Know How to Develop Telemedicine App: Features & Important Tips

 

The presence of the COVID-19 virus has pushed citizens to get dependent on telemedicine apps. As per McKinsey, the COVID-19 Consumer Survey 2020, telemedicine apps' adoption has surged from 11% in 2019 to 46% in 2020 in the US only. The pandemic wreaked havoc among the citizens and has affected telehealth's role in the global healthcare, investment market, and start-up environment. This paradigm shift in the demand for telehealth was never seen before.   

Today telemedicine app development provides great business opportunities that should stay relevant for the long run even after the pandemic is gone. The best time to divert your attention towards this opportunity is ‘now’. The current situation has very well demonstrated the relevance of using telehealth app. According to McKinsey, the USD 3 billion revenue market has the potential to grow to USD 250 billion. 

 

If you are willing to explore business opportunities in this domain and thinking of building a telemedicine app, this article will surely guide you.   

Read on.  

What does telemedicine apps do?  

Telemedicine apps are not just about having remote consultations with physicians. It is a group of a plethora of applications and platforms that allow the delivery of various care services using digital technology.  

These services include continuous virtual care and treatment monitoring for chronic patients, urgent on-demand counseling, medication adherence tracking, follow-up appointments, prescription renewals, and more. Overall, it helps in minimizing the time spent in the hospital and move low acuity visits online.  

The shortages in health and social care due to the pandemic have boosted the demand for various telehealth mobile applications. Depending on the purpose and goals, telemedicine apps have various features and perform different functions. Here are some of the common features to consider if you are planning to build a mobile telemedicine app: 

• Registration and profiling - These are the initial and important features for the mobile app's primary users, such as patients, doctors, and caregivers. App registration form, profile information, login tools, and verification features will be different for different users. The only thing that can unite them all is the onboarding process. Hence, the onboarding features should be designed and built intuitive, secure, and simple as it will include sensitive personal information.  
  
  
• Appointment management - Online appointment managers and interactive calendars make the appointment process smooth. A properly managed calendar reduces last-minute cancellations and provides better flexibility for care providers and patients.  
  
  
• Communication tools - Chat, audio, and video calls are important features for providing online consulting services. The choice will depend on the specifics of the service and also on the project’s phase. For instance, to optimize telemedicine app development's speed and cost at the MVP stage, you can use text chat as a communication feature. Even can scale it up by adding audio and video calls later on.  
  
  
• E-prescription and recommendations - In-app recommendations and prescriptions for lab tests or other checks are already being widely used across digital healthcare. These features are another step to create an omnichannel healthcare experience that connects doctors, patients, pharmacies, and laboratories.  
  
  
• Notifications - If the mobile application functionality includes appointment scheduling, medication adherence tracking, and other time-sensitive matters, notifications are indispensable. Your telehealth app can add timely, personalized notifications and reminders that can be forwarded to your patients. But make sure it is useful for them rather than annoying. To make notifications worth it, you require a good understanding of the target audience, thorough research, and testing so that you do not disturb them at the odd time of the day.  

Important tips for creating a successful telemedicine app  

It is important to build a telemedicine app that will work and justify your investment. We recommend discussing your idea with mobile app developers as they can help you understand how things work when you are about to create a telemedicine app. Implement agile methodology and iterative software development approach to ensure transparency among all stakeholders, maintain cost control and flexibility to address changes.  

Tip #1 

Research and requirements gathering  

Research is the foundational step that helps in determining what is needed to create a telemedicine app. This step includes setting clear goals, gathering requirements, studying the audience, market, and competition. At this stage, you should define your project's main features, scope, tech stack, and priorities and have a general idea of how much money and the estimated time it will require for the developers to build the app's first version. 

Tip #2 

UX/UI Design and Ideation   

This can be considered the next step, where you will start shaping your ideas into a prototype. Based on the image of your target audience (preferences, requirements, expectations, tech skills, goals, etc.), you will be able to develop a user experience (UX) that determines how end users will interact with your mobile application. From sketches and wireframes, your prototype will soon turn into a set of telemedicine app designs ready to reach the development stage.   

Tip #3 

Agile Development  

Agile software development is an industry-standard approach to build new digital systems that stays relevant to the changing market environment. This approach allows to change priorities if necessary, test the system frequently, add new features, or otherwise modify the scope for achieving better results. Most importantly, it allows you to control the investment and make sure you put money into the functionality that is relevant to your audience's needs and market demand.  

Tip #4 

Testing and Optimization  

At this stage, the system is tested repeatedly before it goes live and gets to the hands of end-users. Even after the roll-out of your application’s first version, it won’t end up your journey. You can use your audience’s feedback, metrics, and analytics to understand how to develop further and improve your users’ experience and extend the benefits of your telemedicine app by adding new features or updates.  

Wrapping up  

At Panacea Infotech, we have a proven track record in developing healthcare applications. We had worked with many renowned clients and helped them in getting the desired results.  

Contact us to learn more about our expertise and experience in telemedicine and healthcare app development. 

We are open to discuss your brilliant ideas and add our suggestions.