Himanshu PatelOn-Demand Appointment Booking App: Everything You Need To Know
Let’s rewind your tape a decade back, where thinking about the patient’s treatment without meeting the doctor in person was beyond ones’ mind’s eye. It involves a lot of hassles- physically moving to the clinic or hospital, waiting for hours to get an appointment, meeting the doctor, then going for lab tests, and again visiting the doctor to showcase the results.
Now, things have got changed, and so is- the relationship between the patients and doctors. Everything has gone digital from uploading the health status and lab test results after appointment booking to getting a prescription.
The patients and doctors equally give high credence to mobile healthcare applications. The on-demand appointment apps are the most popular among mHealth solutions because they eliminate the need to wait in long queues amidst unique hospital odor and the somber sight of despairing patients. Also, easy rescheduling and digital bill payments were facilitated.
Looking from the healthcare provider’s lens, a lot of administrative staff’s time and efforts in manual appointment scheduling and management, errors are no exception, overbooking occurs, and inability to get insights into performance-related problems pops up, which resolved through on-demand appointment apps.
The On-Demand Appointment App benefits both- the patients and the doctors in distinct ways that no one can ignore. Especially in the pandemic, the world has witnessed the importance of digital healthcare solutions as no one wants to visit the doctor or sit in the waiting rooms that may put their life to risk.
We don’t know what would happen in the new normal but, one thing is sure, that’s on-demand patient and doctor appointment app would go into the mainstream, and the hospitals expected to utilize the app services for maximizing productivity.
As an entrepreneur, you can make bundles with app development and providing the platform to individual doctors or hospitals. Let’s see the features that the app must include in different interfaces:
Read more: On-Demand Delivery App Development Cost Analysis 2020!
For doctors App Development
- Authentication: The doctors authenticated through qualifications, work history, and reputation verification before listed on the app.
- Profile: Post-authentication, the profile is created by entering the address where the doctor practice, the specialty, experience, and images of the clinic or hospital.
- Appointment management: Doctors can manage the appointments by accepting or rejecting the appointment requests based on their availability and setting the number of appointments in a day.
- Appointment status: Doctors can check the status like- appointment rescheduling, or cancellation.
- E-prescription: Going greener! The digital prescription provided to the patients during the virtual visits, which can be accessed anytime.
- Rating: The patients can share the reviews and ratings for the services offered by the doctor.
- Transaction history: The doctors can check the earnings daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly.
For patients App Development
- Profile: The patients can create and manage the profile by adding the name, address, contact details, age, gender, and other information.
- Easy search: The filters such as specialty, location, price, time preference, and insurance allow patients to search the doctor that meets their healthcare needs.
- Appointment booking: Patients can send the appointment request to the selected doctor
- Multiple payment options: Allow patients to make payments through different payment modes such as cash, credit card, debit card, and wallets.
- Built-in chat: Patients can discuss the concerns before the appointment is confirmed.
- GPS tracking: Patients visiting the doctor can track the doctor’s location through geolocation technology.
- Notifications: Different types of push notifications sent to the patients like- appointment confirmation, the reminder for an appointment, medicine, and others.
- Health records sharing: Patients can share medical history by uploading the previous prescriptions, lab test results, and other health-related information.
- Virtual assistance: When patients unable to visit the doctor, the in-app video conferencing call facilitated for them.
- SOS: During the emergency, the patients can request for the ambulance or instant medicine in a few clicks.
- Promotional offers: To increase the number of patients, the doctors provide discounts to new and existing patients on the next consultation or referring the app to others.
How is the On-Demand Appointment App developed?
Conceptualization: A clear view of an app idea and target audience discussed to validate the concept.
Business analysis: The blueprint of the app- wireframes created to check the app’s feasibility in the market.
App development: The team of like-minded technology experts builds the app together while following the industry-best development practices.
UI & UX Designing: The modern design trends, app store guidelines, and target users’ preferences kept at the heart of app designing.
Testing: Different types of tests are performed on the app before it’s released to ensure optimal performance.
Launching: We help you create a buzz before the app launched through PRs, influencer marketing, and other offline/online channels.
Deploying: The app is submitted to the app store through the developer’s account to ensure error-free submission.
How much you need to spend on building on-demand appointment apps?
Determining ballpark cost is impossible before the app idea, and other related factors are known. Several factors play a role in bringing variations to the on-demand app development cost. They are:
- Complexity
- Number of platforms
- Technology stack
- Working hours
- Hourly rates
- Development team’s location
The on-demand app development with a basic set of features costs around $21,000 with an hourly rate of $30. However, the development cost will surge as the advanced technology leverage and features’ complexity increases. In the event, the mobile app development partner is from the USA or Canada, a sizeable increase in the cost experienced because the hourly rates are quite expensive as opposed to Asian countries.
It’s better to discuss with two or more development companies before signing a contract with them to get a fair idea of how much it costs to build your app.
Takeaway
Mobilization in healthcare space is just like the integration of emerging technologies in education or entertainment space. The on-demand appointments apps are filling the void and connecting patients and doctors virtually along with a slew of benefits. It gives no reason to ignore the digital revolution and wait for competitors to make a mark. Get ready to build new “Uber” for doctors and patients in the healthcare industry to reap advantages in abundance. All the best!
