How Chatbots Can Improve the Patients' Experience

From long patient wait times to inefficient manual processes and risky paper records, the healthcare sector has faced numerous challenges historically. This has created a fertile ground for doctor appointment apps. According to Verified Market Reports, in 2023 alone, the market was valued at an estimated $318.49M, projecting a surge to $862.16 million by 2030 (15.29% CAGR). 

Given the growth of AI-based solutions in telemedicine tech and the modernization of the healthcare system, we can now highlight the importance of such solutions and dive deep into the specifics of healthcare appointment apps.

What is a doctor appointment system?

A doctor appointment application — is a digital solution that automates the registration of patients for an appointment with medical specialists. However, modern solutions imply more than just scheduling online appointments. They give patients useful information about a healthcare institution's services and specialists. Also, they connect patients with doctors and give access to their records in the comfort of their homes.

Why is this system gaining traction in the healthcare sector? Let’s break it down into factors:

• The widespread digitalization of the healthcare sector.
  Healthcare is moving beyond in-person consultations in the facility. Now, it includes remote consultations, app-based therapies, and remote health tracking for timely interventions.
• The development of modern technologies.
  Various mobile applications and the affordability of smartphones make this format of interaction with patients desired and preferable.
• Reducing the workload on administrators.
  To prevent personnel burnout, medical institutions can use healthcare scheduling software systems to reduce the number of routine tasks assigned to administrators and the number of errors associated with the human factor.
• Increased patient satisfaction.
  Transparent access to doctors' schedules and the ability to choose a suitable time — increase customer loyalty.
• Increased occupancy of doctors' schedules.
  With a doctor appointment system, healthcare organizations can minimize empty appointment slots since it will be easier for patients to choose the optimal date and time for a visit.

Key doctor appointment app features

Since the Apple App Store boasts approximately 35,019 healthcare and medical apps, among which are approximately 10 to 20 types of doctor appointment apps, features might hugely range from app to app. Let's examine the main features of the doctor appointment app.

Online appointment booking

The system should have filters for doctors by specialization, review patient feedback, and book appointment availability by date and time. Additionally, patients should be able to receive reminders for upcoming appointments (e.g., push notifications, email, or SMS).

Telemedicine

For routine follow-ups, an online medical appointment system is essential. It's not a choice but an inevitability. Both patients and healthcare providers save travel time and can schedule appointments just in the app via online consultations, video conferencing, or text chat.

Integration with EMR and billing system

Integration with electronic health records provides access to the patient's medical data directly from the application, allowing doctors to update and review these records directly from the platform. As for the billing system, the PCI DSS-compliant payment gateway will be the core element of the online payment process. In addition, it provides an option for generating bills and receipts.

Feedback and ratings

Usually, this is a window where patients can rate their experiences and write reviews for specific providers using a simple scoring system. For usability, this feature must remain unobtrusive within the app interface.

FAQ and educational materials sections

The app should include a FAQ section covering usage and privacy. It should also have an educational section with information about specialists, a map of the institution, and service costs.

Monetization strategies for doctor appointment apps

The ideal monetization strategy for a doctor appointment system depends on the target audience and the organization's business model. Let's look at the most popular types of monetization in this niche:

• Subscription-based.
  According to this model, after paying for a monthly or annual subscription, patients get access to advanced features, such as priority appointments or online consultations. 
• Pay-per-booking.
  This model involves charging a fixed fee or a percentage of the service's cost (usually 5-10%) for each appointment.
• Advertising.
  Based on this model, you can publish advertisements for medical services, pharmacies, insurance companies, and other partner organizations. This can be contextual advertising, static banners, or affiliate programs (for example, you can recommend pharmacies for buying drugs).
• Payments for telemedicine services.
  This approach to monetization involves charging a fee (either a percentage of the service cost or a fixed amount) for online consultations implemented within the application.
• Patient data monetization.
  This type of monetization involves selling anonymized patient data to global healthcare corporations. They can be used in the future for both clinical research and to improve the quality of services of partner organizations (for example, insurance companies, laboratories, etc.).
• White-label solution.
  Finally, you can develop a customizable solution and sell it to other companies under their brand. In this case, you must provide a settings panel where each organization can set individual configurations.

Benefits of doctor appointment booking app development

To understand the benefits of the doctor appointment booking system, we first need to figure out the main pain points such software can solve. Previously, we’ve mentioned some, but for the sake of completeness, let's consider each of them:

• Simplification of the procedure for making an appointment with a doctor.
  Earlier, patients had to call the clinic, wait for the admin to answer, and adjust to the schedule. With the app, they can choose the best time and date within a few moments on their smartphone.
• Drop in missed sessions and treatment gaps.

With appointment alerts or medication reminders, patients won’t forget about upcoming visits to the doctor and taking medications, which ultimately saves the clinic's resources.

• Transparency of pricing.
  Some patients find it difficult to understand the cost of the services; in turn, with the application, they will have access to all the price information before making an appointment.
• Comprehensive information about doctors and services.

To prevent patients from choosing doctors blindly, the application can offer them a convenient rating system, reviews, and descriptions of services; thanks to this, they will make a more conscious decision about choosing a particular doctor/service.

• Minimization of paperwork.
  Without a doctor appointment application at hand, medical personnel often had to work with paper journals. An app that integrates with the CRM, EHR, and other software will reduce reliance on paper docs.
• Higher revenue.
  You can sell additional services through the application; moreover, its convenience and transparency increase the likelihood of repeat visits.
• Reduced need for human resources.
  The application’s launch will help reduce the need for a large administrative staff, allowing existing employees to focus less on routine tasks and more on value-driven activities.
• Greater return on marketing efforts.
  The patient's behavior analytics can help you craft more targeted offers. With insights into patient habits and preferences, you can create highly targeted offers that resonate with your audience, optimizing both campaign success and budget efficiency while increasing engagement and retention.
• Increased competitive advantage.
  Modern clinics that offer convenient digital solutions win more patients, improve operational efficiency, reduce no-show rates, and enhance patient satisfaction, all of which contribute to a stronger competitive position in the overall healthcare market.

Steps to build a doctor appointment app

Let’s check the steps included in the medical software development services that our doctor appointment app development company provides.

Market research

At this stage, our doctor appointment app development team defines the application's target audience (the patients' age, smartphone proficiency level, etc.). Next, we analyze the institution's business model for which it’s being created while researching competitors and identifying their strengths and weaknesse

Based on the insights received, we determine the app's basic and advanced features. For example, we want real-time patient monitoring through wearables. We also need to agree on the OS, which can be Android and/or iOS. Lastly, we must choose the best monetization model. Finally, we determine the necessary integrations with third-party solutions and the requirements that must be met (usually GDPR, HIPAA, etc.).

Prototyping and UX/UI design

At this point, our experts create user stories to guide the development of prototypes (first lo-fi, and when agreed upon with all stakeholders, hi-fi). Once the prototypes are finalized, our team starts working on the full-fledged doctor appointment app design. We aim to create user-friendly navigation that cuts off the input needed from the user to complete tasks. At the same time, the team works on the UI, optimizing it for mobile platforms and obtaining WCAG 2.1 accessibility guidelines.

Architecture development

This stage involves choosing an architectural approach (for example, microservices for better scalability, REST or GraphQL for API, and so on). It is also important to plan the processes that will be implemented on the server side (in particular, record management, authorization, etc.). On the client side (usually, this is the patient and administrator interface) and on the database side (as a rule, flows for transactions and caching are separated). We also select specific solutions for implementing the necessary integrations.

Coding

Now, we have everything ready to define the technology stack for the backend and frontend. This decision is based on whether native or cross-platform development will be utilized for the doctor appointment app. Once individual program modules are ready, we proceed with coding and testing each component.

Testing

Since the entire code base is ready, our doctor scheduling app development team ensures that it is fully covered with test cases to perform integration, load, and other types of testing. If there are any bugs, we will fix them immediately and then test the product again. Repeat this process until we meet all the specifications.

Launch and deployment

Finally, our doctor app development experts set up the server infrastructure (optionally, they also introduce CI/CD practices). Ensures data security (through encryption and regular security audits) and carries out a test launch of the software. If there are no critical bugs in the beta version of the application, we release it in the App Store and/or Google Play.

Post-release support and development of updates

This stage includes maintaining app stability, fixing failures, adding new features, optimizing existing ones, updating the design, and scaling with the growing user base.

Doctor appointment app design: Best practices

When it comes to the UI design of a doctor appointment app, we prioritize WCAG 2.1 guidelines. This section details and provides practical examples of their effective implementation for an optimal user experience.

• Readability of information.
  Maintain a color contrast ratio between text and background (at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text). Also, include doctor avatars and icons, ensure text scalability up to 200% (without loss of functionality), and add subtitles and text transcripts for videos (if any).
• Ease of navigation.
  All UI elements should be keyboard-accessible and have a minimum clickable size of 44x44 pixels. Ensure there’s extra space around buttons or links to prevent accidental clicks and include breadcrumbs for easier navigation.
• Clarity of the interface.
  Use simple language in the interface, label all form fields, provide input format examples (like "dd.mm.yyyy"), highlight errors, and offer step-by-step instructions for complex tasks, including a progress indicator.
• Interface reliability.
  Ensure that your application is compatible with assistive technologies (for all functional elements, use ARIA labels). Test your app on various devices and ensure it uses standardized data formats like JSON and XML for smooth communication with integrated third-party servic

Of course, this is only a small part of the best practices you can implement in the doctor consultation app development process. To maximize the loyalty of your audience and better understand what the design should be — read the WCAG 2.1 guidelines directly.

Doctor scheduling app development: Overcoming key challenges

Generally speaking, everyone who is going to develop a doctor appointment app faces challenges to one degree or another. To overcome them effectively, it's crucial to understand them in advance. Let's explore them in detail:

• Integration with software solutions that you already use.
  Your application may require integration with systems and services that are either legacy or support non-standard data exchange protocols (i.e., different from HL7 and FHIR). In this case, you may need additional middleware development to ensure seamless data transfer.
• Data security.
  Medical information must be protected with particular care, as its leakage can lead to large fines and loss of reputation for your organization. To minimize risks, consider data encryption at rest and in transit, implement two-factor authentication and role-based access control. After all, try to regularly conduct pen-tests.
• Performance and scalability.
  High server load during peak hours can lead to failures in the operation of your application. To prevent this, you can initially choose cloud platforms that support autoscaling for hosting and implement data caching.
• Testing complex scenarios.
  During testing, your QA specialists risk missing complex interaction scenarios with the application. For example, when several patients simultaneously make an appointment for the same doctor or when the selected order of visits to several doctors is conflicting. To ensure comprehensive coverage of test cases, use automated testing tools.
• Accessibility.
  A confusing interface can drive users away, leading to fewer interactions with your app. To prevent this, conduct thorough UX research with real users before launch. Based on their feedback, make necessary adjustments to the app's functionality and design.
• The unwillingness of personnel to switch to new digital solutions.
  Adjusting to new rules might be hard, especially within historically established healthcare practices. You might consider providing training for your staff on how to manage new progressive software.

Beyond technical challenges, there are many business-related obstacles, from USP's definition to the choice of an effective monetization model. This is why, besides carefully selecting the right doctor appointment app development team, consider hiring skilled marketing experts, too.

Doctor appointment app development cost

From our experience of doctor appointment mobile app development, it is impossible to determine the accurate cost of such a project without understanding its functionality and the platforms it is intended for. However, based on the average cost for app development, we can give an approximate cost guide. Here’s a breakdown:

Complexity of projects:

• Simple apps typically range from $20K – $30K, and their implementation takes 4 – 6 months. These apps usually include basic functionalities like appointment scheduling and doctor search features.
• For medium apps like telemedicine integration and electronic health records (EHR), costs can rise from $30K to $45K with an approximate 6 – 9 months timeline. This includes both web and mobile platforms with a broader range of functionalities.
• Highly complex applications with real-time video consultations, comprehensive analytics dashboards, and AI-driven functionalities may exceed $45K+ and take 9 – 12 months.

Geographical variations

The cost can also vary by region:

• North America: Because of advanced technological capabilities, on average, it has the highest cost, ranging from $30K – $150K+. 
• Europe: Cost ranges from $20K – $150K, influenced by economic conditions from country to country.
• Asia: Development costs are generally lower, ranging from $20K – $100K.

Have a thriving idea for a doctor appointment app and are curious about a budget estimate for its deployment? Simply fill out this form, and we will swiftly calculate your project and contact you back.

Top 5 successful doctor appointment apps

Now, let’s explore some top-tier doctor appointment apps that excel in every aspect. These examples might inspire you to build a doctor appointment app for your healthcare organization.

Zocdoc

Zocdoc is praised for its intuitive interface and powerful search tools. The platform has an intuitive interface and powerful search tools. The platform streamlines appointments and has instant confirmation features, reminders, a feedback system, and seamless integration with insurance providers and document uploads.

Practo

Popular in India, Practo gives patients access to doctor appointments, telemedicine services, ordering medicines for delivery, and storing medical records. Patients can view individual doctor profiles, including their education, experience, and certifications, allowing them to choose the best specialists for their treatment.

Doctolib

The Doctolib application simplifies making appointments with doctors and provides the option to cancel a visit. This application is integrated with doctors' calendars, automatically sends notifications, and provides rich functionality for doctors (including scheduling management and provision of telemedicine services).

Healthgrades

As for alternatives for the US market, we cannot help but mention Healthgrades. This application helps users find doctors and medical institutions based on location, specialization, and rating. Plus, it allows patients to make appointments and get detailed information about particular specialists and organizations.

MyChart

MyChart — is a top charted app in the US and Canada. Designed to manage medical information and schedule appointments, it allows patients to communicate with doctors online and get family access.

Darly Solutions' expertise in online booking and enhanced customer engagement

The most relevant case for online doctor scheduling app development was Glamezy, a B2C solution for the beauty industry. Our client sought to create an online platform to help small and medium businesses in the beauty sector expand their reach, especially after the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The goal was to develop a website that allowed customers to book beauty services online based on location easily. Also, the platform must have an easy and encouraging interface to communicate with potential partners while boosting sales and driving customer engagement. Ten experts worked on this project; and for the tech stack, we used React and Node.js.

As a result, we created a solution for easily searching and booking top beauty professionals. Now, the platform lets users add salons to a shortlist with one click, view nearby salons on an interactive map, and earn points for every transaction on the platform.

If you’d like to explore this case further, please visit our portfolio.

Final thoughts

It’s fair to say that at the heart of every design lies a larger goal for the benefit of humanity. A well-designed doctor appointment app boosts access and patient satisfaction while helping small and medium healthcare organizations and businesses thrive in the tech sector.

After you’ve read all the details about ideas and challenges for developing a doctor appointment app, it's time to find the right team to turn your vision into reality. 

For now, don’t settle for less. Darly Solution is here to help! Contact us today to discuss your project in detail.

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Most likely, you would like to make your digital product highly competitive, get guarantees on its relevance, and avoid its costly rework even if its life cycle exceeds the unspoken five-year limit, right? Then, in today's changing tech environment, endowing it with long-distance growth prospects will be not just another strategy you may follow or not – it will be a necessity. 

What Is Future-Proofing?

No one would dispute that guaranteeing long-term stability adds confidence to the development process. Based on this, you may have a question: “What is the future-proofing?”. Now, we will explain the future-proofing meaning.

In short, it is the creation of several applications, websites, and services that retain their functionality even after a long time. For example, in the context of mobile application development, it predicts the occurrence of potential changes in the operating systems of gadgets so that these applications remain practical and relevant. By considering possible technological advancements, likely competitors, and requests from the target audience, the need for large-scale updating is minimized.

This process consists of analyzing a number of technological trends, considering potential risks, and integrating adaptive solutions to market trends. But do not close your eyes to some problems and challenges of future-proofing. There may not be a specific update date, and the implementation of flexible solutions may require both additional time and additional money. You should be sure that the tools and methods you use guarantee high quality and a high level of reliability of the product so that the process of its development is productive and relatively simple.

In addition, an equally important aspect of the above-mentioned approach is the study of potential changes that may occur in the needs and behaviors of the target audience of your product. This will make you ready to overcome obstacles. Let’s take a concrete example, if you integrate software with cloud services (using self-testing and scaling architecture).

The Benefits of Future-Proofing Software

It is worth considering the most striking advantages of this software to make sure it is appropriate:

• Flexibility in a dynamic technology environment: This helps to adapt existing products to new requirements.
• The real prospects for the future: The more long-term prospects are taken into account during the future-proof development of the digital solution, the longer it is guaranteed to be stable.
• Optimization of financial costs: If the potential upgrade of the review is done immediately at the development stage, it minimizes the possibility of costly disposal of the product itself.
• Superiority over competitors: Service providers that offer better protection of their decisions, respectively, are much more efficient and faster to respond to constant changes in the market and the needs of their target audience.

Future-Proofing Methods

You should also pay attention to the most popular ways to improve your digital products in the long term:

• Quality Assurance: Stable support of high-quality standards is a direct path to product reliability.
• Modularity: Modular architecture simplifies processes such as updating and modifying specific required components, minimizing any impact on the entire system.
• Documentation: Detailed documentation that is regularly updated to facilitate further support and streamlining.
• Implementation of modern standards: Strict adherence to the latest quality standards increases the adaptability of your products to innovative technologies several times.

7 Ways to Future-Proof Software

Let's dwell on the seven most essential methods for reliably protecting your software from upcoming challenges and guaranteeing its stable operation for many years.

Implementation of automated tests

Automated tests allow you to quickly detect and correct errors that occur when making changes to the code. This dramatically reduces the risk that new features or updates will break existing functionality. In addition, automated testing increases development efficiency, reducing the time for manual QA procedures.

Using containerization

Containers provide software flexibility and portability, making it easier to deploy across platforms. They isolate the application and all its dependencies, which avoids problems with environment compatibility. Containers also simplify application management in several environments at once.

Expanding of architecture

Planning the architecture for possible load increases makes it easy to scale the system. Using a microservice architecture, a design pattern that structures an application as a collection of small, loosely coupled services, for example, enables the scale of individual components independently, increasing the system's overall performance and reliability.

Integration with cloud services

Cloud solutions provide flexibility and the ability to adapt to new requirements quickly. They allow you to store and process data on remote servers, reducing infrastructure costs and achieving higher availability and service reliability.

Regular updates and patches

Constant software update allows you to maintain its relevance and reliability. Regularly fixing vulnerabilities and adding new features helps to avoid obsolescence and ensures it meets modern security standards.

Using open standards and APIs

Open standards are publicly available specifications that facilitate interoperability. APIs are sets of rules and protocols that allow different software applications to communicate with each other, be compatible with other systems, and simplify integration. These make it easy to connect new services and expand the existing functionality without significant changes in its architecture.

Investing in team training

Investing in team training and focusing on long-term planning is crucial to preparing to embrace new technologies and methodologies. This ongoing evolution of skills and knowledge not only enhances employees' current abilities but also prepares them to adapt to fluctuations in the tech market.

Conclusion

Future-proofing your software, through robust security measures such as encryption and regular vulnerability assessments provides you with long-term stability and high competitiveness. At the same time, you get a significant reduction in the cost of service and increased flexibility and speed of adaptation to a number of new requirements and conditions, which in the complex creates the conditions for the adaptability of the entire team. In this way, your software will always be efficient and reliable despite the changing technology environment.

It's crucial to note that the strategic approach to software protection and development is not just about the technology but also the people behind it. This approach stimulates the development team's performance, ensuring efficiency and effectiveness through process standardization and the introduction of the latest technologies. By empowering your team to implement new features and optimizations, this approach makes them feel valued and integral to the process, thereby increasing performance.

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If you have an idea for implementing a digital solution, but its business model is not yet clear, you may need a lot of resources to find the right one. But how can you test the effectiveness of this idea in practice when each of the potential target audience’s representatives may perceive it differently? The answer is simple: you should consider minimum viable product or MVP development for startups. Below, we will explain its peculiarity and analyze the advantages of this approach.

What Is an MVP for a Startup?

An MVP for startups is a software solution with a basic set of functions and a simplified visual that clearly demonstrates its unique selling proposition (USP) and does not have any additional features (that is, if you remove something from its functionality, it will lose this USP).

The Importance of MVP Development for Startups

The main purpose of MVP development for startup is simple: since early-stage startups do not have clear, verified business models, it is important to make sure that they will be accepted by their target audiences. Otherwise, their owners risk losing a lot of financial and time resources on something that “does not work” for the end consumers. So, to avoid this, it is better to implement such projects gradually, optimizing and expanding them, taking into account feedback obtained from real users.

MVP Development Process

Here are the main stages of the MVP development startups process:

• Defining the problem or goal of the target audience that you are going to help them solve/achieve with your product;
• Conducting market demand analysis, which consists of a detailed study of the target audience, market trends, similar software solutions, etc.;
• Rapid prototyping of the future solution and defining its key features that form the USP;
• Agile development of an MVP;
• Collecting feedback from real users;
• Continuous product iteration after the MVP launch aimed at tailoring the product to the needs of its target audience.

Top 9 Benefits of Building an MVP for Startups

In this paragraph, we would like to introduce MVP benefits that are valuable for each startup owner.

Cost Efficiency

Creating a minimum valuable solution is, first of all, much cheaper than in the case of a full-fledged one. This means that the initial budget for your project will be moderate, and you will not have to sacrifice anything important – for example, the budget for marketing, the salaries of your full-time specialists, and so on.

Faster Time to Market

No matter how unique your idea is, there is always a risk that someone will follow your example before you. In turn, the implementation of the MVP will allow you to reduce the time-to-market and, thus, gain an additional competitive advantage.

Market Validation

A quick launch of the MVP will help you validate it in real market conditions as fast as possible. In the future, you will be able to optimize it based on real feedback from its users and then improve it with each iteration and make it more and more valuable to them.

Risk Mitigation

Getting a working solution up and running quickly will help you identify its hidden issues early on, all thanks to the fact that it will be accessible to users from all over the world. In fact, no other type of testing, no matter how many resources are involved, can provide the same thoroughness in identifying errors and inconsistencies.

Investor Attraction

By launching a “raw” but functioning product to market early, it will be available to potential investors, too. Agree that this approach to demonstrating your idea looks much more viable and capable of achieving your goals than presenting a business plan only.

Customer-Centric Development

Generally speaking, creating a minimum viable solution is one of the key startup success factors since its entire development cycle is tailored to “please” its target audience. Indeed, since user feedback has to be taken into account long before the solution is released (first, it is tested by the project team and then – by representatives of focus groups), it turns out to be truly focused on the needs of the end users.

Enhanced Learning

MVP in startups helps to conduct an end-to-end assessment of market needs and make decisions based on the data obtained. This way, you can use the obtained insights in the further evolution of your product, turning it into a full-fledged software solution step by step.

Flexibility and Scalability

MVP development for tech startup involves creating an initially scalable, flexible foundation that is easy to modify and to which you can quickly add new/remove unnecessary functionality without much risk (primarily, associated with the appearance of hard-to-fix bugs).

Building a User Base

Finally, when you launch a full-fledged solution, it will already have some audience interested in using it. Thus, you will be able to reduce your budget for early adopter engagement and, in particular, the time and money needed to research and create a portrait of a potential client.

Conclusion

Now, knowing all the advantages and goals of startup MVP development, you can understand whether this option is right for you. In particular, if you are inclined in its favor, you can contact us, a service provider with many years of experience creating MVP solutions for startups in different industries. We will accompany you throughout the entire lifecycle of your project – from the ideation stage to the release and support of its full-fledged version.