with your solution or choose one that is existing in the market for their medical needs.
At this stage, it can also help to dig in deeper and choose a healthcare field to launch your app for. For example, your application can be around diabetes or an anxiety-tracking one.
2. Identify the platforms and technologies
Another crucial element of the healthcare development process is the choice of platforms your application will be deployed on – Android, iOS, or web. You can also think of adding a home assistant device integration in the mix to ensure that your application is only a voice command away.
A key thing to note here is that elderly patients generally tend to prefer visiting a website while their young counterparts are more app and voice devices friendly. Your market research will come in handy when deciding the platforms you want your application to be on.
The crux of it is that you will have to ensure complete interoperability in healthcare apps for it to succeed.
3. Choose the location of the app launch
The most common approach that entrepreneurs, business heads, and tech heads follow when launching a new app is building it for their nationals. In case you or your board members wish to take an alternate route and launch your application internationally, consider the nation-specific issues and user personas, along with the specific laws highlighting the creation and deployment of medical apps.
4. Pay attention to UI/UX
UI/UX design plays a crucial role in healthcare mobile application development. Generally, older people like simple navigation and bigger fonts while a younger audience prefers a colorful UI with unique and better functionalities. The design will also depend on whether your audiences are healthcare professionals, patients, or the general public. In addition to the visual component, it’s important to take care of how the app will look on different-sized screens. This aspect depends on the platform you are aiming at.
Keep in mind that the UI/UX design will either make or break your product, so invest time and resources accordingly to get it right.
5. Hire an app development company
Hiring reliable mobile healthcare app developers or a development team will ensure that your app includes all the trending functionalities and features with minimum costs. They would give an entire idea of how to design and develop a scalable healthcare application.
Your healthcare app mobile development team will consist of:
- UI/UX designers
- Expert app developers
- Testers
- Project managers and
- Market specialists
These experts offer competent suggestions and always consider your vision. The company also offers access to the latest technologies and industry expertise.
6. Select a monetization model
The intent of all the applications, across genres, is to earn money. Usually, when we talk about how to earn money from an app, the healthcare domain works around two types –
- Subscription-based model
- Freemium model with paid access to premium services.
7. Focus on getting MVP created and validated
A key element of success can be creating an MVP instead of a full-fledged application to ensure that the solution is well-tested and validated before it enters the market.
For a successful MVP creation, ask your healthcare software development company to identify the key USPs and must-have features of your solution and then develop an app accordingly. MVP healthcare software development also helps users share about their experience with your app, telling what functionality they would like you to add to your product.
Also, if you present your MVP to investors with your future plan, they can see the demand for your app in the market and get interested in it.
8. Test your app
Testing is one of the main steps when creating healthcare solutions. Test everything from user experience and user interface to content. Proper testing will help shorten the development time and cost, identify bugs, and greatly improve your reputation as a service provider.
9. Launch and track performance
Once your application has been tested, it’s time to welcome your users. After launching your app, make sure to track its performance using the in-app analytics tools implemented during the development phase, address user concerns and requests, and introduce updates to keep users engaged.
While this was the general healthcare application development process, your healthcare app can stand out in the crowd through the concept and features it carries.
Modern features to implement in your healthcare apps
Let’s shed light on some of the modern features to integrate in healthcare apps. These features play a vital role in redefining the healthcare sector and enhancing customer experience.
1. Telemedicine services
According to healthcare experts, 75% of the hospital visits are very basic and can be easily managed via phone call or video conference. This is where Telemedicine comes in. The feature allows patients to connect with the respective doctors at the comfort of their home.
Telemedicine and telehealth have already reshaped the healthcare industry to a huge extent by covering the gap between patients and their doctors/caregivers. However, the adoption of telehealth trends will only increase in the coming time, making it a major part of emerging trends in healthcare in 2022 and a crucial technology impacting home healthcare.
2. Wearable devices connection
With remarkable technological development, IoMT (Internet of Medical Things) is winning over the internet. IoMT is the concept of connecting medical devices and wearable devices such as FitBand, Health trackers and more to your smartphone for an every minute update. A large number of the audience says yes to wearable technology and here’s the proof.
Many technically graded mobile healthcare apps also comprise of high end operating features that measure certain medical conditions. Although for developing a healthcare app like that, you would need an expert team of developers.
3. Blockchain
Blockchain is one of the crucial healthcare mobile app development trends in 2022. The decentralized technology is finding itself getting used for managing EMR and EHR data, conducting research, and bettering the insurance and hospital billing process. More than 40% of the hospitals and medical services rely on Blockchain to anticipate and manage patient’s medical records and perform secure transactions.
4. Cloud based healthcare solutions
Cloud computing services in healthcare apps not only allow the patients to access information anytime and anywhere but also bring along certain benefits such as health data analytics, a notable feature of cloud based healthcare apps.
Cloud service features in your healthcare mobile app development will also help streamline the communication with efficient storage and processing.
5. Augmented reality and Virtual Reality (AR/VR)
The impact of AR/VR on healthcare will mainly surround helping patients get better through the mode of virtual simulations and practitioners bettering their procedures through a virtual environment.
Healthcare based AR and VR industry is poised to become a $4.64 Billion market by the time we reach 2025. While the time is still too far off, the impact of AR/VR in the Healthcare domain is already seen in multiple areas, including the fitness domain. An example of this can be the FitXR BoxVR sports application.
[Also Read: How AR/VR Apps are Gamifying Exercise and Workout?]
These features are not only going to enhance the functionality of your healthcare app but also help in bringing maximum engagement. Now that we know how to develop healthcare apps and what features to include to keep your users engaged, the only factor left is the cost factor.
Mobile healthcare app development time and cost and how they vary
To answer how long does it take to build a healthcare app and how much does it cost to develop a good healthcare mobile app, let us first discuss some of the crucial factors that directly impact the cost of healthcare app development. These factors play a significant role for both Android and iOS platforms.
1. Features and functionalities
Features and functionalities play a crucial role in deciding the final price of healthcare application development. The more features and functionalities you add to your health app, the more will be the cost for your app development.
So, it is better to concentrate on the core features in the initial version of the app. It will help you provide a great customer experience at affordable costs.
2. Development hours
Another crucial factor that affects the cost of building a healthcare app is the time taken by app developers to build one. If you want less development hours to build the application or your app is complex, your team will need more professionals to achieve the tasks in less amount of time.
And this means you need to bear more expenses. But in case, you just need a basic team, you need to pay relatively less as compared to the above case.
3. UI and UX
Creating a simple yet unique UI/UX app design requires certain additional costs. UI/UX components like icons, customization, and push notifications need to be integrated into your application if you wish to make a great impression on your users. A good mobile app design will make your users want to download and use your app more and not drift away from it in the long run.
4. App security
While app security is important, many companies undermine this factor. Your app must keep users’ data safe and confidential. If you do not pay attention to security, your users will not trust your application and uninstall it in no time. Thus, it is wise to invest in data security as a major security breach can break your business.
5. Choice of app development company
The final cost of your healthcare mobile app development will also depend on the app development company you choose. A trusted and reliable app development company has expertise in multiple domains and offers expert resources to deliver great services. While it will add to the development costs, the quality of service will be top-notch and it will definitely speed up the development process.
6. App maintenance
Your work doesn’t end with your app getting launched on app stores. There are additional elements like app maintenance that need to be considered. However, it will contribute to the increment in the cost of developing a healthcare app.
While these were the factors affecting your mobile healthcare app development time and cost, here’s an approximate range of features and its cost.
| App features |
App development time
(in hours) |
App development cost
(in USD) |
| Registration, login |
70-76 |
2,000- 2,600 |
| Search, filter options |
100-120 |
2,000-2,800 |
| Profile screen (Doctor+Patient) |
80-85 |
2,000-2,800 |
| Voice and video calls |
100-140 |
4,000-5,000 |
| Appointment scheduling |
180-190 |
5,000-6,500 |
| Online chat |
110-120 |
4,000-5,000 |
| Payment options |
30-40 |
1,000-1,500 |
| Backend framework |
1,000-1,200 |
35,000-40,000 |
| Admin Panel |
250-280 |
9,000-10,000 |
| Code documentation |
10-20 |
500-800 |
| Total |
2,000-3,000 |
75,000-90,000 |
The time and cost estimation also relies on the development team members involved. Make sure you include their services cost too according to their hourly prices. The total service cost should vary from $152,000 – 190,000 for developing a full-fledged healthcare application.
This is all you need to know about healthcare mobile app development before actually developing one. While we are done, here are some bonus points for you. How about we also talk about a few industry challenges that you might face in your mobile app development for healthcare?
[Also Read: How Much Does it Cost to Develop a Doctor Appointment App Like ZocDoc?]
Industry challenges prevalent in the healthcare industry and why do healthcare businesses fail?
Despite the growing market size, many healthcare providers still think twice before launching a healthcare application in the market. Why? There are a number of reasons why mobile healthcare solutions have not been able to create a groundbreaking impact in the lives of medical stakeholders and bring a revolutionary global switch from traditional healthcare to mobile healthcare.
Understanding why healthcare businesses fail and why healthcare solutions are struggling to create a lasting impact in the lives of millions would help you devise your mobile app in a way that you become a nudge for those stakeholders who are on the fence measuring whether or not they should bring their medical life on mobile.
On this exact note, let us move on to reasons why the healthcare industry is thinking multiple times when it comes to coming and staying on mobile.
1. Lack of detailed focus in any one domain
Businesses entering the mobile health domain more often than not fail to understand that their stakeholders will never behave like the stakeholders of a super app offering multiple things in a single app. When a doctor or patient installs a health app, they are almost always looking for the redressal of one issue (which then can have many different strings). They come to an app searching solutions for one issue and not multiple.
So, instead of having an application that solves multiple issues on the surface level, a healthcare app that addresses one issue in its utmost depth is what would come in handy.
2. Non-compliance with the law
There are multiple compliance bodies around the world that are responsible for taking care of how the mobile health domain is behaving. The importance of knowing what compliances like HIPAA stand for becomes all the more important for a healthcare app developer because they have a direct link to how safely the app is treating users’ data and what provisions it is maintaining to check the authenticity of the data, information, and advice mentioned in the application.
While getting a seal of approval is difficult, the absence of it is something that becomes one of the biggest reasons behind healthcare stakeholders not believing in the system. The absence of the seal of approval by the FDA or a HIPAA compliant badge in the application’s home screen or the screenshots used in the App Store and Play Store keeps the stakeholders at bay.
3. Lack of security
There are millions of horror stories around patients’ data getting hacked or misplaced because of insecure storage infrastructure. Although security is one of the first things that every healthcare organization should consider, in reality, there are only a few apps that take the task seriously.
The compliance that we talked about in the above pointer solves the issue to some extent, but it all boils down to the individual steps a brand takes to have a security-first model.
4. Prevalent negative sentiment about the mobile health domain
While there still can be solutions that would be in your control to solve all the reasons of mistrust mentioned above – something which we will look into a little later – there is no direct answer or solution to the problem of negative sentiment.
Especially when they are valid.
There have been many incidents when the picture of ineffectiveness has been presented in the healthcare market. While there are multiple reports highlighting how a great percent of weight loss healthcare mobile apps in the stores pass wrong methods of weight loss to the users, there have been even severe cases where even the most correctly algorithm mobile apps were unable to identify lesions that were later diagnosed as melanoma.
5. Presence of multiple channels and devices
With a number of devices and channels entering the market – smartphones, voice assistant devices, smart TVs, etc., interoperability has become a key challenge for health app developers. It has become extremely crucial and increasingly difficult to ensure that the private medical data is not flowing in the cloud open to be hacked.
To overcome such challenges and to perform healthcare mobile application development in a smoother way, ensure that you are partnering with an experienced and reliable doctor app development company.
[Also Read: What is the Role of Technology in Strengthening the Healthcare Supply Chain?]
How can Appinventiv help you with healthcare app development services?
Appinventiv is a leading healthcare software development service company that specializes in world-class healthcare software and applications. From clinical management to efficient patient treatment and diagnosis, we provide custom healthcare app solutions to boost healthcare industry elements. Our suite of services includes:
- Telehealth app development
- EHRs
- mPrescription
- Medical insurance apps
- Laboratory management
- Process management
- Lifestyle tracking
- Software integration and much more
Talk to us to digitize your healthcare business now.
FAQs on Healthcare App Development
Q. Which technology is best for healthcare app development?
A. The top mobile app technologies for developing healthcare applications are Python, JAVA, Flutter, Swift, Kotlin, R Programming etc. However it’s recommended to seek your development team’s advice while choosing a technology stack. Your healthcare app developers will choose technology based on your app and budget requirements.
Q. How much does it cost to make medical apps for healthcare professionals?
A. Based on the factors mentioned above, the cost to develop a healthcare application would range somewhere between $140,000 to $190,00. The cost can vary depending on the platforms, technology stack and number of features to be integrated in your app.
Q. Why do healthcare apps fail?
A. Most healthcare apps fail due to misleading information on health diagnosis, lack of techniques in clinical settings, inability to change with the user behavior etc. However, you can overcome and avoid such challenges in the initial stages with the help of your development team.
Q. What makes a healthcare app successful?
A. According to healthcare experts, detailed and actionable information on your healthcare app makes it engaging for the users. Usually, patients download healthcare and medical apps to track and monitor their wellbeing. Therefore, providing the right information and solution to the users makes an app successful.
Q. Why do healthcare apps need to be HIPAA compliant?
A. If your healthcare app collects, manages and transfers any protected healthcare information, then it’s advisable by the union to develop it with HIPAA compliance. This ensures that the medical information is encrypted and safe and will only be accessed for patient’s diagnosis and research.
THE AUTHOR
Dileep Gupta
DIRECTOR & CO-FOUNDER