How to Develop a Healthcare App Like Practo: Features, Development Cost

Across the globe, people have become more health-conscious than before, and it is heartwarming news. You cannot enjoy the beauties of life if you are not healthy. With the introduction of mobile, wearables, and artificial intelligence technology, the healthcare scene has reached an entirely new level.

According to research, the global healthcare market is expected to reach $189 billion by 2025 where mobile apps accounted for the top source of revenue. Post-COVID, a sharp rise is witnessed in healthcare mobile app usage.

In fact, during the pandemic, healthcare mobile apps are boon for people as they cannot move out of their houses or visit clinics often due to imposed lockdowns or social distancing. This is when the healthcare app ideas were transformed into reality by expert team of developers. And, apps like Practo, Doctor on Demand, and ZocDoc -like healthcare apps turned out as panacea that has brought time-saving and superior technology over traditional, time-consuming, and uncomfortable procedures to the table.

A Telehealth App Like Practo is an answer to those interminable queues outside the doctors’ clinics, narrowing the gap between doctors and patients, and turning the long waiting queues into a thing of the past. Let’s understand the next big thing in the healthcare industry in detail.

What is Practo like Healthcare App?

Practo-like healthcare applications are a one-stop-shop for people to get everything related to healthcare products and services. Practo app is no different that facilitates searching the doctor in their neighborhood, booking online consultations according to empty slots, getting required consultations from specialists over video calls, ordering medicines online, and reading health-related articles for better health.

It also provides a platform for doctors to get required consultations and bookings online and manage patients without much ado. With profile creation, patients can access expertise, experience, and reviews about doctors when they are in the search of the right doctor. Furthermore, the app help hospitals to enable staff seamlessly manage records in the database, and handle operations glitch-free which improves healthcare quality.

Why Does the Healthcare industry Need an App Like Practo?

Practo app enjoys the virtue of being downloaded by more than 5 million users that are generating revenue of more than $15 million annually. The app leading the charts on the play store has more than 2 million registered doctors that have served patients in millions and the number is still counting…

These attractive numbers are gearing up healthcare organizations to get a Healthcare App Like Practo engineered. Still, if you need more convincing reasons that persuade you for having a healthcare application, here’s the answer.

A patient must get immediate treatment and medical attention. However, long queues and huge rush at clinics and hospitals sometimes lead to unwanted situations. Even for doctors, it is practically impossible to prioritize the patients. A patient in a severe medical condition requires immediate medical attention, and somewhere between this chaos, there is a possibility of casualty too.

How about an app that allows you to take a doctor’s appointment online? Not just that, you can choose from a list of specialized doctors by going through their experience, reviews, and ratings. It is a way more convenient option for patients who want quick consultations.

An online doctor appointment booking app offers much more than just appointment booking. Patients can find specialized doctors near to their locations, book a lab test, order medicines online and consult with doctors via chat or video call too.

Working professionals, who have hectic lives, can book an appointment at their convenient time and visit the doctor.It is also convenient for doctors as they will likely to witness more patients to their clinic through such medical apps.

Business Scope:

As per the survey conducted by Patientpop, 42% of users admitted that they would prefer online appointment booking rather than booking via phone.

There are many such apps available in the market such as Practo, BookmyDoc and ZocDoc and Doctor on Demand. However, when we discuss the business potential of developing a doctor appointment app, it is superior.

Even today, when it comes to the healthcare sector, we find people using traditional methods of visiting specialists. A medical appointment booking app can minimize the efforts of the patients by enabling them to book an appointment at their own convenient time.

For doctors too, it is a suitable way to avoid long queues outside their clinics.Let’s visualize two scenarios, and it will help to understand how the app can be useful for patients and doctors.

Scenario 1:

A patient visits the clinic, waits in a queue for hours, goes to a nearby laboratory, waits for test results, again visits the doctor and buys medicines from the store.

Scenario 2:

A patient will download the app and find a specialized doctor first. If he is suffering from digestion problem, he will check reviews, ratings, medical degree and other features of all gastroenterologists listed in the app and select one to book an appointment.

When the patient visits the doctor, the doctor will examine the patient, and further may ask for some lab tests to diagnose the problem. The patient can even book a lab test online. As per the facility, a technician can also come to collect the samples at your doorstep, perform the suggested tests and upload the report to the app. The doctor can see the report and based on the diagnosis prescribe medicines to the patients. Patients can book medicines, and a delivery boy will deliver medicines to their doorsteps.

Which scenario is more convenient and hassle-free? Apparently, the 2nd scenario is more feasible and effortless, don’t you agree?

Popular Doctor Appointment Booking Apps

ZocDoc:

ZocDoc is one of the renowned doctor booking applications in the United States with more than six million users. Founded in 2007, ZocDoc has carved a niche for itself by offering an easy-to-use medical app for doctors and patients.

Features:

• A patient can book an appointment online.
• It offers in-app reminders.
• It enables users to use the map to find doctors and the insurance network.
• A patient-powered search especially created for patients who are not aware of healthcare jargon.
• Patients can review the app about services

Doctor on Demand:

Doctor on Demand is another medical app that offers patients a real-time video consultation service with the US healthcare service providers. It has more than 1500 doctors associated with it.

Features:

• Online video consultation with doctors 24/7/365
• Online doctor search and appointment booking
• Doctors’ insightful information including academic qualification, certifications, and ratings
• Drug store tracking with inbuilt map facility
• Online payment facility

HealthTap:

HealthTap is a premium healthcare app that was founded in 2010 and lets patients ask health-related questions to US certified doctors. The app has more than 11,000 physicians and specialists. Also, it enables patients to consult a doctor through video call, text-based chat or phone call.

Features:

• Online consultation with doctors
• Text-based chat and phone call facility
• In-app messages
• 5.5 billion health-related answers
• Enterprise programs

Practo:

Practo is a popular healthcare app in Asia with more than 2, 00,000 healthcare providers to help patients who need consultation. It has set a benchmark by offering a wide array of healthcare services to the patients.

Features:

• Doctor appointment booking online
• High-end search to find best doctors, clinics and hospitals
• Online medicine ordering facility
• Medicine delivery facility
• A storage facility for medical records
• Health-related blog directory

Revenue Model of Practo like Healthcare app

Do you want to know- how does practo-like apps make money? There are various ways an online appointment app can earn revenues that are explained below in detail. Let’s dive in!

Subscription:

Users can subscribe to avail certain premium benefits of the app. For example, HealthTap charges $99 per month to get unlimited access to medical answers or to consult doctors via live video call or text-based chat.

Sponsored Results:

Here, doctors pay a certain amount monthly or annually to highlight their profiles on the list displayed when a user searches for the doctors’ list in the app.

Video consultation fees:

Doctor on Demand app offers patients a real-time video consultation feature with doctors. For one 15- minute video appointment, a patient pays $40.

Revenues from doctors:

Patient-centric apps such as ZocDoc charge from doctors and not from patients. A doctor pays $3000 annually to the app to connect him with patients.

Benefits of Developing a Healthcare Application for Patients

Practo-like healthcare apps are a boon for next-gen patients who don’t like to get out of the comfort of the couch and expect things at their fingertips. The healthcare app is advantageous to them in many ways.They are:

Choose the right doctor:

These apps have doctor profiles for each medical category, and it helps patients to find the right doctor, clinics, and hospitals for them. Each doctor’s profile covers basic information, reviews by verified patients, and cost of an appointment, academic qualification details, total years of experience and other information. Such details help users to choose the right doctor for them.

Online appointment booking:

Forget those long queues outside the doctor’s clinic. You can make an appointment with the app. Also, you can select the time and date of the doctor’s appointment too.

Book a lab test:

If the doctor asks a patient for some lab tests, he can order tests online too. A lab technician will visit the patient’s home and collect blood samples. Patients don’t have to go to the laboratory.

Medicine delivery:

An additional feature you can add to the app through which patients can buy medicines online. All they need to do is search for drugs or medication prescribed by name and place an order, and get it delivered timely.

Online doctor consultation:

Here, patients will be able to consult a doctor through a live chat or video chat. Patients share their symptoms, and other details and doctors diagnose the problem and offer consultation. This feature can be free or paid one. On-demand medical app for real-time diagnosis is all the rage that increases revenue quotient as compared to its development cost. You can consider this option as well.

Benefits of Developing a Healthcare Application for Doctors

The healthcare application is a platform for doctors, nurses, and hospitals to take their healthcare business online and provide services with the great ease that patients are expecting the most. Let’s explore:

Online Consultation

Doctors can maximize their earnings by offering fruitful responses to the patients who ask health-related queries. Doctors can sign up with the app for paid How to build an On-Demand delivery app that perfectly caters to the customers’ needs? Consultation and get a certain amount for each answer.

Online Profile

Patients look for highly expert doctors with excellent academic qualifications and superior experience. Customers nowadays search for some information before finalizing a doctor and such an online profile will help you to gain more attention from patients.

Factors to consider while developing an app

Keep in the mind target audience:

For developers, it is crucial to remember the geographical area for which they are developing an app. They need to consider local traditions and other geographic traits in the mind while developing an app. For example, in some countries, a multilingual app will get more response as local users prefer to interact in their native language.

Build a simple yet impressive app Complexity is not allowed when you build an app. People lose interest instantly if there are complex navigation and a complicated layout. Develop a simple yet impressive app that has smooth user navigation and user-friendly interface.

Data privacy: While developing an app, developers need to take an added layer of security to safeguard the vital health information of the patients. Take appropriate security measures to ensure data safety. Also, complying with the HIPAA standards make sure that your app follows the essential protective safeguards that guarantee the safety and security of patients’ data. Consider this Entrepreneur’s Guide on How to Develop a HIPAA Compliant App.

Features in a healthcare application like Practo

Patient (Users) Mobile App (iOS & Android Application)

Patient-centric interfaces enable patients to easily navigate through healthcare services via a set of features. The Practo app features:

Sign up/Sign in: Users can Sign Up/Sign In to the mobile app using their Email id/Phone number and password, or they can use their social media account for quick sign in

Select Location: Users can select a location for which they are in search of doctors.

Book Appointment: View list of all available specialization categories to select and book an appointment with the particular doctor or clinic.

Find a Doctor/Clinic: Search for various doctors, specialists, clinics and hospitals in the selected location

Chat/call with doctors: As an add-on feature users can pay and chat/call with the doctors registered in the application.

Book a lab test: Get a list of various tests to be carried out for diagnostics and view the details of various results.

Search for medicines: Users see a list of all the drugs available in the mobile application and add them to cart, pay for it and get it delivered at their location.

Payment: Pay for various exclusive services available in the mobile app

Blogs: Users can view blogs regarding various health issues in the current time in the mobile application

Rate & Review: Rate & review the doctors once the user has visited them.

Doctor Mobile App (iOS & Android Application)

The range of features enables doctors to communicate with patients remotely and manage several things effortlessly. The Practo app for doctors features:

Sign up/Sign in: Doctors can Sign Up/Sign In to the mobile app using their Email id/Phone number and password

Profile Creation: Doctors can create their profile in the mobile app where they can select a city where they are operating, specialization and other educational detail

Appointment management: Receive request for online doctor appointment from the users, and based on the availability accept it. They can view booked, completed and canceled appointments

Chat/Call: Respond to messages/calls from the users regarding their various problems, and they can revert using this tab option.

Patient Records & Medical History: View and access the entire patient’s medical records and health history to provide the treatment and prescription accurately.

Super Admin Panel (Backend Panel)

A centralized dashboard allows the admin to access and keep track of all the operations, patient data, doctors’ data, and transaction details in a single view.

Dashboard: Get an overview regarding various details for users and doctors on the application platform

Payments: Payment management for all the aspects or features in the platform

Manage Users: Play an admin role for the users and manage them

Manage Appointments: View and access the appointment in a calendar view and list view. Also, a new appointment is created for walk-in patients based on doctor availability after adding all their details.

Pharmacy Management: View, access, and manage all the pharmacy stores that are connected through the platform and selling the medicines to the patients online.

Clinic Management: View and manage the clinics that are associated with a mobile app to gain online appointment booking and provide their consulting services online.

Blog Management: Add and manage various blogs related to health on the application platform

Manage Doctors: Approve & Manage multiple aspects of a doctor’s profile and their clinic in the application platform

Push Notification: Send push notification to the users regarding various blogs and system related contents API & Synchronization

SMS Gateway: Integration of SMS API into the mobile application to send the SMS notification related to the medicines ordered, lab test booked and an appointment scheduled with doctors

Payment Gateway: Integration of payment API for the ease of payment for medicines and lab tests

Email: Integration of email API which will allow the system to send automated email for bookings of appointments and lab tests

Analytics: 3rd Party Analytics API to get the analytics regarding the number of users registered, tests booked by particular users.

Geo Location: Integration of API to get the geolocation of the users & doctor’s clinic

Additional Features:-

Laboratory Panel: Like the Doctor’s panel Pathology laboratories can create their account and manage appointments

Online Medicine order & delivery: Based on practo business model medicines order & delivery option can be facilitated.

How to Develop a Healthcare App Like Practo?

Most of the clients approach us asking the same question- “How to make an app like Practo.” Here’s the answer to their questions in a step-by-step approach created by our business analysts and technical consultants leveraging their experience in healthcare app development. Let’s dive in!

Define the app’s goal

Before you jump onto the doctor appointment booking app development bandwagon, it’s essential to know what you want to achieve with the doctor appointment app. The app must have two goals- what it’s going to serve the users and what business will gain with the apps like Practo for healthcare.

Besides, it helps in identifying the unique needs of the users that are unmet which serves as the USP of the app and business benefits that help in creating a business model of the Practo-like app accordingly. Not to forget, the challenges that become roadblock in the development journey and how to resolve them proactively for the best results.

Do necessary homework

Market research and competition research unveil the facts hidden in plain sight, which gives an edge to the app in the market. Analyzing the competition data allow you to gain insights into what users are looking for and what’s bursting them into fumes. Shaping the app idea around this research and analysis helps in refining the app idea that’s more aligned with users’ expectations, evolving technological preferences, and the latest trends.

Identify important features

The research helps in putting the app idea onto paper and identifying the list of features and functionalities that delights the users. At first, keep the important features that form the base of the application, and then gradually add more features in future upgrades that engage the users. Also, it helps you test the app idea in the niche market at a reduced cost and least time.

Create app flow

When you have planned the features to keep in MVP and then release in future upgrades, it’s time to create a picture of how these functionalities work together. The app flow is created that gives a rough idea of how users can switch from one functionality to another without much ado. This user flow also signals the relationship between different features to make the app perform optimally.

Partner with app developers

Let’s accept the fact- doctor appointment app development is not an easy deal. The technical issues, regulatory compliances, scope creeps, and budget overruns make things go worst. The best way to get a medical appointment app developed is by outsourcing it to a reliable development agency. Team up with a trustworthy outsourcing company that aligns the Healthcare App Ideas vision and shapes the app idea into reality while handling challenges. Also, ensure that they build a quality app while staying HIPAA compliant.

If you want to get details related to medical app development thoroughly, the extensive guide would help you know everything to consider from market research to the latest trends consideration.

Cost to Develop a Healthcare App Like Practo

Estimating the exact cost of developing a doctor appointment booking app is not feasible. The mobile app development company will consider the cost of development concerning the features and functionalities to be included in the platform and give an estimated cost.

Generally, if you want to make an iOS app, it will cost lower than an android app. As per the experts, a simple app with common features will cost up to $30,000. If you want more technical and advanced features to be included, the cost might start from $60,000. That’s where technology selection plays a crucial role in increasing or decreasing the app development cost.

The app’s interface can’t be overlooked that plays a vital role in nurturing and bolstering the user and brand relationship. The appealing UI/UX design that captures maximum users’ attention increases the development cost accordingly. In healthcare applications, building functionalities precisely that is easy to navigate is a time-consuming and technologically complex endeavor that requires a team of specialists for the best results.

If you are looking for a Practo clone or custom healthcare application, send your requirements to [email protected] where the team of experts analyzes your requirements and then clarifies the development expense breakdown for app development accurately. For more details, you can consider this guide for app development cost.

Hire skilled and Proficient App Developers For Healthcare app development

When you want to build a doctor’s appointment booking app, it cannot be possible if you end up choosing an average team. Rookies might end up developing an app that is not competent enough to function. Hence, it is crucial that you take great care while hiring an expert team. Hire top mobile app developers who are proficient and have a proven track record of developing such on-demand apps. Experts will understand the project requirements easily and will develop an app that is highly-functional, streamlined, feature-rich and superior.

Conclusion

Online doctor appointment apps are the need of the hour as it facilitates users to get immediate attention for their health problems. Though there are established players already present in the market, a remarkable and feature-rich product will undoubtedly find a place. A great app requires active collaboration between a client and the healthcare app development company. Let our expert mobile app developers help you to give an accurate and meaningful shape to your idea.