The healthcare industry, among all others, is applying digital technologies and utilizing mobile devices for healthcare app development. mHealth (refers to mobile health) is a common term used for applying mobile technologies and devices (smartphones, wearables, tablets) in a medical and public health practice. Healthcare mobile app development provides lots of benefits.
Unsurprisingly, in 2017 there were 325,000 available healthcare apps with a range of functionalities, from personal fitness trackers to programs to help maintain chronic health conditions. Many of them evolved from MVP (minimum viable product) healthcare app projects from personal fitness trackers to programs to help maintain chronic health conditions.
Just imagine, around 3.7 billion apps were downloaded in 2017 offering mHealth services. This number is expected to grow by 16% within the next year and should result in a commercial success by making a total of $26 billion worldwide. The heavy usage of smartphones and smartwatches contributed even greater growth to the mobile health consumer app market.
The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) mentions that 1.7 billion smartphone users are going to adopt healthcare mobile apps by 2018. Consequently, this is definitely the right time for healthcare mobile app development, and this article should help you with the following:
- Analyze the best healthcare applications
- Check out technology trends within the healthcare mobile app industry (IoT, AI, Blockchain, etc.)
- Understand the future of the mHealth app market
- Determine ways to make a successful healthcare app
- Check out design, MVP healthcare app development, and monetization tips
Types of Healthcare Apps
In general, all healthcare apps can be divided into two categories - professional healthcare apps and healthcare apps for patients. Doctor apps are used for medical instruction, access to healthcare records and diagnoses, medical prescriptions, and essentially all other internal matters.
The other category consists of medical apps used by patients in clinics or personal healthcare apps.
Professional Healthcare Apps
- Medical reference & database apps
These medical apps assist doctors with keeping all the information regarding diseases, drugs, and prescriptions in one place (e.g Medscape, Epocrates, VisualDX).
- Professional networking apps
These are thematic social networks where healthcare providers and professionals can connect, interact, exchange knowledge, and grow professional community (e.g. DailyRounds, Figure 1, Among Doctors).
- Patient medical health tracking apps
Logically, these healthcare apps help doctors monitor the health of their patients throughout the medical treatment process. Results from various labs and medical tests are listed there, as well as all other medical documentation (e.g VitalHub Chart).
- Doctor appointment & clinical assistance apps
To reduce the handwritten work of keeping journals, clinics can use apps for appointments. All parties can be notified about changes in the calendar, which makes life much easier (e.g. Zocdoc).
- Telehealth mobile apps (doctor-on-demand apps)
Telehealth apps is a great solution for online doctor visits and consultations (e.g. KRY).
Mobile Health Apps for Patients
Next is a list of the most common apps used by patients and individual consumers.
- Patient medical education apps (patient portals) - to monitor useful information
- Reminder apps - includes medical tracking apps, or some health habit (water consumption)
- Diagnosis apps for preventive purposes
- Healthy lifestyle apps - health tests, fitness, wellness apps, cardio apps
- Monitoring apps - for chronic conditions like diabetes, blood pressure, cancer, etc.
- Mental health apps - stress relief apps, meditation apps, apps for good sleep
- Dieting apps - trackers, exercise, weight loss apps
- Women's health apps - for pregnancy, feeding, or monthly calendar
