The Digital Boon – Telehealth App Development
The digital technology has got us covered in all the aspects of our day to day life. It has made enormous progress in the healthcare sector as well.
Here’s the telehealth market statistics!
The Global Market Insights reveals that the telemedicine business is expected to exceed $64.1 billion in the USA. While globally it can surpass $130.5 billion.
From the figures, it can be rightly said that technology has played an important role in diversifying and revolutionizing the healthcare sector lately.
In this writeup we will discuss telemedicine and telehealth. Telemedicine in simple words can be described as the usage of telecommunications between the patients and the doctors to solve healthcare-related problems.
The modern healthcare system is gradually entering the regime of telemedicine and the trend is expected to rise dramatically in the future. In this highly contagious COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine or telehealth has contributed largely to the healthcare sector. The physical
movement of the patients is restricted, but thanks to telehealth applications, they got the chance to consult the doctors virtually from home.
Doctor On Demand, MDLive, LiveHealth, HealthTap, and Babylon Health are some of the top telehealth apps that have become quite popular these days.
Benefits Of A Telehealth App
Telehealth apps come loaded with several benefits that largely support the healthcare industry. Some of the major advantages go as follows:
- Virtual patient to doctor live video interaction facility.
- Compatibility in low bandwidth and slower internet connections.
- Consultation with doctors from remote locations.
- Creation and validation of prescriptions online.
- Scheduling of appointments with patients and doctors online.
- Compliance with HIPAA ( Health Insurance Portability And Accountability Act) and authorization of the app as per government guidelines.
- Real-time monitoring, diagnostics, advice, and solutions to problems online.
Technologies Used In Telehealth Apps
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) powers up these apps by its contribution to the creation of chatbots and the implementation of voice recognition technologies and Machine Learning that enhances the experience of the patients and also reduces the turnaround time of the doctors.
- Blockchain is the new technology around the corner, that ensures the storage and security in the medical data exchange. In the healthcare industry, with HIPAA playing a major role, Blockchain enhances the security behind the Clinical Information transactions.
- Big Data enhances the computational power of EHR Softwares to improve the treatment, provide with the most accurate diagnoses, and thereby bring down the overall cost of Healthcare.
- The Internet of Things (IoT) empowers doctors to track vitals, enhanced suggestions on treatments, diagnoses, adherence to medication, etc. This unique combination of hardware and software in the healthcare domain enhances the treatment of patients through these telemedicine app development solutions.
Features Of Telehealth Apps
Telehealth app development revolves around several features that facilitate both the patients and the doctors in the healthcare sector.
The patient’s account (User login)
The patients have access to his/her account which is encrypted using a password. Information such as age, sex, pre-medical history, and prescriptions is stored in the individual accounts.
Search box for specialists/doctors
The patients are provided with a search box where they can search for the nearest specialists and doctors and also their availability in their desired time slots.
Video consultation
The doctors and the patients can consult with each other via video calls which will be realtime. All they need is a web camera and a microphone to communicate verbally. This is beneficial for doctors to understand the patient’s conditions.
Payment medium
Once the consultation ends, then comes the payment to the doctors by the patients. For this a payment medium or a gateway needs to be established in the telehealth app.
Feedback
There is a feedback option for the patients so that the patient can review the consultation with the doctor and rate them based on the solution they have provided.
Doctor’s dashboard
The app’s dashboard helps the doctors in managing patient appointments, prescriptions, health records, and other functionalities.
Development Of Telehealth App
With the development of telehealth mobile app development, the developer needs to strategize the telehealth process structure so that the doctors and patients can consult seamlessly. Certain aspects of the telehealth process need to be kept in mind of the developer such as app design, app layout, HIPAA compliance, and app optimization.
Device optimization is very crucial in the development phase of a telehealth app because there is a higher chance that the patients will have access to a smartphone than a laptop or a desktop.
The telehealth app must be designed and optimized for both Android and iOS smartphones. For the iOS users, iPhone app developers can be hired for the localization and optimization part and the Android users, any Android app developer can be hired to do the same.
Telehealth Apps – Need Of The Hour!
The healthcare sector is one of the essential sectors in the world and the demand in this sector will always be there. There are circumstances where the patients and the doctors cannot physically be present in the location and the consultation can be an urgent one. The telehealth app system is the solution in such situations. Telehealth requires very less amount of money and eliminates traveling expenses, which can facilitate the rural population as well.
One of the biggest examples of usage of telehealth apps is the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic which has restricted the movement of the global population and enclosed them in their residences. Usage of telehealth apps is at an all-time high during the pandemic and the patients and doctors were able to communicate with each other virtually.
Wrapping Up
The telehealth app and its benefits are facilitating the healthcare sector and mitigating the problems faced by the patients due to lack of transport and infrastructure. It has shaped the healthcare sector in a good way and has integrated technology for the betterment of the common people. If your business needs a telehealth app, you can hire a professional mobile app development company to help you out in the process. The market of digital health has gained more potential with the onset of the COVID-19 crisis. With an efficient telehealth app, not only will you make tons of profit but also help the doctors and nurses who are risking their lives to treat contagious diseases at the hospitals.
