Challenges in Healthcare Application Development
There’s no doubt that healthcare mobile app development has become an industry by itself. With increasing smartphone penetration every year, mhealth solutions are seen to address many challenges in healthcare inequity across the United States and the world. Although these are exciting times for healthcare app developers, the industry is not without its own set of challenges.
a. Patient Data Security
Many experts concur that personal data has become one of the most valuable commodities on earth. Cyberattacks have increasingly begun targeting people’s personal and financial information. Health information is no different. A person’s medical records contain all of their health information and are used by physicians to diagnose and recommend treatment.
If patient medical data is lost or changed in any way, it could directly affect the clinical outcome for the patient. So, a healthcare app development company creating a medical app must adhere to HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) regulation when instituting data security measures. Doing so ensures a reliable degree of security and minimizes the chances of losing the data. Failure to comply with HIPAA would incur severe legal penalties and even imprisonment.
b. Integration with Third-Party Applications
This holds in the case of mobile health apps for patients and those aimed at doctors. Integrated healthcare solutions go a long way in helping providers offer better care and improve the patient experience. Electronic data exchange between the applications is possible because of application programming interfaces (APIs).
A practice management application must be able to work with a patient scheduling solution, telehealth platform, in addition to software for medical coding, verification, and billing. But every single one of these applications might be developed by a different medical app development company. They are bound to follow varying approaches and use different technology stacks for development. In light of this, it becomes extremely important for all the applications to work seamlessly.
Patient-centric applications for performance tracking and diet monitoring have become a fad amongst fitness enthusiasts. These platforms must be compatible with smartphones. Doctors and fitness experts have increasingly used such applications to help seniors and patients with chronic diseases manage their health better. Patient data in real-time outside clinical settings could help reduce inequities in healthcare and improve population health management. Without seamless integration among multiple applications, the utility and scope of these solutions are limited. That’s the reason medical application development companies consider integration as a top priority.
c. Testing
Testing software thoroughly is a fundamental element of the development process. Testing is conducted to assess the user interface, functionality, speed, digital security, compliance, and even scalability. Testing is carried out within well-established parameters and any bugs discovered are dealt with promptly.
When it comes to building a health app, complying with regulations is paramount, and a lack of thereof amounts to serious legal consequences in penalties and even prison time. Ensuring all the parameters are met under complete regulatory compliance is a challenge that every healthcare app developer must face.
d. User-Interface
This is perhaps one of the most important aspects of any mobile application, especially for a healthcare app. The user interface is the point where users interact with the application. A good user interface (UI) is where the users’ experience with using the application is the best, requiring minimal effort to get used to navigating the functionalities.
Applications with higher functionality but poor interface often struggle to garner a sizeable base of users. Medical apps for patients must be easy to use for people from all walks of life, irrespective of how technically apt they may or may not be. The challenges involved in developing a good user interface have as much to do with the creativity and awareness of the developers as it does with their technical expertise.
