The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 definitely made history, disrupting not only daily life, but the healthcare technology market, too. Suddenly the global population faced a highly contagious disease — and the fallout that followed it.
Every facet of mobile healthcare, including fitness, nutrition, mental health, and patient management, got a major cash infusion in response to the crisis. In 2020, global investor funding in digital healthcare totaled $22.9 billion. In 2021, it grew to $44.8 billion. Both users and investors have seen the value in healthcare apps.
If you’re in the healthcare or health and wellness space in 2024 and you’re considering developing a mobile healthcare app, it’s important to know the costs involved. Let’s take a look at what it costs to create a healthcare app.
The benefits of building a healthcare mobile app
Healthcare apps are beneficial to both patients and those who work in the healthcare industry. Building an app is really a win-win for everyone.
1. Better patient and user engagement
Practitioners have been striving to make healthcare more patient-centric. Healthcare apps facilitate this by allowing users to access their medical records, appointment schedules, and prescriptions without having to visit a hospital or doctors office.
For the wellness field, users can engage with fitness and health professionals through digitally streamed audio and video. Users can take advantage of exercise and nutrition information to enhance their quality of life.
2. Improved patient care
Doctors can use healthcare apps to communicate not only with patients but with each other as well. This can lead to better decisions and more accurate diagnoses, which leads to improved patient outcomes.
Patients can also be better advocates for themselves and take more control of their healthcare decisions when information like test results are quickly made available to them.
3. Compliance made easier
Compliance is particularly important whenever medical information about a patient is displayed on a healthcare app. Healthcare applications can be designed with robust security measures to ensure that patient data is protected as required by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
4. Medical professional information
Users can make selecting a healthcare professional — be it a doctor, nutritionist, or personal trainer — easier by using an app that shows the profile, professional certification, and education of each professional available in their neighborhood or health insurance network.
5. Online payment
Users can pay their gym fees, healthcare deductibles, or doctor visit copays by using an app with a secure payment system. Such features are particularly useful for older patients or those with disabilities — populations that may have difficulty securing transportation to a hospital or doctors office.
Types of healthcare apps
Healthcare apps are not restricted to just medical care. Healthcare’s broad definition means that you can develop apps for a number of health-related categories, like the following:
1. Fitness apps
A fitness app is designed for gyms or exercise equipment providers to distribute to customers and can include features such as customer intake forms, consent forms, and workout logs. This type of app can be used to collect customer medical history information and to sign payment agreements and releases.
Fitness apps also allow users to schedule rooms for spin or Zumba classes. Or, if the user works out at home, they can reserve a trainer to stream to their device at a designated time.
2. Patient management apps
A patient management app is used by healthcare workers to keep track of patient information like health data, treatment and examination reports, and medications. This allows doctors and nurses to securely access details about their patients without violating important privacy regulations.
3. Nutrition tracker apps
Nutrition tracker apps give dieticians the ability to manage details related to clients’ personal food intake and nutrition-related goals. They also let everyday people manage those details themselves. People can use these types of apps to plan meals and enter daily food and calorie intake.
Some apps also allow you to enter your weight and track your progress over time with helpful reporting features. Others may have a feature that lets you share recipes with others who are monitoring their nutrition too.
4. Mental health journal apps
With the mental health journal app, mental health professionals can give their patients the ability to upload daily or weekly check-in forms so that any issues a patient might be facing can be addressed. The therapist or counselor can also provide patients with lists of resources and exercises, as well as appointment scheduling options that don’t require the patient to reach the therapist by phone.
Healthcare app development costs
There is no one-size-fits-all figure for developing an app. Even when you refine the type of app to a healthcare app, it still leaves open a wide range of features, functionality, and requirements. The following will give a range of costs depending on what type of app you want to develop.
Wellness
Wellness apps can range from meditation apps that stream soothing guided audio to nutrition tracking apps that record your calorie intake. Meditation apps like Calm and Headspace and nutrition apps like Weight Watchers are great examples of leaders in this category.
The cost to develop a wellness app ranges from $30,000 to $120,000 depending on the features and complexity of the app. The app’s features, like database implementations for storing nutrition data or video streaming capabilities for virtual classes, will affect development costs.
Telemedicine
Like wellness apps, telemedicine apps use audio and video streaming to allow doctors to offer virtual appointments with patients. This allows patients to discuss problems with their physicians without the need for an in-person appointment.
The cost of developing a telemedicine app can range from $30,000 to $150,000. Implementing security measures is an important part of these apps in order to comply with doctor-patient confidentiality and HIPAA regulations related to patient medical information.
Digital prescriptions
E-prescription apps allow doctors to digitally prescribe medications and send those prescriptions to pharmacies to be filled. These apps require an additional level of sophistication as they require secure communication between the doctor, hospital or practice, and the pharmacy to ensure that what the doctor sends is what the pharmacy receives.
While this type of app is not as expensive as those above ($28,000 to $45,000 in development costs), it requires a connection to an integrated drug database in order to function, and that can be an ongoing cost.
Alternatives
If you want to develop a health or wellness app without writing code, Jotform may be the alternative you’re looking for. With an extensive library of app templates, Jotform Apps allows users to create, modify, and share apps without any coding knowledge. You can customize your app with a wide range of elements like links, forms, documents, images, buttons and more. You can even boost brand recognition with a unique splash screen or app icon.
With over 40 payment processing integrations, Jotform Apps lets you seamlessly manage transactions. You can process orders, take donations or tips, or collect service fees within your app, ensuring a smooth payment process for your patients and customers.
Jotform’s advanced sharing options let you share your app via social media, QR code, or custom URLs. Granular access settings allow you to control how you distribute your app and who can access it.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
How much does it cost to make a healthcare app?
The cost to develop a healthcare app varies based on its features and complexity. A prescription app requiring database connectivity can cost up to $45,000 to develop, while a telemedicine app requiring extensive security and compliance measures can cost up to $150,000.
Are there any hidden costs associated with developing a healthcare app?
There are some costs that should be taken into consideration when developing a healthcare app. For example, quality assurance and testing an app can require several rounds before you arrive at a deployable “finished” product. The quotation marks mean that maintenance and ongoing development represent additional hidden costs, as apps are never really finished. They require regular updating.
What is the role of HIPAA compliance in healthcare app development?
If your app deals in any way with patient information and communication, compliance with HIPAA is a must. Failure to comply with HIPAA can make your organization liable for exposing your patient’s confidential information, potentially leading to fines or legal action.
Photo by Tessy Agbonome
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