We live in a world where anything and everything can be turned into a mobile application.
According to a report, on average, people spend nearly 60% of their time on mobile applications. Now, this number has increased drastically over the last 4 to 5 years. Right now, we have an app for everything. From communication, watching movies, and finding a job to dating a person, there’s pretty much a mobile application for everything.
This scenario especially holds true for the healthcare sector. A couple of years ago, there used to exist healthcare apps but not many people knew them. However, things completely changed for the healthcare sector post-pandemic.
Mobile Health Apps & Solutions
According to WHO (World Health Organization), mHealth or mobile health is “The practice of medicine and public health that is supported by smartphones, patient monitoring devices, and other wireless devices.” Now, this includes lifestyle and wellness applications that act as a bridge between patients and medical devices or sensors, medication reminders, and health information via telemedicine texts and services.
Compared to the last five to ten years, mobile applications will transform the future of health and clinical practice completely in the coming two to three years. This dramatic growth of the healthcare sector is staggering. Almost 100K health applications are available on the Play Store and App Stores. Out of these, nearly 70% of the applications are about wellness and sport. Now the rest 30% of applications were solely developed for patient health data, monitoring, and image diagnosis or medication control, etc.
For instance, in Latin America, the utilization of mobile apps for patients and health professionals is seen as one of the most promising markets.
Mobile Healthcare App Global Market
The global healthcare mobile application market was valued at more than $12 billion in the year 2018. Another report states that the healthcare mobile application market is likely to reach nearly $102.5 billion by the year 2022.
What are the categories of healthcare applications?
The health market consists of a variety of categories and more categories are going to arise in the future.
-> Diet and nutrition/Healthy living applications
-> Menstrual period tracking
-> Sports and fitness activity tracking
-> Weight loss applications
-> Ovulation/Pregnancy related applications
-> Stress reduction/Meditation and relaxation applications
-> Medical device and patient community
-> Remote monitoring applications
-> Sleep cycle tracking
How to monetize a healthcare mobile application?
The pandemic has made people across the globe more digital-savvy. People are using mobile applications for everything, from food to online classes. Healthcare is no exception for this. This means there is a huge opportunity for budding entrepreneurs to market their mobile applications. As far as monetization is concerned, you can choose one of the four models mentioned below:
- Subscription-based
- Freemium model
- Sell your own products and services
- Activate payment for special functions
Healthcare App for Patients Vs Healthcare App for Doctors
The healthcare mobile applications are developed for different audiences with different purposes have huge potential for digital transformation. The global market value mentioned in the earlier section is just a small example of what mobile apps can do and how they can contribute to the healthcare industry and improve patient care, enhance customer experience, and optimize health services.
With the growth of the healthcare applications, undoubtedly, the patients will be the most benefited people. The utilization of mobile applications keeps the patient alert and more active and independent by letting them manage their healthcare. This kind of self-care, empowered by mobile applications, is extremely helpful to patients with chronic, not so severe diseases who need medical attention or remote monitoring.
By registering their data in the apps, patients can let their doctors easily keep a tab on them. Also, there are some apps that facilitate patient communication with healthcare professionals by letting them make inquiries about the treatment, diagnosis, medication, etc. without having to go to the hospital.
On the other hand, healthcare mobile applications influence people a lot in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, both physically and mentally. Fitness and wellness app development via gamification help people by offering rewards and challenges to adopt healthy eating habits.
If you really want to enter the healthcare market, make sure you know who your target audience is before you even think of choosing an agency to develop the app.
Also, depending on where you are planning the release the app, check with the local industry and privacy rules and regulations. When it comes to healthcare, there are no globally unified rules. So make sure to research the market well before you get your feet wet.
Summing up
The mobile healthcare applications and solutions market is still in its early stages. However, a lot of entrepreneurs and businesses are interested in venturing into the market as smartphone use is only going to rise. And in times where the whole world is terrified of the pandemic, healthcare applications will only grow in the future.
