The technological revolution is already playing a major role in providing businesses with the opportunity to develop custom-made solutions for their particular requirements. The medical field isn’t an exception as well.
Although medicine is understandably a tough nut to crack regarding tech adoption, we are still seeing early signs of progress in this field ranging from the digitalization of patient records to payments, to VR-based training, to telemedicine, and so on.
Even the stats speak for themselves. For example,
- Consumer surveys conducted in the USA has already revealed that almost
And as far as funding is concerned, it is right there for the taking, especially for startups in particular. Here, have a look at a few of the most significant deals of 2016 as far as medical app development is concerned:
- Ping An Good Doctor: It is a Chinese medical app that obtained a staggering amount of $500,000,000 for its entire funding.
- Oscar: A health insurance startup; received $400 million.
- Human Longevity Inc: A company dealing solely with age-related issues; received $220 million as a part of their funding from the GE ventures.
- Flatiron Health: A startup revolutionizing the oncology treatment; received $175 million.
- Clover: A startup aiming to become an affordable alternative to healthcare; received $160 million in funding.
So, to sum up, we can safely conclude that the medical app development market is currently on the rise. Hence, it can be a very decent time for you to develop a doctor-on-demand mobile app in the current market because the demand for the benefits are right there for the taking.
Things to keep in mind while developing a Doctor on-demand application
The following Doctor on-demand app development tips may come in handy for you in case you are feeling doubts as to how to begin in the right way:
Knowing the target audience
Identifying your audience is the key to developing a successful Doctor on-demand app irrespective of the complex nature of the project or its type. You need to place yourself in your audience’s shoes and think in terms of an end user; not as a developer. Only then your app will pass the test with flying colors.
The purpose of the app
Your second step should be to clarify the reasons and objectives as to why you want to build a doctor finding mobile app. Once you get a thorough understanding of the purpose of your project, you can do the necessary developments, tweaks, and fixes at a moment’s notice.
Organized data
Remember, the fundamental idea of developing a doctor on-demand app is to have an organized and structured database for easy and convenient browsing.
The data should be clean, accurate, comprehensible, and right to the point, making it easy for hassle-free communications between the patients and the doctors.
Reliable content
Fake and unreliable content can place a massive blow to the reputation of your project. So avoid at all possible cost.
Note: Always double check facts, doctor contact lists, appointment dates, etc. from trustworthy sources before using the data on your application.
Direct link-up between the doctor and the patient
You must think of a reliable means of communication to link up the patient with the doctor directly. Any involvement of a third party can wreak havoc on the credibility of your application.
Developing a Doctor on-demand application in 10 systematic steps
- Have a clear vision of your target group.
- Select your mobile platforms and device by keeping a few things in mind such as hardware performance, ruggedness, battery life, network coverage, device support, and a few more required peripherals.
- Know the different models of generating revenue and use them according to your choice. These models include paid apps, in-app freemiums, advertisement revenues, pay per downloads, and subscriptions.
- Emphasize more on the UI design, speed, and UX of the application because user experience can make all the differences in the world either for better or worse.
- Identify your approach to the development; is it going to be a native, web or hybrid application?
- Native apps: Native applications helps in delivering the best user experience but require a whole lot of time and skill to be developed. These are platform specific (iOS or Android) and costly at one, and the same time.
- Web application: Web applications are quick and inexpensive in comparison to the native apps and can run on multiple platforms. These apps are developed through HTML, CSS, and JSS code.
- Hybrid: This is the latest approach to developing any form of application. Hybrid app development combines the use of prebuilt platform-specific native containers with on-the-fly web coding to achieve the best of the both.
- Focus on building a prototype with only a few essential features. This will make it easier for you to decide whether your idea of a Doctor on-demand mobile app will work out or not.
- Stress more on responsive app designing. Responsive designs can make your application look good on any device, be it a computer, tab, phone, or a 50 inch TV.
- Integrate a reliable analytics tool that is capable of giving you a detailed picture of the number of visitors getting on your app. This can also help you personalize your application to your user requirements.
Note: As far as suggestions of mobile analytics tools are concerned, here are a few for your reference:
- Flurry
- Google Analytics
- Mixpanel
- Localytics
- Preemptive
- Beta test your app from targeted consumers. Listen to their feedback and make the tweaks accordingly.
Note: Beta testing is an excellent opportunity to remove initial bugs from your app (if any). This can significantly help in reducing your product launch risk for good.
- Launch the final version of the app on the respective web stores and market it in the right way via app store optimization, content and social media promotions.
Technologies to be used:-
- Geolocation module: For tracking user’s current location.
- Google Maps: For viewing doctor availability on basis of user proximity.
- Cloud: For safe storage of data.
- Reliable and safe payment gateway: For accepting a wide variety of online payments (including the likes of credit cards, debit cards, wallets, bitcoins, PayPal, etc.).
- Real-time analytics: For tracking user data including the number of users visiting your website, the number of downloads, bounce rate, and other similar information.
- SMS, Voice, and Phone Verification: For authenticity and for keeping spam bots at bay.
- Database: For organized storage of consumer leads. As far as the database is concerned, your options are MongoDB, Hbase, Cassandra, Postgress, Mysql, etc.
Critical End User Features to be included in your Doctor on-demand App:-
- A distinct sign in/sign up button placed strategically on screen (on the basis of visual hierarchy) for convenient user logins and logouts.
- A separate mobile/web panel for patients.
- A simple, comprehensible dashboard.
- Geolocation feature for tracking doctors in the locality.
- One-click appointment booking, chat and calling facility.
- Live video calling on the go.
- Comprehensive collection of medical records under one roof.
- Review functionality, hassle-free payments and refunds policy, and a distinct social sharing button.
Critical Administrative Features to be included in your Doctor on-demand App
- Hassle-free management of doctors and patients data.
- Add/Block feature for addition or removal of registered user(s) as per requirement.
- Easy to use Content management system (such as Wordpress) for blogs, articles, and news.
- Organized management of medical reports.
- Marketing tools for promotional purposes.
Critical Features to be included in your Doctor on-demand App for registered doctors
- A separate mobile/web panel for doctors.
- A dedicated appointment status page. Doctors will be able to view lists of patient appointments on this page and can accept or deny them as per their choice.
- Live video calling feature.
- In-application chat and calling feature.
- Easy to use content management system for health-related articles.
Advanced features
- Real-time Analytics.
- Push Notifications for app promotions and updates.
- Communication channels.
- In-app Camera.
- Database Design
- Geolocation module
- Payments (Credit, Debit, Wallet, Online banking, Paypal, Braintree)
The estimated cost of developing a Doctor On-demand mobile application
Always remember that the final cost of your application is heavily dependent on the features and the functionality that your app’s going to provide.
Take a closer look at the features and functionalities of an application that can play a major role in defining its cost:
- App design: Simple, medium, or rich.
- Access control.
- App interaction.
- Advanced features such as geolocation, in-app camera, etc.
- External features such as connecting to third-party APIs, OTP generations, etc.
- Admin panel and analytics.
Taking all these things into consideration, we can say that an average Doctor on-demand mobile app (having the simple facility of discovery and appointment booking) can cost you less than $40,000 to develop, but it can easily go beyond $100,000 for more advanced versions.
Development Team Structure
Organization, expertise, and patience are the keys to developing a sophisticated medical application. Your development team must have the following members for on-time, on-budget, and goal-based delivery:
- Project manager
- Android developers
- iOS developers
- Backend developers
- UX UI designers
- QA experts
- Delivery manager
- Digital marketing manager
With that, we’ll bring this article to a close for now. Hope you had a good and enlightening read.
