Role of Mobile Apps in Healthcare Industry

Since the debut of mobile applications, it was expected to revolutionize the healthcare industry and take it to the next level. Today, the mobile apps in the healthcare industry are advancing at a faster pace and it has already started redefining the healthcare industry. It is expected to reach USD 102.35 billion by 2023 with a growth recorded at a CAGR of 29% for 5 years.

Nowadays, patients make use of healthcare mobile apps to schedule an appointment with a physician, get instant expert consultation and plan their hospital visit. Also, healthcare mobile apps help doctors in prescribing a medical course or documenting their patients’ records. Moreover, apps for healthcare offer enough room to accommodate all the patient records. Thus, it is easier for medical professionals to access and understand the patients’ health history.

Needless to say, healthcare mobile apps make it easy to document and store patient history efficiently. Besides, mobile apps are well-equipped to limit the occurrence of possible errors, reduce the cost of visiting a doctor, free you from maintaining paper records, and the list goes on.

RECENT MOBILE APP TRENDS IN THE HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY

Research and Markets (a market research firm) conducted a survey and the results suggest that the mobile app market of the healthcare industry is booming. Here are some interesting facts based on mobile healthcare apps (mHealth apps).

Health associated wearables collect people’s health information and sync it with mobile apps. 52% of smartphone users collect this information.

40% of doctors trust that these mobile tools can lessen the number of on-site clinical visits.

15% of 18 to 29-year olds have health apps already installed on their cell phones.

More than 25% of American physicians are using at least one mHealth app.

8% of smartphone users between the ages of 30 to 49 have medical app downloads.

93% of doctors say mobile apps can enhance the quality of patient health.

HOW MOBILE APPS BENEFITTED THE HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY?

Mobile apps help in the easy reach of medical assistance/consultation to the remotest locations.

For patients, it acts as a custom database/record and helps in securing their medical reports. Thus, it becomes handy and beneficial to doctors and medical staff.

Mobile apps limit the risk of poor diagnosis as it maintains all the patient health records efficiently. 

Lowered medical advice and treatment expenses

Mobile apps not only help people in scheduling an appointment with the practitioner of their choice but also helps in consulting with a medical expert instantly and seek medical assistance/advice.

THINGS TO BE ON TRACK

The digital transformation of the healthcare industry without any compromises is a challenge. Hence, when developing a mobile app for healthcare services you must keep the following aspects in mind.

Your App Should Comply with HIPAA: HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) aids in protecting the healthcare data/information of a person. This paves the way to store and share a person’s health information. Therefore, hiring a HIPAA expert is vital before feeding the information into the app.

Secure Patient Health Records: Almost all of the healthcare mobile apps save the patient information and it is a must to maintain privacy. You must take critical measures while integrating technological features that would help to secure the patients’ data and inhibits information theft.

Integration Complexity: No doubt that apps for healthcare play a vital role in bridging the gap between the doctors and the patients along with actionable insights on doctor and hospital information. Integrating all this information is a challenging and complex process. Moreover, the apps face a huge struggle while incorporating successful clinics and hospitals that are already well-established in the healthcare fraternity. Hence, it is inevitable for you to include both patient data and medical information in your mobile app.

Transparency and Patient Engagement: Whenever patients use your app, they are more likely to look for doctor-patient engagement. Providing a transparent environment helps in accessing all types of relevant medical data. The medical data maybe about the patients’ health reports or information on a medical expert/physician/doctor. Also, your app must provide doctors access to patient data as and when required.

Seamless Use: Your app must have impeccable design and offer rich user experience, easing the access to both doctors’ and patients’ information. When your app has a complex navigation structure, it affects the usage. Hence, avoid the usage of complex navigation in your app and implement cognitive UI/UX designs that are self-explanatory.

TIPS TO BUILDING EFFICIENT HEALTHCARE MOBILE APPS

Address the pain points of users crisply and clearly and avoid unnecessary navigations. It might leave the users in confusion. Firstly, identify your target audience and then draft your idea.

Build a user-friendly app with features such as Electronic Health Record (EHR). It ensures that the entire process of diagnosis and treatment are streamlined.

Reminders, social media integrations, push notifications are worth focussing on. Also, features such as scheduling, easy payment, and a quick consultation with a physician are pivotal to your app’s success.

Ensure your app is well-connected to the necessary databases and contributes seamless transfer/access to information. 

To effortlessly maintain a pool of doctor and patient information/data and cater them, make the best use of Big Data analytics.

Ensuring the security of your user data is of paramount importance regardless of the nature of your service. There are endless success possibilities in the healthcare industry. To identify and visualize all those possibilities, you have to be careful about how your app is developed, features included and the purpose of the app.

As a leader in the IT services industry, we have served niche requirements across various industries. We can effectively build a healthcare mobile app from scratch and load it with all your feature requirements. Feel free to get in touch by dropping us an email at media@techaffinity.com.