The word “Healthcare” reminds people of hospitals, doctors dressed in lab coats, and exorbitant fees. I'm sure it's something along the lines of hospitals, insurance, doctors, and medicine. All these words are related to a huge industry that affects almost everyone on this planet.
Healthcare is a multi-billion-dollar industry with companies that can be worth billions in revenue. However, one thing has been overlooked in recent years - Apps! The Future of healthcare is undoubtedly going to be apps.
“Apps will lead the future of the healthcare industry”
The future of healthcare is in apps. With the digitization of the world, you can now get a complete diagnosis with a button. You just need to download an app and scan your symptoms or upload pictures for your doctor to see.
With the digitization of the world, it is easier to get a diagnosis for anything and everything. Back in the old days, you had to go to the hospital or doctor's office for your diagnosis but now with Healthcare apps, you can do it from your home or anywhere on Earth.
Now with healthcare apps, you can get all the information from your diagnosis on an app and even see what doctors would recommend if it were their patient. With digitalization at its peak, it has been easier than ever to stay healthy.
This article will go over some of the questions that many app development companies ask,
“How can we too create a healthcare app?”
And the crucial question “Can we afford it?”
and most importantly
“What is the cost to develop a healthcare app”
Readers, our topic for today will answer all your questions and more.
Table of content:
- Healthcare apps and their types
- Why you should care about Healthcare apps
- How to create a Healthcare app (from scratch)
- Cost of creating a healthcare app
- Conclusion
So, without any further ado, let’s get this show on the road.
Healthcare Apps and Their Types
Healthcare apps have taken the world by storm. Healthcare apps in general provide medical information to patients by certified professionals.
The number of healthcare apps on the market is growing. With myriad options to choose from, it can be hard for patients to decide which ones are best for them. To make things easier, we've compiled a list of three types that should give you an idea as to what might work best for you and your needs: There are 3 main types of healthcare apps.
- Appointment Apps
- Reminder Apps
- Health and Fitness Apps
We will go deep into all these apps but let's discuss what exactly a healthcare app is.
In the simplest of cases, healthcare apps are used to reduce the distance between patients and professionals.
Many apps focus on even simpler topics, such as just providing advice to people on how they can live their lives.
But those apps are mostly found in the self-help industry, which is a different topic altogether.
“Healthcare apps reduce the distance between the professionals and their patients.”
Many apps have taken off in the world of health care in recent years. There are 3 main types of healthcare apps: appointment, reminder, and fitness. An example is a patient calendar app that keeps track of appointments for both doctors and other medical professionals (such as chiropractors).
A reminder app sends alerts to patients about taking medication or getting an annual physical exam or mammogram.
Appointment booking apps make it easy for you to schedule an appointment with your physician or a specialist, usually at the click of a button. Reminder apps are perfect for patients who need reminding of when they have taken their medications and when appointments are due.
Health and fitness apps can track food intake, calories burned, steps taken, and other exercise data to help users stay on top of their health goals.
With the basics of app development done, let us now go to our next topic, which is.
Why You Should Care About Healthcare Apps?
This is just a fancy way of saying that healthcare apps are important in today’s time. But, why? What makes them so special? And do people like them?
Our answer is a resounding yes.
“Healthcare Apps are on the Rise.”
With the proliferation of smartphones and tablets, healthcare apps are on the rise. In 2020, there was an estimated $24 billion worth of healthcare app value, which has risen to a staggering 38 billion dollars in 2021.
They're becoming a go-to for monitoring their health, communicating with doctors and other medical professionals, tracking fitness data, and making shopping lists.
With the growing number of people with smartphones and access to a device such as this, there is no telling how high this figure will go.
But this is just market rabble. From an individual perspective, healthcare apps benefit both professionals as well as patients.
Benefits of Healthcare Apps for Professionals
Healthcare apps offer a myriad of benefits to health professionals
Healthcare apps offer benefits for professionals and patients. Medical work for professionals is much more cumbersome and autocratic than most people realize. There is a lot of filing for paper, and writing prescriptions. Healthcare apps allow you to skip all this humdrum and focus on what professionals are trained for, diagnosis, and help.
The typical physician spends less than ten percent of their time treating patients. That's because there is a lot of paperwork and filling out prescriptions to do, which is why healthcare apps are such an amazing new resource for doctors and nurses alike.
If you are a healthcare professional, you know that your work is more than just treating patients. You have to deal with insurance companies and government agencies and keep track of patient data for billing purposes. Medical software applications make this much easier for you by automatically doing all the tedious paper filing, tracking, and prescription writing tasks. With so many great apps to choose from, it's easy to find one that perfectly meets your needs.
Healthcare App Benefits for Patients
Healthcare apps don’t just offer benefits to professionals, but also to patients.
Healthcare apps are designed to make the lives of professionals and patients a little easier.
Raise your hand if you have been irritated during the long wait time for a doctor's consultation. You can skip all this with healthcare apps and get professional help when needed!
“Healthcare app shows that patients’ needs are a priority.”
The benefits of these apps include educational tips, health tracking, instant consultation, and targeting the perfect professional. With so many healthcare providers offering their services through mobile devices, it’s no wonder that you should also take advantage of them for your needs!
This is why healthcare apps are so important.
The app allows the user to connect with professionals and experts in the field of healthcare. It also provides the users with educational information, and tips on how to live a healthy lifestyle, and helps them monitor their progress toward achieving their goals.
Many apps offer instant consultations for issues such as depression or anxiety; which is great because it means you don't have to wait hours or days just for your appointment time at a long stretch.
With this out of the way, let us now focus on the other major topic in the article, which is.
How to Create a Healthcare App (From Scratch)
As with all app development processes, developing a healthcare app also requires certain pre-screened steps to bring maximum efficiency.
At the end of the day, app development is the process of creating an app. It can be any app, ranging from first-person shooter mobile game apps to stock-market and trading apps, or even a health care app.
1) Market Analysis
If you are interested in the app development industry, you may have come across some of these words before market analysis. Market analysis is a term that refers to analyzing the potential demand for an app and its likelihood of success. There are many different aspects to take into consideration when doing a market analysis, but it is the first and most crucial aspect of app development.
It will determine whether or not you can make an income from your product, so it's imperative that you spend time on this stage of the process before moving forward with the design and development phases.
Creating an app? Don't forget market analysis.
The market analysis allows you to see what people need. This should be done beforehand so that you don't invest your money in a completely wrong app.
At the end of the day, people will determine whether your app is worth their time or not.
2) Deciding the Right Type of App
Decide the type of healthcare app you need to build. Once you know your audience, it is time to choose what type of app you want to build.
We have distributed the apps based on their complexity
- Easiest: Appointment reminder apps.
- Hardest: Healthcare apps+ consultation.
- Middle Difficulty: Medical tracking apps.
The type of healthcare app you choose to create depends on your target audience. For example, if you are gunning for young adults who are into aesthetics culture, then it’s best for you to go for either a fitness-based tips + consultation app or a simple tracking app.
Yeah, these apps might be tough to create, but the ROI is always huge.
There are many ways that you can use an app to help people with their health needs, from scheduling appointments to reminders.
3) Designing Your App
Designing an app is very different from the other parts of creating it. Hiring one will take time and money if you don't have a dedicated design team. A design team's job is to turn your idea into reality and make sure that it looks good on all platforms.
If you are planning on developing an app, the design is one of the most important aspects. Building an app without a designer can be frustrating and costly in the long run. This is also a good reason for you to hire app developers so that you can improve the quality of the app.
The design will take up to 50% of your development time and require more developers' attention than anything else.
“Building an App? Want a beautiful design? Then don’t forget to hire dedicated app developers.”
The developer community agrees that designing for apps is not just about aesthetics but also usability-you want to make sure your customers are using your product as intended.
This is why it is so important to hire dedicated app developers from Hyperlink InfoSystem to help your app rise to the top.
Investing in app developers provides the highest ROI in the long run.
Why? Because now you have a team of professionals who know the ins and out of your product.
NOTE: Make sure that while you are designing your app, you follow all the privacy and healthcare rules in your country. For example, many countries do not allow publicizing a patient’s problems online.
4) Create an MVP
An MVP is a minimum viable product that is used to describe a minimum quality standard of your product.
There is not a lot to focus on here, so we have created a list of features that your app must have if you want to enter the healthcare app development industry.
Features of your healthcare app
| For Patients | For Doctors |
|---|---|
| Profile | Profile |
| Chat (private) | Chat (group & private) |
| Calendar | Notification |
| Notification | Calendar |
| Alerts | Alerts |
| Survey | Patients’ health card |
As you can see, these are the minimum requirements that your healthcare app must have if you want to stand a chance. Many healthcare apps will push for personal consultations, calls, weekly reports, and paperwork, but for our intents and purposes, this is the minimum your app should have.
With this out of the way, we can assume that you have a full-fledged healthcare app that is ready to face the market This brings us to our next topic, which is:
Cost to Develop a Healthcare App
The cost to develop a healthcare app depends upon how complex your apps are.
Healthcare apps in general are quite complex in nature simply because of how many features they have to offer to the customers.
Cost of app development based on the complexity of the app.
| The complexity of the app | Approximate cost | Duration of app development |
|---|---|---|
| Basic app {mvp} | 40,000$-60,000$ | 4 to 6 months |
| Average app with few features | 50,000$-100,000$ | 6 to 10 months |
| A complex app, with many features | 100,000$-300,000 | Up to or more than a year |
With this in mind, we can assume that it can take more than a year and over 100,000$ to make.
But that is not it, there are many other aspects that we need to take care of.
When you hire dedicated developers you systematically improve your chances of getting an app that just stands out.
App development takes 2 main routes, which can be
1) Fixed Price
A fixed price is great if you
- The scope of your app is limited
- You know your target audience, and you
- Your app is simple.
- There is no room for experiments as you already know what you require.
- You have a tighter budget.
A fixed price will suit small-scale apps because they have low ROI and they might just be testing the currents of the market.
But as we already know, healthcare apps are complicated apps that require entire teams of dedicated app developers to solve the problems during the app development life cycle.
In this case, if you just want to create a healthcare app as an alpha test, then a Fixed price might just be for you.
2) Flexible Price
Also called Time & Material, is for you if:
- Your requirement might alter from time to time.
- Your goal is long-term
- You have a bigger budget
- Your project is regularly updated and maintained.
As you can see, the time & material plan offers a lot more flexibility and under normal circumstances, bigger app development projects like the one as healthcare apps go for this option.
Both of these plans are available when you hire On-demand app developers.
Conclusion
In the end, healthcare apps revolve around two themes, professionals and patients. As app developers, it is our job to provide the best possible value to both of them. Any app development agency can create an app, but only the best will give you everything that you have desired. App developers have considered this by focusing on features that can help make a doctor's life easier as well as simplify patient care for those who are less tech-savvy.
FAQ:
1) How much does it take to create a healthcare app?
When we take into account the entire development of your app, along with management and updates, and all the infrastructure that is required to create it, in general, it can take more than 100,000$ to create a healthcare app that has an impact.
2) Can I create a healthcare app all by myself?
A healthcare app is considered one of the most complicated types of apps to create. Though it is possible to create a simple app, creating a healthcare app that has an impact can only be possible when collaborating with a team of dedicated app developers.
3) How long can I expect for the entire app development process?
Depending upon the complexity of the app, it can range anywhere between 6 to 12 months or even higher.
4) Should I outsource my app development process?
App development can be outsourced as long as you are sure that the team you hired is up to professional standards.
5) Do Healthcare apps help pharmacies?
Healthcare apps can efficiently manage and keep track of all the medicines and orders that come and go in a pharmacy.
