The healthcare sector has never experienced such a great surge in demand for widespread clinical diagnosis and patient care as we have in the last year and a half. The globally dispersed pandemic of Covid-19 sent the healthcare industry to the verge of its saturation point until it was saved by the next-generation technical marvels like upgraded and better Mobile Apps.

Rising Emergence of Mobile App in the Healthcare Sector

We are talking about the latest and upscale technical disruption of mobile app development in the healthcare sector. From on-demand telemedicine, disease detecting, patient management, immunization, disinfecting to genetics analysis apps, there you witness a widespread availability of healthcare transformation services changing the overall industry standards.

There is a rising demand for developing healthcare apps, giving easy access to people from simple to complex diagnosis assistance remotely, virtual collaboration with doctors, and ordering medicines online.

There has been an overall impact of mHealth in the healthcare sector and how it will benefit both patients and medical representatives.

Facts about Healthcare Apps

* There are over 95,000 medical apps available for doctors and patients on the App Store.

* The demand for Android and iOS healthcare apps has doubled as compared to previous demand in 2020.

* Around 45% of the mobile healthcare applications are using a paid business model.

* 15% aim at healthcare experts.

* The popular healthcare apps generate 5 million free and 300,000 paid downloads per day worldwide.

Types of Healthcare Apps

There are a plethora of mHealth apps available at the marketplace, diving the segment into patient’s app and medical professional’s app. Over here, we will be looking at some common apps of both categories.

Mobile Apps for Patients

* Telemedicine

* IoT Products

* Patient well-being apps for calculating vitals like Blood Pressure, Oxygen Level, Pulse, etc

* Self-Diagnosing

* Mental Health Apps that include workout regimes, yoga, and meditation

* Wellness Apps

* Health Management Apps like Water Monitoring, Calorie Intake, Food Item Macros Management

* Women’s Health

* Social Networking Health Forums

* Apps for Taking Care of Elderly People

Healthcare Apps for Medical Professionals

* Telemedicine

* Remote Monitoring of Patients

* Remote Diagnosis

* Appointment Management

* Communication

* Medical Resource and Education Apps

Benefits of mHealth Apps for Customers

* Maintain a well-being schedule by keep tracking of one’s health at any point in time.

* Get updated information on drugs and vaccines for early treatment.

* New reviews and digest about a particular medical representative.

* Seamless online consultation with doctors.

* Easy to get an appointment online.

* Service function to find when to take particular drugs and in what doses.

* Create a personal account with an electronic medical record.

Benefits of mHealth Apps for Business Owners

* Increase patients’ loyalty by offering them the desired medical treatment digitally and at any point in time.

* A simple way to gather patient information for the early diagnosis process.

* Increase engagement with patients by sending notifications, news, promotions, special offers, and appointment reminders to make them think they are special.

* Attract a new set of patients by offering services online via the app and let it spread widely across the area.

* Create a product that will improve patient’s well-being.

Things to Expect from Healthcare Apps

While looking for robust mobile healthcare services, it is always a better approach to find your expectation level to be fulfilled.

1. Know the Health Condition of Patients

Healthcare apps appear as a real boon for doctors and medical representatives to get timely updates regarding patient’s health and diagnosis. In fact, 93% of the doctors believe the fact that mHealth is responsible for improving the overall health of patients to an optimum level as compared to traditional diagnosis. On top of that, 80% of physicians already use Telemedicine techniques to look after the health of patients.

Not just diagnosis only, but the clear idea of the prescription or any change in medicine is highly transparent for doctors and patients. Moreover, with the emergency of prescriptions available on healthcare applications, doctors feel more relaxed in explaining the doses to patients and exchange information related to any change in medicine.

2. Services in Remote Areas

At present, the reach of the smartphone is not confined to urban areas only. Even rural and remote areas have an equal distribution of internet connectivity and widespread accessibility towards smartphones.

All of these led to the rising acceptance of on-demand mHealtha apps allowing native people to receive fast-track medical services in a hassle-free manner.

They can even get information related to healthcare tips on a timely basis to stay healthy and energetic.

3. Emergence of New Business Opportunities

It is a fact that healthcare apps benefit patients and doctors and provide growth opportunities to other medical professionals. Like pharmaceutical store owners can rely on mobile apps to start selling medical equipment and medicines online within the easy reach of customers.

In recent times, we have already been witnessed the great surge in online pharma apps allowing the ordering of medicines at a great discount and in any location you like.

4. Reduce the Risk of the Wrong Diagnosis

We no longer live in the previous age of the traditional diagnostic process only when increasing cases of misleading treatments led to endangering people’s lives.

With the rising emergence of healthcare apps, doctors receive an accurate medical reports of patients online. Thus, it helps to prescribe the best and valid treatment depending on the case study with the right medicine dosage and quantity.

Not just this only, even medical staff can swiftly maintain patient’s records and access the same.

5. Reduce Medical Bills

This is something best expected from healthcare applications. There has always been an issue of skyrocketed medicals bills at the hospital, no matter for a simple diagnosis. But application makes it simple for patients to receive online consultation and virtual diagnosis based on the medical history and save a great deal of cash.

Since most tasks can be fulfilled using an app like diagnosis, treatment, ordering medicines online, etc. So, there will not be any hassle of paying heavily at the hospital.

6. Establishing the Brand

Last but not least is establishing your medical brand by taking as many people as you want onboard. Whether it is like offering online consultation and diagnosis, you can add your list of patients and encourage new ones to receive treatment from you based on your successful medical experience.

The same goes for pharma stores to establish an omnichannel business model and target a wide potential of customers online. All this helps create your niche brand persona in the eyes of the targeted set of customers around.

Top Considerations for Building a Profitable Healthcare App

Now that you have an idea of healthcare apps, their types, advantages, and expected results. After all, if you are thinking of developing a feature-rich and intuitive app, then make sure to look at the various considerations first.

1. Identify your Target Audience

* Find every aspect and feature of your medical app depending on the user’s demand and preference.

* Analyze the target audience based on interest, demographics, characteristics, and your business goals.

* Determine overall functionalities of the app to meet diverse business objectives.

2. Know your Competitors

* Make an updated list of the competitive apps and understand their business phenomenon and service offerings.

* Study competitor’s user’s reviews to get insights into their interest and preferences.

* Compare your business with competitors to analyze the flaws in your enterprise and correct the same.

3. Determine the Platform

* Find which mobile app platform holds the maximum set of your target audience.

* If possible, build customized apps for both Android and iOS platforms to reach a wide spectrum of customers.

* Create native apps for both platforms using the cross-platform app development framework to save costs and effort.

4. Choose your Monetization Model

* Identify how you will make a profit out of medical products and service offerings via mobile app.

* Opt for paid monthly, quarterly, or annual subscriptions for service-based offerings.

Mistakes to Avoid While Developing Healthcare Apps

If you seek the development of a healthcare app, then there are certain mistakes that you need to avoid.

Is your App Makes a Good First Impression?

Your healthcare app is not just to provide a favorable service or product and generate a substantial amount of profit. Creating a lasting impression is also important to retain the customer base for a long time.

And, this phenomenon starts with creating a lasting first impression. But, as you already know, the phrase “the first impression is the last impression.”

Ask yourself or analyze the behavior of first-time visitors to your app. Do they come again to your app or bounce back after the first time? It could be due to many designs, feature-related, speed, or functionality-related mistakes in your healthcare app, allowing visitors to go away.

Therefore, take care of the following few things in mind:

• Welcome every single visitor in an appealing way.
• Understand the preference of the target audience and then present the app.
• Optimize your homepage with limited yet appealing screens to avoid confusion.
• Block the front page pops of filling the Registration Form. It might irritate the user looking for an emergency healthcare service. It increases the chances of users abandoning your app.
• Only use the name and email address for the sign-in/sign-up process for first-time visitors.
• Integrate social media credentials login and sign up feature on the app.

Do Not Go for All Platforms at Once

Most enterprises commit the mistake of building mobile apps for all the platforms at once and launching the same. Although, it is a great marketing strategy to widen your scope of healthcare service across different mobile OS users. But sometimes, it might have a negative impact on the business.

If you are new to the healthcare app development process, you should first identify the target audience before deciding on the platform. In most circumstances, Android OS is best preferred to start your healthcare app development due to the higher market share of the platform. So, start with this and when getting adequate response from one platform, then move to next.

• Understand this point better by referring to the following few tips.
• Look at the pros & cons of each platform, including Android, iOS, Windows, or any other.
• As already mentioned, consider the target audience before deciding on the healthcare app development platform. However, do give first preference to Android.
• Make a list of all the features and factors describing the appropriate level of a platform.

Avoid Showing Random Appearing Screens

Avoid showing an unfiltered or misleading path of screens on your healthcare app. Instead, understand the relevance of health-related apps. It is to provide urgent medical care, information, assistance, or products to buy. So, your application should have a straight interface with direct Call to Action (CTA) buttons and with no cluttered pop-ups around.

Maintain the simplicity of the user interface to improve the user experience to an optimum level. It is advisable not to let random screens appear suddenly when a user is stuck to a particular page. Doing this will allow the visitor to abandon the site and go away. So, always make sure to create a hierarchical manner of screens on the app.

Do Not Overburden with Too Many Features

Another mistake to avoid is not filling up the application with too many unnecessary features. Unnecessary features happen when you are thinking of adding advanced and trendy features. Don’t burden your app with extras that are not needed in the beginning. You want to ensure business growth first.

Healthcare service is related to quick assistance and fast action to improve the health and lifestyle of people. Therefore, your application should not be burdened with too many features. The point here is to maintain the relevancy of features that make your app stand out and easily understandable among the target audience.

Adding too many features to healthcare app will have the following repercussions:

• High bounce rate
• High abandoned rate
• Fewer subscribers
• Low engagement rate
• Creating confusion in the minds of users
• Deviate from the main objective of the app
• Decrease chances of lead generation & ROI

1. Release Updates on Time

Mere development of your healthcare app is not enough. You ought to manage the regular updates, maintenance, and testing to avoid technical pitfalls and glitches. Most enterprises believe that creating a successful app is the end job and the best route towards organizational success.

But there lies a point missing in this flow: regular maintenance, support, and updates. Developers need to regularly assess the app’s performance, functionality, speed, and other essentials to ensure maximum performance. It is also necessary to fix bugs, errors, and irregularities in the app from time to time to ensure served business objectives.

2. Is your App User Experience Poor?

There is no doubt that app users want a satisfactory experience while accessing an application while on the go. Straightforward, seamless, and relevant features are important to display to create a smooth flow of accessibility. If your app has too many ads showing on sides, filled unnecessary features, or several permissions to seek from users, then the chances are that users will leave and uninstall your application.

To ensure the success of your application, create a strategic list of features and know their impact before implementing. Then, you first access the app like a real-time customer and provide your honest feedback to make necessary changes.

3. Is your App Marketing Proper?

The role of a developer is not limited to the extent of developing your healthcare application with a robust set of features. A developer is also responsible for effectively marketing your app to reach the target set of audiences.

So, make sure that the healthcare app development team you hire must be proficient in the market of your application on the app store. Also, through different platforms like a blog, social media, PR, or features on popular websites to create widespread attention.

4. Has your App Gone through Sufficient Testing?

Inefficient testing of an application leads to its failure. Avoid this major mistake of not doing several rounds of testing, be it load testing, user testing, performance testing, or others before the final release. Instead, you need to check the functionality and stability of healthcare applications by doing effective testing on multiple devices, platforms, and versions before releasing them.

Important Things to Consider to Avoid Any Mistake

• Test your healthcare app at different intervals and set up.
• Make sure the app is accessed by real-time users during the testing stage.
• Get honest and real feedback to make certain changes ahead.
• Make changes with regards to functionalities, design, rearrange elements, or delete features if found necessary.

1. Do Not Create a Clone App of your Website

Many enterprises follow this usual practice of creating their business app the same as the existing website. And, this is where they suffer a huge loss. It is because of design and functional different lies between a website and an application.

Mirror your app just like your website or web app is not advisable. It will be a waste of resources and money. The healthcare app is meant to showcase limited yet relevant features to the app with no distraction.

It is best to consider different user experience bases for your healthcare website and app to get honest feedback. Although, you can follow the similar practice of using the same theme, brand image, color combination, and others in your website and app.

2. Avoid Partnering with Wrong Development Team

Now, comes the most important and impactful mistake is to hire the wrong healthcare app development company. It could be an expensive mistake to hire an app development company that does not have expertise in AI-based healthcare development services.

Doing the same will let you suffer big time in terms of:

• Low engagement rate
• High bounce rate
• Less targeted users
• Increase in the number of uninstallations

Choose an ideal healthcare app development company based on their industry-specific expertise, certified team of developers, and prior experience in healthcare-related services.

Final Note

The future calls for mobile healthcare products and services going higher in the coming time. Offer widescale services by developing an intuitive healthcare app to reach many patients and targeted customers.

If you need healthcare transformation services, get in touch with OrangeMantra as a pioneer digital transformation solutions provider.

Image Credit: provided by the author; thank you!