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By: Sagar Sharma

How to develop on-demand doctors and patients appointment app? (A detailed guide)

Before we get into this topic, let’s elaborate on how these on-demand doctors and patients appointment apps help both the doctors and patients in a great manner. Many of you might have heard, known or be using Practo, the patients’ best-used app in several countries. Developing such an app has consumed a very long time for app designers and simultaneously for introducing it in the market.

Practo was notably used by many patients as it offers easy booking of a confirmed appointment, and in case due to uncertain situations, if you wish to postpone or cancel the appointment, you can do it in the app itself, which will communicate to the hospital or doctor through a message, and sending you also postponed or canceled appointment to your registered mobile number with the app.

Many companies have kick-started mobile app development especially on developing a doctor appointment app because it is needed by doctors due to emerging competition of providing medical services throughout.

Features of on-demand doctor/patient appointment app

The benefit of doctors using an on-demand doctor appointment app and patients using an on-demand patient appointment app has picked up the race in the past few years. Such apps cater to the following features for maximum utilization of the app service.

  • E-prescriptions: Using an on-demand doctor appointment app, you and your doctor can access the prescription provided by the doctor anytime when logged into the app. This will reduce the burden of carrying the written prescription every time or losing it, unfortunately.
  • Virtual assistance: Mobile app development on patients’ appointments has an integrated technology such that doctors can have an in-app video conferencing, and in case patients who are unable to visit personally, can possess service in this manner.
  • Online health records: Medical history is something very important for patients with chronic illness or multiple disorders in the body. Although maintaining health records manually is a part of self-discipline towards your own health, still, written reports are always destructive. Hence, with the help of e-health apps, you can save your medical history with that particular doctor from beginning to end to avail of proper medication.
  • Easy and convenient appointments: You can book your preferred doctor’s appointment for a consultation easily, according to your convenient timings provided in the app. This will allow you to complete your pre-scheduled work without any postponement.
  • Instant medicine: With using the on-demand patient appointment app, you can request your doctor for prescribing medicines through the phone when you are in an emergency and cannot travel to the doctor’s place.
  • Specialists in one single-click: You can choose the medical specialist as per your health concerns or experience of the specialist so that you meet the right doctor at the right time.

Growth of on-demand doctor appointment app in recent years

A survey conducted by a digital healthcare app like Practo shared that their survey results were so surprising and how their app has been helpful to patients and doctors. The data included more than 13 crore patients across 50 cities and 250 specialists on an average.
Almost 1.7 billion smartphone users have some healthcare app since 2017, which covers half of the smartphone users throughout the world. Markets & Markets says that digital healthcare apps have shown massive growth in recent years and it is predicted that by 2021, the entire healthcare IT industry is aiming for an annual growth rate of 16% than the previous years.

Common factors that a mobile app development company covers

1. Ease of integrating through social accounts
On-demand patient appointment app users can create and register their accounts with their personal email id or any social media network account that makes their registration process so simple.

2. Instant email and SMS alert
You will receive email and message notifications upon booking an appointment, canceling an appointment or postponing an appointment. This will keep your doctor aware of changes so that in case of postponement or cancellation, the slot can be provided to any other person who is looking for consultation on the same day.

3. Referrals and promotions
You may get a discount through the mobile app development company on your next consultation if you refer their app to your friends, neighbors or relatives. You will definitely do this not just for the discount but for the interface and facilities that the app provides you.

Guide for developing a doctor appointment app

Many of you would like to develop an app that benefits both doctors and patients. But it can make you think how much does it cost to develop a doctor and patient appoint app. To answer your question, go through the list provided for the developer benefit.

Mandate features of your on-demand doctor/patient appointment app

  • Profile creation: Every user who uses the app should have created a profile and provided their details that help doctors to have a track of their appointments and plan their schedule or follow-up patients for further check-up. This feature should contain parameters such as doctor’s location, experience, and specialization, photos, any existing reviews or rating about doctor’s performance. Along with the required patient’s information.
  • Search options: This feature should allow patients to look for suitable doctors according to the nearby area, consultation fee, specialization type, timing convenience and more.
  • Booking an appointment: The appointment booking feature should have a perfect calendar that shows the availability of consultation. A chat option with the doctor or the doctor’s representative is required to confirm the appointment.
  • Multiple payment options: This feature depends on the developer. If you wish to keep an in-app payment option, ensure that you allow all types of card payments so it gives a good experience to the patient. You can even leave it with cash on consultation mode so that in case the patient cancels a booked appointment for which they have paid, you need not sit on fee reversals.
  • Emergency service: Your app should contain SOS/ emergency service facility to call an ambulance when the patient is under critical conditions.

Included to the aforementioned features, you should also have push notifications, GPS tracking, live video conferencing and document sharing.

Simple steps for developing an app for doctor appointment booking

1. The app concept is the first aspect to develop an app for on-demand doctor appointment booking.

2. Second, proper business analysis to be performed by a business analyst to zero down on your app concept.
3. The third is app designing and it should be more appealing and effective.

4. Fourth, you should hire a bunch of key developers who can understand Playstore and Apple app store guidelines and develop the app successfully.

5. Fifth, app pre-testing is very important before you launch it in the market. Perform all types of testing to debug the bugged errors prior.

6. The final one is app launching which should be a great launch, and it should cover all online and offline channels as an initial promotion.

The cost For developing an on-demand doctor or patient booking app

Generally, the cost requisite of developing an on-demand doctor or patient appointment app depends on app complexity, duration, hourly rates paid, type of contract, number of platforms and devices that your app runs on and mode of technology incorporated.

The approximate estimation of developing such an app costs nearly $27,000 with an average hourly rate paid at $40, which may consume 350–450 hours to develop the frontend platform, 60–70 hours for the UI and 250–300 hours in the backend.

Conclusion

In today’s digital world, on-demand doctor or patient appointment booking apps are the latest trends in the medical sector just like the digital revolution taking place in the travel industry a few years back. If you are thinking to develop a mobile application in a promising sector then opting for this on-demand booking app would be a wise move.

In this article, we strongly believe that we have covered all those key factors for developing an on-demand doctor or patient booking app.

Frequently asked questions:

1. How developing an on-demand doctor or patient appointment booking app beneficial for developers?

The on-demand doctor appointment booking app is a trending one that has seen successful improvement over the past few years. If your app satisfies all the aforementioned criteria, then it definitely yields your success. Within three to four years, you will see an immense difference in your company’s growth.

2. Is it possible to develop a healthcare app within a budget of $15,000 to $20,000?

The more you cut down on cost, the less the features you will be able to include, and this will not support you overcome competition in the market. Otherwise, if you can bring in unique features that other apps do not have, then you can try your luck.

3. Does the On-demand doctor appointment app allow me to Pick Doctors Nearby my Location?

Yes! On-demand doctors and patients appointment apps are specifically designed to locate the doctor’s based on their locations along with easy to travel and time estimation. Also, house calls can be opted by the users/patients in case of an emergency.

4. Do you sign a Non-disclosure Agreement?

Yes, we sign NDA (Non-disclosure Agreement) with all our clients to protect our client’s app idea.


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