Telemedicine App Development: How to Build a Telemedicine Platform Faster and With Lower Costs in 2023
Main tips about how much telemedicine app development costs, how to make it cost-efficient, and how to boost its development in 2023
February 28, 2023
7 min read
In the last 3 years, millions of people required the help of a doctor. And with the advent of COVID-19, that need became even more critical. Moreover, when the quarantine forced people to stay at home and reduce personal contacts, a new request emerged. That was the need for remote consultation with medical advisors, which today is known as telemedicine. Thus, it was the pushing moment for the development of doctor-on-demand apps, which helped to stay in touch with therapists and narrow-profile doctors without any need for appointing visits to the clinic.
Today, telemedicine is one of the growing trends worldwide. Just imagine, that the number of US people who applied for a teledoctor’s services increased from 17.7 million in 2019 to an overwhelming 21.0 million in 2021.
Due to the CDC, 37% of adult Americans used it at least once in 2021. Thus, telemedicine app development is a good idea for money investment. Let’s consider how to develop a teledoctor app in 2023 to make it popular, useful for users, and cost-efficient for the owner.
Top 5 Telemedicine App Features Which Are Worth Considering in the Development Process
When you decide to develop a telemedicine app, what should you start with? Probably, your hand has already reached for the calculator to consider the budget. Of course, it’s important. But even before this stage, you still need to determine which functions will be crucial for your telemedicine platform. So, let’s see which of them to select when you decide to develop a telemedicine app.
Implementing Geographic Location to Help Patients to Find Drug Stores Nearby
When you apply for a telemedicine service, you need both to get prescriptions to treat your health condition, and to get information where to get the prescribed medication. When you offer the opportunity to get drug stores mapped for the convenience of users, it’s a great idea.
Adding an Option for Video/Audio/Text Consultation Online
Getting timely support from a medical specialist is the core feature of a telemedicine platform. Thus, you should consider the way users can get in touch with a doctor. As usual, users are welcome to send text messages to describe their problems. Yet, it can come in handy if you add to the plan of your telemedicine app development the feature of video or audio consultations. These live consultations bring your app more points and make it more credible for users.
Appointment Management Option
Not all cases can be solved remotely when it comes to the healthcare industry. Your app’s users may need to pass tests or get personal health examinations. That feature is essential for telemedicine app development today. So, if you want to go ahead of your competitors, you should implement that feature.
EHR: What’s It and Why Your App Needs It
Data processing and storage are a core part of modern apps. In telemedicine, EHR is what keeps and stores the patient’s data. Both doctors who work under your platform and patients will be glad to get the full medical history streamless recorded in the app. So when deciding to develop a telemedicine app, do not forget to add an EHR feature to it.
Implementation of E-Prescription
Lots of medications are prohibited to use without a prescription. At the same time, it can be a long process to meet with your doctor, pass a medical examination, and get a handwritten prescription for the drug you need. E-prescriptions are the best solution for this. And if you develop your telemedicine app with this function integrated, you can get more credits from users than ever.
Get a Tech Consultation
Get a consultation from Voypost experts who will answer all your questions regarding the technical aspects of telemedicine app development. We’ll help you nurture your idea into a successful startup product
How to Develop a Telemedicine App: 5 Tips to Follow
Besides following the tips we’ve listed earlier, a successful telemedicine app development requires a seamless plan. That’s what we are going to share with you in this part of the article.
Making It Cross-Platform Is a Must
Today, people use a diversity of gadgets in their everyday lives. That means you shouldn’t narrow your potential audience and limit it to just one option on how to reach out to your telemedicine app. The principle of a cross-platform app means that it can be downloaded, installed, and used with no limitations on different devices. When we talk about phones, you should take into account that some of your clients may use iOS devices while others are fans of Android OS. As well, you should keep in mind that getting an app for a laptop or PC is also convenient. This refers to the need for budget calculations and for hiring developers who can create a telehealth app which will suit all these platforms.
Do Not Miss a Discovery Phase
Just starting the development is not a win-win idea. If you want to launch the market with success and get profit from your telemedicine application, you need to prepare thoroughly. That is called the pre-phase or discovery phase of your telemedicine app development. What should be done then?
Analyze the market and competitors who offer similar products. Check their bright and dark sides to make your app better.
Select the audience. You cannot meet the expectations of a 100% population. So, you can focus on the needs of a segmented audience, i.e., future moms, athletes, people who need to stay in touch with therapists constantly, parents, name it!
Evaluate risks and possible income. That is the work of a risk manager to mitigate possible risks and avoid operational and management drawbacks.
Develop a Unique Value Proposition. What will make your app exclusive? Why is it better than others?
All these stages of a discovery phase can be performed with ease. In Voypost, we offer all this as a service pack and more options, including MVP scope, solution architecture development and prototypes for user testing to help businesses with it. You can rely on our expertise to make a brilliant start with your telemedicine platform.
Apply Principles of UX/UI Design
Users require apps which will be intuitive and understandable. They can get messy when they need to search for the function they need. All of that is a job for UX/UI designers. So, focusing on UX/UI principles in app design is crucial. Especially, when we talk about doctor-on-demand services.
Use Top-Notch Technologies
The selection of technologies is a cornerstone for each product’s development process. That means you need to consider which back-end and front-end frameworks to select, which mobile app development technologies to add, and how to incorporate all of them into one product.
Start With MVP to Save Costs
When you want to get two benefits at once (namely, reduce costs to develop a telemedicine app, and get instant feedback about it to remove bugs), you can start with an MVP. MVP means a minimal viable product and that is an app which is developed up to the condition when users can use it but still, you can improve it further. That is cheaper and allows you to test it tip-top. Besides you can get the definition of MVP scopes, which won’t take longer than 2–3 months to be live from the Voypost Talent Pool team.
Application Testing and Analyzing the Feedback Is Crucial
Never neglect testing and user feedback evaluation. If your app has critical errors in its code, it is not well-protected, or it is just badly designed, you lose money. So, hiring QAs for your team and looking for customers’ feedback is a key to success.
Our Telemedicine Case Study
Explore our real telehealth case study, rich with numbers, and stunning facts. We'll uncover our success story for your notable improvements in patient monitoring. Our client achieved clients base growth +130%, costs reduction by -14%, ROI <12 month.
How Much Does Telemedicine Development Cost?
The answer to this question depends on multiple factors. You should consider at least the core of them, as follows:
The complexity of the product, including the selection of technologies, the number of features, etc.
The timeline you have. As speeding up the development process bloats the budget, it is also a considerable factor.
The number of members in your development team and their expertise level, rates, and the business model for hiring them.
Making it on-shelve one or developing a custom app also matters as well, as considering getting the fully ready-to-launch app or an MVP.
On average, the pricing for telemedicine app development starts from $40,000 for a simple application for a single platform and a couple of functions integrated. For more advanced products, the price can reach $80,000. Top-notch custom apps in the field of telemedicine can cost $200,000 and more, depending on the list of technologies applied and the team.
Get a Consultation on Telehealth App Development
Get a consultation on Telehealth App Development. Our expertise and professionalism will help you quickly bring your dream app to life and start making people's lives better, happier, healthier!
Reducing Costs: How to Develop Your Telemedicine Application With Lower Expenses
The best idea on how to reduce costs for telehealth app development is to select the development team properly. Do you know that American developers require the highest rates worldwide? While their Ukrainian colleagues provide the same highest expertise level and work great on the most complex projects, their rates are almost three times lower! Besides, you can make the process more cost-efficient by hiring an outstaffing team instead of on-premise employment.
To do all of that, you can simply enter the Voypost Talent Pool platform. We help startups and businesses to get in touch with the best-matching IT specialists. With Voypost, you can select from a wide range of pros waiting for your job offer. You can get the best from the best without limiting yourself by your location. And that’s true, on Voypost Talent Pool, the process of searching and hiring remote specialists takes less time than ever. It takes no more than 2 weeks to start your project with a thoroughly selected remote team.
Besides, you can save on such points as managing a working place for a team, dealing with taxes and insurance policies, and other documentary routines. Outstaffing eases life, and it helps to get specialists to your team exactly for the term you need them.
Starting a Telehealth Business: Ready-Made vs Custom Software
The healthcare sector is undergoing a transformation, with telehealth at the forefront of this change. But when you're about to jump into telemedicine platform development, one decision awaits: choosing between ready-made software and custom-built platform. Further, we briefly surface the difference between the two to prove that custom software is the only winning strategy.
Protection of Patient Data
Secure storage of sensitive data that patients share with healthcare providers raises concerns. According to a 2022 report by HIMSS Analytics, 77% of healthcare organizations have experienced a cybersecurity incident in the past year. Ready-made software might not offer the stringent security measures required for confidential patient data. Custom telehealth app development, on the other hand, allows businesses to incorporate top-tier security protocols tailored to their operations.
Poor Technical Support
Ready-made software might come with a generic support team unfamiliar with the nuances of your business. In contrast, with custom software, you often have dedicated teams well-versed in your platform's intricacies, ensuring prompt and efficient problem-solving.
Personalization Issues and Competitive Advantage
Because generic telehealth solutions are widely available, they make it tough to carve out a distinct presence. With the telemedicine market reaching an impressive $83.5 billion valuation in 2022, standing out is not a choice but a must.
Scalability Perspective
As your telehealth business grows, so do your technological needs. Off-the-shelf solutions may stumble when expansion becomes essential, sabotaging your platform's data accommodation or device adaptability. Bespoke development, conversely, enables you to expand without trading off performance or user satisfaction.
Invest in a Software Designed for Your Business
Rely on the team which has successfully worked on the healthcare projects end-to-end. Avoid the hassle in digital preparation and start your business right away with our custom telehealth development services.
Dependency on Vendor Updates
Relying on ready-made software means you're at the mercy of the vendor's update schedule. Any delays or unsatisfactory updates can impact your operations. In contrast, with custom software, you have control over updates and modifications.
Compliance and Regulation Issues
The healthcare sector is riddled with regulations. Using ready-made software might mean potential compliance risks if the software isn't regularly updated to match regulatory changes. Custom software allows you to ensure continual compliance with industry standards and regulations.
Assessing True Cost-Effectiveness
No need to hide that the choice of custom vs ready-made software is often determined by telemedicine app development cost. At first glance, pre-made solutions might appear cost-effective. However, over time, you might end up paying more for features you don't use or for other extra things. Custom telemedicine app development means you only pay for what you really need saving costs in the long run.
Conclusion
Starting a telehealth business is a promising venue, but the choice between ready-made and custom software can make or break your success. While ready-made platforms offer quick solutions, they come with potential risks and limitations. Custom software, although potentially more time-consuming and costly initially, provides long-term benefits in security, brand differentiation, scalability, and compliance.
Summaries
Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, telemedicine platforms have become extremely popular. People have evaluated their ease of use, remote opportunities to get an urgent consultation, and multiple other convenient options which are available today in almost every telemedicine app. Still, you can gain success by developing a telemedicine app. This can be done by following the 5 tips we have highlighted in this article. Start with market analysis and risk analysis. Enhance the scope of functions which will make the life of users better. Use the best technologies. Hire skilled healthcare app developers. Get an MVP to develop it further. That’s all! And Voypost Talent Pool can help you with any of these steps. This platform offers its high-level expertise in the field of hiring pros who are skilled in telemedicine app development. You can get in touch with the best Business Analysts, Designers, and Developers from all over the world to select the best ones and hire them by the outstaffing model to reduce costs and guarantee the highest results.
Join Voypost Talent Pool and develop your telemedicine application to win the love and recognition of millions of users who need telehealth services right now.