Before moving on to develop any application, the very first thing that we need to do is to estimate the cost involved in this process. Mobile applications are also very widely used in the healthcare industry nowadays and the cost of developing a health app depends on different factors.
For the scope of this article, we will try to explore the healthcare mobile app development cost while taking into consideration all those factors. Moreover, we will also try to throw light on some of the most common types of healthcare apps.
Need for an app for healthcare
Many people might wonder what is the need for even thinking about medical app development when the tasks involved in this particular sector are done very reliably with the manual procedures. The answer to this question is very simple. All of us know that we live in the age of technology and the more the automation involved in an industry, the more it is considered successful. It is so because the repetitive and commonly occurring tasks are better accomplished with the help of mobile applications rather than doing them manually from scratch every time.
Because of the sudden breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the industrial trends have shifted online due to the impossibility of face to face interactions. Since hospitals and clinics were considered as the hotspots for spreading this virus, therefore, even the people with serious medical conditions hesitated while visiting these places. In these circumstances, the medical apps appeared on the scene as a miraculous invention and the statistics prove that especially during this time, the usage of such apps is on the rise.
Moreover, since the medical industry is considered highly critical, therefore, human failures cannot be tolerated at any cost. On the other hand, the mhealth applications are well programmed because of which they are less prone to errors. That is why most healthcare-related professionals get interested in finding out the cost of developing a health app. But before diving into the cost calculation of building a healthcare app, we should try to explore all the necessary features of a healthcare mobile app.
Essential features of a healthcare mobile app
We know very well that every particular industry evolves with time. Similarly, the trends in healthcare mobile app development have also changed with the passage of time which plays a very significant role in healthcare app cost estimation. Here, we are interested in exploring all the features that are a must in every healthcare mobile app. So let us try to find them out together.
User Authentication:
This feature is a must, especially for healthcare applications. It is ensured to prevent any unauthorized access and hence the modification of the sensitive medical records.
Realtime Health Monitoring:
This is required to give users a preview of their health status in realtime. There are certain aspects of a human body that needs to be regularly monitored such as blood pressure, temperature, glucose level, heartbeat, weight, etc. Therefore, dedicated APIs are needed to serve this purpose.
Medical Records Keeping and their Safety:
Medical records should be readily available to be viewed by the patients as well as by the doctors. These records may include prescriptions, patient’s medical history, appointment details, etc. Since these records are highly sensitive, therefore, their safety and security should be ensured by applying proper controls.
A Reliable Communication Protocol between Doctors and Patients:
The essential idea behind a healthcare mobile application is to connect the patients and doctors remotely i.e. neither the patient nor the doctor needs to visit each other physically. This is exactly why we need a strong and reliable communication channel for the doctors and patients to promote sound interaction between them.
Location and Time Synchronization:
In some of the healthcare applications, this feature might be considered as secondary, however, for the healthcare apps such as Appointment Scheduling apps, this one is among the most wanted features because it enables to arrange appointments while keeping in mind the schedules of both the patients and the doctors as well as the physical location where they reside. This is done so that the patient should know beforehand how long it is going to take for him to reach the doctor.
Payment and Billing:
This is again one of the most crucial features of a healthcare app. When there is no physical interaction between the doctors and patients such as in Telehealth or Telemedicine app, then there should be a trustworthy payment and billing mechanism online that satisfies the needs of both the patients and the doctors.
If we are supposed to build an app development cost estimate calculator, then all of these factors and some others (that are specific to a particular type of healthcare app) must be kept in mind.
Cost of developing a healthcare app
If you are interested in developing a healthcare mobile app, then some of the few things that should immediately strike your mind are: How much does it cost to develop an app in general? What does a healthcare mobile app development cost? What will be the cost if you tend to develop a telemedicine app? etc. The answers to all of these questions will be covered in this section of the article. As far as the cost of developing a general-purpose app is concerned, then in Western Europe (WE), it is around $45 to $65 per hour for a mid-level app developer.
For a mid-level dedicated healthcare mobile app developer, the cost in WE lies within the range of $60 to $80 per hour because of the safety-critical nature of these applications. The point to be noted over here is that the cost just discussed is only the payment of a healthcare mobile app developer. If we take into consideration the overall medical app cost in WE, then it is somewhere around $425,000. If the app is all about telehealth or telemedicine, then these costs in WE are significantly higher than in other parts of the world and may reach up to $234,135 whereas, in other parts of the world, the telehealth apps are cheaper to build.
The most common type of healthcare apps
Some of the most common types of healthcare apps are discussed below:
Reminder Apps:
These apps have built-in indicators that continuously prompt a patient to take his medicines on time. Moreover, if a patient has been prescribed to walk for 30 minutes daily, then such applications may also keep reminding him until he completes a 30 minutes walk.
Chronic Condition Apps:
There are some diseases or certain medical conditions that a patient is suffering for quite a long time. Such chronic conditions need special attention both by the patients and doctors. The doctors need to have access to the patient’s medical history all the time to adjust the medication accordingly and the patient needs to monitor his progress in order to know if his health is improving with the passage of time or not. Such special requirements can only be catered by chronic condition apps.
Doctor on Demand Apps:
These are the most commonly used healthcare apps in which a patient has the liberty to communicate with his doctor on call as per his needs. These apps are further divided into Appointment Scheduling apps and Telehealth apps.
Remote Monitoring Apps:
In this type of healthcare apps, the doctor has access to a patient’s medical data and he assesses it remotely while prescribing the patient with the best available medication. Moreover, the doctor also keeps a keen eye on the patient’s health through the remote monitoring feature.
Mental Health Apps:
In today’s fast-paced world, there is so much stress all around that every other person is facing mental illness. This is why this kind of apps finds a huge market share. The aim of these apps is to connect such patients with relevant therapists, psychiatrists, or psychologists depending on the severity of the medical illness they are facing. These professionals not only guide them through proper means rather they also present them with certain self-assessment solutions to know their progress in realtime.
Physical Fitness Apps:
As the name implies, these apps are there to take care of your physical health. They may prescribe you to take a healthy diet, do regular workouts, etc. Moreover, they also allow you to monitor your daily, weekly, or monthly progress.
Norgic as your healthcare development partner
If you do not have sufficient expertise in building a healthcare app or the healthcare mobile app development cost is too high for your company to bear on your own, then you can conveniently take the healthcare app development services from a well-known healthcare app development company. Although, Norgic is not solely dedicated to healthcare app development, however, it still is capable of providing you with the best of the best healthcare app development services and that too within a highly affordable price range.
The dedicated development team at Norgic not only tries its level best to understand your requirements but also offers you to get a fully customized solution according to your needs. We at Norgic believe in the quality of work and customer satisfaction, therefore, if you plan on outsourcing the development of your healthcare app, then do consider Stockholm-based Norgic as a healthcare app development company.
Summing up:
If you have ever wondered how much does it cost to make a medical app, then after going through this article, your confusions must have been resolved up to a great extent.
The only thing that should be kept in mind is that these costs are only for the healthcare apps that have those basic features which we have discussed in this article. Moreover, these costs are also specific to the Western Europe region. If a developer, or an organization, or a client wants additional features along with these and the company or the developer resides somewhere other then Western Europe, then these costs will grow or shrink accordingly.
