Medical solutions are gaining traction as people look for ways to make their lives easier and more efficient. There are a variety of healthcare app types, examples, and features available, so it can be difficult to know where to start when launching a solution.
This blog post will provide an overview of the different types of healthcare apps, examples of successful healthcare apps, and functionality to include when developing a healthcare app.
Different types of healthcare apps
The landscape of healthcare apps has become quite vibrant over the last few years. Today, there are over 350,000 medical applications available to s. The latter may come in different flavors. Below, we have a short breakdown of the most popular app types in the niche.
Fitness application
These are solutions that teach you how to exercise in the right way and help you achieve a better physical status. These apps can also monitor your water and calorie intake as well as recommend workouts and healthy dieting. They can help you keep track of your weight, blood pressure, and even your heart rate.
Medication tracking apps
This type of app encourages patients to stick to their prescription regimen by tracking their medications and reminding them to take them on time.
Meditation apps
These solutions help s take up different meditation skills through deep breathing. These applications typically include mood trackers, guided meditations, timers, and other functionality.
Monitoring solutions
This is one of the most popular types of healthcare apps that help you track your health data. They monitor your heart rate, blood pressure, and sleep patterns to keep an eye on your overall health.
Doctor-on-demand applications
Doctor-on-demand apps are available on your smartphone and provide you with the option to make a video call with a licensed physician. You can use these apps if you want to get a quick medical opinion on an issue or just want to see what they have to say.
The main benefit of these apps is that they allow you to speak with a doctor without having to go through the hassle of waiting in line at the hospital or making an appointment.
As for professional medical applications, those are manifold as well. They usually store medical data and serve as a unified source of truth for healthcare providers, thus boosting interoperability and data accessibility.
Clinical communication/networking apps
Clinical networking apps are a growing category of software that helps health care professionals communicate more effectively. These apps are designed to help clinicians collaborate with their colleagues and share patient data and images.
Some clinical networking apps provide messaging services, while others focus on exchanging information about patients. These apps typically offer secure platforms where doctors can discuss case notes, make decisions, and manage their workflow.
Hospital information systems
Hospital information systems are a set of electronic software applications that are used to collect, store, track, and manage patient data. These systems can be used to monitor patient care and record clinical results. They can also be used to billing and reimbursement activities.
Medical dosage applications
As such, medication dosage apps are created to calculate dosages and infusion rates. Meant for both doctors and patients, estimate the right medicine dosage based on individual parameters such as weight, age, and others.
Health risk calculators
The proliferation of these applications helps doctors gauge the chances of developing severe complications in patients, such as the risk of having a heart attack. Created with the help of data scientists, health risk calculators employ artificial intelligence to assess potential problems. Ultimately, these applications help minimize the number of medical errors and improve patient outcomes. Typically, these solutions are embedded into EHR systems to aggregate important insights and patient records.
Examples of successful healthcare apps
Health and wellness management through healthcare applications is growing in popularity. Healthcare apps come in a wide variety, each with special features and advantages. We’ve listed some of the most successful healthcare apps below.
MyFitnessPal
This app helps s track their fitness goals and stay on track with their workout routine. It also offers a comprehensive food database, so s can see how many calories they are consuming each day.
As for the main features, MyFitnessPal includes food analysis, macros by meal, calorie intake, food timestamps, and others.
Headspace
This app provides s with guided meditation exercises that can help reduce stress and anxiety levels. Headspace includes a standard stack of everything that mindfulness applications need. Its signature functionality contains a timer, reminders, progress tracking, program training, and others. High-quality video compliments guided meditation.
Calmerry
This application falls into the professional category of digital health apps. Calmerry is an online therapy platform that provides assistance to individuals struggling with mental health issues. The platform matches patients with therapists based on their specialty and state. Patients can then communicate with therapists via an online chat or video conferencing.
Main features for a health app
When building a medical app, there are a few key features to keep in mind. First, the app must be able to track and store patient data. This data can include medical history, allergies, medications, and appointments. The app should also be able to sync with wearable devices so that it can track fitness goals and progress.
Additionally, the app should have a secure system so that only authorized s can access sensitive information. Finally, the app should be -friendly so that patients and doctors alike can easily navigate its features.
While healthcare apps can provide a range of benefits, they must be designed to comply with industry regulations. If a healthcare app is designed to store, access, or interpret patient data, it must comply with the Health Insurance Portability and ability Act (HIPAA) Privacy and Security rules. These rules dictate that healthcare apps store patient data on servers that are HIPAA compliant. In addition, the app should not store sensitive data without an opt-in from the patient.
Conclusion
Despite the healthcare marketplace being saturated with digital health offerings, there is still a large gap in the number of doctors using technology in their practices. The simple fact is that most doctors are not computer savvy and, therefore, may not be inclined to use technology. Healthcare technology has come a long way in of ease of use, but it still has a way to go before becoming relevant and commonplace in both doctor’s offices and patient homes.
