mHealth App Development – Everything You Should Know
If you’ve been toying with the idea of venturing into mHealth app development, it’s time to take this step. There is a growing interest in health applications, a fact proven by the market’s expected annual growth rate of 11.6% from 2023 to 3030.
But before you go ahead and jump directly into development, let’s go over a few basics. That way, you can easily create an app that wins over users and drives your success in this market.
What are mHealth Apps Really?
To begin mHealth app development the right way, you need to properly understand what these apps are.
The World Health Organization (WHO) provides the most comprehensive definition – “medical and public health practice supported by mobile devices, such as mobile phones, patient monitoring devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and other wireless devices”.
In simpler terms, mHealth, or mobile health, deliver medical care services such as preventative healthcare or disease surveillance via mobile apps and wireless tech.
But one thing they definitely aren’t is health apps.
Unlike mHealth apps, health apps offer health-related services for a wider range of devices including PC. They mainly deliver valuable information, but their accuracy may be questionable. Therefore, sharing their data with doctors may not be preferable.
Examples of health apps include fitness activity tracking apps, weight loss coaching apps, meditation apps, and menstrual cycle tracking apps.
Meanwhile, mobile health entails the practice of medicine and the delivery of healthcare and health information. This means they can be used for facilitating remote monitoring, supporting chronic disease management, and assisting with diagnostic and treatments.
Benefits of mHealth App Development
If you’re planning to become part of the healthcare app development industry, you have a lot to gain. For starters, you’ll be part of a fast-growing market that caters to the critical needs of healthcare businesses.
Your next mHealth app idea will further deliver numerous benefits to healthcare professionals and patients, including –
Higher Patient Engagement
Also known as activated patients, engaged patients make informed decisions about their health. For instance, they manage their own health and care to improve health outcomes.
mHealth apps enable patients to learn more about their health and make decisions along with their physicians. This, in turn, makes them invested in their own healthcare. As a result, they have fewer (or no) unmet medical needs and tend to seek care when they need it in a timely manner.
The app resulting from your next mHealth app development project can help healthcare providers personalize experiences and share knowledge effectively. That gives them an edge as well as add to your app’s profitability.
Minimized Risk of Misdiagnosis
Manually dealing with patients’ records can lead to diagnosis errors, mistakes, waste of time, and loss of lives.
According to a study by the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 7.4 million misdiagnosis errors are made annually. Of these, 2.6 million end up facing preventable repercussions. Meanwhile, 370,000 are either permanently disabled or die.
Thankfully, mHealth app development has the power to reduce the chances of misdiagnosis. mHealth apps can easily store accurate reports of patients’ health. This helps physicians effectively prescribe the right medication and its dosage. Even if a patient changes doctors, their data will be easily available.
Immediate Access to Care
Now, patients don’t have to wait for long periods or call their healthcare providers constantly to get an appointment. These inefficient practices are now part of the past thanks to mHealth apps.
Patients can easily schedule appointments or directly connect with healthcare providers via telemedicine services. This saves patients’ time, especially if they have minor issues or live in remote areas. As a result, healthcare providers become super-efficient.
Optimized Person-Hours
Physicians are known for spending long work hours. Unfortunately, this leads to excessive stress which, in turn, reduces the quality of care. Healthcare organizations as a whole may also suffer since their resources are strained.
mHealth app development and the tech resulting from it can counter these issues. After all, patients’ records are in one place. Moreover, physicians can connect with patients instantly and monitor the treatments they administer.
Hassle-free Bill Payments
Patients and hospital staff alike have trouble dealing with medical bills. Thankfully, one of the biggest advantages of mHealth app development is the integration of payment methods.
Gone are the days when patients had to manually track bill payments and hound insurance companies. mHealth apps simplify and speed up the process by allowing patients to choose their preferred payment method. They can also connect to their insurer via app integrations.
Prompt Alerts and Notifications
The push notifications feature in mHealth applications is quite powerful. Through it, healthcare providers can send health tips and precautionary advice to users.
These reminders can also be used to notify patients of other important aspects such as upcoming appointments or prescription renewal. Therefore, users have more control over their health decisions.
Effective Data Management
The healthcare industry deals with an extensive amount of personal information on a daily basis. Therefore, it’s important to organize it, especially to avoid misdiagnosis.
With mHealth applications, healthcare providers can record patient information using connected devices or wearables.
This data can then be stored electronically to create a comprehensive profile of each patient. It can further be used to meet regulatory requirements such as HIPAA compliance.
Types of mHealth Apps You Can Develop
If everything you read motivates you to dive into mHealth app development, let’s go over some types you can create.
Remote Monitoring Apps
Remote monitoring mHealth apps allow patients to get care from their physicians virtually. Using wearables, the latter can receive information related to patients’ vitals and other healthcare issues whenever, wherever.
Clinical and Diagnostic Apps
There are many ways clinical and diagnostics apps can help. For starters, they can be used to collect, analyze, and share health data. They can also be used for viewing lab results, checking health records, and performing digital imaging.
Another common purpose of this type of apps is checking symptoms and diagnosing illness. This can be helpful to both patients and doctors.
Chronic Disease Management
You can’t go wrong with a chronic disease management app. This type of app covers majority or all parts of the treatment process for a chronic disease. For instance, if you develop an app for diabetes, it can monitor food and fitness, glucose levels, and treatment related reports.
Mental Health Apps
One of the popular mHealth app development projects these days is mental health apps. These apps allow users to control their stress and anxiety. They also support tracking users’ mood and other signs that may require the attention of a therapist.
Prescription Apps
A prescription app allows physicians to prescribe medicines and set their dosages. That way, patients can safely consume medications or cancel them when they feel better.
Productivity Apps
Since mHealth app development also targets healthcare providers, you can consider creating productivity apps. These automate several important tasks such as scheduling appointments and mobile charting,
Inspired to Begin Your Own mHealth App Development Project?
DPL can help you with the process from requirements gathering to deployment. We have the experience, expertise, and dedication to make your next mHealth app a huge success.
So, get in touch with us via the form below and let us know about your next mHealth app development project.
