How much does Healthcare App Development Cost? Decoding Budget Estimation

Good health, food, and a decent place to live are what every human needs for the most basic form of survival. Though we might say other material things make life easy, all of it comes down to good health in the end. If you have a healthy body and mind, you can achieve whatever you preach. With app stores flooding with health and fitness apps, we have nowhere to go when we need medical assistance at the initial stages than to pick up our phones and open that app to connect with a physician immediately.

Healthcare app development as a potential business

With the market revenue of eHealth apps projected to reach a biggie of around $1.84 billion in the year 2023, the sector is continuously growing. These apps have come out to be a handy invention for those who are busy hustling the entire time but they need to take care of their health simultaneously. Also, the recent global pandemic has taught us the importance of having digital platforms that can help people connect to the right ones who can help.

As of November 2022, the number of medical assistance apps on the Google Play Store was 54,546. In the year 2020, the US put in as much as 1.2 billion dollars in the development of mHealth apps. So, if you’re thinking of building an app, this is your time to shine, so opt for a healthcare app development company experienced in building a wide range of healthcare and medical apps. Ensure that the healthcare or medical app you build takes care of some very important needs of people in various aspects of the healthcare sector.

This essential guide is to help you build a healthcare app that caters to the surging demands in the market whilst stating the overall healthcare app development cost inferred and the cost to build a healthcare app at each step of the process.

Services provided by healthcare mobile app

The healthcare sector is not just limited to doctors prescribing medicines to patients. When you do your research for what can be included in a healthcare app for making people’s lives easy, you need to make sure all aspects of their health-related needs are covered. Thus, healthcare apps are more than just appointments and medicines delivery.

There are a number of services that healthcare apps provide these days and yet there is a scope for improvement and inclusion of more features considering the future of mobile apps in healthcare.

• Consultation: the very basic type of healthcare apps are known to have changed the course of consultation to a doctor. While we have witnessed standing in endless queues and time span for meeting a doctor, the task has now become as easy as opening an app, booking an online appointment, and seeing your doctor on the screen. Considering the positive benefits of online appointment booking the cost to build an online doctor appointment app can be considered a much endearing endeavour to invest in.
• Medicines: medicines delivery is yet another essential service that healthcare app development companies may suggest you have in your apps. It is either medicine delivery based on the prescription or simply delivering your regular medicines to your doorstep.
• Pathological assistance: medical app development cost also includes this aspect of medical apps that leave no stone unturned in helping their users. Pathological testing in the comfort of your home has now become a reality. All you have to do is book an appointment for the tests you need to get done, choose a date and time, and get those terrific tests done at your home.
• Vitals monitoring: it is impractical to have a doctor keep an eye on your vitals every day if you’re suffering from some sort of serious health issue. Thus, these healthcare apps are there to bring it all together for you. You can put the readings of the vitals taken on the actual devices and put them on the app to check if the readings are fine. The future of this looks profitable as there might be devices and apps that can get all the measurements for you.
• Fitness tracking: with people becoming work and conscious of their healthcare and fitness these days, the future of mobile apps in healthcare is in safe hands. People are turning to apps that can give them a hint of their fitness and health-related information so they can improve it further.
• Diet and nutrition: they say, ‘You are what you eat’ and it is rightly said cause your food has a major contribution to your health and fitness. But knowing what is good for you at your age and according to your body type and lifestyle would take another individual hanging along to keep a check on your diet. You can develop niche diet and nutrition apps that guides your users in step-by-step manner on exactly what needs to be done.
• Resources: the recent pandemic has taught us the importance of connections and networking even in the healthcare sector. There is a surging need for apps that can help people connect with the right healthcare service providers and practitioners when in need like the nearest physicians, surgeons, blood banks, testing labs, etc.

Benefits of building a healthcare mobile app

Apps rule the world right now and rightly so. In these times, healthcare apps are not a luxury to have, rather have become a necessity.

With time changes the needs and requirements of the populace and in this era, people have become habitual in getting things done in the comfort of a few clicks on a screen. Taking this newly formed behavior is not a rational thought anymore. Rather, providing them with what they demand and in the exact way they need is essential for a business and the world to grow as a whole.

Here is why your healthcare app can be a savior:

• Patients: what’s better than having an app that takes care of your health without any bustle of traveling miles to see a doctor? People love it when they are offered comfort and quick services. Having easy online consultations, getting medicines delivered at home at the last minute, and being able to track their health and fitness levels without having to undergo any rigorous testing sounds like a good deal.
• Healthcare professionals: being a doctor is an extensively tiring job. Amidst the never-ending hustle, if doctors get a chance to take online sessions with their patients at any suitable time apart from their routine job, it is a win-win. They can easily take up a session online and prescribe the medicines and whatever advice the patient needs without having to spend a lot of time.
• Increased profits as App owner: as mentioned multiple times, the healthcare industry is all set to step into the digital world. This is the time when one can take out their sword and give the world what is needed the most in this sector. Healthcare apps have already set foot in the market and are doing great. Yet, people require some or the other features and services for their health-related needs. Thus, as an app owner, you can benefit from the large populace that’s turning to these apps for their primary and advanced healthcare needs.

Types of healthcare apps

Thinking of building a healthcare app for your business? Well, you don’t have to stick with the conventional doctor-patient video consultation apps. You have a few options to choose from that are actually searched for by many users:

• Fitness apps
• Health-tracking apps
• Nutrition apps
• Doctor-patient consultation apps
• Health Monitoring Apps
• Reminder apps
• Medical record app
• Mental health services app
• Medicine delivery app
• Diagnosis and testing app

Healthcare App Development Cost

Once you are thorough with the above-mentioned steps, now it is the time to contact and negotiate the healthcare mobile app development for iOS, Android, or even cross-platform.

Types of Users panels to cater

Depending on the type of the app the user panel types will also vary. The main types of users are

• Patient or end users panel
• Doctors, medical staff and other healthcare service providers panel
• Admin or hospital management panel
• Super admin panel

Of this the most common panel required for most healthcare apps are patients and for healthcare professionals. Let’s take a look at how things can be bifurcated for these two users:

The workforce

Apart from technology platforms i.e., iOS and Android, you also need the database and other licensed tools to develop medical and healthcare mobile applications. In addition to this cost is the workforce or the manpower behind it. Generally, to develop a customized healthcare app you require the following workforce:

• Front-end developer
• Back-end developer
• DevOps
• Business analysts for the healthcare industry
• Medical device and data compliances such as HIPAA
• UI/UX expert for patients and visually challenged
• Healthcare app project manager
• Quality assurance team acquainted with healthcare standards such as HL7

The cumulative cost to develop a healthcare mobile app starts from $50000 depending on the complexity, features, and customization you insist on.

Function	Cost in USD
Developing the Application	Starts from $40000
Quality Assurance	Starts from $4500
Project Management	Starts from $5500
Total	$50000

Disclaimer: The costs mentioned here are purely estimated. For accurate costs, you should discuss it with an offshore healthcare & medical app development service providing company.

Cost to develop a healthcare app for different app types

The healthcare app development cost cannot be generalized based on apps from other industries and sectors. These apps have special features, entirely different from those eCommerce or food-related apps. There is a lot of thought put into defining the various aspects of designing so knowing mobile app design guidelines can be of a great help to provide crucial suggestions as an entrepreneur.

So, there’s more to these apps than just putting doctors on board and delivering medicines. For example, the app shall be in line with HIPAA compliance strictly so that people are not deceived about their right to good health.

Here are concise details on the cost of developing a healthcare app:

Medical networking: one of the most important types of healthcare apps is the medical networking app. COVID-19 has markedly left us with various learnings about medical networking and connections. The world has certainly understood the importance of networking, communication, faster data utilization, and much more. Such apps can cost about $30000-$60000 to be built. You can get the following features on such an app:

• News
• Forums
• Case studies
• Communication with professionals
• Journals
• Advising
• Connecting in real time with peers and professionals

Medical Billing: these apps are a great way to keep in check your medical bills, and data, and monitor your medical expenses. You can get all your medical, pharmacist bills delivered to you on the screen in a matter of seconds. The user can manage payments, and collect and initiate the payment data at one stop. The cost of developing a health app like this one can cost you around $40000-$90000.

• Features:
• Customised bill
• Automated bill generation of all medical expenses
• Audit support
• Adjustment of discounts and cashback
• Credit billing

Telemedicine: Users of a telemedicine app can use remote infrastructure to access healthcare services. An amalgamation of online and offline interaction among the network’s participating peers is used in these applications’ core mechanism.

Telemedicine apps are making a significant contribution to the establishment of digital resources within the conventional healthcare architecture. These contributions range from providing patients with medical consultations to the delivery of medications. If you’re wondering how much it cost to develop a health app like this one, your answer is $50000-$200,000.

Features:

• Registration of a user
• Dashboard for the user
• Appointment scheduling portal
• Consultation services
• Location tracking
• Payment gateway

ePrescription app: the technology of ePrescription with its enriching features and services can change the face of healthcare apps. Getting prescriptions online without having to wait in long queues and hours for seeing the doctor is certainly one of the best advancements in the field of healthcare. The cost to develop an online doctor appointment app wherein the prescription is given can be around $40000-$80000.

Features:

• customized user interface
• customized reports of patients
• drug database

Fitness app: Today, we have extensive apps providing continuous monitoring of our fitness levels. Users can rely on these apps to maintain a healthy lifestyle and monitor their health or recovery extensively. The fitness app development cost can be between 25,000 USD to 200,000 USD.

Features:

• activity tracking
• logins
• customized training
• notifications
• reminders
• alerts
• self-care and mindfulness features

Wellness app: wellness apps are inclined towards helping one maintain a healthy and sound lifestyle whilst repelling health issues. Businesses opt to hire dedicated developers from an experienced app development company to get wellness apps developed so as to cater to the demand in the market. This one can cost you between $60,000-$160,000.

Features:

• meditation
• mindfulness
• fitness
• wellbeing
• Productivity
• Nutrition
• Activity
• Vitals

Health monitoring: markets are flooded with wearable devices that help monitor the health of an individual. These apps collect data from those devices and tell the user if their health is on the right track or not. The cost of developing a healthcare app like this one can range between $50,000-$100,000.

Features:

• Smooth navigation
• Responsive interface
• Geolocation
• Data security and privacy

Nutrition planner: Nutrition planning is one prime part in current medical services applications. This feature primarily makes use of data entered by users, and regular alerts assist them in implementing it promptly.

Users would also be able to connect their smart wearables to these applications. Developing this type of app can cost you between $30,000-$60,000.

Features:

• Customized diet planning
• Wearable device amalgamation
• User dashboard
• Reports and analytics
• Alerts and notifications

Features to include in healthcare mobile app

Healthcare apps are built keeping the necessities of people’s medical and healthcare needs in mind. Thus, the features that are to be included in one shall comply with the demands of the users. For this, thorough research is essential, or you can just take a look at these fundamental healthcare app features listed below:

• Video consultation
• Prescription management
• Prescription uploading
• User dashboard
• Health record management
• Appointment management
• Vitals section
• Diagnostic features
• Symptoms checking
• Regular fitness tracking
• HER
• Wearable integration
• Staff management
• Medical resource locator
• Networking

Technology stack required to build healthcare app

There is a whole set of mobile app technology stack and tools that need to be compiled together to build a fully functional healthcare app that runs smoothly and gives the audience what they need. Here is a list of tech stacks that can get your app going:

• Xamarin
• Flutter
• Machine learning
• Artificial intelligence
• Voice assistants/ chatbots
• Information security needs
• Kotlin/ Java
• Swift for iOS
• React Native
• EHR integration
• Video conferencing APIs
• Internet of Medical Things (IoMT)

Why do you need the help of expert healthcare mobile app developers?

Well, the answer is pretty simple to this question- because you are doing something for the general populace and it needs to be at par with their expectations and requirements. As a matter of fact, you also need the application as much as your audience needs it. Overall, the future of mobile apps in healthcare is bright.

Once you build a healthcare app and if anything goes unexpected, it can cause grave trouble for the user or patients dependent on the app and might also lead to hefty loss of money. Hence, you must partner with a renowned and expert mobile app development company to build your healthcare tool. Since it is healthcare, it is immensely important to take care of even the tiniest of features on the app. So, if you are on a budget then you can even choose to hire a remote developer a very cost-efficient approach for any additional task that you might come across once the development starts.

FAQs on Cost to build healthcare app

How much does it cost to make a healthcare app?

While the cost depends on several factors mentioned in this healthcare app development cost guide, cost start from $50000 depending on the complexity, features, and customization you insist on.

How can I keep the cost of developing a healthcare app under control?

There are several ways to reduce app development costs such as building an MVP first, choosing the right hiring model, and outsourcing to a preferred destination such as India.

What is the role of HIPAA compliance in healthcare app development?

HIPAA compliance is essential for any healthcare app that handles protected health information (PHI). HIPAA compliance ensures that the app follows the standards and regulations for protecting the privacy and security of protected health information. The compliance also avoids legal penalties and reputational damage in case of a data breach or violation.