How to Create a Telehealth App: A Guide to Telemedicine App Development

Nowadays, healthcare organizations must address the growing patient volume and patient dispersion resulting from higher and more frequent access to healthcare. Telemedicine makes a lot of sense as it helps overcome gaps and deliver the necessary patient care on time. Yet, what should you do to address these issues?

This article discusses when telemedicine is growing and the trends, why the present time is the best to develop telehealth applications, essential components for patients and physicians, phases of development, and costs. We will also answer how to build a telemedicine app and provide material based on Stfalcon’s expertise in designing advanced telehealth services.

Stfalcon has been developing software for more than 15 years, creating secure, scalable telemedicine applications of various types. With our experience, your telehealth project will be completed on time and adhere to best practices in the field.

Why Is Now the Perfect Time to Make a Telemedicine App?

Telehealth solutions can bridge the gap between patients and doctors, making their interactions effective and hassle-free.

The telemedicine industry has never been better positioned to deliver inventions and expected value to innovators and investors. COVID-19 will not eliminate telehealth because millions of patients and providers found its convenience, efficacy, and safety compelling after the pandemic. It has shifted from an emerging solution to adopting a standard method of delivering modern healthcare. Not enough reasons? Let’s look at some benefits of telemedicine app for healthcare providers, patients, and insurers:

Healthcare Providers

1. The need to provide their services to a larger clientele foot.
2. Optimise operational efficiency by enabling reduced reliance on the fixed assets infrastructure.
3. Increase resource utilization and enhance the service delivery quality.

Patients

1. Opt for medical assistance more conveniently, especially in remote areas.
2. Avoid travel time to offices and waiting rooms, meaning possible service time is not wasted.
3. Reduce the scary aspects of physical attendance, which are dangerous for many people.

Insurers

1. Paying for early intervention and preventative care events will significantly reduce claim costs.
2. Reduced costs on treatments in emergencies and in the hospital.

Timing is one of the most essential factors an organization involved in telemedicine needs to have: getting to the market early. The steps right now can foster the growth of more practical, reliable, and client-friendly solutions, all of which can help establish an audience before the market gets flooded. The growth rate creates a perfect opportunity to optimize a telehealth application and ensure market dominance.

How Telemedicine Apps Change Healthcare?

Healthcare apps let people use medical services from anywhere with no unique location. With these apps, patients can meet with doctors through online video and get their medicine paperwork electronically. They use simple programs to look at and update their health histories. This change makes healthcare services better for many different reasons.

Moreover, the pandemic has affected and continues influencing people physically and mentally. Mass hysteria and panic, which are spreading, also require appropriate medical attention that can be provided through telemedicine app development services for mental health.

With telemedicine apps, people who live in remote places can speak to medical professionals without traveling far away. Healthcare providers can now give patients easier access to the proper care without spending much time or money.

The apps give us two main benefits:

1. We can get therapy with our healthcare team anytime we need it from home.
2. These apps help you manage long-term health and follow-up visits, which makes you more likely to follow your treatment.

Telemedicine apps use medical gadgets and digital sensors to collect data and customize user care plans.

Installing medical apps on your phone can measure:

1. Your body's health numbers.
2. Show you how to stay well one step ahead.

Core Features to Include in Telehealth Application

If you are considering entering the healthcare market with an innovative solution, you should know some things before you create a telemedicine app. The key aspects you should consider are the app's functionality and implementation. You should satisfy the market demand before it appears.

Since the significant aim of building a telemedicine app is to connect patients and medical specialists on demand, there should be three interconnected parts—a patient solution, a doctor application, and an admin panel to manage it all. You can consider creating two separate applications united by a single backend or creating two types of profiles in one app. This will determine the architecture of your solution and its business logic.

Essential Features of Telemedicine Mobile App for Patients

In the following sections, you will find overviews of what your telehealth application should contain. As a telehealth app development company, we know what you need. Thus, you can be sure that your application is as vast, versatile, and fitting as possible for present-day patients' requirements.

Registration

Registering patients is the first thing they encounter when they visit your telemedicine app development company app; therefore, it should not be complex. Provide what you need to register easily using a registered e-mail, phone number, or account in a popular social network.

Adding choices for multiple-factor log-ins (for instance, OTPs and biometric sign-ins) strengthens the accounts and minimizes the exposure of released information. You can also link pre-registration forms to capture simple user information. You will use it to welcome users to your site and enhance their experience.

Profile

The profile feature is a news feed dashboard where users can see all patient-related information. It is convenient for both customers and admins. Patients should be able to enter or edit details and add multiple family members. A complete overview reduces the likelihood of misdiagnosis or the prescription of treatment the patient might disagree with since the provider will have a previous record of the patient on which to base the patient’s decisions.

Cloud-based storage

Cloud computing allows for the secure, flexible, and easily retrievable storage of medical records. This means that patients can upload any document, such as medical history, prescriptions, and test results, and they can all do so in one place. The sharing of data through cloud storage makes it easier to transfer the data with healthcare providers, enhancing the continuity of healthcare. All the information exchange must be encrypted. So, patient data is private, and state regulatory requirements such as HIPAA or GDPR can be met.

Insurance plan

Incorporate proposed insurance plans within the telemedicine app, enabling patients to display and manage their insurance plan information. A patient can quickly determine if a specific service, consultation, or treatment will be covered by insurance. The app also estimates out-of-pocket costs to the patient and alerts patients of co-payments or other deductibles. In addition, the feature can enable users to monitor the status of their claims for easier management of their health bills.

Search and filter options

When launching a telemedicine app, it is essential to consider that a user should be able to filter doctors based on the needed criteria. These filters could include language, specialization, rating, availability, and consultation charges. Other options, such as location and virtual consultation, can also be included to refine the search.

Ratings and reviews

The rating and reviews section is another essential feature. It will help patients search for the best specialists and make better choices based on honest user feedback while giving their opinions about the consulting doctor. This section should help users filter doctors by personal ratings so that the physicians with the highest ratings are displayed first in the list of physicians available. Besides, the best-rated physicians can be automatically shown first in the list of the doctors available.

Appointment booking

Besides rating and reviews, every user should be able to check the list of doctors and times available, view the profiles of the specialists consulting, their availability, and book an appointment best suited for him. A calendar of the doctor’s available schedule will give the doctors more convenience, while a confirmation box for the booked appointments will add comfort.

Video calling

This feature is essential for cases when an examination is needed so that a doctor can visually examine a patient in real time. Video conferencing options with clear images and easy connections should be implemented to ensure an accurate diagnosis. Besides, the platform mentioned should meet privacy regulations like HIPAA to protect patients' information during consultation.

Voice calls

Establishing a secure channel for doctor-patient voice communication is a standard option for patients who do not want to demonstrate their physiological problems when it’s unnecessary or prefer to communicate incognito. The voice call should guarantee the privacy and confidentiality of the dialogue between the doctor and the patient.

Built-in chat

It is reasonable to include a secure chat in the telemedicine solutions you develop so that users can turn to the doctor with urgent queries, get a second consultation, or clarify specific questions concerning prescribed treatments. This feature should also enable patients to send images, documents, and medical reports to enhance communication with their doctors.

Medication tracker

When starting a telemedicine app, consider the medication tracker, in which prescriptions are stored and reminders can be set for medication use. This could also afford users an easy way to monitor their medication history so that they can stay in touch with their regime. It could also notify users when they need to replenish their prescription or when a new one has been included in the system.

Geolocation

For some countries, like the USA, where physicians are licensed within specific states, geolocation is an essential feature of a telemedicine app. It facilitates the patient’s connection with the right doctor or finding the nearest pharmacy for prescription pick-up. Geolocation can also assist in guiding users to available specialists to speak with face-to-face as and when needed and services such as clinics or labs.

Payment options

Payment gateway integration is convenient for everyone. Patients can pay for services right in the app, the service provider receives his fee, and doctors receive their payments for consultations. The more proven services you include, the more users you will attract. Leveraging credit cards, digital wallets, or insurance billing will increase user traffic. Moreover, guaranteeing safe payment will help develop confidence among users as well.

Notifications

Notifications are the primary way to communicate with telemedicine app users. Send push notifications or SMS reminders of upcoming appointments or mediation taking and notify them of successful transactions and incoming messages. You can also alert different users to successful operations, incoming messages, prescription refill status, other crucial healthcare service-related information, and more.

Most Essential Features for Doctors

These features enhance the ease and convenience of consultations, the patient's experience, and the general flow and comfort of handling appointments, medical histories, and communications. When these tools are combined, doctors can deliver timely and accurate care while still providing quality telemedicine services.

Registration and login

Like patients, doctors should be able to register with their email or phone number, but they should also experience additional verification before creating an account. A scan of a doctor’s license may be an option. You may also incorporate the MFA for such login to provide an additional layer of security and guarantee a doctor's identity.

Profile

A doctor’s profile should contain essential details about his or her education, experience, credentials, and general data such as name, address, photo, specialization, and availability. Adding a section for patient reviews and ratings to reduce job insecurity and give new patients enough information to make decisions may benefit all stakeholders.

Calendar and schedule

Calendar integration will allow a doctor to mark hours available for remote consultations and see when an appointment is taken in real-time. After a patient requests an appointment, the doctor should confirm it. It can also link with other calendar applications to prevent schedule overlap and notify doctors and patients of an upcoming appointment.

Appointments management

Every specialist should be able to see the complete list of scheduled and requested appointments and accept or reject them. Doctors should also be allowed to edit and delete appointments when necessary and to reduce missed appointments. Follow-up should be done through notices provided to the doctor and the patient.

Medical history review

Doctors should be granted access to the patient’s scheduled medical history and able to add fresh results after the consultation. This telemedicine app feature enables doctors to track past treatments, monitor patient progress, and enhance their understanding for more accurate diagnoses.

Video, voice, and text chats

These features are the same for both parties, so consider the best and most secure options to implement. Implementing end-to-end encryption for all communications guarantees that all patient information is protected. It also creates the much-needed trust and confirmation of governing laws like HIPAA.

Session recording

To control the quality of the service, make it possible to record video and audio consultations. This will help you protect both patients and doctors in case of disputes. However, the patient must grant permission before recording, and explicit guidelines must be drafted on how such recordings will be kept and secured.

E-prescriptions

Allow your doctors to prescribe treatment in the app so patients can buy medicine or get other health services based on in-app prescriptions at medical establishments. An additional feature that should be included within the framework could integrate easily with community pharmacies or other health service providers to enable script dispensation, which users would also appreciate.

Remember that scarcely 11% of modern telemedicine applications currently satisfy users. The greatest challenge is the UX, which is often far from intuitive, smooth, and user-friendly. Try your best to build a telehealth app that is clear, intuitive, highly functional, and accessible for people with disabilities, like colorblindness, poor sight, or deafness, for instance.

Ensure that users' sensitive information is encrypted, access is limited to authorized users, and third-party server usage complies with relevant laws and regulations. Systematic security audits are also necessary to support the highest data security level and exclude risks.

3 Telemedicine App Development Steps

So, how to create a telemedicine app if it requires a systematic method to facilitate progress and match the client's requirements? At Stfalcon, we operate with a strict sequence that starts with defining the concept’s details in the discovery phase.

Discovery

This stage aims to understand how the app should look. We perform market research on the competitors represented there, their solutions, and the unique features required to gain an advantage over their products.

At this stage, we define the target audience, location, preferred platform, users’ uncovered pains, etc. At the same time, we consider the requirements in the target countries to ensure that the app will be compatible with laws such as HIPAA in the United States or GDPR in Europe. We use persona mapping to map different user groups, their needs, and potential scenarios or paths through the application. Furthermore, we conduct a competitor gap analysis to stage the weaknesses of comparative apps and build a telemedicine platform niche for your applications.

Backend

Every mobile product needs an external server, which centralizes the whole business logic. Therefore, we develop a reliable backend for this purpose. It is crucial to ensure the application is secure, correctly encrypts sensitive information, and complies with present-day regulations.

We also make provisions for scalability so that the application can accommodate growing users. The synchronization of real-time data, such as appointments and alterations of medical records among different authorities, enhances the functionality of the telemedicine system. Cloud structural design and failover systems are incorporated to reduce downtime and improve availability.

App development for IOS, Android, or both

The actual app development is realized following the client’s choice of platform and other technical requirements. At this stage, we may develop an MVP to test the solution and get feedback from the target audience.

Our team always knows what is needed to create a telemedicine app. When developing for iOS, Swift allows us to create high-speed applications, and for Android, we use Kotlin to ensure complete compatibility. They can also be viewed as cross-use frameworks like Flutter to enhance the pace of development and herald cost reduction. When designing the app, considerations are made to make it usable to Reach users; these include, but are not limited to, features like large fonts, compatibility with screen readers, and color-blind-friendly colors.

The average time to develop a telehealth app can be over 1500 hours. The entire process includes the abovementioned stages: testing, QA, and necessary adjustments. The cost of developing a telemedicine app depends on multiple factors, such as the tech stack, features and design complexity, integration of third-party services, and more, so the budget should be estimated and discussed individually.

However, based on our experience in healthcare, we advise you to start an approximation with $60,000 in mind for the basic solution. Besides, you should always have a vision of how the product should evolve in the long run and take care to make it simple to realize later on.

Tech Stack for Telehealth App Development

PHP Symfony or Node.js can ensure the application's speed and stability for back-end telehealth platform development. Databases like PostgreSQL or MongoDB are suitable for managing structured and unstructured medical data. On the front end, Vue.js or React are excellent choices for creating responsive and user-friendly interfaces. For implementing video calls, ready-made solutions such as Twilio are utilized, ensuring reliability and scalability

As a result of the expectations set in healthcare regulations to store and combine the data, we recommend employing AWS HealthLake or Google Cloud Healthcare API for data storage and encryption purposes. Moreover, it is also possible to add extra telehealth app development services such as Stripe for payments and Firebase for notifications. You may also use a microservices architecture to guarantee scalability and make updating parts of your app easy if it expands.

Our Experience With Telemedicine Application Development

As you know, Stfalcon has extensive experience developing TeleHealth solutions for European hospitals and clinics. Based on the on-demand model, our tools have already become a massive support for medical organizations. To mention a few, let’s look at Notkarnan and Vethem applications.

Online booking system for making appointments with the doctors

The medical center required an online booking system for making appointments with doctors. The Stfalcon team also designed a landing page for this system. The booking system allows logging in with a banking ID, picking out a free time slot with the doctor, choosing an interpreter (since the system is refugee—and native-oriented), making a payment with Klarna, or using FreeCard.

Read the full case study

To simplify and speed up the telehealth app developers' work, the design team created a flexible system that allows for quickly adapting screens from mobile to tablet and desktop.

Stfalcon’s know-how and experience in realizing REST API systems and integrating them with BankID and the Klarna payment system allowed us to significantly decrease the telemedicine mobile app development time from the first line of code to the first working app version.

Vethem

Vethem is an app for Swedish pet lovers. It helps them get an online vet consultation or schedule a quick appointment with a specialist. The application can also store the pet’s health diary, keep notes with photos, and create reminders about the scheduled vaccination or next visit.

Read the full case study

During the project fulfillment, we faced the challenge of integrating, debugging, and operational testing Scandinavian local payment systems. Though not used worldwide, we adjusted both systems’ flawless functioning.

How Much Does It Cost to Develop a Telehealth Application

The cost to develop a telemedicine application highly depends on the features, platform, design, and external services. Depending on the complexity of the application, basic functionality, including registration, video consultation, and appointment, might cost from $60,000 to $100,000. Depending on the level of sophistication required, i.e., on features such as symptom analysis using AI or real-time data capture or integration with other systems, the price may go up to $200,000 and above.

Still, who needs to be hired to create a telemedicine app and not to make the development costly? Telemedicine app developers in North America or Western Europe cost more than outsourcing through regions such as Eastern Europe or South Asia. Furthermore, the costs associated with core compliance with legal requirements like HIPAA in the USA or GDPR in Europe also affect the budget as it enhances user data security, and meeting legal demands requires additional coding.

Also, remember that in the first budget for the project, the costs of quality assurance, testing, and post-launch support for the application must be marked out because of possible negative user feedback and critical security and functionality issues. When sketching out your vision for a telehealth app, understanding what advance you need to make further down the road for the application and its improvements will assist in avoiding additional costs in the process.

Conclusion

Our telemedicine app development guide on how to create has ended. Therefore, creating the telehealth application is a unique chance for the healthcare sector to invest in making medical services more available, manageable, and effective for patrons and practitioners. Given the current global situation and the widespread use of the temporary working-from-home scheme worldwide, as well as the progression of technology, telemedicine has become a requirement in today’s world of healthcare.

The development of telehealth mobile cannot be random. Some steps are crucial when developing a telehealth app. This includes implementing "usability" and compliance with the newest technologies, such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence. A successfully developed telemedicine platform links doctors and patients, enabling users to control their health.

Dealing with professionals like Stfalcon guarantees the safe, sustainable application of the most effective approaches to meet your requirements. With the right partner, your telehealth application becomes a staple part of the healthcare market with high customer value-generating potential in an emerging market. Contact us today, and let’s make your vision a reality!