Healthcare app development -challenges
Healthcare app development is considered one of the most complicated and detail-oriented apps due to the difference in requirements of each organization and how they analyze and apply these requirements. This requirement is the reason why it is ideal for individuals like doctors, nurses, lab technicians, prescription vendors, and administrators to create and develop their own healthcare apps.
In this post, we will cover the essential components and details that you need to know to execute a successful healthcare app development:
- Understanding the different types of healthcare apps
- Understanding necessary regulations surrounding a healthcare app
- How to develop a healthcare app for mobile phones
- How to find the right developer to bring your vision into a reality
- How to successfully market your newly created app
- The total cost of the healthcare app development
Understanding Types of Healthcare Apps:
A healthcare app can be targeted into two general categories of uses. The first is to provide usability to doctors, while the second supports the patient.
- A healthcare app targeted towards doctors will help the doctors to track their patients, monitor their progress, and schedule upcoming appointments for the patients.
- The patient’s healthcare app will ease the appointment process for the patient. It also helps the patient to chat with their doctor directly, ask questions to get new recommendations or provide an update digitally.
We can easily compare the significant differences between a doctor-targeted and a patient-targeted healthcare app in the given table:
Condition | Doctor-Targeted | Patient-Targeted |
Revenue Generation | The app introduces a “subscription plan” method to subscribe to a specific relation. | Add in-app purchases for the doctor’s one-to-one appointment with the patient, etc. |
Limitations | · Available doctors on hand · Administrative team to keep track of each patient’s history and update in schedule · Change in medication, prescription, etc. | · The app keeps track of a patient’s lifestyle, diagnosis, healthcare, mental health. · To manage and monitor any changes with respect to the availability of doctors. |
Understanding Necessary Regulations for Healthcare Apps:
Technology has enhanced healthcare by several times and it has grown beyond EMR (Electronic Medical Records) or EHR (Electronic Health Records). While a doctor can diagnose a patient from other part of the world, it still needs to follow some norms because of caution and safety first approach of this industry.
Regulations also varies from one country to another depending on the policies and infrastructure but we will try to mention some major ones which exists almost every country in different name or form:
FDA – FDA clearance is important if the app used to diagnose a patient or claim to provide any sort relief in any treatment. FDA assess the information or service provided are safe for the mass or not.
HIPPA – Mobile apps and wearables apps need to comply with HIPPA regulations in order to make sure that the sensitive data of patients are secure and secured while in the device storage or inside an application server.
ICD – ICD 9 or 10 is a set of code to classify diseases. Different stakeholders of healthcare industry uses these codes to get management, treatment or epidemiology related information.
Understanding the Process of Mobile App Development:
The overall development of a mobile healthcare app can be summed up into five simple steps. These steps help cover all the aspects of the development phase while minimizing errors and maximizing performance.
Step-1: Find Your Idea
The first step into creating your own healthcare app is visualizing and planning what you actually want in your app. This step involves doing research on the end-users’ needs, going over the idea, and implementing business goals onto the picture.
Step-2: Market Research
After cementing your idea, it is now time to research the app. Good research results in a well-organized development, which results in only useful features being developed.
Step-3: Validating Your Product
The next step is to validate your choices for the product by comparing it to your competitors, conducting customer interviews, and observing the market of your product.
Step-4: Create a Specialty
Generalizing your app will only drown it in the sea. Find a speciality for your app and concentrate on providing unique features.
Step-5: Design Your App
The last step is to design your app before you start developing it. This will save time, effort, and resources.
Finding the Right Mobile App Developers:
After deciding what features you want your mobile app to have, it is time to start development. There are many organizations, teams, and individuals providing services and expertise in developing the product. It is preferred that you do your research before choosing a developer at random for your project.
The team that you decide to build for your app should have the skill level to manage an entire app as well as provide the latest facilities and features to help your app popularize and stand out in the crowd.
Marketing of the Healthcare App:
There are different methods that you can apply to capture the market with your newly developed healthcare app.
- You can hire a marketing team that will reach out to organizations or hospitals and pitches the project.
- You can offer your app for free to the public and wait for the market to evolve over time.
- You can use your app in volunteer work or bring awareness to the public while sharing the spotlight with your mobile application.
There are several other creative ways that can be used to market your app. The key point is to concentrate on the features provided by the application for maximum user interest.
Cost of Healthcare App Development:
The total cost of a healthcare app development can vary from USD 5,000 to USD 100,000 depending on the number of features that the app is providing and the extent of capabilities that the application will hold. Along with features and capabilities, the size of the team which will be developing the app and the number of hours taken to develop the app also affect the total cost for development.
In order to provide a successful application without wasting any resources, it is ideal that the total cost for the project is manageable as well as logical. In case the price is more than the expected rate, it can be managed by making changes in the team working on the project.
The total cost of a project is assumed during the planning phase. It is ideal for including features and capabilities that will 100% work and be helpful for the end-user. However, the project manager can manage the cost of the team members by either outsourcing the project or hiring freelancers to do the job at lower prices.