Healthcare App Development in 2022: Future Trends & Challenges

Ever since the beginning of time, the human body has encountered some disease or the other that led to decreasing the life expectancy of humans. With time, we evolved and so did the remedies. We managed to find a cure for a disease like diabetes which otherwise would’ve led to death, until 1921. The most common diseases and disorders ended up shortening the life span of people. If it wasn’t for healthcare, we wouldn’t have managed to survive the Covid-19 pandemic, and I wouldn’t be writing this blog. Thus, healthcare app development is becoming a necessity in recent times.

Why is Healthcare even more important now?

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that a pandemic like Covid-19 has managed to make people more self-reliant when it comes to health. Many people if not everybody, have started to take care of their health. Every time a minor fever or a cold happens, people rush to get themselves checked. We all know that even though some people infected with Covid-19 managed to recover, they are still left with a weakened immune system. This makes it even more necessary for them to take care of themselves. Because of this reason, healthcare is in much more need than ever before. 

To prevent infection, people have started to rely on healthcare apps and telemedicine consultations. They prefer seeking help by staying at their homes instead of visiting a hospital or a clinic. This makes the need for healthcare app development even more important, especially for the upcoming year. 

What is a Healthcare Application?

A healthcare application manages the medical requirements of an individual. It covers the diagnosis of medical conditions, telemedicine, lab results and their reviews, future fitness goals, record of hospital visits, health insurance claim, e-prescriptions, and appointment management. 

Why is Healthcare App Development important?

Healthcare app development is a necessity as it helps medical experts in providing service to more people. This can be suggested by seeing the number of people who daily stand in lines at the hospitals. A lot of delays occur and unknowingly it might accelerate the disease in a patient. It is important to cure the disease as soon as the diagnosis is done. To avoid inconveniences like these, patients must have access to healthcare mobile apps. These apps will help them save time and money. If the condition isn’t severe, the doctor can prescribe medication by seeing the symptoms on the app itself. This will help the doctors in treating patients with a more medical agency, especially when it is a matter of life and death for a patient. 

What are the future trends for Healthcare App Development?

1. IoT (Internet of Things) integration

IoT refers to a system in which there is an interaction between the internet and a machine or a computer device. This system transfers data over a wireless network without any human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. Wearable fitness trackers are an example of IoT devices. They help in recording the fitness metrics like the number of steps taken, daily calories consumed, heartbeats in a minute, etc. As advancement in technology is observed, more and more IoT devices are being used in the healthcare industry. These devices are used along with healthcare applications. The record of data being gathered by the device gets reflected in the mobile application. IoT integration is going to be an important aspect of healthcare app development in the coming years.

2. Blockchain

Blockchain is a concept in which data is linked in the form of chains of blocks. In these chains, the blocks consist of data related to the data in their previous blocks. This inter-linked nature of the data makes it impossible to hack it. Healthcare consists of tons of medical records of patients. This data is highly confidential and nobody can afford to lose their privacy. Owing to the confidentiality of patient data, blockchains are being used in healthcare applications. Blockchain also eliminates the need for additional systems and software, therefore decreasing the cost of healthcare app development. It is an ideal solution for storing and securely exchanging sensitive patient data. Even though it isn’t a very common feature in the healthcare industry, it is becoming an upcoming trend in healthcare app development.

3. Telemedicine

Recent studies and surveys indicate that people prefer telemedicine consultation more than traditional hospital visits. A surge in the increase of telemedicine app users was observed post the initiation of the Covid-19 pandemic. More and more people downloaded teleconsultation mobile applications. Telemedicine is an easy and convenient way to take care of your health. It prevents any transportation cost and also saves a lot of time. A lot of telemedicine apps provide instant consultation to patients. This is a much-anticipated feature by the patients as in a lot of cases patients require consultation at that very instant of time. All in all, telemedicine is becoming a significant trend and is bound to become a necessity in the future.

4. Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) System

Remote patient monitoring helps in gathering patient data by making use of RPM devices outside the healthcare settings. Patients monitor their health data throughout the day and then that data is recorded in a system. RPM systems are very useful especially in the case of patients who cannot regularly visit the hospital. This is most common in the cases of old people who have trouble moving around on their feet. The data fed to the RPM systems can be checked by the respective doctor or medical expert. This allows them to review the patient data without any human-to-human interaction. RPM systems are very helpful especially because they save a lot of time and space in the hospitals. The equipment is usually occupied in the hospitals and testing for basic health parameters becomes highly time-consuming. RPM is an emerging trend in healthcare app development.

5. Patient-Generated Health Data (PGHD)

Nowadays, healthcare apps have features that ask patients to record their medical data. The data usually includes the patient’s history of diseases, current symptoms, and other health parameters. PGHD helps the patients cover gaps in their health data. These medical records help the healthcare software in generating a comprehensive image of the patient’s health status. This analysis can then be used to decide the next step of seeking help from a medical expert. PGHD helps in the constant monitoring of a patient’s health without the help of a medical expert. This system is being integrated with a lot of healthcare apps these days and is becoming a very important trend in healthcare app development.

The best healthcare app developers are incorporating these trends in their healthcare applications. Even though healthcare app development is becoming more and more common, there are a few challenges that one may face while developing a healthcare app.

Challenges in Healthcare App Development

The more and more healthcare apps are emerging, the more are the risks increasing. Dealing with healthcare is a difficult yet very important task. While most of the healthcare developers have managed to overcome these challenges, we’d like to list them anyway for our upcoming healthcare providers.

Design, Interface & Accessibility

An app’s design and interface play a very significant role in generating traffic. A lot of healthcare app users anticipate a platform that is easy to navigate. However, it is often very difficult to find the perfect design and interface. If the application is very difficult to understand, it may result in a lack of interest from the user’s end thus eliminating the very purpose of the app. This is a challenge that isn’t hard to overcome. With the right app developer and designer, you can create an apt user interface and experience for the patients.

Data Security

Patient data is very sensitive and highly confidential. It is important to protect patient data at all times. Even though it can be challenging to preserve a vast amount of patient data on a single platform, it is easy to overcome this challenge by making use of software integration. A lot of software is present which helps in securing patient data. This software helps in encrypting patient data as well as patient-doctor communication. It is highly important to secure patient data to gain the trust of the patients. This further encourages the patients to seek help from these healthcare applications.

Cost of Integrations

To develop the best healthcare app, it is important to provide all the necessary features. However, many integrations need to be made for developing the app. Integrating multiple APIs (Application programming interfaces) isn’t an easy task, but neither is it impossible. In some cases these APIs are free and in some cases, charges may apply as there is a set data limit crossing which additional charges are applicable. If an app developer is developing an application that will be exceeding the data limit, then the developer or app owner will be billed for additional data.

How Panther can help?

These challenges are important to overcome to develop the best healthcare application. 

If you are looking for a platform that will help you in developing a healthcare app that can incorporate the trends and overcome the challenges, then we have just the right platform for you. 

Panther is a platform that helps in creating consultation applications for various verticals. It is a highly customizable product as it makes use of the latest technologies. Our tech experts work hard to deliver the best technology solutions. Feel free to reach out to us, in case you are interested in developing a healthcare application.