How to Build a Healthcare App: A Complete Guide

The first thing that comes to mind when considering healthcare app development is “complicated.” In addition to usual concerns, teams face stricter legal regulations, higher cyber security risks, and a higher price of mistakes. But difficulties are never the best part to focus on.

According to the United Nations, the average lifespan of adults has nearly doubled since 1950. It was possible because of groundbreaking innovations in patient treatments. Today, digital therapeutics play an important role in chronic disease management, which now are a cause or a contributing factor to 79% of deaths worldwide. Moreover, digital health solutions have the potential to make healthcare more equitable.

With around 15 billion mobile devices already used worldwide as of 2021 and progressing utilization of telehealth software, health technology sounds like a prospective niche to consider. Helping improve the daily lives of patients and clinic personnel while also saving costs and driving revenue for healthcare providers. Thus, it opens many opportunities for both tech and medical companies.

Exoft has lots of experience working with medical solutions. Our team has created various types of products for caregivers and patients for companies globally. In this guide, we’ll explain the basics of healthcare software development. It will help you better understand software options, challenges, and development process and plan your next steps.

Healthcare App Examples

Every rating of top healthcare mobile apps features different names on the list. So we decided to start explaining the nuances of medical mobile application development with something we know perfectly — Exoft’s works.

Digitalization for a Clinic Chain

Our team covered business digitalization for a chain of Canadian clinics. The project entailed the development of two custom solutions: a mobile app for patients and a web portal for doctors and clinic personnel.

The web portal and mobile app allowed the client to optimize the clinic workload and streamline the patient flow. Project implementation coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, which considerably increased the value of digitalization in the clinic chain.

Client App

The client app included an electronic health record, appointment booking functionality, health risk assessment, medication refills, payment processing, and requesting an entrepreneur.

Doctor & Clinic Staff App

The highlights of the doctor’s part were easy management of personal calendars and patient medical records. Clinic staff received an opportunity to manage schedules and appointments online via the admin panel.

Custom Telemedicine Application

Another example is a custom telemedicine solution. It connects doctors and patients from all around the world, making healthcare more accessible than ever before.

The system includes two native apps, for Android and iPhone, and a web application. The team concentrated on perfecting video call, chat, and payment functionalities since they were vital for implementing the idea correctly.

With this solution, users can browse doctors, view their profiles, book audio and video consultations, create and access health records, and pay for their online visits. All doctors have to pass a thorough background check and can start consultations only after confirmation. Using Azure cloud technology to store all the data guarantees ultimate security.

Key Features of a Healthcare App

There is a set of default features a healthcare application needs to have regardless of the current healthcare app trends. This list of must-haves includes a user profile, a dashboard, notifications, and in-app chat. As for the rest, the functionality can vary. Still, there are several other features you can frequently find in healthcare platforms.

Core Features You’d Like to Have in an MVP

When building a healthcare MVP , prioritize the features. Not everything you have in mind should appear in the first version of an app. The MVP’s primary objective is to highlight the product’s unique value proposition. Thus, you should prioritize the features and first develop those without which an app makes no sense. The rest can wait until the next phase. Here are a few things you’d like to have in an MVP.

Patient’s Electronic Health Record

Probably every healthcare app has a purpose to digitize a specific paper process or physical interaction. An electronic health record is a cornerstone of it all, much like a LIMS application in laboratory settings. Both a patient and a doctor should be able to access a user’s profile information and health data. The rest of the interactions – communication, symptom analysis, diagnostics, and so on – become possible only with a medical record in place.

Secure Authorization and Authentication

Medical privacy involves conversational discretion, protection of paper records, and, in the age of digitalization, online privacy. Having secure authorization and authentication in place is a must for ensuring the confidentiality of patient records.

It is necessary to establish rules for secure registration and access – password rules, required password updates every few months, two-factor authentication, etc. It is also essential to enable different access levels and permissions.

Appointment Scheduling and Management

Not all appointments can work online. Some symptoms and health conditions require in-person diagnosis. For such cases, there are appointment scheduling and management apps. Instead of calling reception to arrange an appointment, cancel it, or change the time, users can do it independently with a few clicks.

Cloud-Based Data Storage

This solution enables easy management of patient records, visit history, hospital documentation, and much more. An ability to access the necessary data from any device at any time (with a corresponding system permission, of course) accelerates decision-making when it comes to treatment. Keeping data up-to-date also requires less effort.

Telehealth Features

A telemedicine app allows users to connect with healthcare professionals via audio or video call. If it’s your main goal, then surely, these features should be in your MVP. Sometimes, hospitals can opt to develop custom solutions on top of their enterprise platforms. There are also dedicated telemedicine apps that integrate with other systems. If telehealth features are only a part of the larger platform, you can leave them for the next stage.

Feedback and Support Systems

Even the best software has its flaws. Sometimes, a feature stops working, a bug pops up, a database is unavailable, a user finds functionality unintuitive, or something unexpected happens. It is essential to have a patient feedback system with a customer care or technical support team in place. An ability to contact them easily will enable handling these and other issues effectively.

Additional Features to Have in Your Healthcare App

When you are past the MVP stage, it’s time to extend the functionality beyond the basics. These extra features can make your healthcare app stand out and be more helpful. But this is only a tiny part of the enhancements you can implement.

Integration with Third-Party Systems

Both large systems for general hospital management and one-purpose apps require integrations with external systems. Electronic health records, payment gateways, insurance systems, pharmacy databases, reminders, Apple Health – this list can go on and on, with different positions being relevant for every product type.

Integration with Medical Devices and Wearables

External devices are another aspect to account for during web and mobile healthcare application development. The assortment of machines and gadgets doctors and patients use keeps increasing. It ranges from complex medical equipment, sensors, and implantables to smart bands and weight scales.

Electronic Prescriptions

Similarly to remote consultations, remote prescriptions with e-recipes are recognized by pharmacies. Regulations regarding free (as in “no prescription”) medicine vary across countries. The benefits of using such systems, however, are universal. Patients don’t need to go and pick up their paper prescriptions in person but can save time and manage their prescription histories more easily.

Medication Tracking and Reminders

Taking medicine regularly at the defined time can be critical. Setting up the reminders prevents users from forgetting about their medication. The tracking functionality serves as a personal medication record, displaying each drug's dates, times, and doses.

Emergency Services

This functionality can be life-saving for people in extraordinary conditions. To be more specific, a user can contact emergency services with a few button clicks on their smartphone and notify their saved contacts about the accident. The emergency message includes the precise GPS coordinates and the patient’s pre-saved health information.

Payment Gateway

Every application that features paid options of whatever it may be (e.g., a paid visit, medicine purchase, etc.) should provide an opportunity to pay for it in-app. As a rule, teams choose to connect existing payment solutions that are reliable and already integrated with a variety of payment options. It means you don’t need to develop this part from scratch, but you need to remember about a corresponding integration.

Types of Healthcare Apps

At some point, you will need to decide what type of product to build and choose a specific solution for healthcare app development. There are plenty of options for different purposes and audiences that also vary by complexity. Here is a brief overview of the most widely used groups of products.

Electronic Health Record (EHR) Apps

EHR is a digital version of a patient’s record – a medical history document, updated and maintained, now stored in a hospital’s database instead of a paper archive. It includes age, gender, ethnicity, allergies, lab tests, medication, immunization status, hospitalization, and everything regarding a person’s health history. Engaging in EHR development allows for the customization and enhancement of these digital records to better meet the specific needs of healthcare providers and patients.

Telehealth Apps

Telehealth platforms, as you remember, enable remote doctor visits. Their importance was highlighted during COVID lockdowns. However, the pandemic isn’t the only restriction calling for telemedicine software. There are people with reduced mobility, patients in distant locations, etc., who postpone seeking professional help because it is inconvenient or unavailable. Telemedicine changes the situation drastically.

Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) Apps

RPM applications are a subcategory of telehealth software. In particular, they are helpful in elder care , post-surgery recovery, and chronic diseases management. Using medical devices at home (gadgets, wearables, sensors, etc.), users can monitor their condition and contact a professional if they notice deviations. Likewise, doctors gather sufficient data to make conclusions about the patient’s state and decisions regarding further treatment.

Preventive Care Apps

These applications act as personal health assistants. They analyze the data gathered from wearables and gadgets or entered by a user to monitor a patient’s state and warn about potential dangers. They can also show notifications regarding changing tendencies and remind users about tests, screenings, vaccinations, etc.

Chronic Disease Management Apps

People with chronic diseases need to adhere to a list of specific practices to maintain their health. Dedicated applications simplify it and take on a dose of stress that accompanies this daily routine. Such apps can include medication reminders, syndrome tracking, journal and notes, e-recipes for refills, appointment scheduling, a chat with a doctor, and more.

Medicine Delivery Apps

If you are thinking about DoorDash or UberEats that deliver only from pharmacies, you’ve got it right. Again, such solutions can be helpful for different groups, from people with reduced mobility to busy ones. A specialized app simplifies resupplying medication securely based on e-recipes issued by doctors.

Medication Reminder Apps

We’ve mentioned pill reminders as a part of the functionality of bigger apps, but they also function as standalone solutions. It is easy to forget to take medication on time. And in some cases, timing is critical! Users can set alarms as reminders, but a specialized application will also record the history and provide an overview of the treatment.

Mental Health Apps

Such applications make mental health care accessible to more people. They are targeted at people with different levels of awareness and readiness to consult a therapist. There are meditation apps for dealing with stress and anxiety, chat apps for those uncomfortable speaking about their problems, and online therapy platforms fully recreating the in-person experience.

Women's Healthcare Apps

This group includes apps that help manage states and conditions specific to women. In addition to period tracking, there are applications for contraception, fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, menopause management, and breast self-check. They help women keep better track of their health, paying attention to the health details often ignored until they turn into severe conditions.

Lifestyle Maintenance Apps

This group of applications includes the most diverse solutions: dieting, meal planning, fitness and exercising, habit tracking, pedometer apps, etc. They don’t focus on disease management or hospital-specific processes, but the contents and functionality of lifestyle maintenance apps intersect with many aspects of healthcare.

Medical Training Apps

Focusing on theory and education, they still belong to health tech. Such software solutions serve as encyclopedias, guidelines, and manuals for healthcare professionals. This category also includes first aid instructions and apps on tactical medicine that are useful for anyone, not only doctors and students.

A Healthcare App Development Process

Now, let's talk about how healthcare apps are created. Understanding these steps is important, as it helps build solid and easy-to-use software that makes a difference.

Define Your Goals and Target Audience

Medical app development starts with choosing a type of app to create. To decide this, you need to do some research and answer two crucial questions:

• Who is your target audience?
• What are their needs and pain points?

Without knowing your user, it’s just a guessing game. Even if you have a well-formulated idea, make sure there is a product-market fit.

Design Your App

Based on your research, create user personas – fictional representations of future users. Keep their needs, pains, and goals when listing the app's features and logic. Then, create user flows – steps to achieve a goal or complete a task.

User flows will become the basis for wireframes – a product’s schematic structure and layout. The design doesn’t start with a neat UI. At first, it’s grayscale lines and boxes to quickly present and test an idea. Only then comes a mockup – the logic wrapped in a nice design.

Decide on the Tech Stack

It is critical to select the right platforms, programming languages, tools, and architecture solutions. This goes beyond iOS vs Android healthcare application development. Tech stack, among other things, influences access to the right talent and builds the background for future integrations and scaling. Make sure to have a good analyst and architect to help you with this.

Develop Your App

The team has everything to start building a prototype – a very first app demo. It is a preliminary interactive version of an application that looks like a functional product but contains minimum working code. Prototype serves as a tool for refining the concept and testing multiple hypotheses before finalizing your idea.

Only then comes “real” development – with frontend and backend code, component and database integrations, working features, and healthcare web design trends translated into reality.

Test Your App

The sufficient coverage on all levels (unit, integration, and system) guarantees that an application goes to production without critical bugs. Run functional and non-functional tests covering functionality and performance-related aspects accordingly. Find an opportunity to perform beta testing with real users right before the launch.

Launch and Market Your App

The finishing line of healthcare mobile app development is submitting an app to stores. If your software has a web version or is available only via the web, there’s one less step to take. Don’t forget that even the best software heavily relies on marketing. Promote your app through social media, paid advertising, product review platforms, and other channels. It’s best to start even before the launch.

Maintain and Scale Your App

In other words, monitor and improve. Collect user feedback. Pay attention to both issue tickets that the support team and QA engineers submit and comments on app review platforms. Track usage analytics. Altogether, it will help you choose the right direction for updates and growth.

Healthcare App Development Cost

How much does it cost to build a healthcare app? As always, there’s no straight answer. The cost will vary depending on the app’s complexity, a provider’s location, and other factors. Below, you can find the table that will give you an approximate idea about the cost of developing a healthcare mobile app or other medical solution.

When looking for a healthcare app development company, pay attention to the following:

• Domain expertise. The more complex product you have in mind, the more confident you will feel working with a company that has experience with healthcare software.
• Portfolio. Reading a company’s case studies provides a better understanding of its capabilities. Viewing the actual results of their work backs up their expertise.
• Reviews. Most firms have pages on platforms like Clutch, G2, etc. See what clients say about them to decide whether you can rely on this provider.
• Price. Consider hourly rates and how they match your budget. Remember that lower rates don’t necessarily mean low quality of work.
• Location. Remote teams are as good and devoted as in-house ones. Just make sure you have at least a few common business hours.

The Secret to the Success of Modern Healthcare Apps

Healthcare applications are improving each year, revolutionizing the entire domain. Emerging technologies play an essential role in this. Here are a few examples:

• Cloud computing enables access to information from any location and device while also helping diversify risks.
• Digital twins replicate physical objects and processes in a digital environment, opening new opportunities for medical research and work optimization.
• Reviews. Most firms have pages on platforms like Clutch, G2, etc. See what clients say about them to decide whether you can rely on this provider.
• AI and ML facilitate numerous processes for doctors and patients – from administrative workflow to preventive care management and even fraud reduction.
• Blockchain helps manage large amounts of data, conduct research, and secure the insurance and billing processes.
• Interoperability enables the seamless passing of information across devices without compromising security, simplifying diagnostic procedures and patient management.
• AR, VR, and XR technology improve medical training and education. They also change the research approach and have the potential to revolutionize surgery.

We’d like to wrap up this part with more tips on fitness, healthcare, and hospital app development. There are a few dos and don’ts you’ll probably want to keep in mind when you start working on your product.

Best Practices

• Compliance. Remember that both governments and app stores have regulations regarding the functionality, security, and other aspects of healthcare apps. Make sure to pay attention to them from the early stages of the development.
• Cyber security. Healthcare software deals with lots of sensitive information. Having a cyber security strategy in place is a must for such products.
• Accessibility. There are government regulations on digital accessibility that companies have to follow. However, it is vital to go beyond the basic requirements to “just to avoid fines” and make health tech genuinely accessible for all groups of users.
• Comprehensive documentation. Write and maintain business and technical requirements, especially if it’s a large product you’re developing. Otherwise, team members would interpret different features and behaviors subjectively. It can pose problems to testing, development, and scaling.
• Medical expertise. It’s best to have a consultant with a background in healthcare in your core team – a medical practitioner, a fitness coach, etc. Their expertise will be more reliable than your own research. Moreover, they can help you detect and address the right user problems, as well as design excellent logic.
• Agile & CI/CD. Developing a product in small iterations with regular releases, updates, and smooth code integration help keep the software up-to-date and functioning well without putting strain on the team.

Mistakes to Avoid

20% of new businesses reportedly fail within two years. When it comes to healthtech, several basic mistakes can complicate the process or lead to failure:

• Inability to determine a market fit or user’s needs correctly, which results in the lack of demand.
• Poor quality of the end product that turns out to be not user-friendly or unable to withstand competition.
• Lack of the right talent and expertise to build the strategy and/or tech part of the product.
• Inability to comply with regulations, which results in rework or makes the release impossible.
• Lack of proper marketing due to insufficient investment or choosing the wrong approach.

Build a Healthcare App with Exoft

As you can see, healthcare mobile app development, as well as web development, isn’t an easy task. Partnering with a healthcare software development company can be the best way to start this journey. For instance, cooperation with Exoft means you get instant access to the right expertise as opposed to lengthy and complicated hiring of in-house talent.

Our team has a long history of working in the healthcare domain. In particular, we developed custom telemedicine solutions, CRM systems for hospitals, EHR systems, formula compounders, designed lab web portals, assisted with digitalization for a chain of clinics, and more. We also specialize in pharmacy app development, creating user-friendly, secure platforms for pharmacies to streamline operations and improve customer service.

Through the years, our developers, QA engineers, and project managers have grown in the domain and kept the best practices in the team. We choose to focus on quality rather than fleeting trends and help clients turn their vision of a great healthcare app into reality.

The Bottom Line

In this guide, we’ve covered the essentials of healthcare software: types of apps, core features, dos and don’ts, and the process. We hope it provided a basic understanding of what to look for in a development company.

All the planning, designing of logic and interface, development, and testing is as complicated as it is exciting. If you are a bit worried about how to organize everything effectively, you are right to do so. But only for a short time. Find a team with the right expertise to back you up and devote your energy to what you do best: management.

So you have enough information to begin the search for a development company. If you’ve got more specific questions or are ready to discuss the opportunities and terms of cooperation, our team will be glad to talk about healthcare app development with you.