How Much does it Cost to Build a Healthcare Application?

Last updated on April 26th, 2023

The Covid-19 pandemic has taught us how important it is to be vigilant and care for our health. The pandemic also forced us to stay indoors and prevented us from visiting a doctor in person, and this left us with only one option: virtual consultation.

Enter telemedicine apps. These apps are entirely revolutionizing the healthcare scene in this digital age, making primary healthcare accessible to everyone.

Consumers and entrepreneurs in the digital medical sector are seeing profitable growth in business. So, if you want to capitalize on this growing market, you must know the technical aspects of how to build a healthcare application and how much it will cost you.

Table of Contents

What is a Healthcare app, and how does it help people?

A healthcare app is designed to connect doctors with patients and make healthcare accessible to everyone. A healthcare app is designed to monitor the user’s health measurements, like pulse rate, blood pressure etc., and share them with medical professionals.

These apps can also analyze the data they collect from patients, evaluate them, and alert users when they need to see a doctor. Healthcare apps let users consult their doctors over video calls, book appointments with them and schedule tests and check-ups.

Healthcare apps have been a boon during the pandemic. As people got restricted into their homes, the only way to talk to their physicians was over these apps. As the world opens up, businesses slowly realize why they should build a healthcare application.

Different types of Healthcare apps:

Before you set out to build a healthcare application for your company, it is important to note that various types of healthcare apps are available in the market. Some are more focused on doctors, while others are more patient-centric. Here is a quick breakdown of the types of healthcare apps most commonly made.

Healthcare apps designed for doctors:

Medical Records app: This is the app that medical professionals like doctors and nurses use to collect and maintain test reports and other data from their patients. The app can store this data securely.
Clinical and Diagnostic app: These apps can generate X-Ray and MRI reports, analyse lab results and symptoms, and serve to help a physician make a diagnosis.
Medical Billing apps: These apps handle the accounting section of hospitals and are responsible for patient registration, billing and invoicing, and claim management.

Healthcare apps designed for patients:

Telehealth apps: These apps let patients book schedule an appointment with their doctors. They also let patients consult their doctors remotely via video call.
Fitness apps: Everybody wants to get fit these days. But our busy schedules rarely leave any time for us to visit gyms or consult with a certified trainer. These fitness apps act like virtual trainers and monitor our diet, daily water intake, and exercise routines. They also motivate us towards maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
3. Healthy lifestyle apps: This category includes meditation and self-improvement apps, and they motivate the users towards maintaining a healthier lifestyle.
Diet and Nutrition-related apps: These apps closely monitor the users’ diet and calorie intake. They usually have calorie counting, meal planning, and food databases.
Medication management apps: If you take multiple medications at different times during the day, these apps will come in handy. Once you set up these apps and give them complete information regarding your medications, you can quit worrying, as these apps will remind you to take your medication regularly.

What are the features of a healthcare application?

Now that you know the benefits of a healthcare application and the different types available in the market, you might start thinking about building a healthcare application. But before you proceed, do take a look at these features that you must include when you set out to build a healthcare application. A Mobile app development Company can give you an estimate and timeline to build the healthcare application.

Registering on your app: This is one of the essential features of any healthcare app. You can give your users direct login or use a third-party app like Google or Facebook. You can also add an authentication and verification method to keep your users safe on your app.
Managing the users’ profile: Next is to allow users to set up their profile. The profile would include basic health history, treatment history, and scheduled appointments for patients. It would be their availability hours and which hospitals they sit in for a consultation for doctors.
Filters for search: This option would allow patients to search for the specialty doctors they are looking for, doctors in their locality and their budget etc.
The option of video calling: One of the prime features of a healthcare app is to allow patients to talk to their doctors remotely, from the comfort of their homes. This feature is a must-have.
Texting and voice calling: Sometimes, patients prefer chatting with their doctors over text messages or voice notes to a video call. So, it would help if you also kept this option open for users.
Calendar syncing: The healthcare app should send notifications to the user regarding their upcoming appointments with doctors. That is why a calendar feature is a must-have for any healthcare app.
Integrating a payment gateway: You can build your payment method or use a third-party app like PayPal. Using a third-party app will cut down on costs.

How to develop a healthcare app?

Research and ideation: This step involves doing market research and finding out what customers need these days. Also, please find out about your potential competitors, the features of their app, and what exactly is making them stand out from the crowd.
Prototyping and Wireframing the app: Once you are clear with the idea behind your app, start making rough designs. You can either do this on pen and paper or use a digital wireframing tool.
Developing the app: You would need to hire a developer at this stage. Ensure the developer understands your idea behind the app and respects your deadlines. First, create an MVP, then a full version of your app.
Testing and launching your app: It ensures to put your app through rigorous testing to ensure that your app does not have any security glitches. Launch it on the app store once testing is over.

What is the cost of building a Healthcare App?

Before releasing an app, an MVP or Minimum Viable Product version is usually released. This is like a test version of your app released to a small number of users to gauge their experience with the app.

The MVP version of the app has all the basic features of the final app and can be tested out by select users. It takes around 6 weeks to build a functional MVP and can cost around $15,000.

Once the MVP testing part is completed successfully, you can start to consider the costs of the actual app. The final cost of your app depends on a lot of parameters, like the complexity of the app, whether the app is made for doctors, patients or both, and whether the app will be launched on mobile, desktop, or both.

A basic version of the app with a doctor, patient, and admin panel, launched on mobile and has a simple interface, can cost you around $50,000. If you plan to build a complex app with lots of features and a desktop version, the costs can go up to $150,000 to $250,000.

How do you monetize your healthcare app?

Now that you have had a rough idea about developing a healthcare app, you must know how to monetize it. Your profit and revenue from the app should be higher than the total cost of developing the app. Here’s how you can monetize your app:

A freemium app: This is considered one of the best ways to earn revenue from an app. You can first offer a free version of your app and let clients use it. Once they like using it, you can offer them the paid version of your app with exclusive features.
In-app ads: This is a great way to monetize your app. You can partner with local vendors and online businesses to show their ads on your app. If a client purchases from them through your platform, you can charge them a small commission.
Offering a subscription program: You can offer a subscription program to clients using your app for free. They can subscribe to exclusive content and features for a small fee. This strategy, too, will generate a lot of revenue for your app.
A fully paid app: This is a less popular strategy as this strategy can potentially hamper the client reach of your app. However, if you wish, you can try it out. Make your app fully paid, and charge a one-time fee every time a client downloads your app.

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Healthcare apps have become very popular these days. To cash in on their growing market, you must know how to build one and how much it costs you.

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