Introduction
mHealth apps are booming in the current healthcare landscape, predicting the continual and exponential rise in the coming years. According to a recent patient survey, over 65% of patients agree that mobile healthcare will be a great asset toward care delivery.
As the demand for mobile health technology increases, a technology revolution lies close at hand. A mobile health app has numerous advantages, but the ease of recording health data and access to medical treatment is at the core of its demand. The strength of mobile healthcare apps lies in their ability to decrease the need for physical doctor visits.
mHealth app development can showcase a variety of features but with one overarching purpose. mHealth solutions are created to simplify the healthcare process – for the patients, doctors, and healthcare staff. Health tracking, bill payment, doctor accessibility, health data availability, patient progress tracking, and much more – are among the advantages of medical application and mHealth technology.
The current global mHealth app market has crossed $40B and is targeted to grow at a CAGR of almost 30% until 2026. Below are our 10 expert tips to get you well on your way toward successful mHealth app development.
Top 10 Mobile Health Application Tips
1.Purpose Identity:
Healthcare mobile technology offers multiple features for varied needs. A mobile healthcare app needs to, therefore, have a definite purpose. Before undertaking healthcare mobile app development, this feature needs to be identified and remain focused throughout the entire developmental cycle. The majority of mHealth technologies, in today’s healthcare scenario, revolve around fitness offerings. Another emerging domain of mHealth app development is lifestyle management. The other prominent areas that require a mHealth system are disease management, women’s health, telemedicine, and healthcare finance-related apps. Before the mHealth development journey begins, the first order of business is the identification of the purpose of the mHealth application.
2.Technology Choice:
mHealth technologies can be developed through multiple technologies. Mobile health applications’ technologies are rapidly evolving, and telehealth solutions are consequently advancing in their offering. Suppose you are looking to undertake mobile healthcare development to track patient health progress, medication consumption, or lifestyle management. In that case, you will need to look into remote health monitoring system technology. On the other hand, if you are looking to offer more than one healthcare service, technologies for integrated health solutions come into play. Do keep in mind that the technologies for mobile healthcare solutions need to be up-to-date. Custom healthcare software development requires know-how of the latest features that offer maximum benefit to the user.
3.User Needs:
Another foundational requirement is to consider the needs of the end-user of your healthcare mobile application. Don’t get distracted or swayed by peppy new features if they don’t match your user needs. Automated healthcare solutions can be used to design multiple mobile health solutions that stay in tune with the user’s needs. The success of your mobile health system is entirely dependent on the benefit it offers the user, be that doctors or patients. Practice management solutions usually benefit doctors, while patient engagement systems benefit patients. Finally, you must also pay attention to the specifics of the end-user, the demographics, the culture, the state rules, etc.
4.Simplicity Preferred:
Mobile health app development should be conducted with the central idea of making the mHealth apps as intuitive and simple as possible. The thumb rule is that if it is too complex for you, it will probably be too complex for the user. mHealth providers should, therefore, choose the simple option over the complex (albeit fancy) one. Most mHealth and telehealth apps require signups or logins as the first interaction. In this case, the first impression is the last. A complex signup process will end up with resistance to the usage of the mHealth apps. The general idea with a health management system is that the less information you seek, the more likely it is to be given.
5.Features Know-how:
Once you have identified your purpose, the users’ needs, and the technologies required, the next business is to select which features need to go into your mobile healthcare app. mHealth, and telemedicine has many features based on specific requirements. If you are looking to create a mobile health monitoring system, you will most likely need a booking feature. This feature is commonly used in healthcare software product development to book an appointment with caregivers (virtual or physical). With mHealth app development, electronic data interchange requires strict mobile health app security. Finally, healthcare mobile app development companies need to adhere to compliance, prompt execution, and seamless integration throughout the development cycle.
6. Real-time Updates:
A much-needed feature among healthcare mobile app development services is real-time updates. A mobile health app that offers fitness, lifestyle management, patient monitoring, or even telemedicine features will rely on real-time updates as the crux of their information. Through intelligent medical applications, mHealth solutions should be created to allow data to continually and seamlessly be updated for patient and doctor perusal. Real-time information sharing in a mHealth app is directly related to enhancing patient satisfaction and improved care.
7.EHR Integration:
Healthcare mobile app development companies must pay special attention to EHR integration of multiple features across the EHR systems. Mobile health applications used for booking appointments need to consider the next course of action once the appointment ends. The doctor will need to update data into the patient’s records and within their system. Integrating several features across mHealth applications allows multiple uses through a single mobile health app.
8.Progress Tracking:
Whether the mHealth app development is targeted toward fitness, lifestyle management, patient monitoring, or telemedicine, progress tracking is an essential component of healthcare mobile app development. Through the application of medical informatics, this feature can be interspersed across the mobile health app for optimal use. Caregivers can virtually monitor their patients through automated health data updates; patients can take health into their own hands through information received by tracking their health; pharmacists can offer medications through prescription tracking – the service options are incredible.
9.User Dashboard:
One cannot stress the importance enough of an easy-to-use interface or user dashboard in mHealth app development. This critical component defines the user experience. Healthcare cloud computing offers significant solutions toward this feature. When undertaking mHealth app development, the dashboard should be built to provide users with the most meaningful and essential information as easily as possible. Navigation should be seamlessly executed on the healthcare mobile app. As far as possible, use bold fonts and bright displays to assist the user in finding and grasping information.
10.Cross-Device Accessibility:
Almost there! mHealth app development can never be entirely complete without incorporating cross-device accessibility. Keep in mind that a patient might use his mobile phone to enter information, and the caregiver might be looking to access that information on his desktop or laptop. The same goes for clinical management apps that require accessibility across multiple and variant devices. Pay careful attention to the devices your users will be using for the app and ensure that they can be accessed across the entire range of those devices. The bare minimum in mHealth app development is to ensure accessibility across IOS and Android.
Conclusion
A healthcare mobile app comes with an assurance of providing maximum benefit to the caregiver, healthcare staff, and patient alike. However, some core components of mHealth app development need to be carefully scrutinized for overall usage success. The ten tips mentioned above will comfortably ensure successful development and execution.
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About Author
Written by Riken Shah linkedin
Riken's work motto is to help healthcare providers use technological advancements to make healthcare easily accessible to all stakeholders, from providers to patients. Under his leadership and guidance, OSP Labs has successfully developed over 600 customized software solutions for 200+ healthcare clients across continents.