According to mobile health care statistics, the global market for healthcare was worth $37 billion in 2019. What’s more the global revenue from the mobile health care market has reached $49.12 billion in 2020. Investors have also invested $12.5 billion in the mobile health care industry in 2018. The number of patients using telemedicine services has surged to 7 million in 2019 from 1 million in 2015.
All these numbers reflect a positive outlook for the future of health care mobile app development. This pandemic has also accelerated that trend as people are more reluctant to visit the hospitals to seek treatment and are preferring mobile health care services delivered through mobile apps.
If you are an IOS or android app developer who is creating mobile apps for the healthcare industry, then you are in the right place. In this article, you will learn about eight things every health care app developer should consider before developing mobile apps for the healthcare industry.
- Hardware
With users using multiple devices to access the internet and health care services, you need to create an app that is accessible on all these devices. If you are developing an enterprise healthcare mobile solution, then you should optimize it for tablets as they are mostly used on tablets. This allows them to deliver more functionality as compared to their smartphone counterpart. Whether you are developing an app for smartphones, tablets or wearable devices, make sure you follow all the guidelines so your app delivers a great experience irrespective of devices.
- Interoperability
Most modern health care facilities are already using healthcare management systems. If you are creating a mobile app for the healthcare industry, you need to make sure that it is compatible with those systems otherwise, most healthcare facilities won’t adopt your solution. If your app can seamlessly integrate with their existing healthcare management solution, your mobile app will gain more downloads and install and soon become popular. If you are creating an app for medical facilities that are still using legacy systems, then you should make your app compatible with their systems.
- UI/UX Considerations
Unlike traditional apps which are usually used by a single type of user, health care apps are used by both patients as well as doctors. This means that app developers must consider the requirements of both patients and doctors when creating a user interface for the app.
Reduce the number of form fields and only ask for the information that you really need. Use the auto fill feature to fill up forms. This will make it easier for both patients and doctors to enter information into the mobile app and enhance the user experience as well. Use colors, fonts, and design elements that portray a positive picture instead of spreading negativity.
- API Components
Application programming interfaces are usually used to connect and integrate apps with one another. If you want your app users to share their data with someone on a social networking website, you might need an API component to pass on that information.
Whenever you log in to your app, an API is used to connect you to a remote server and authenticate the user. Moreover, you might also need an API for letting someone access a patient’s database containing all the medical records. That is not all, you will also need separate application programming interfaces for vendors and suppliers. Professional mobile app development company Toronto uses APIs to its advantage.
- Data Security
Data security and privacy are two of the main concerns that mobile app developers have to address before creating a medical app. Since the data stored in health care mobile apps are of a sensitive nature, businesses need to be extra cautious about it. Even if you have an innovative mobile app idea for the health care industry, you should first ensure that it passes the security test.
Due to security concerns, most developers have started to develop health care apps with security in mind. They are baking in security features that can keep the patient’s data private. Features like multi-factor authentication, encryptions and firewalls are becoming a regular feature for health care mobile apps.
- Device Security
With cybercriminals aggressively targeting and compromising mobile devices, app developers have decided to migrate the app data to the cloud. This has reduced the reliance on device hardware. Moreover, this also means that even if your device is compromised, the patient’s sensitive data will still be stored safely in the cloud. You can also educate and increase user awareness and ask them to turn device security features for safely accessing medical records.
- Minimum Viable Product
The best way to develop a health care app is to do it iteratively. Instead of creating a full-fledged mobile app, you need first focus on creating a minimum viable product. This will help you collect user feedback and incorporate it in the final release. Not only does this approach help you deliver a more refined final product which is the mobile app in this case but it can also help you deliver a better user experience and build long-term relationships with customers. It can also enhance your efficiency, as you clearly know what type of app users want.
- Testing
Releasing a half-baked application laden with bugs and making it available for users to download can have disastrous consequences but when you launch a health care app, it can prove to be fatal. That is why testing a health care app is even more important. You need to make sure that all the feature of your health care app is working as planned and there is no errors and bugs. Upload the app to the respective app store only when you are fully sure that it doesn’t have any bugs otherwise, you could fall into hot waters and could even have to face legal issues.
Which factors do you take into account when developing apps for the health care industry? Let us know in the comments section below.
