Since the Pandemic, the market for telemedicine applications, also known as on-demand doctor applications, has grown significantly because individuals want to avoid social interactions, particularly in hospitals and clinics, and because using such services makes it simpler to save time. Telemedicine app development is a challenging and time-consuming process that demands high expertise. Apps like Doctor on Demand require two app versions — for a doctor and a patient. Its design won’t be too different, but the type of features vary.

Advantages of telemedicine apps: 

According to Mckinsey research, telemedicine usage has surged 38 times since the pre-covid 29 baselines. Tangible investment, favourable consumer perception, and strong uptake contribute to the growth of telehealth in 2022. 

The potential benefits of telemedicine include increased accessibility to new services in care, and productivity gains for health care providers and patients through reduced travel. 

Let’s look at the top five telemedicine benefits and how they could transform the healthcare business in the next few years. 

• Comfort And Convenience
  Patients can see their doctor from the comfort of a sofa or bed – they don’t need to travel to hospitals at peak hours, find a parking spot, and wait for their turn when sick. The use of virtual consultation may mean they don’t have to take time off from work or arrange childcare.

• Reduced Overall Healthcare Costs
  Home-bound patients who need monthly routine check-ups can get medical help through tablet or phone without traveling through ambulances to the clinic. Saving their traveling cost as well as clinic support/front desk staff.
  
  The study indicates that the average maintenance cost is reduced by 94% with reduced outpatient visits. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre (UPMC) says they save $86.64 every time an online visit replaces an onsite visit.

• Improved Access to Information
  Both patients and doctors have access to past diseases, treatment is done, the reasons for carrying out certain investigations and the effects that treatment has done. Empowering doctors in better decision-making. 

• Effective Time Management for Doctors
  Consultation through the app has increased overall efficiency by streamlining patients’ appointments who don’t have to wait in a queue.

• Easier Access to Healthcare
  Patients in rural or remote areas can easily access a specialist. Doctors can refer patients to the specific specialists they need regardless of the location. In the U.S., for every 100,000 rural patients, there are only 43 specialists available.

To calculate the cost, let’s look at the steps involved in developing a telemedicine healthcare application:

• Business analysis: Prior to developing telemedicine and healthcare IT solutions, it is essential to assess the market and industry in which they will be used. By doing analysis at this stage of the application development process, you may learn more about the requirements and characteristics of your potential customers and clients. This suggests that you must first determine your target market. If your target clients or users have any possible problems, think about using your telemedicine app to solve them. It is generally claimed that as your understanding of consumer expectations grows, so will your ability to sell your products.
• Market research: at this point in the application development process, you can find out who the top players in your sector are. Once the database has been set up, you may begin investigating its trends, strengths and weaknesses, user ratings, and reviews, all of which are crucial elements. This will enable you to evaluate the capabilities of software solutions for telemedicine and healthcare, and you’ll be able to outperform your contemporaries in the long run as a result. Additionally, you should pay particular attention to the tools, pricing strategies, and services that your competitors offer or promote. In-depth marketing research will provide you a competitive advantage over your rivals and enable you to provide longer-lasting customer service.
  
• Definition of requirements: based on technical needs and business analysis. 
• Development includes user interface, backend, and front-end development. 
• Testing: In this phase, the programme is examined for a variety of factors, including functionality, performance, and cross-platform compatibility. 

Your development expenditures could range from $40,000 to $80,000 if you decide to create a comprehensive, feature-rich telemedicine system. A telemedicine app can take anything from 3 to 6 months on average to develop.

How to develop a Telemedicine Application?

Firstly, you need to understand which technologies stack is applicable the best for your app.

These are different types of the tech stack that are most used for telemedicine software development:

1. WebRTC
2. Electronic health records (EHRs) and Electronic medical records (EMRs) systems
3. The Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
4. Cloud-based server solutions
5. HealthKit Integration: Google Fit and Apple HealthKit