Telemedicine App Development in 2024: The Ultimate Guide

Telemedicine App Development Guide: Everything You Need to Know

Technology transforms any field it touches. Healthcare is, perhaps, the best example of that. In a matter of years, the industry progressed from simply using digital records to widespread telemedicine app development. The latter has become a major life-changer for patients with low mobility and those living in remote areas. It’s a beautiful example of technology making life better.

This value makes the creation of telemedicine apps a worthy cause. It’s also beneficial to businesses. That’s why, today, JetBase would like to use our experience in telehealth app development to teach you all about it. We will talk about:

• the importance of these apps;
• their types;
• how to make them;
• what that process will cost.

You should have a clear picture of the market at the end of this extensive write-up. We hope it will inspire you to start a telemedicine app development project of your own, and JetBase will happily assist in making it real. Without further ado, let’s begin.

The Rising Popularity and Importance of Telemedicine Apps

So, before we head deep into their world, it makes sense to talk about how popular telemedicine apps are at this moment. As recently as 2021, US studies reported that 37% of local adults used telemedicine. For Europe, the number was a bit higher at 40% in the same timeframe. Capturing nearly half of the patients is no easy feat and shows how well telemedicine has rooted itself in the world.

Now, this popularity and the forecasted rise are just one side of the picture. It shows why telemedicine app development is profitable and a good choice for businesses. However, the other aspect is whether telemedicine apps have any major impact on the quality of patient care.

This is important because contributing good tools for better healthcare should be our goal and ensures that this popularity will be long-lived. After all, if a product doesn’t offer new functionality or improvements, it won’t stick around. Thankfully, telemedicine app development brings some real value to the table.

According to a study conducted by the World Health Organization, telemedicine offers “a clear benefit” in pretty much all aspects of healthcare. From screenings to diagnosis and treatment, results were boosted thanks to telemedicine. These improvements across the board prove that this technology has the potential to rejuvenate healthcare and push it to new heights.

Telemedicine use increased with age, and was higher among women (42.0%) compared with men (31.7%).

Source: National Center for Health Statistics

However, telemedicine isn’t some monolith. There is a lot of variation in this niche and, in the next section, we’ll explain all about the variety present here. This will help you make better decisions regarding telemedicine platform development.

What Are The Types Of Telemedicine Apps?

Most people probably associate telemedicine app development with video calls between a patient and their doctor. That’s no surprise, considering it’s the easiest concept to understand and see the value in. However, there are a few more core types of telehealth apps and you should know each of them to really understand the field.

Direct Interaction

This type includes solutions that use:

• video calls;
• audio calls;
• chats;

to connect the healthcare provider with the patient. While consultations may be the most common use, they are also instrumental in a few other ways. For example, doctors can rely on these to confirm patients’ symptoms and identity to prescribe medicine.

Alternatively, interactive apps are often used for follow-up check-ins. After a patient recovers from an illness or ends their stay at a hospital, the doctor can ensure they are in good health and taking their prescribed drugs. A visual component matters a lot in these, as it gives more information to the doctor. This particular niche also overlaps somewhat with the next type.

Remote Monitoring

The global remote patient monitoring market was valued at $975M in 2020 and is expected to reach $3.24 billion by 2027.

Source: alltheresearch.com

While DI apps cover the direct aspects of monitoring - requiring input from both the patient and the doctor - remote monitoring apps are a bit different. They gather data on a patient’s vitals and send it to the doctor. This allows medical professionals to keep an eye on:

• patients with chronic issues;
• long-term recovery processes.

Some information for these apps can be collected automatically, such as:

• heartbeat;
• physical activity stats gathered by smartwatches;
• pulse.
• Other information, such as:
• pain levels;
• difficulty breathing;

must be sent in by the patient. While this does affect the efficiency of the apps, this way is still faster than transferring the info via email or in-person visits.

Forwarding for Diagnosis

While the name limits the use of such apps somewhat, forwarding solutions can also be used for check-ups and consultations. These healthcare applications allow patients to upload photos and videos that the doctor then accesses. Through them, the medical staff can assess a patient’s condition and provide a diagnosis or request further information.

This type of custom telemedicine app is particularly useful for conditions where a visual-only diagnosis is possible. This includes fields like:

• dermatology;
• trichology;
• podiatry;
• pathology;

though it’s not limited to them. It eliminates the need for patients with minor rashes or other skin issues to take hospital trips, saving time and money.

Understanding the Essential Role of Telemedicine Apps in Healthcare

With that variety, we can expect custom telehealth software development to bring much value to healthcare. The most obvious contribution here is, of course, the ability to provide healthcare remotely.

It:

• saves time;
• extends a single clinic’s coverage;
• helps patients that may have trouble being physically present in a doctor’s office.

It’s a valuable improvement, but it’s far from the only contribution telemedicine apps provide. They also help:

• cut down the cost of operating hospitals;
• digitize the healthcare process.

The latter makes it easier for patients to move to a new healthcare provider, as all necessary data can be synced instantly between institutions.

The global telemedicine market size was valued at USD 87.41 billion in 2022 and is expected to reach USD 286.22 billion by 2030.

Source: Fortune Business Insights

As the world relies increasingly on technology, telehealth app development acts as a new step for healthcare to ascend to. It puts certain operations onto the digital plane not just because it’s a new approach, but because it works, providing a better service. In fact, we will next focus on the benefits of telemedicine app development for all parties involved.

The Multifaceted Benefits of Telemedicine Apps for Patients and Doctors

We won’t split the benefits into specific categories or rank them. Instead, we’ll just highlight some of the most prominent advantages of using a custom telemedicine app. This will hopefully show you the major value your product can bring to the industry.

Faster Path to an Appointment

It’s no secret that patients have to wait a while to see a doctor in most cases. This is both due to the high number of patients and the fact that visits are slower because of bureaucracy. Telemedicine simplifies the process, making it easier to sign up for a consultation, attend it without having a long commute or waiting for hours in the lobby, and get your medicine quickly.

The percentage of telehealth visits grew from 14% in 2016 to 28% in 2019 and then increased to 80% in 2022.

Source: Fortune Business Insights

Easier Record Access

Using telemedicine app development, you can fully digitize record-keeping for a variety of institutions. This way, doctors will be able to see patients’ medical history within seconds and from any place or device. The records can be analyzed and processed using AI, speeding up healthcare and helping spot potential patient issues.

More Efficient Communication

Using forwarding apps opens up the ability to send in a complaint and get it diagnosed the same day as you feel a problem. Similarly, remote monitoring apps help patients:

• track their conditions;
• get advice from doctors, practically on a day-to-day basis.

Having these open channels to receive a diagnosis, get updates, or simply check in with your healthcare professional is invaluable.

Cost-Efficient Healthcare

Doctors won’t need large offices or many extra staff to handle paperwork since there will simply be none. By digitizing their records, healthcare institutions spend less time on minutiae and dedicate it to patients instead. This both:

• improves the quality of healthcare;
• increases the business profitability.

Telehealth has saved an estimated USD 33.5 million in travel-related costs during the COVID-19 pandemic period.

Source: Fortune Business Insights

Wider Pool of Specialists

Thanks to telemedicine platform development, patients will have access to more doctors, as they won’t be limited by their area of residence. This can help those with complicated conditions to find the right specialist for them and receive much-needed care. Making healthcare more accessible is the whole point of telemedicine app development, and this proves it accomplishes that goal.

Lower Risks

Although modern hospitals do their best to sanitize the space and separate patients based on their issues, infections are still possible. Not having to attend a doctor’s appointment in person means a lot to the elderly and immunocompromised people. In fact, even the commute to the hospital could be a risk, so eliminating these processes helps protect the most vulnerable patients.

Healthcare IT Integrations for Effective Telemedicine Apps

Any solution works better when it’s tightly woven into a system. It’s important for telemedicine app developers to use that principle and integrate their solutions with your infrastructure. In this section, we will cover the core areas of your digital healthcare system and how they can benefit from telehealth apps.

Electronic Health Records and Electronic Medical Records (EHR and EMR) Systems

Connecting these systems to a custom telemedicine app lets an institution easily sync its patient info between branches or other healthcare providers. What’s crucial is that the data can be secured, available only to those with the proper access level. If everything is done right, you will be HIPAA-compliant while reaping the benefits of a unified electronic records system.

This use case helps to decentralize record storage while simultaneously making it simpler. The added security level of telemedicine apps helps:

• build trust with patients;
• comply with regulations.

As a result, the doctors and the patients benefit substantially without the improvement requiring many resources.

Internet of Things Devices

Modern healthcare constantly works with data from interactive devices and wearables. Doctors can collect and transfer a patient’s vitals, so they can use a telemedicine app to work with that data. That way, you get almost instant syncing and constant patient status updates.

While this is arguably most relevant for remote monitoring, the devices can also prove helpful during hospital stays. Instead of nurses having to:

• jot down a patient’s water intake;
• physical activity;
• pain levels;

the data can automatically go through the app. As a result, you save the staff’s valuable time for more pressing matters and cut spending while keeping patient care at a high level.

Hospital Management

If you’re going fully digital and using a telemedicine app development solution, applying it to the entire hospital’s operations makes sense. This can include scheduling shifts, assigning patient care rounds, and setting breaks to prevent staff from overworking. Having such a system readily available on your smartphone eliminates a lot of busywork and helps coordinate the medical staff easily.

As a result, you:

• avoid scheduling conflicts;
• make your hospital run more efficiently.

It saves costs and shortens time for patient processing. Plus, of course, when the staff isn’t rushing around or having to cut corners, the healthcare services improve.

Cutting-edge Technologies Shaping Telemedicine App Development

In addition to regular telehealth app development, many companies are now opting to use fresh technologies to expand these apps’ toolsets. JetBase is no stranger to using innovative solutions, and we’ll happily share some insights about what technologies are pushing this niche forward.

Artificial Intelligence

As with almost any other app development sector, telemedicine can use AI to great effect. For example, a well-trained model can already analyze a patient’s data and spot patterns. As a result, predicting potential health issues or automatically tracking a patient’s recovery is possible. Based on these analytics, AI can even help pick the right medication to treat a patient more effectively.

In February 2023, Vitalchat launched AI-enabled E-sitter to transform inpatient telehealth for hospitals.

Source: Fortune Business Insights

In addition to that, AI can create a sort of “reception area,” answering simple questions for patients and processing requests. This saves a doctor’s time while providing value to the patients. Similarly, AI can be trained to transcribe calls with doctors, taking down notes that will help in further treatment.

Cloud Storage

Combining telehealth apps, which process tons of data, with cloud storage is a match made in heaven. You get:

• easy access to the data;
• simplified database management;
• quick coordination.

Cloud solutions, specifically, make it possible for institutions to share healthcare insights or sync patient data.

We expect that cloud storage will be the norm for telemedicine app developers for the foreseeable future. It’s the most flexible, resilient model and is easy enough to work with, too. As a result, you get scalable, always-available storage, using tried and true platforms.

Blockchain

Compliance with data protection standards is crucial for any telemedicine platform development. While different regions have a variety of specific conditions, blockchain helps address a lot of them. Using these immutable ledgers, you can store records securely and structure access to them with strict permissions.

Moreover, blockchain enables secure transactions and guarantees that any medication procurement is visible and above board. It helps prevent shipments from going missing or financial discrepancies from appearing. Thus, blockchain is a major boon in terms of both security and finance in telemedicine app development.

Deep Learning

Radiologists and pathologists commonly use this specific technology, as it helps analyze X-rays and CT scans. The more precise machine analysis allows them to spot the tiniest deviations and issues. As a result, major complications can be prevented thanks to the in-depth analysis.

Big Data

The use of big data is becoming more widespread as telemedicine apps gather more data, all of which need to be processed and analyzed. It helps healthcare institutions and adjacent businesses, such as insurance companies, collaborate to gain new insights.

Processing a patient’s entire medical history with in-depth looks at their conditions allows doctors to shift their focus. Instead of moving from the general picture of an illness to the patient’s particular case, they start off by zeroing in on the specifics. This makes diagnosing complicated cases easier and allows for treating each patient with a personal touch.

As you can see, several technologies are working in tandem with custom telehealth software development. Some help cut costs, and others deliver a better level of service. Regardless of what your aim is, there is a technology that can help your business. If you want these innovations for your telehealth app, JetBase is ready to help with telemedicine app development.

How To Develop a Telemedicine App: Step-by-Step Process

We’ve discussed the value of telehealth apps and the technologies that influence them. Now, it’s time to move on to the main event - the actual development process. It’s a complex affair, of course, and we will tackle it in stages to highlight its intricacies.

Gathering Requirements and Planning

This preliminary step lays the groundwork for the rest of telemedicine app development and is no less crucial than any that come after it. You need to:

• analyze the situation in the market;
• look carefully at competing products;
• assess what you want to get out of the app.

This will give your telemedicine platform development a clear direction, as well as provide a baseline that you need to not only reach but surpass.

As a result of this, you will have:

• a clear understanding of the technologies you’ll need;
• the general approach to the development;
• the make-up of your team.

Even if you plan to handle development in-house, it’s reasonable to consult a professional vendor at this stage. They likely already deeply understand the market and will help you see the full picture.

Telemedicine use by adults decreased with decreasing urbanization level, from 40.3% among adults living in central counties of large metropolitan areas to 27.5% among adults living in noncore areas.

Source: National Center for Health Statistics

This step also tackles things like HIPAA compliance. You will need to do all of the work with these regulations in mind, so it’s crucial to determine which laws and regulations you must follow.

UI/UX Design

It’s important to give proper attention to your app’s design, as all types of people will use it. This is important in two ways. First, in terms of making simple, accessible UX, which ensures that anyone can use its functions, even if they’re not tech-savvy. Second, working with patients should emphasize the need for true accessibility.

The percentage of adults who used telemedicine increased with age, from 29.4% among adults aged 18–29 to 43.3% among adults aged 65 and over.

Source: National Center for Health Statistics

In these terms, your UI should have options for:

• extra-large fonts that help the visually impaired;
• text-to-speech for people with hearing problems;
• special fonts that are easier to read.

All of these extra considerations might cost extra, but they expand the range of users for your telemedicine app development. They are particularly relevant for healthcare solutions, and JetBase always emphasizes using design to create user value.

MVP Creation

By crafting a prototype that features your essential features, you give the team and the higher-ups a chance to sync up. This is the stage where you can still somewhat comfortably add a feature or two or change direction on existing ones. It’s important to treat this not as a finalized version but as a midway checkpoint of sorts.

Despite its midway status, it should also feature crucial aspects such as:

• security measures;
• database setup;
• the general user flow.

This is to show what your product is capable of and confirm that telemedicine app development has gone smoothly so far.

Extensive Testing

Before you rush to launch your app, doing heavy QA on it is crucial. Rooting out bugs and errors is important if you want your solution to bring real value. Plus, it’s particularly vital in the first weeks after release, when people start using your app. If they encounter issues early on, they are unlikely to keep using it. Thus, you need to launch your custom telemedicine app with proper polish.

Launch and Post-Launch

When all is said and done, you should have a great, well-made product to bring to the market. Before the launch, you’ll need to market it and network. This helps get a foot in the door as you can negotiate with certain institutions to adopt your solution, boosting its prominence right away.

You’ll also need to pass some checks to ensure you comply with the regulations and meet app store standards. That, however, should be easy enough. After that comes the successful product launch and audience growth as you maintain and regularly update your app.

Maintenance will always be a core post-launch component for any app. It includes:

• database and server work;
• bug fixes;
• feature releases.

Such work is often easier to delegate to an external team, while your developers focus on more pressing tasks.

The Cost of Creating a Telemedicine App

Regarding telemedicine app development, the cost is determined by a number of factors. We will cover them in this section, along with some ideas for keeping the budget manageable. It’s important to balance:

• cutting out excess spending;
• putting in enough to make your app polished and competitive.

This section will help you find that balance.

App Type

There’s plenty of variety among the telemedicine solutions, as we’ve demonstrated above. However, in addition to making this a promising slice of the market, that variety also creates a big fluctuation in the average cost. For example, a forwarding app doesn’t require all that many complex features and technologies, making it affordable compared to others.

On the flip side, an app that includes direct patient-to-doctor interactions will cost a lot more. That’s because it will require more intricate work with features like:

• video calling;
• chatbots;
• robust data storage.

Thus, you can get a general sense of what your budget needs to be even based on the type of product you want to develop.

Features and Technologies

Depending on what you want the app to do, you might see the cost balloon substantially. For example, an AI-powered chatbot could raise the expenses, but AI-based data analysis and image processing will be even costlier. The trick is to go for features that may be expensive to implement but bring substantial value. That will help market your app and ultimately recoup the costs.

It’s also important to consider your tech stack, which we’ll cover in-depth a bit later. For example, going with cloud architecture can help save money on server maintenance and deployment. Meanwhile, your choice of backend and frontend stacks determines how big of a team you need and how high their salaries will need to be.

Team Location

This greatly influences your product's final cost, as the bulk of the budget goes toward developer rates. It’s no secret that developers residing in a region like Southeast Asia will generally have lower asks than those from North America. However, when you choose a team, it’s important to not just look at the price tag. That would be a mistake that risks the quality of your product.

Instead, try to look for a team that’s right at the intersection of:

• good pricing;
• positive reviews;
• years of experience.

That usually applies to vendors from regions like Eastern and Western Europe, as they’ve been a driving force in the outsourcing market for years. Therefore, if you’re looking to outsource telemedicine app development, looking for a team from that area makes sense.

Developing and Monetizing Telemedicine Apps

While the initial cost of telemedicine app development may seem intimidating, it’s important to remember you will recoup it eventually. There are multiple ways to monetize a telehealth solution, just like with other app types. However, unlike these other types, telehealth monetization usually revolves around paid services and fees.

Pay Per Use

With this model, you will take a small percentage of payments made by patients. That includes:

• doctor consultations;
• bookings;
• procedures.

This model does require you to have a steady stream of users, as well as an agreement with a variety of clinics. You’ll have to negotiate your cut of the payment, and, to keep this model sustainable, the more doctors are involved, the better.

Subscription

An ideal approach to this model is free access to the app, which offers a basic kit of services, and a premium, subscription-based one. You can market the latter with extra features or even priority access to certain non-vital services. This way, you expand your audience more easily with the free tier (perhaps mixed with the PPU model) while enticing them to subscribe for the premium one.

Alternatively, you can make a subscription-only application, offering high-end services and features to paying customers. However, you’ll need quite a few subscribers, and it’s harder to market your solution when the functionality is behind a paywall. It’s a good idea to offer a free trial of a week or two, to let people see the advantages of using your app.

Hospital Partnerships

If you already have connections in the healthcare industry, it’s quite possible to leverage them for monetization. You can sign on doctors to use your app in return for promoting them or their extra services. The institutions and professionals would be paying to have the convenience of telemedicine and expand their client base, making this a profitable partnership for both sides.

In-App Advertisements

This is a relatively rare choice for telehealth apps, as ad monetization traditionally relies on serving up many ads over the hours of app use. It works best with games or learning apps that users spend a lot of time in. However, it’s still a viable option for telemedicine apps, especially the monitoring type.

Inserting non-intrusive ads for relevant products or services can be a solid monetization method. You will have to make sure that the targeting on them isn’t breaking any regulations, of course, but that shouldn’t be an issue if you have a competent dev team.

Technical Blueprint for Telemedicine App Development

It may surprise you, but the technical side of development is, perhaps, the most contentious one. Different teams will have very contrasting choices for their frontend and backend stacks, and even cloud environments. We will present the top picks from JetBase’s dev team, which we have used for multiple projects.

Frontend: React

Our team used React on a recent telemedicine project, because we wanted to prioritize a responsive, sleek UI. It was crucial for the app to work smoothly on a variety of devices, including low-power ones. React is perfect for that, as well as iterative design, which makes us return to this library again and again.

Backend: Node.js

JetBase used Node.js in a variety of cases, including another healthcare project of ours. As this was an app built around data collection and processing, we needed to establish a whole network of APIs. Node.js made this easy and, as a result, the app mixes a rich assortment of functions. Patients can:

• contact their doctors via call or chat;
• receive medication reminders;
• track their physical health.

Environment: AWS

Lastly, our cloud environment of choice is AWS, with a recent healthcare web app relying on this scalable service. This app relies on AI to analyze patient’s data and predict potential issues, in addition to storing all associated medical information. As we were working with resource-heavy tech and needed major storage capacity, our team turned to AWS, as we often do.

As a result of working with these trusted technologies, we worked out a comfortable development process. They deliver quality results and help telemedicine apps operate smoothly and attract users with quality.

Assembling the Ideal Team for Telemedicine App Development

There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to custom telehealth software development, but you can still manage it with a core team of specialists. It’s possible to expand with extra staff if you have the budget for it. Otherwise, you can get away with having only:

• Frontend dev;
• Backend dev;
• Designer;
• QA specialist;
• Project manager;
• DevOps engineer.

If you don’t have them in-house, you’ll need to assess your options. Sometimes, it might be easier to go for a full outsource team, though. That depends on whether you’re missing just one specialist or several, and whether it makes sense to hire one long-term. Outsourcing is also more budget-friendly, a great way to cut costs without sacrificing product quality.

With an outsourcing team, you can also expect a bigger selection of professionals to work on the project. That way you can not only expect a faster time-to-market but more expertise to enhance your feature set. We outlined the pricing advantages of this approach before, so you can make an informed decision based on that.

Conclusion

We’d like to round this guide out by stressing that telemedicine as a field is evolving actively. Doctors are increasingly using it, which encourages developers to innovate and create unique functionality for new products. Thus, now is the best time to join this industry and bring value to doctors and patients alike.

While this guide outlined the specifics of telehealth app development, we understand that it can’t replace practical experience. After all, the only way to get good at something is to do it. Thus, we encourage you to ask JetBase for a consultation. Our team can outline your project plan, advise you on the best technology stack, and get you started in telemedicine app development.

Alternatively, you can rely on JetBase’s decade of experience with numerous telehealth apps in our portfolio. Outsourcing telemedicine app development to us guarantees that you will get a high-quality solution with innovative features and sharp, modern design. We know this is the kind of offer nobody can say “no” to, so here’s where you can contact us to get started.