A lot of sectors have benefited from the advancement in mobile applications and one of the main sectors is healthcare. The Healthcare sector has seen major changes due to mobile apps.
With the busy lifestyle, we follow today, we could hardly spare some time to visit the doctor or visit his clinic to book an appointment. In such cases, we rely on doctor appointment app like Zocdoc to get doctors' consultations.
So, if you are planning to build an app like Zocdoc, this blog would help you dive into details of the doctor appointment app development process and other aspects like healthcare app development cost that need to be considered to build such an app.
Why Doctor Appointment Apps Are Gaining Popularity?
The year 2021 saw a drastic boost in people going for doctor's consultations online. Today, people prefer booking doctors’ appointments online instead of visiting their clinic.
This clearly shows the boost in demand for doctor appointment booking Android/ iOS app development solutions.
Some other popular healthcare apps are Health Tap, Practo, Doctor on Demand, etc. Now, let us explore the benefits of doctor appointment apps that are making them so popular
Doctor Appointment App for Clinics
- Improve overall efficiency
- Prevent overbooking
- Better staff management
- Eliminate manual errors
- Easy comparison of productivity
- Reduce time invested in managing administration activities
Doctor Appointment App for Doctors
- Online presence
- Self-promotion
- Assist remotely
- Round the clock accessibility to patients
- Increase patient base
Doctor Appointment App for Patients
- Connect with doctors through a single tap
- No need to wait in long queues
- Connect to health care team instantly
- Cost-effective
- Saves Time
- Bill payments can be done online
- Round the clock accessibility to healthcare
- Book appointments from anywhere
Must-have Features To Be Integrated Into Doctor Appointment App
Doctor Search
It becomes easy to search clinics/doctors by different parameters like waiting for time, specialization, name, etc
Stakeholder Profile
Here the doctor’s profile is listed within the app and the user’s profile is built based on the details they provide.
Appointment Booking
The booking and confirmation of the appointment take place based on the available slots of respective doctors.
Built-in Payment
Once appointment is booked, patients can pay the visiting charges in advance.
Location-Based Search
This feature allows patients to search the doctors and clinics nearby with an in-built map.
Doctor Review
The rate & review system allows patients to rate & review the doctors based on their experience with the doctor.
Reminder
The patients receive notifications so that they do not miss out on their appointments.
Cancelation
The bookings can be canceled or rescheduled by the patients to match their convenient timings and the availability of the doctor.
Ways to make your doctor Appointment App ready to meet future healthcare needs
Well, the 3 most important technologies can make your doctor appointment app efficient to serve the future healthcare needs and they are
Cloud Computing
Once your medical apps start expanding, you would need to manage high chunks of data in almost petabytes. Cloud computing helps you manage high volumes of data seamlessly.
Cloud computing along with Google Healthcare Cloud API can help you get advanced grade benefits for the doctor appointment app. Machine learning, Big Data, and Heightened Security are supported by Google’s IAM system.
Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning technologies are used in doctor appointment booking apps like ZocDoc to make them more effective. This is quite helpful when users’ do not have any idea about the terms used for particular specialization like Oncologist, Ophthalmologist. Instead, they are aware of simple terms for these specializations like Cancer specialist or Eye doctor. In such cases, incorporating Machine learning into the app helps meet the patient layman's terms with that of the right doctor without any hassles.
Blockchain
Blockchain technology helps gather all data in a single decentralized system which is accessible to authorized members in the system. This reduces the chances of the appointment data leak.
Through your app, the patients can also check the insurance claim information before booking an appointment with the doctor. This helps them consult the doctors who are listed under their insurance coverage.
After looking at the features and benefits of the doctor appointment app, let us learn about the monetization strategies that can help your healthcare app generate money.
Monetization Strategies To Consider For Doctor Appointment App
You can consider a few options to help your app generate revenues.
Subscription
Here, you can offer medical practitioners and doctors monthly or yearly subscriptions which give them access to a certain number of patients.
You can also offer subscriptions wherein they can access unlimited patients. You can create patient count-wise subscription plans.
You can also ask patients to subscribe to a monthly subscription by charging them a certain amount to connect with doctors within your app.
Sponsorship
Help the healthcare organizations and doctors to feature their names on the top of your healthcare app. You can ask them to be part of a sponsored program to avail of this feature. By paying for sponsored sections the doctors and healthcare organizations can gain higher visibility on your app.
On-Demand Services
You can include other on-demand services to your doctor appointment booking app like
- Collection of urine and blood samples from home
- Medicine delivery at home
It can help you get an added stream for revenue generation through your app.
After learning about the revenue generation streams for your doctor appointment booking app, let us look at the cost incurred to build a doctor appointment app like ZocDoc
The Cost Incurred To Build a Doctor Appointment App Like ZocDoc
A lot of factors play an important role in deciding the cost to build an app like Zocdoc. Below listed factors can help you determine the cost of iOS/ Android app development solutions.
- App Features
- App Complexities
- App Designs
- Development team
- Tech stack selected to build your app
- App Size
- Smart technologies used to make your app future-ready
- Platform Used
Conclusion
The mobile app development solutions have simplified the entangled healthcare system to a greater extent. Similarly, the doctor appointment booking app comes with immense benefits like reduced cost, reduced time and burden of doing manual tasks, appointment bookings, and many other healthcare admin operations-related activities.
It would be a smart move to leverage this lucrative opportunity. Simply hire a mobile app development company to assist you to launch your future-ready healthcare app.
X-Byte Enterprise Solutions, a leading mobile app development services in USA can assist you to integrate advanced technologies into your doctor appointment booking app so that you can help patients and doctors connect under your platform.
Our expert team of app developers has vast experience in white label doctor app development to help you launch a robust healthcare app. Get in touch with us to share your project requirements.