Doctor Appointment Mobile App Development – A Complete Guide

The healthcare industry has always remained one of the most well-known fields. That is why the competition and demand in the healthcare software market are high. The presence of high-velocity internet, fantastic cell phones, and evolving technology gave plenty of freedom for medical care and brought collaboration among doctors and patients to an essentially new level. If you desire to leverage the digital world and plan to move your clinic to a digital platform, you must need robust solutions to meet ongoing healthcare demands. Mobile apps proved as the ultimate solution to meet healthcare needs in this fast-paced world. If you are also looking for doctor appointment mobile app development for your healthcare services, read this article entirely.

It will give you a complete guide on doctor appointment mobile app development. After the pandemic circumstances in 2021, offering clinical help through online healthcare applications has become a well-known pattern among suppliers of medical services. 

According to a survey, the US healthcare mobile applications market size was estimated at USD 40.05 billion in  2020, and it is expected to grow at a CAGR( Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 17.7% from 2021 to 2028.  

All these facts and stats convey that doctor appointment mobile app development is an efficient way to increase the reach and revenue of your medical clinic. 

If we are not wrong, various questions regarding doctor appointment mobile app development are scribbling in your mind, like its cost, benefits, features, how to make the best doctor app, its processes, how will they work, after support, etc.

Don’t worry. In this blog, we will answer each question of yours and solve any confusion whatsoever regarding doctor appointment mobile apps. So, let’s begin! 

What is Doctor Appointment Mobile App Development?

Doctor appointment mobile apps allow patients to connect with medical professionals on the online platform. In other words, patients get a consultation from doctors in the virtual world, from the comfort of their homes and at their preferred times. For healthcare providers, the mobile app of their clinic is the solution to various problems. Out of them, the major one is regulating the staff going through hours booking arrangements consistently. The online doctor appointment mobile app is an efficient way to oversee arrangements more adequately.

These apps work on two sides: The Patient side and the Doctor side.  

Let’s see how it works in the real world for both of them starting with the former one. 

From a Patient’s Perspective

With the mobile application, patients don’t have to call your office to book an appointment. Within just a few clicks, they can arrange to visit at their desired time with the doctor. It saves the patients time.

Advantages of Doctor Appointment Mobile App for Patients

• Schedule or reschedule appointments from anywhere
• Access healthcare 24/7.
• Connect with doctors in real time.
• Pay bills online no need to carry cash

From a Doctor’s Perspective

An app to schedule medical appointments computerizes the arrangement booking measures, which your staff might experience difficulty handling manually (e.g., entering patients’ very own subtleties, setting up specialists’ time allotments, managing administrative work, and so on). Along with these arrangements, an app additionally helps to improve clinic-patient communication. It can bring about fewer issues while affirming, dropping, or rescheduling arrangements.

Advantages of Doctor Appointment Mobile App for Doctors

• Manage staff Effectively
• Save Time
• Avoid overbooking.
• Minimize human errors
• Helps Evaluate  performance

Why Do You Need a Doctor Appointment Mobile App Development for Your Organisation? 

The primary goal of these apps is to evaluate a doctor’s performance and manage a patient’s health history to remain away from paper documentation. There are various other essential reasons which support doctor appointment mobile app development, those are:

• With an increasing number of individuals having cell phones, doctor appointment mobile apps have made it possible to book doctor’s appointments, order medicines, and plan a wide range of health activities without any hassle.  That’s why an increasing number of patients pick a medical care supplier that offers advanced services like online booking arrangements, video conferencing, and online consultation.

• One of the crucial benefits of having doctor appointment mobile apps for healthcare is that you can book physical checkups on the web. The alternative to booking a regular check-up plays a vital role in fulfilling certain clinical services. Both patients and doctors need to feel like they exploit each technological advancement and mechanize and work on their significant time.

• As a clinical expert or head of a medical services association, you are occupied with fulfilling customers more significantly than in other organizations. You need to remain competitive to provide an ideal patient experience. 

• With over 1.7 billion individuals utilizing healthcare-related applications in 2017 and the worldwide medical services application market expected to increase by more than US$200 billion by 2024, you can’t afford to leave behind.

• The Pandemic proved to be an excellent push for doctor appointment mobile app development. During the pandemic (covid-19), doctor appointment mobile apps remained a great hope for people to consult the doctor and do follow-ups and regular check-ups. As a result, every new or old clinic is moving to an online platform, and patients also prefer online consultations instead of physical visits due to exposure risk.

What are the Benefits of a Doctor Appointment Mobile App Development?

These apps make things convenient for both patients and doctors. Hence we will cover the benefits of these apps from both perspectives.

Benefits for Doctors

• Cost-effectiveness- It is the foremost benefit of appointment scheduling apps for doctors. The working hours of the administrative staff are reduced (as everything is managed on the app, so they need not be physically present every time) if these apps are in place, which reduces the cost of staff. It is significantly easier to track cancellations in these apps. Hence these apps avoid unused timeslots and can optimize doctor workload, which is truly time-saving.

• Brand recognition- When patients talk with the clinic where they are treated with absolute attention, trust and loyalty are expanded. Probably, in the future, they will pick a similar center. So making an appointment with a specialist is a great way to take it to the next higher level.

• Expand presence online and offline- This software enhances the opportunities for doctors for getting more patients. As per the Deloitte report, an online doctor appointment mobile app enables consulting two extra patients daily. Hence it increases the doctors’ experience and efficiency of work.

• Serve remotely- With the help of doctor appointment mobile applications, doctors can increase the reach of their clinic. They can treat patients across the world through online platforms. If regular patients move to other cities or countries, they can continue their treatment under the same doctor. Hence chances of losing patients are reduced in mobile applications.

• Data decentralization- When regular checkups are taken care of, calls and work schedules are placed on a few accounting pages. The data is scattered across different devices and the chances of errors increases. However, it’s simpler to manage and track down records when the information is stored in a central database.

Benefits for Patients

• Time-saving– Using online doctor appointment apps, people can make appointments quickly and conveniently. Choosing the preferred timings out of the available slots is quite time-saving as there is no doctor or staff involvement. There is no time restraint whenever one feels one can access the app and schedule a visit with the doctor.

• Cost-effective- Consulting the doctor from the comfort of your home what more a patient desires. People can save their money on a taxi or fuel (if taking their vehicle) while meeting doctors virtually through the doctor appointment apps. Other than that, many healthcare apps these days come with monthly or yearly subscriptions, which are no doubt cheaper than visiting doctors physically regularly.

• Easier to find specialists- An online consulting mobile app is generally joined with the platform with doctor’s profiles listing (specific clinic or location). It implies that a patient can, without much of a stretch, discover a trained professional if they have an issue that needs a specific skill. Specialist profile postings in the application allow patients to contact the right specialist without tedious calls, just with search functionality or easy filters.

• Convenience and Availability- The appointment apps are boon for patients who are very ill or unable to walk. They just need a smartphone and internet connection to consult a doctor from the comfort of their home. Video conferencing improves the quality of virtual communication between doctors and patients. In case of any skin problem and visible energies, video calls leave no chance to visit the doctor physically.

• Improved healing process- With these apps, patient confidence is growing as they can get qualified medical service at any time. They can even reach out to medical service providers across the world. Through online doctor appointment apps, patients now have more options of timing to choose for the consultation with the desired physician or doctor, which is highly important in this busy world.

What Should be the Features of the Doctor Appointment Mobile Apps?

The must-have features in any top-notch online medical or doctor booking and appointment scheduling app considering both patients/users and doctor’s requirements are given below: 

Features for Patients/Users

• Signup/Registration or Login- Allow easy and quick registration or signup through email, mobile number, or OTP. Similarly, ensure password protects logins to keep their information confidential.

• Search for Doctors– Provide the option to search for doctors based on the problem, ratings, areas, hospitals, and many more. To make their search process easier, add various filters in the app.

• Appointment Booking– Give options for all the available slots to patients and allow them to book the slot in just one tab.

• Consultation- Include the option to avail of a paid and free consultation with the doctor.

• Online Chat– Build in-app chat features to allow users to chat with doctors privately in case of confusion, misinterpretation of prescriptions, or any other discussion.

• Check Doctor’s details– Allow patients to check doctor’s details like qualifications, consultation fees, feedback, and reviews as it will help gain trust towards that doctor.

• Document Upload– Allow patients to submit their health data such as test reports, X-rays, etc.

• Access to blogs and information- Add a blog section where users can read exclusive blogs or information shared by doctors on health-related topics.

• Payment options– Provide the option to pay for a consultation right through the app. Try to add multiple payment options to give more flexibility to users.

Features for Doctors/Clinics

• Signup/Registration or Login- Ensure doctors or clinics get registered with mobile numbers and email. It is advisable to add password-protected login.

• Profile Setting- Allow doctors to create their profiles and add professional and personal information such as name, location, qualifications, year of experience, etc. 

• Online Consultation– Allow doctors to consult with the patients through video conferencing, chat applications, on-call, file sharing, document upload, etc.

• Patient History– Patient history helps doctors recall the past prescription and give treatment accordingly if the patient or user consults again for the same problem.

• Online Follow-ups– For the monthly follow-ups, allow doctors to set in-app appointment reminders. It helps to track the patients coming up or monetize repeat interactions.

• Push Notification– Doctors can use push notifications for appointment reminders, cancellations, and confirmation instead of calling each patient manually. This feature updates the patients about any health packages or ongoing special offers.

• FAQs– Add the option where doctors can answer patients’ questions free of cost. It will help to gain patients’ trust and increase the list of their patients.

• Information or Health Tips– Provide an option where doctors can share their informative articles or blog on their area of expertise. In this way, they can showcase their proficiency and gain trust among patients. 

How Does a Doctor Appointment Online Application Work?

However, each healthcare mobile application has its own functioning; almost all online doctor appointment applications follow the given below pattern:

• Step 1 – Book Appointment: In order to get treatment from a specific specialist, the patient is required to sign in to the app, create an account, and give detailed information about their symptoms.

• Step 2 – Finding Consultant: The software now tracks the symptoms mentioned by the patient. Based on these symptoms, the application finds the most appropriate doctor that lies close to them.

• Step 3– Connect or Confirm Appointment: After discovering a specialist that coordinates with the patient’s prerequisites, they can contact the doctor via video call or set up an appointment utilizing the in-application calendar.

• Step 4 – Consulting the Doctor: In the video discussion that follows, the specialist speaks with the patient to understand the patient’s health issue and accordingly suggests the essential treatment, lab tests, and a wide range of various related stuff.

• Step 5 – Make the Payment:  As soon as the video discussion is done, the patient pays the specialist for the medical care administration he received through a built-in payment gateway. After payment is made for treatment, the patient will get the receipt and prescription from the doctor.

Standard monetization methods used by doctor appointment mobile applications are:

• Membership– The users have to pay monthly or yearly subscriptions to enjoy the app services.

• Transaction fees– In this method, patients are charged on a per-minute basis for their visit.

• Software as a service– It is the method of licensing the app for private practices—for example, Doctor on Demand and American Well. American Well charges hospitals around $1 a month for one employee.

• Paid access for third-party facilities– Although these applications mainly focus on patients and doctors, other parties like laboratories and pharmacies may often be asked to collaborate.

What are the Processes/Stages in the Doctor Appointment Mobile App Development?

Generally, Doctor appointment mobile app development companies follow the given below steps to ensure feature-rich, scalable, and robust online doctor appointment applications:

1. Research

In this phase, the healthcare app development company  researches the market requirement for the doctor booking app, considering the patient’s/user’s needs

The following points are covered in this phase:

• Analyzing the competitor’s app
• Figuring out their pros and cons
• Combine all of this with the user’s need

2. Planning

This phase will decide which feature you want to add to your app and which technology you want to go for. This phase also involves thinking through encryption technologies and other technical safeguards for your mobile application. Since doctor appointment apps include patients’ information, we also have to think from a security point of view.

3. Design & Prototyping

In the Design & Prototyping phase, you should:

• Decide pattern, color, and other visuals in the applications.
• Create a UI (User Interface)
• Create an easy-to-navigate doctor appointment booking app system
• Design & develop the clickable features

4. Testing

Testing is to check how stable and secure your app is. Based on patients’ or users’ feedback, we can improve the features and functionality and make the app more user-friendly.

5. Launch

Once the final feedback-based improvement is made, your app is now ready for its debut. But the work of mobile app development companies is not completed yet. Maintaining your app is also equally important. We are sure you don’t want the patient’s experience to be spoiled by technical glitches. Along with that, regular up-gradation and the addition of new features are a must to keep your doctor appointment app ahead of competitors.

What is the Total Cost of Doctor Appointment Mobile App Development?

The average expense to employ doctor appointment application developers fluctuates according to the area you consider for the project. Generally, it begins from USD18 to 25+/hr. in India and Dubai, and can go up to USD100 to 150 every hour in the USA. From beginning to end, the doctor appointment mobile app development process takes a lot of time as it consists of various steps and complexity. The more features you need, the more hours are required by the developers to complete the project. On average, it will take around 300 to 1000 hours of development and testing.

Major factors affecting the cost are as follow:

• Type of Platform– Android, iOS, Cross-platform
• UI & UX Design– Rich, Medium, or Simple
• Complexity–  Diversity, and number of features and functionalities
• Additional Requirements– Project manager, Business analyst, app tester, etc. 
• Third-party Integration– Payment, Payouts

Important Points to Focus on in Doctor Appointment App Development 

• While choosing the platform for an online doctor appointment app, ensure that your needs are fulfilling or not like it can support video conferencing or not.

• The platform should also assist the users with how to book an appointment.

• Integrate multiple payment gateways, as it helps in smoothing the payment processes.

• Make sure that mobile applications can take patient’s test reports in any format( png, jpg, pdf, doc, etc.)

• In virtual mode, doctors can’t use their medical tools. Hence, in the mobile application, doctors should access some software to check the patient’s health.

• Remember that having some features is good but adding too many features can spoil the game. Hence always double sure what features you want to add to your app to make it more user-friendly.

Wrappings Words

After going through this blog, without any doubt, we can say that doctor appointment mobile app development radically changed the medical care industry and has shown huge enhancements. With the launch of these apps, doctors and patients can efficiently discuss health issues from any place. The medical care app is a business industry, but always remember that you make it mainly for patients who need to discover a specialist through your application.

Hence you must focus on making the mobile app development project successful in gaining the trust of users as well boost its recognition all over the world. In order to make your application stand ahead of the competition, you have to invest a great deal of energy in planning, development, and QA. Thus it is always advisable to get your healthcare applications developed by a professional mobile app development company. 

Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Doctor Appointment Mobile App Development

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