How Much Does It Cost to Develop a Healthcare App Development

Meeting patients' expectations and wrestling with regulatory issues is a tough call for many healthcare providers and technology start-ups. Still, healthcare systems, as organizations, place-specific technological requirements for ensuring safety, meeting data protection standards, and adhering to regulations. Usually, people can’t figure out what the finished healthcare app will look like. We help manage resources to keep things moving and reach your project goals.

In this article, you will learn how to navigate the main features that any successful modern healthcare application must have. You will also see the answer to the “how much does it cost to develop a healthcare mobile app” to give you an actionable guide on planning for the healthcare app project.

Our development team has over 15 years of experience developing healthcare apps and integrating new concepts with existing standards. We appreciate the market specifics of delivering mobile applications for the healthcare industry. We would like to propose tested solutions for providing reliable, secure, and user-friendly technologies for healthcare providers and patients.

Healthcare App Development Cost Based On Features

The cost of creating a healthcare mobile app depends on its features. Every feature adds another factor of added difficulty, time, skill, and resources to the equation. Conventional functions such as user registration or appointment setting are much easier and cheaper to implement. Nevertheless, higher functionality, including AI diagnostics or real-time video consultation, dramatically contributes to the general medical app cost due to typical technical requirements.

Fundamental elements form the basis of a healthcare app. For instance, user profiles, appointment scheduling, and fundamental notification facilities are essential but not advanced. These features are easier to develop, thus making them cheaper than the other design elements. However, even these require user authentication of at least medium security and basic data encryption to meet the healthcare industry's regulations, adding a small amount of time and money to the overall process.

High-level capabilities, such as efficient data security, telemedicine, and HIPAA, are costly. Ensuring that health information is secure requires an extensive process, such as encryption, access control, and, subsequently, security assessments. These are essential elements to ensure that the product fits the legal non-functional requirements and users’ trust but are very costly in terms of time when included in app development for healthcare.

Extra capabilities like integrations with wearables, AI or data analytics, or RPMS increase the price even more. These should include applying highly complex technology, API, and sizeable backend engineering. For example, interacting with smartwatches or glucose monitoring requires creating a simple communication method for the device and the application. Thus, analyzing diagnostic information or suggesting treatments requires complex machine learning that must be constantly updated to ensure the app remains valuable and correct.

Therefore, it may be evident that the various features you consider in your health application will affect the overall cost. Although incorporating new abilities can put your app under consideration, it is key to the market. Knowing the right balance of too many features is good instead of risking having low-quality and high-expense health applications.

So, what features do you need? Let’s see.

Authorization

The first thing we need for our mobile healthcare application is the possibility to identify a user and distinguish one client from another. To implement this function, we have to embed registration and authorization options. Though it’s a basic and simple feature of our application, it’s essential.

Creating a form with minimum fields, such as the Username and Password, is enough in mobile app development. You can also add here an e-mail (or put it instead of the Username) for sending out e-mail notifications, password recovery, and some other trifle needs. However, the login to the application must be secure, especially for a medical application with a lot of sensitive information about clients, patients, and doctors. MFA proved worthy of it, for instance, in the code or a mobile app. Besides, applying biometrics such as fingerprint or face identification may benefit users by providing efficiency and high security.

Looking ahead, it’s essential to think of the users and remember how hard it is sometimes to fill in all those fields. That’s why adding the function of social media sign-up and sign-in is quite a good idea. A Facebook or Google account button simplifies the user’s life to a great extent. Do you agree? However, any authentication process must comply with the laws such as HIPAA compliance and GDPR to safeguard user data. Some are data encryption, restricted data access, and compiling a record of changes to check who tried to breach the system.

Dashboard

Further, in the process of healthcare app development,you must think about what a client would see after logging in. It’s logical to assume that it should be some kind of dashboard with specific vital indicators, which can be updated, essential events or notifications, possibly some notes about the last activity, or something like that.

A personalized dashboard is another area that significantly enhances accessibility due to the provision of customized information. Generic worksheets are beneficial. Users can see thumbnails of heart rates, blood pressures, or most recent lab values. Notifications, such as appointment reminders, medication management, and prescription refill reminders, keep app users active and attentive.

Another important one is the recent activity log. Such records can include message exchanges with healthcare providers, the status of recent data uploaded into clients’ My Health records, or my health goals accomplished. Furthermore, a section can be personalized as a goal bar, notification, or personal diary. In this aspect, the dashboard can be enhanced further in terms of applicability and interactiveness. For instance, a fitness tracker section could include Weekly steps or Calorie logs.

User’s Profile

The next item is the user’s profile. It’s the section of the app where the most critical information will be displayed and can be edited. The patient’s full name, blood group, allergy to certain medicines, last visit to a doctor, and everything else will be stored here. Several fields, like blood pressure indices, can be added but are unimportant. Users are not likely to update this information regularly, so we do not advise implementing unnecessary features in your mobile app.

Another important aspect is that the management tools required for a user profile include all those used for keeping individual health information. To fulfill its purpose, the system should let users feed and retrieve their data securely and efficiently. Data like allergies, diseases, and health rates should be encrypted well enough to safeguard privacy and conform to healthcare industry standards.

The profile section should be friendly, where clients can easily add new data or modify existing data, such as updating their contact details or changing emergency contacts. The concept of security must be practiced so that no unauthorized person can access such sensitive information; increased security measures include hurdles like two-factor authentication schemes.

Booking section

Booking an appointment with the doctor should be added as one more feature. The following aspects should be outlined here.

1. Appointment with the doctor.
2. Video call with a specialist.

Every feature has its target market, so we have indicated several functionality types. A private clinic, for instance, may need to create a schedule for the doctors working in it or make online appointments possible for the patients. Although it will not be necessary for us to explain how useful or easy to use, such features are. It is possible to have options like showing a specialist a photo, a detailed experience description, and even former patients' reviews.

Another variant is a small service that does not have a unified office or several buildings on a specific territory. We can add here the functionality of synchronization with the online calendar, sharing of events, and various notifications. Google Calendar can be used with its synchronization options. Everything depends on the client's taste and preferences.

Synchronization of appointment scheduling with healthcare providers will lead to efficiency in dealing with the clinic schedule and the clients. Some of these include the availability of appointments in real-time, confirmation emails to patients, and reminders to patients and healthcare providers and doctors. Integration with online calendars facilitates tracking users' schedules to avoid challenges such as double-booking consultants.

When implementing such features, we should consider the different kinds of doctors and their specialization. One doctor cannot cure all illnesses and diseases, you know. It’s essential to consider the doctor’s specialty and the time of booking, and a good idea is to indicate the patient’s complaints.

Video Calls

Let’s consider the opportunity to communicate with doctors via video calls. In our healthcare application development, we can create something from scratch or use ready-made solutions.

Here, we should keep in mind that every medal has its reverse. On the one hand, we will find a solution that meets our needs. On the other hand, we will deal with a solution that requires developers, time, servers, tests, and many headaches. As an experienced medical mobile app developer, we advise using the existing solutions from companies dealing with such features for a long time. Such robust solutions integration as Twilio and Tokbox are very flexible and allow video calls, text chatting, audio calls, and even IP telephony. They also enable detailed usage, video, and system performance metrics for reporting services, giving a deeper insight into the business utility.

Besides, they have very flexible pricing plans. If your startup succeeds, you’ll always find funds later to implement the necessary functionality. Initially, it’s better to invest in marketing and advertising.

In the case of video communication, some kind of register is an integral part of your smart medical app. The doctor can write notes about the consultancy or specific prescriptions in this register. Such an option does not require much development time but should also be considered.

Notifications

Do not worry; not much is left. Do you remember us mentioning notifications? Reminding the user about a doctor's appointment is not a bad idea. It’s imperative in the case of video calls.

For patient care, there is nothing as disheartening as missing an important visit from a doctor, reminders on when to take certain medications, and even digital health updates through push notifications. We can put time-sensitive messages into these notifications that increase engagement and help enforce the user’s compliance with appointments. For instance, the users can receive notifications about a new prescription, some follow-ups, or it is time to have their check-ups.

People should be able to select how often and when they can receive alert notifications. Providing this much control ensures that users are interested in the site while avoiding client notification overload. If users can adjust the alert messages according to the frequency and type, this will enhance their experience and keep them informed without necessarily inundating them. Implementing this push notification feature is not difficult. Such notifications work well for Android and iOS medical mobile apps.

Payment Systems

And the best for last! Business owners should benefit from payment systems, so let’s discuss them because payments will be realized with their help. There are multifold financial options at present. We have worked with big systems like Braintree, Stripe, and others. They allow transactions, collect statistical data, and generate reports. You can integrate payment aggregators like Google Pay or Apple Pay into your healthcare mobile apps.

It is paramount to ensure that payments to healthcare apps are secure and easily integrated into the app. This is important since users will share financial information with your platform, so payment systems must be encrypted and prove compliance with standards like PCI-DSS. Sought after, perfect, and efficient in payment protractive so it improves the user experience and builds confidence. When you adopt these systems, you avoid the leakages and fraud that are inherent in manual systems and, at the same time, give your users an efficient, one-step payment solution.

The above systems accept payments by credit/debit cards, digital wallets, and bank transfers. They have rather versatile APIs that can be easily integrated in your healthcare application, which means that users will be able to make payments quickly and safely. These gateways allow for one-time payment, subscription-based, or any other payment structure needed in the application with such ease.

Estimations

So, how much does healthcare app development cost? The main challenge in estimating the price and time required to develop a healthcare app is examining each feature in detail. That’s why we approach project estimations with two key perspectives: optimistic and pessimistic.

1. Optimistic here represents a situation with no hitches and complications; this plan does not consider complications that may occur when undertaking a particular task.
2. The pessimistic represents a situation where the logic is complicated and any other complications that may occur as the work progresses.

Usually, the optimistic estimate is only one to two hours shorter than the pessimistic estimate, and this range provides clients with a clearer picture of the project's duration.

Let’s estimate the general cost of developing a healthcare app, supposing it will be a small Startup with an MVP.

Features to develop and implement:

• Authorization – 8-10 hours
• Dashboard - 12 -14 hours
• Client profile - 10 – 14 hours
• Booking an appointment with a doctor - 12 - 16 hours
• Synchronization with a calendar - 4 - 8 hours
• Video Calls - 14 - 20
• The register of the visit - 6 -10 hours
• Push notifications - 6 – 8 hours
• Payment systems integration - 16 - 20 hours
• Related functionality (animation, doctors’ lists, specialities enumeration) - 16 - 20 hours

Finally, we factor in time spent on internal and external communications, which usually increases overall estimates by 5-10%. To prevent problems in the future, we will involve input on the expected future maintainability and other factors, such as the application architecture, at the onset.

The pessimistic estimate is 124 hours, that is, 112 hours for the activities, including communication. The “worst-case” scenario involves 150 hours of learning on top of communication and 160 hours spent. An estimated time for the assumed best-case scenario is 145 hours; a more complicated estimate is 160 – 170 hours, considering all possible complicating factors.

Adding the design phase, which would cost 40 to 60 additional hours, and the testing time, the total estimate for both development and design would be 220 hours of work or about five and a half weeks. In budgetary terms, this roughly starts from $60,000 and only includes development and design—backend and frontend costs must be discussed separately.

Common Approaches to Estimating the Cost of Developing a Healthcare App

The app cost also depends on your chosen method. Your project and its requirements largely determine the scope, price, and specific healthcare services you wish to incorporate into your model. However, you must discuss this with your development team to choose the right option for your healthcare app. Here are the most common methods:

Hourly Rate Model

In this model, developers work hourly, and you will see the completed medical app development cost according to the time taken. Any expenses incurred within a given project or process are determined by the estimated time multiplied by the hourly rate. It is reasonably flexible, but regulating the scope can often lead to additional costs since change is inevitable during implementation.

Fixed Price Model

Fixed price structures the cost to build a healthcare app, and the client and the developer know the amount to be paid by the end of the project. This works well for long-established and well-proportioned projects for the amount of change. Still, any modification to the scope results in other charges or affected timing.

Feature-Based Calculation

Buttons in the app are also paid; the overall price is the sum of the estimated prices for every feature. This method gives the estimate's accuracy according to the project's specific features. Still, where features are interactive, added complications are made to the forecast as the project unfolds.

Time and Materials Model

Litigated means this approach bills for the hours spent and consumed materials. It can be easily adapted depending on a project's needs, which is helpful when changing specifications. However, it is dangerous where the degree of modification is unknown.

Blended Approach

You can combine two or more models in one, for instance, a fixed price for the core model and an hourly rate for other extended ones. This compromises the predictability of the fixed-price system and the flexibility of the cost-plus system and is appropriate for use where the scope of work is changing.

How to Calculate the Cost to Create a Healthcare App?

To accurately calculate the overall cost of building a healthcare app, consider the following steps:

1. First, define what is necessary for your app: users’ authentication, booking service, video calls, and so on.
2. Apply the optimistic and pessimistic estimate techniques to estimate each feature's time.
3. Consider how much each feature or function can be standardized and how many unique enhancements (for example, third-party services or particular technologies) may be needed for each feature.
4. It is also essential to indicate that design (UI/UX) and testing are also very important for the final quality of the application.
5. Determine the hourly rates, the fixed price, or whether the model must be based on the abovementioned features.

Conclusion

The cost and time to develop a healthcare app must be estimated so that the project lasts for the expected time and expenses towards the development of the same are also met. They all have their strengths, depending upon the cases. At the same time, the hourly rates are ideal for complex projects with numerous and diverse activities. The fixed prices are reasonable for large-scale projects and activities that can be anticipated in advance. Finally, the fees based on the features also contain definite advantages and are convenient, whereas many features may require an estimation.

Thus, reading about the types of models and clearly defining the features of a particular model will help avoid additional costs and delays. Lastly, a proper strategy for developing the doctor and patient mobile app cost estimate will also facilitate efficient healthcare application development.

Building a new-generation healthcare app? Count on Stfalcon for sound advice, stable solutions, and accurate cost reports when you need your development process to be as smooth as possible. Our professional team will consult you to guarantee your application meets all functional, security, and scalability requirements. Contact us today to discuss your project with us, and let us create a medical app that provides value for your users and your organization!