Custom mobile apps for healthcare providers: Enhancing clinical efficiency

August 14, 2024 James Montano Health

Table of Contents

Introduction

The emergence of mobile apps in healthcare is disrupting the industry by bringing healthcare services to consumers conveniently, cost-effectively, and reliably. Patients and providers can now communicate directly with mobile apps such as telemedicine, home monitoring, appointment scheduling, and health tracking. These apps help patients and healthcare providers communicate efficiently, safely, and effectively.

Custom mobile app development requires clinical collaboration. We translate clinical requirements into app form and build from the ground up, integrating custom features and functionality custom-tailored to address specific clinical needs. The collaboration streamlines clinical efficiency, synchronizes clinical workflows, facilitates communication, and augments critical best practices and impactful clinical data optimization. With clinical collaboration, clinical efficiency can flourish, and quality of care can improve. Providers can earn more and better help patients.

The rise of mobile apps in healthcare

Mobile technology in health has reshaped how healthcare services are provided and accessed. Mobile apps have replaced the previous communication format with virtual and remote consultation, real-time monitoring, and vernacularised patient health care. This technology has removed the wall between patients and medical institutions, making healthcare services accessible, mainly in rural or underserved areas. The amalgamation of mobile apps in health care has avoided many administrative tasks, waiting times, and other shortcomings in the medical arena.

Key statistics and trends showcasing the growth of mobile health solutions

The growth of mobile health solutions, or mHealth, is not just a trend but a significant shift in healthcare delivery. This is evidenced by a surge in adoption and utilization statistics. According to recent studies, the global mHealth market is expected to reach $310 billion by 2027, reflecting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 29%. Additionally, many healthcare providers utilize mobile apps for various purposes, including patient management, telemedicine, and health monitoring. Surveys indicate that more than 80% of physicians use smartphones and medical apps, and nearly 50% of patients use mobile devices to access health-related services.

Benefits of custom mobile apps for healthcare providers

Improved clinical efficiency through streamlined processes

Custom mobile apps can significantly increase the efficiency of clinics, hospitals, and other healthcare facilities. With apps that automate the scheduling of appointments, the registering and billing of patients, and managing various patient records, the workload on healthcare team members is reduced, as well as the chances of error. Unnecessary distractions can be filtered out, and with custom solutions for any healthcare provider’s specific requirements, workflows can be streamlined, allowing medical staff to spend more time caring for patients instead of performing paperwork.

Enhanced patient care and engagement

Custom mobile apps for patients are also critical in these efforts. Such apps offer on-demand, hyper-personalized tools based on the individual needs of each patient – for instance, tools for taking medications and tracking health, accessing medical records, and monitoring aspects of therapy. These custom apps help to give patients a more excellent voice in managing their care and have been shown to increase adherence to treatment plans and improve health outcomes. Custom apps can also be designed for telemedicine services, allowing patients to communicate with their providers while eliminating unnecessary travel to the hospital or doctor’s office. This approach is essential for patients with mobility challenges or those living in more remote areas.

Better data management and accessibility

Properly managing the data in healthcare is crucial, and custom mobile apps can provide sturdy solutions for health facilities to handle their patients’ information. The custom-built mobile applications can connect with existing electronic health record (EHR) systems to make all recorded data available to providers. Mobile apps can allow the storage of files with the highest level of security; cloud storage and the possibility of quick retrieval of patient records, lab test results, or medical histories help providers make better decisions in a much shorter period.

Real-time communication and collaboration among healthcare staff

Real-time coordination among clinical staff is crucial for effective patient care; custom mobile apps can help all healthcare professionals, such as doctors and nurses, interact and collaborate efficiently. Features such as instant messages, video calls, and secured medical records storage enable members from different parts of the hospital or remote locations to communicate and share medical data in real-time, ensuring everybody is updated about patient status, medical plan, and care changes.

Key features of custom healthcare mobile apps

User-friendly interface tailored to healthcare needs

A prominent characteristic of custom healthcare mobile apps is a system that focuses on the user: the interface design is tailored to the needs of both a healthcare provider and a patient. Many tasks performed by medical professionals (e.g., clinical trials, claims on behalf of patients, prescriptions for medication) and patients can be complex, often involving significant data. The challenge of creating an easy-to-understand yet highly functional healthcare mobile app lies in designing a UX (User Experience) flywheel that is easy and intuitive for customers without extended training. Thanks to professional UX design, making the interface conform to healthcare needs helps to organize workflows logically, prevent mistakes when taking or entering data, and reduce cognitive load that otherwise means straining to recall relevant information at a given moment.

Integration with Existing Healthcare Systems (EHR/EMR)

Custom mobile apps have full integrations with EHR and EMR so that the information stored in the app is automatically pushed to the larger healthcare system. This way, everyone with records on the patient has immediate access to the information. The app facilitates easy access to patient records, lab results, and medical histories via EHR/EMR integration with mobile devices, enabling care providers to make better and more informed choices and decisions when caring for a patient.

Secure messaging and communication tools

Secure messaging and communications tools are important so that a custom healthcare mobile app can facilitate communication between healthcare practitioners and their patients by sending encrypted messages, video calls, and files. This will keep the information private and secure and meet regulations like HIPAA.

Appointment scheduling and reminders

A core functionality in custom healthcare mobile apps is making appointment settings easy and sending reminders to people using apps. Patients can set, reschedule, or cancel appointments online with the appointment-setting feature. Whenever there is any change in the timings of their appointments, it will automatically be sent to the patient’s mobile.

This will reduce overhead costs on the administration side and also greatly reduce the number of ‘no-show’ patients. With automated reminders and notifications, people can easily keep up with appointments. A higher percentage of them attending the appointments is also possible. This helps in better managing the patients.

Telehealth capabilities

One of the most significant features of custom healthcare mobile apps is the ability to provide telehealth or two-way, live video visits between providers and patients. This feature is valuable for caring for those who cannot visit the doctor’s office due to visit constraints such as physical distance, mobility, and other factors. Custom healthcare software solutions can use virtual visits to improve access, patient convenience, and chronic disease management.

Access to patient records and medical history

Access to patient’s records and medical history is another crucial feature of such apps because a part of providing custom healthcare is having a complete view and access to medical history and updates about the patient’s condition. Viewing and managing this information on-demand can help healthcare providers make better decisions, track patient progress, and follow up with multidisciplinary teams to provide the best quality of care. Enabling this feature allows healthcare providers to access the patient’s records quickly and make better decisions, thereby improving patient care and experience.

The development process for custom healthcare mobile apps

Initial consultation and requirement analysis

The first step in healthcare mobile app development is an initial consultation and requirement analysis. During this discussion, developers and key stakeholders define and address the app’s initial requirements. The focus of this phase includes determining the needs, challenges, and objectives the mobile app will address. This can consist of desirable features, integration requirements, and compliance with regulatory requirements. A clear understanding of the healthcare provider’s needs and target audience enables developers to take the next step and create a project plan that outlines the proposed app’s scope, goals, and technical specifications.

Design and prototyping focused on user experience

After the requirement analysis phase, the design and prototyping phase is the logical step that focuses on increasing the usability of the interface and experience with the end user’s perspective in mind. For example, design teams deliver wireframes and prototypes, prioritizing healthcare providers’ needs and patient preferences. Designers adopt an iterative process to ensure the app’s effectiveness for multiple stakeholders by ensuring its usability. Prototypes provide a critical tool for stakeholders to share feedback rather than relying on verbal conversations to describe or evaluate the planned system. They create a shared reference point to review categorically. In this prototyping stage, iteration is critical: reviewing and refining the app before moving on to the development phase, similar to drafting during the writing process.

Development and rigorous testing for functionality and compliance

The app is developed to match the approved design and specifications. App developers code the app to include critical features such as appointment scheduling, secure messaging, and EHR/EMR integration. Comprehensive testing occurs throughout the development phase to ensure that the app works as intended, that no bugs exist, and that all regulatory compliance criteria are met.

Implementation and staff training

After the development and testing phases are completed, implementation gets underway. This involves deploying the app to the healthcare organization and fitting it into existing systems and workflows. Staff training is also crucial to implementation. Familiarity with the app’s functionalities, best practices, and troubleshooting tips will prepare staff and let them benefit from the new resources regarding clinical efficiency and patient care.

Benefits of partnering with Asahi Technologies

Expertise in healthcare mobile app development

So, that’s the most significant advantage when partnering with Asahi Technologies: they bring their vast experience in mobile app development to the table and help us tap into their experience with mobile devices and apps specially created for the healthcare industry.

Proven track record of successful projects

With an established history of delivering successful mobile app projects for numerous healthcare organizations, Asahi Technologies is renowned for designing and developing customized client-centric solutions that enhance clinical efficiency, patient engagement, and overall day-to-day operations with ease of use and minimal hassle. This company has a wide array of projects it has previously delivered and is keen on implementing some of them on your project.

Customized approach to meet specific needs of healthcare providers

One key benefit of partnering with Asahi Technologies is their customized approach to app development. They work closely with healthcare providers to understand their specific needs and challenges, ensuring that the mobile solutions they develop are tailored to address those unique requirements. This personalized approach helps create apps that integrate seamlessly with existing systems, enhance workflows, and deliver a user experience that aligns with the healthcare organization’s goals.

Commitment to quality, security, and client satisfaction

Asahi Technologies’ development process starts with providing high-quality, secure, and customer-satisfying solutions. It continues through rigorous and repeated testing not only before the application is handed to the client for use but also after it is in service to address user issues many times over and gather and incorporate user feedback. By always focusing on high standards with such customer-oriented service, Asahi Technologies provides healthcare providers with reliable, secure, and effective mobile applications, enabling clients to achieve their operational and clinical goals.

Common challenges and solutions in mobile app development

Data security

Challenge – Mobile apps must consider data integrity and security, so casual online polls from strangers could be a better idea when developing healthcare applications. Patient data is susceptible and should be protected from hacks and identity theft (Google yourself!), and sometimes, the data must comply with HIPAA standards.

Solution – Proper security can be established by encrypting data at rest and data in motion, ensuring authentication, and conducting security checks regularly. Data security can be easily solved by following best practices, using accepted standards, and keeping up with new vulnerability disclosures. We maintain data integrity and regulatory compliance by using secure APIs and vulnerability testing.

User adoption

Challenge – Adoption is difficult. Generally speaking, user engagement problems can arise with any technology. Trying to seal in a whole faculty is a Herculean task, for instance, when the app includes new, unfamiliar workflows or you would like to change how people are used to working. Users can resist new technology partly because of their fears about the effort needed to learn it. The main pitfall, however, lies in the exposure of the lab itself.

Solution – For tremendous success while developing an app, one should consider a well-engineered, use-case-based, simple interface that seems natural to drive. Also, including stakeholders in a joint development cycle will assure alignment with user needs and keep the focus on target groups. Training, supporting documentation during the deployment phase, and offering maintenance and reviews can lead to higher adoption and acceptance of the new things.

Integration

Challenge – Migrating a new mobile app to an existing healthcare landscape, including EHRs or essential practice-management software, is complex and time-consuming. Data migration, data extraction, and precise delivery are critical to the app’s viability.

Solution – Integration issues can be resolved by eliminating all ambiguities at the start of development by carefully assessing existing systems and writing and understanding precise integration requirements. Providing integration via broadly supported industry standards (e.g., interoperability protocols and APIs) will allow for relatively seamless integration at each process step. Careful collaboration in the design phase, application development phase, and considerable application testing with IT teams and system administrators is essential for identifying potential issues and responding to them early on in the process. A phased rollout with vigorous testing can pave the way for successful integration and ensure the app works optimally within target ecosystems.

Conclusion

To sum up, there is no denying the importance of custom mobile apps for the might of healthcare service providers. Offering bespoke solutions to the unique needs of healthcare, these apps enable healthcare providers to have constant ease of workflows, greater engagement when it comes to patients, seamless communication, and utility of the existing infrastructure. Capabilities such as automation of workflows, faster modes of communication, and better management of patient data increase the chances of an efficient system and better patient care. The fund invested in custom mobile app development justifies the technological advancements for healthcare providers and further the goals of better health prospects and better efficiency of the healthcare delivery system.