Healthcare Mobile Apps – Enhancing and Revolutionizing Healthcare Industry

“If your plans don’t include mobile, your plans are not finished.” – Wendy Clark

Digitization and technology have left no stone unturned in our lives – be it personal or professional. All business units and industry segments are enjoying the indulgence of technological advancements in their functioning. And, more so, after the advent of mobile devices, there is no looking back.

One such segment that is a happening industry is the healthcare industry. It has been tasting the fruits of success with the implementation of different healthcare solutions and services, with the help of effective technologies and tools.

The entire medical fraternity has been depending upon technological solutions for enhanced diagnosis, better surgical processes, increased healthcare facilities, and improved administration.

Mobile apps are now indispensable with any kind of software solution and the way healthcare mobile apps have been revolutionizing the healthcare industry is remarkable.

This article peeps into how mobile apps have been offering great services to the healthcare units and how well are they benefiting from these applications.

Before we move further, let us glance through what healthcare mobile apps are.

What is a Healthcare Mobile App?

A healthcare mobile app is a software application, created to enhance clinical operations and decisions, with effective communication between stakeholders like doctors, patients, insurance persons, administrative people, etc.

It could include a variety of features like messaging, voice chatting, file sharing, telemedicine, telehealth, appointment scheduling, maintaining health records electronically, etc.

Healthcare mobile apps could be different types such as healthy lifestyle apps, patient medical health apps, reminder apps, doctor appointment apps, monitoring apps, diagnosis apps, mental health apps, dieting apps, etc.

Key Features of Mobile App for the Healthcare Industry

• Interoperability with other traditional systems through compatibility between apps
• Involvement of API components for various tasks such as device authentication etc.
• Ensuring the security of devices along with patient and clinical data lying in the user repositories through different mechanisms like end-to-end encryption, secure communication routes, etc.
• Everyday usage features for daily life apps such as sleep monitoring, push notifications, metrics calculation, etc.
• Having device compatibility, mobile app to work on iOS, Android, and other platforms with equal ease and effectiveness
• Customization of personal details with other features such as fitness routine, diet plan, an appointment with doctors, medicine schedule, etc.
• Geolocation tracking and monitoring for better route management
• Push notifications to ensure alarms for different tasks such as appointments, fitness schedules, medicines, clinical findings, etc.
• Chatting functionality for interaction with other stakeholders
• Audio and video collaboration

How are Mobile Apps Enhancing the Functioning of the Healthcare Industry?

• Helping Industry Maintain a Patient-Centric Approach

The healthcare mobile apps have been instrumental in assisting the healthcare units to maintain and manage all patient-related activities, with ease and efficacy. Be it appointment scheduling, searching for medicines, consulting doctors, sharing documents, handling emergencies, asking for fitness regimes, consulting specialist doctors, video calling, or online consultation – mobile apps have it all.

Patients can avail medical help from their own location. Either through video consultation or by wearing fitness bands and implementing fitness apps, users can avail medical services with ease. The wearables are yet another feather in the cap that sync well with the mobile apps and offer all necessary fitness information needed. Even round-the-clock medical assistance can be availed through the application.

• Assisting Doctors and Medical Professionals in Effective Services

Mobile apps have made the life of doctors, surgeons, and clinical practitioners easy. Administration, responses, appointments, health records, documentation, treatment follow-up, medical history maintenance, integration with AI-powered systems and other personal devices, documentation, treatment plans – everything can be managed, monitored, and implemented with the help of mobile apps for the healthcare units.

• Accessing Accurate, Comprehensive, and Insightful Reports

Implementation of a mobile app offers detailed reports that are based on the bulk of information gathered through the app. These reports can help decision-makers to take accurate decisions and leverage the usage of AI, ML, AR, and VR in the daily processes. These reports offer fast availability to medical reports of patients, as and when needed.

• Offering Easy, Fast, and Secure Payment Methods

The mobile apps for healthcare offer a great variety of payment methods that are easy for users and highly secure too. With this, patients and users find it comfortable to go in for online payment portals. Originally, there used to be long queues in which users had to wait for a long time. Gone are those days, payments are all online and a big help.

• Presenting a Great Business Opportunity

Because of the instant availability of services, faster retrieval of records, and enhanced patient experience, the healthcare segment is benefiting tons through the mobile applications powered by cutting-edge technologies. There is a positive business output all over, for patients, doctors, and all involved stakeholders and hence comes out as a good business opportunity for the healthcare segment.

Key Technological Trends That Have Helped Create Mobile Apps for Healthcare Units

• Telemedicine and Telehealth Are the New Age Medical Terminologies

Telemedicine means the usage of telecommunications technology to deliver healthcare to patients in real-time. It can be sent through video conferencing, audio communication, text/chat, or using healthcare apps.

It works using telecommunication technology in which physicians and patients can deliberate issues/symptoms, share information (visuals, screen, and text) in real-time, distantly consult doctors and get a judgement, capture or see readings from medical devices, get treatment for primary treatment and educate patients, consultants, or healthcare professionals.

Good Read: Top 20 Popular Telemedicine Apps Offering Best Of Healthcare

• Blockchain Technology is Trending in the Healthcare Industry

Blockchain is a popular trending technology now a days and it has now become a rage in the healthcare units too. It is a one-to-one database that manages accurate records of all transactions that must be tracked and accessed by a huge group of users.

Blockchain is quite useful to healthcare units since it provides an effective recording of the medical history of patients with electronic storage in an encrypted form. It is quite safe and secure and hence patient data and clinical information is stored with protection and reliability.

• Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality Are Benefiting the Healthcare Fraternity

AR and VR are the two technologies that are alluring the globe and the healthcare industry is also gaining out of it. Through the logic of super imposing computer-generated information, AR and VR have been leveraged to create mobile apps utilized by doctors and other stakeholders.

There is stimulation of real-life experience of different surgeries and diagnosis, that can help doctors in their actual treatment. They can gain more expertise and hence offer reliable service to patients.

Since this is a technological advancement, the orientation can be offered to multiple sources at the same time and hence everyone can benefit from it. Users, i.e. doctors, patients, surgeons, administrators, etc. can get a personalized and interactive experience through AI services. This increases the collaboration between systems and stakeholders.

• Big Data Analytics Will Offer Useful Statistical Information

With huge chunks of data getting generated continuously, Big Data is the way out to get the best out of the heaps of information. With the latest tools, it offers detailed statistical information that can be administered through competent tools.

Big Data is turning extremely useful in maintaining, storing, and accessing patient records, documents, files, reports, diagnosis, etc. with ease. It helps doctors to keep more focus on their work rather than wasting time on administrative tasks.

There are increasing number of mobile apps that are trending now, to offer the best of applications that can benefit the healthcare industry, by leaps and bounds. Big Data analytics assists in developing mobile-based healthcare apps for storing patient information.

• Internet of Things Is all About Connecting People and Devices

Internet of Things (IoT) is all about bridging the gap between physical devices, software solutions, and people. It connects the electronic items, software, and apps in such a way that it helps medical practitioners to avail important patient data for better monitoring and management.

It becomes easy for doctors to monitor patient details and for patients to deal closely with the doctors. IoT devices can help big time in offering better treatment, administration, collaboration, and management of activities in any healthcare unit through mobile apps.

Some of the Leading Healthcare Mobile Apps

• WebMD
• Headspace
• Generis
• Teladoc
• PEPID
• Medisafe Pill Minder
• Better Help
• Heal
• Leafly
• MDacne

And many more….

Good Read: How Much Does It Cost To Make Medical Apps For Healthcare Professionals

Wrap Up – Healthcare Mobile Apps have a Bright Future

Looking at the way these healthcare IT solutions are influencing the healthcare industry, they have become the need of the hour. Trends are setting in, newer ways and means of indulging in technology are coming up and all involved stakeholders in the healthcare industry are leveraging the goodness of these mobile apps.

There is a lot to look for, as time goes by. It will be great to see everyone benefiting from this association of the healthcare segment with mobile apps. The plethora of options mobile apps are offering to the industry will be a game changer and only time will tell how!