The rise of the internet and technology age has brought some significant changes. It has enabled us to order everything from food to clothes to taxis in just one click. The pandemic has caused the need to introduce telemedicine apps as an innovative method to connect doctors and patients in remote areas. Read the article carefully if you want to know how to develop a telemedicine app or have a mobile application for doctor-on-demand.
Telemedicine apps have gained popularity at a very early stage and have registered more than a million users. These apps have brought innovative and creative methods to bridge the gap between healthcare professionals and the underprivileged population.
In 2020, telemedicine had raised about $4.3 billion, the highest in the digital health category and fostering telehealth app development innovation.
What is Telemedicine?
Telemedicine or telehealth refers to providing healthcare facilities to remote areas using technological aids and tools. Now, people can even take their medicine, for example, semaglutide in pill or injection form, from the comfort of their houses.
Medical facilities can be easily provided to the ones using the telemedicine app. This facility saves much of their time and money. Telemedicine apps also generate a new way of revenue for healthcare businesses.
As per Market Watch, the telemedicine market is expected to reach $16.7 billion globally by 2025. These values are also supported by the reports published by Meticulous research, which claims to get a CAGR of 23% by 2023.
Business tycoons are competing in building mobile-friendly applications. It is ideal for such organizations to build an app with highly reliable cross-platform app development services.
Top Benefits of Telemedicine for Patients:
- Convenient
- Cost-effective
- Accessible
- Time-efficient
Benefits of Telemedicine for Health Care Professionals:
- Additional income
- Reduced burden on hospitals
- Work from home for doctors
Different Kinds of Telemedicine Apps
☛ Interactive Telemedicine
These kinds of apps are developed to serve the purpose of remote health care facilities by building a way of communication between doctors and patients using the internet and mobile phones. They provide the features of voice and video calls. These apps can be used where immediate physical interaction is not required.
☛ IoT Based
The Internet of things in a medical field including intelligent medical devices for monitoring patients in remote areas. The users have to enter the information related to clinical parameters such as blood pressure, heart rate, blood sugar, etc. the app keeps track of the entered data and detects any chronic ailment, and immediately connects to the doctors.
Top Telemedicine App Features
The telemedicine app features are flexible for both users and physicians.
Features for Users
✍ New User Sign-In
The sign-in feature is the first step to saving your details. You can sign in to the application via your mail id or through some third-party apps like Google or Facebook.
✍ User Profile
The creation of a profile is the next step after registration. The patient needs to enter personal data like name, age, gender, etc., and primary health details. This information helps doctors to analyze the treatment history of the patients.
✍ Find Your Expert
After setting up your profile, you can search for doctors, clinics, or nearby hospitals. The app also allows you to view the healthcare experts, which mentions their specialization, fees, location, reviews, etc., enabling you to find your best healthcare expert.
✍ Booking Appointment
After using the search and filters option to find your expert, you can book your appointment with the doctor. Subject to the availability of the physician, you can access the health care facility.
✍ Text Chat
The app features a text and chat option for its users to solve minor issues, which saves the time and energy of the doctors and the patients. The patients can also share the medical reports or images, whatever is necessary, and seek help. The doctors can also read the descriptions well and provide unnecessary treatment.
✍ Face-Times
Telehealth apps provide the most convenient and popular feature of video calls. These apps connect users and health care professionals with live communication.
The physician can observe the behavioral changes or symptoms. The app makers understand the uneven availability of the Internet and thus build a platform that automatically adjusts the audio and video quality to avoid issues.
✍ Calendar
The in-built calendar is a critical element of the app. It allows the patients to monitor their bookings and appointments with the doctors. The app also provides the features to reschedule their bookings and make changes to their calendar accordingly.
✍ Payment Method
The most crucial feature of telemedicine applications is the payment gateway. The user must pay the minimum amount of fees prescribed by the chosen doctor using the most suitable payment method.
But the users need to be careful about the third-party apps before using any new payment gateway.
✍ Ratings and Reviews
The reviews, grades, or ratings help you find the most decent physician. This feature is added as the application ensures the patients’ health as its priority. You can rate the doctors on a scale of one to five.
The physicians scoring less than three are asked to improve the treatment quality. The ratings are not only for the doctors but also for the users. The professionals rate their patients on their absence or presence at the appointment slot.
How to Make a Telemedicine App?
The telemedicine market has seen a prominent growth in the number of globally available apps to provide healthcare facilities during the pandemic. Today, all private hospitals and clinics are ready to create telemedicine apps.
To gain your pace in this competitive world, you must understand the whole process of making a telemedicine app as it directly deals with people’s health. Let’s look at the steps how to make a telemedicine app.
1. Evolution of Idea
To create a telemedicine app, the developers must have a well-defined idea and the leading cause of developing the app. The developers must have a good understanding of the app’s functions and market reach. To Create Telemedicine, Keep in mind the following points:
- Research about the market and competition
- Unique value proposition
- Business analysis
- Marketing channels
- Unique prototype
2. Platform Selection
Good research homework helps you to decide on the platform of your app. If the maximum population deals with android, you must go for that option first and can make it available to iOS users at a later stage.
3. Creating Design
Many developers often fail to meet the needs of customers in the race to build a magnificent design. The developers must create a telemedicine app design that is straightforward to use and does not overburden the users with extra and unnecessary features.
4. Privacy and Security
The app developers need to ensure the security of the user’s data and personal details shared on the platform. The programming code must be end-to-end encrypted to form a secure connection.
5. Choose the Correct APIs
Some popular mentioned third party APIs are discussed below:
- Video: This kind of API inhibits real-time conversation between doctors and patients. A separate chat box is not required as it provides its built-in chat feature. This feature also allows the users to make a video call or share their respective screens.
- VSee SDK: This API follows the guidelines of HIPAA regulations and allows you to integrate encrypted video calls both for android and iOS platforms.
- Twilio: This API performs multiple programs and efficiently runs on all browsers. This API enables text messages, emails and fax, and voice calls.
6. App Development
The MVP version of the applications with basic features is the most suggested idea by experts. MVP can appeal to a more significant population and prevent the business from any consequential loss.
7. Quality Assurance and Testing
The most important is the testing of the quality of the built product. The developers must carry out a quality test of the application to ensure its smooth functioning on all available platforms.
The test must be conducted on several steps of the app’s progress. The test must also include the app’s working in case of an influx of new users.
8. Updates and Maintenance
Once the application is deployed on the platforms to download and install for the users, the app developers must observe the technical glitches and provide periodic updates with time.
Conclusion
Mobile applications to access various facilities have become a big game-changer for business analysts. Running a telemedicine app helps generate a considerable income and provides improved and innovative healthcare to those who cannot physically avail the benefits.
