Mobile Apps in Healthcare Industry: A Boon for Personalized Patient Care and Beyond

Over the years, healthcare applications have become increasingly important for patients and healthcare professionals alike. Coined as the next big thing in the medical industry, healthcare mobile apps not only lend a helping hand in fixing appointments or readily accessing medical reports; they also help during times of medical emergencies. From apps that help track and monitor vital signs to those that provide virtual consultations and diagnosis, healthcare apps have taken the medical industry by storm. In fact, according to a survey, 93% of physicians value having a mobile health app during times of critical health emergencies. 

Apart from redefining patient care, the inclined use of mobile healthcare has also proved to be convenient for healthcare professionals, leading to the rapid development of mobile health apps. With more than 300 million people drawing upon its immense benefits, health apps are successfully bridging the gap between patients and healthcare digitally as well as economically. 

Let’s get down to the essentials and explore how mobile apps in healthcare industry are improving medical services and saving lives and the costs of expenses. 

What is an App in Healthcare?

As the name suggests, healthcare apps are apps that are specifically designed with the goal of delivering medical services and wellness support through smartphones and tablets. They act as a bridge between medical professionals and patients by allowing them convenient access to care and information. 

From virtual consultations through video conferences and health monitoring tools that track vital signs, mobile apps in the healthcare industry cater to a wide range of needs. They combine technology and healthcare to help individuals get highly efficient medical services.

Also Read: Best Healthcare Mobile App Development Company 2024

Significance of Tailored Healthcare App Solutions

As the global healthcare market continues to grow, with a projected value of $269 billion USD by the end of 2032 and at a growth rate of 14.9% CAGR, the role of tailored mobile apps in transforming healthcare delivery and patient engagement is becoming vital, to say the least. Here is a graph showing this data:

Unlike generic apps, tailored health care apps can meet the unique requirements of patients and healthcare providers. This not only helps improve user functionality but also allows providers to streamline their workflow better. 

Through personalized patient care like remote monitoring and virtual consultations, individuals can get better care for their health, preventing any sudden mishaps from occurring. 

Moreover, custom apps allow seamless integration with systems, such as electronic health records (EHR) and wearable devices, ensuring data accuracy and accessibility. They also comply with industry regulations like HIPAA, safeguarding sensitive patient information. 

By focusing on individual needs and delivering scalable, secure solutions, custom healthcare app development plays a vital role in advancing the efficiency and accessibility of modern healthcare.

Essential Key Features of a Successful Mobile App in Healthcare Industry

In the last few years, the penetration of technology in healthcare has caused mHealth to dominate the industry. More and more clinics and healthcare centers are building feature-rich mobile apps to ease and streamline processes for them as well as the patients. While each app should have customized features according to its function, certain features are essential to make mobile apps in the healthcare industry an effective digital solution. Read on to find out more about the key features that make a mobile app successful in today’s market. 

1. Live Chat with Healthcare Experts

Live chat with healthcare experts is a convenient way to get immediate professional medical advice, making them an ideal functionality of mHealth apps. This feature removes the distance between healthcare professionals and patients, enabling them to get consultations around the clock. 

Apart from paving the way for online consultation, live chat functionality can also be leveraged for scheduling appointments, getting answers, conveying information, and more. This is beneficial not only during emergencies but also for patients who are facing trouble travelling to healthcare centers. 

2. Notification System

Amid hectic lifestyles and demanding schedules, it is common for patients to forget to take their prescriptions or appointments on time. By integrating a notification system into your mobile app, patients can get timely alerts and reminders about their medication, upcoming appointments, lab analysis, and other health-related tracking. 

This notification system should also have integrations that enable patients to confirm that they have taken their medication or appointment, allowing healthcare providers to monitor and track the progress. 

3. Secure Payment Methods

Payment features are one of, if not the most important of any application. Healthcare applications usually earn money through paid services like live consultations. For users to effectively use those services, you need to have a secure payment gateway where payments are made swiftly. Common and popular payment integrations like PayPal and Visa can be made to simplify the process for your users and make transactions secure. 

4. Multi-Language Functionality

If your healthcare app is not specific to a region and caters to a wide range of people, it is best to incorporate multi-language features. Navigating an app in the mother tongue will be easy and avoid confusion, especially in apps for healthcare where technical jargon and medical terms are commonly used. Building an app that has multi-language functionality will also ensure that it reaches a wider demographic. 

5. Electronic Health Records (EHR)

Electronic health records enable healthcare professionals to gain quick and instant access to a patient’s medical history. It also provides easy storage of a person’s complete medical history in one place. EHR enables doctors to look into past medical records without any hassle and also allows seamless access to the complete history when the patient consults with other healthcare providers. This can drastically eliminate the risk of wrong prescriptions and diagnosis. 

6. Easy Appointment Scheduling

With the rise in the usage of digital platforms and mobile apps, more and more people have started scheduling appointments through healthcare apps. According to a Forbes article, more than 72% of Gen Z and millennials are comfortable with scheduling appointments online. 

This type of appointment scheduling automates the administrative process and minimizes confusion in scheduling, such as overlapping appointments and missing gaps. It also makes it easier for healthcare providers to keep track of the open slots when someone cancels their appointment, making sure that everything runs in order.

Also Read: iOS Healthcare App Development: Features, Costs, Trends 

Top Advantages of Mobile Apps in Healthcare Industry

The advent of mobile apps has brought about major transformations in the healthcare industry. Their promising benefits for patients and healthcare professionals alike have been the grounds for their tremendous growth in usage over the years. From comfort and convenience to cost-efficient practices and secure data storage, the benefits of mobile apps in healthcare are plenty. Here are some of the most important advantages of using mobile good health apps: 

1. Ease of Accessibility

Mobile apps in healthcare have eliminated the need to visit hospitals for doctor appointments. With just a click of a button, patients are able to contact and get consultations from any part of the world. 

This ease of accessibility has changed the entire landscape of the healthcare industry, from allowing people from remote areas to easily have virtual consultations to eliminating the need for elderly people to travel long distances. Individuals who are constantly travelling can also connect with their family doctors who already have prior knowledge of their medical conditions and get the most suitable treatments. 

2. Patient Satisfaction

Health care apps are integrated with a lot of great features like reminders to take medications and tests and review health conditions virtually. Among their hustling lifestyles, these features have proven to be a great help in keeping them healthy. 

Healthcare centers are also able to provide more advanced services and care to their patients through these apps by constantly keeping track of their improvements and changes. All these factors have led to heightened patient satisfaction and engagement throughout the years. 

3. Streamlined Administration

Manually storing and tracking all the details of each and every patient visiting healthcare centers is impractical and prone to an abundance of human error. Mobile apps in healthcare industry have redefined this completely, allowing medical professionals to access their patient data within a matter of seconds. 

These apps streamline various administrative tasks like scheduling appointments, storing reports, and managing data, and they completely eradicate the need for extensive paperwork like in the past. 

4. Reduction in Costs

The introduction of mobile apps in healthcare industry has significantly cut down the costs needed for travelling to healthcare centers and hospitals. A virtual consultation with a medical professional also has lower pay-per-visit costs when compared to in-person visits. Along with reducing patient costs, it is also beneficial for healthcare providers by lowering the need to create reports continuously. 

5. Improved Communication

The incorporation of advanced communicative features into healthcare apps allows individuals to connect easily with healthcare professionals in real-time. Another advantage of continuous communication is that it helps to build a strong doctor-patient relationship. In this way, patients also get the care they need. However, while developing a mHealth app for your patients, you need to comply with HIPAA to make your app meet industry standards.

6. Efficient Data Collection 

Healthcare mobile applications are also widely used to collect huge amounts of data on patient behaviors, health symptoms, and outcomes. Medical facilities can make the best use of these data to analyze and identify trends, predict patient needs, and make necessary treatment plans. 

The doctors can use the collected information to provide personalized medical care. A healthcare app development company can enhance your app functionalities based on user behavior and feedback.

7. Reduced Risk of Misdiagnosis

Due to healthcare apps, medical centers can now store all the information related to a patient in a centralized place, including their test reports, past illnesses, and allergies. Manually storing different patient paperwork can become confusing and open the door to a lot of errors in diagnosis. 

Instead, managing these reports and results through healthcare mobile apps allows doctors to accurately access the right information and prescribe the most suitable treatments and medication. This is also extremely useful when patients decide to make a shift from consulting one doctor to another. 

8. Self Health Monitoring

Mobile apps in healthcare industry have greatly redefined how people monitor their own health. They allow individuals to monitor various vital signs such as heartbeat, blood pressure, nutrition, sleep, anxiety, and pulse rate. 

All these are very helpful in preventing sudden occurrences of illness by alerting them in the early stages. Medical professionals, too, can better track the progress and vitals of patients with diseases like cardiovascular diseases, heart failure, hypertension, or coronary heart diseases. 

9. Curbs Transmission of Infections

Through healthcare applications, patients are now able to get consultations over video conferencing by stating their symptoms to the doctors. This eliminates the need to go to the hospital in person for minor ailments like flu or viral fevers. Staying indoors and receiving proper consultations reduces the risk of these infections spreading to others, especially children and elderly people who are vulnerable to catching them quickly. 

10. Quick Availing of Emergency Services

Mobile apps in the healthcare industry enable people to get quick medical services in times of emergency. They can be linked to emergency contacts and hospital helpline numbers through which they can immediately call and receive medical assistance. Some apps are also integrated with live location updating features where they can send your location and guide your emergency contacts or hospital assistance to your current place.

Also Read: AI in Healthcare: Types, Benefits, & Steps to Integrate AI Solution

Why Should Medical Professionals Embrace Healthcare App Development?

Ever since mobile apps in healthcare industry were introduced, they have drastically helped medical professionals in various ways. By combining technology and healthcare, these apps have become practical solutions for healthcare providers to several long-standing challenges like managing patient records, streamlining workflow, scheduling appointments, bridging communication gaps and gaining remote monitoring over patients. 

Along with this, health care apps also free up valuable time for medical staff by automating various tasks and allowing them to focus more on the patients and delivering quality care. Recent studies also show that around 90% of healthcare professionals use medical apps for various benefits like accessing electronic health records and communicating with patients. 

Adopting healthcare apps also helps strengthen the relationship with patients by providing instant communication and transparency. They allow doctors to focus on providing quality patient care without much hassle, leaving the administrative and automotive tasks to healthcare apps. 

How are Mobile Apps in Healthcare Industry Enhancing Patient Care?

Healthcare apps have faced a steady increase in usage since the breakout of Covid-19 where people were pushed to consult with doctors while staying indoors. People started using mHealth apps and recognized their benefits and convenience leading to more healthcare providers readily developing customized apps for their patients. 

Mobile apps in healthcare industry are enriched with various features that eliminate many barriers faced by patients. Patients no longer have to spend hours waiting at healthcare centers and can schedule their appointments at the right time through apps. Those living in remote areas or suffering from mobility issues can also take virtual consultations without the hassle of travelling. 

When it comes to managing the health of patients, healthcare apps are of great help. They not only allow patients to take their medications and tests on time with reminders and alerts, but they also enable healthcare providers to keep track of their vital signs. In fact, around 70% of individuals are using medical apps to get better healthcare. 

Health care apps also include educational resources and provide information about their conditions and treatments to patients. This eliminates the fear of illness and helps in facing their problems more bravely. 

Popular Types of Healthcare Apps – Infographic

Top 5 Best Healthcare Mobile Apps on the Market

A great healthcare app should be user-centric, secure and also equipped with all the features that address the different needs of both patients and medical professionals. It should be easy to navigate for people from all age groups with clear instructions and multi-language functionality. 

When developing mobile apps for healthcare, security and data privacy should be two factors that are given utmost importance. These apps handle all the sensitive information of patients and must adhere to strict data protection standards and transparent privacy policies. Here are the top 5 healthcare apps on the market that have helped patients and healthcare providers alike: 

1. Medisafe Pill Minder and Trackers

This app’s main functionality is to remind patients about their prescriptions and dosage. Once the patient has taken their medication, they can confirm it on the app and it will send a report to the healthcare provider on a weekly or monthly basis. The app is available on both Android and iPhone and can also be integrated with wearables. 

2. Eyecare Live

Customized for opticians, this app helps patients with vision problems get virtual consultations. The doctor can conduct several tests through video conferencing and give proper prescriptions based on it. The app is free to use and also allows patients to schedule further in-person appointments with doctors. 

3. Teladoc

Teladoc is an app that provides emergency service 24/7. It immediately connects patients to medical professionals to assist them during sudden times of need. This app is particularly useful for people who would like to converse with doctors in their mother tongue and it also provides an interpreter who is well-versed in sign language for people with hearing disabilities. 

4. Springstone

With more emphasis given to mental health nowadays, Springstone gained popularity for providing a secure platform to treat mental illness, especially among youth. The app streamlines the process of mental health screening and helps in connecting patients to the right practitioners for them. 

5. MySugr

Diabetes has become a major illness across the globe, affecting almost 830 million people worldwide. MySugr app helps keep this condition in control by constantly tracking the blood sugar levels of patients and providing the information to medical professionals. Along with this tracking system, the app also provides tips to patients to keep their sugar levels in check. 

The Future of Healthcare

It is undeniable that the future of healthcare is driven by technological advancements and innovative solutions to streamline patient care and the workflow of healthcare providers. Healthcare centres are increasingly trying to incorporate leading technologies like artificial intelligence and wearable devices to enhance accessibility and personalization. 

In the upcoming years, a significant shift towards preventive measures through technology and digitalization can be anticipated. The rise of digital health solutions can also ensure that more people facing trouble accessing medical services are able to receive quality care. 

Conclusion

Healthcare application development has become an indispensable path forward in the medical industry. With more people leaning towards better ways of convenience and accessibility, mobile apps in healthcare industry are slowly becoming vital components of the modern healthcare ecosystem. 

If you want to build a healthcare app that is feature-rich and highly scalable but at the most affordable price, then APPWRK IT Solutions is the best choice. We are a leading app development and AI-driven digital transformation company offering the best healthcare mobile app development services. Our team of healthcare mobile app developers are highly experienced in developing apps for Android and iOS platforms and integrations with the latest tech stack like AI, AR/VR, wearables and many more. Contact us to get a free quote today!

FAQs

1. What are the key considerations for custom healthcare app development?

The key considerations of custom healthcare app development require compliance with regulations like HIPAA and GDPR to ensure data security and privacy. The app must also feature an intuitive design and integrate with systems like EHRs or wearable devices. Other key areas include scalability, performance and personalization to handle the growing demands of patients. 

2. How to choose the right medical app development partner?

Among the abundance of healthcare mobile app development companies available, choosing the right medical app development partner involves evaluating several critical factors such as proven experience in healthcare app development, strong portfolio showcasing relevant projects, and technical expertise in developing user-friendly apps. 

3. What is the importance of user experience in a health app?

User experience (UX) is extremely important in a health app as it directly impacts user engagement and effectiveness. A healthcare app is usually used by middle-aged people and hence making it user-friendly and easy to navigate is paramount. A well-designed UX enhances patient compliance by simplifying tasks like booking appointments, accessing medical records, or tracking health metrics.

4. What is the future of custom healthcare apps?

The future of custom healthcare apps is poised for significant growth, driven by advancements in technology and increasing demand for personalized care. AI and machine learning will enable apps to provide predictive analytics, personalized health recommendations, and early diagnosis. Integration with IoT devices and wearables will offer real-time health monitoring, empowering proactive care. Telemedicine and remote patient management will expand access to healthcare services globally, especially in underserved areas.

5. How to develop a mobile app with high HIPAA standards?

Developing a mobile app with high HIPAA standards requires proper planning and implementation to ensure compliance and protect patient data. You need to implement secure user authentication mechanisms, such as multi-factor authentication, to prevent unauthorized access to your mobile app. Your app should also provide limitless control to user data with strict access controls to only authorized personnel.

6. How to make the most of healthcare app development?

To make the most of healthcare app development you can start by clearly defining the purpose of your app and the target audience. As a part of your app development journey, you need to prioritize user-centric design with clear navigation and accessibility features to cater to diverse user groups, including patients, healthcare professionals, and administrators. Lastly, you must also include post-launch support as an integral part of your plan to improve functionality and adapt to evolving user needs.