How to Estimate Medical App Development Cost: Key Factors to Know
Medical App development requires a perfect combination of best-fit technology stack, adherence to regulatory compliance, and building a set of features that solve the precise pain points of end users without complicating the product. Also, estimating the overall medical app development cost in the USA depends on multiple factors, which every business owner must be aware of.
This blog elaborates upon the key factors every entrepreneur must understand before starting with healthcare software development to avoid application complexity and build the perfect product for the market.
Furthermore, planning and budgeting for a medical app is a tricky process, but with experts like ChromeInfo Technologies who cater specifically to the USA healthcare segment, you will end up building the best healthcare app and save significant costs alongside.
Top Factors that Determine Medical App Development Cost
Building the perfect healthcare software application, whether it’s a mobile or web app, is a cost-intensive process that depends on factors like:
- What’s the problem statement being solved?
- Type of healthcare application to be developed.
- Steps involved in the medical app development process.
- Level of compliance adherence required for industry guidelines.
- Are any advanced technologies being used, like AI and chatbots?
- What is the application complexity?
- What is the scope of third-party integrations?
- Does the app involve collaboration with health insurance platforms?
- Processes needed to maintain application security and data integrity.
- Level of real-time update mechanisms to be maintained.
- Dependency on medical professionals.
- Will the app be connected to diagnostics?
- Scope for patient education and support.
- Implementation of Preventive care modules.
Let’s understand each one of these in detail.
Solving for a Specific Problem Statement
The healthcare ecosystem is quite broad. So, do you want to partner with a healthcare app development company to build a web or mobile app for patients, providers, or service platforms? Determining this is the first step to estimating the cost of building a healthcare app.
Moreover, what is the problem statement that you want to solve? Do you want to improve patient engagement through EHR? Or do you aim to make healthcare operations management simpler for healthcare providers with HMS? Or, is it simplifying healthcare data management for service platforms with CRM?
You need to have clarity in this area first and foremost.
Type of Healthcare Application / Application Complexity
Firstly, are you planning to build a healthcare app that solves a part of the customer pain point, or a complete end-to-end workflow?
Appointment scheduling apps, patient feedback and communication platforms, medication reminder apps, insurance, and billing apps, etc., are some of the products that solve a part of the end-user pain point in healthcare. While end-to-end apps include products like Telemedicine, EHR, Hospital management, fitness and wellness, or remote patient monitoring apps.
If you need to hire health developers, determining the cost would depend on this aspect majorly.
What are the Steps in the Medical App Development Process?
Are you looking at full-fledged healthcare software development or preferring to build an MVP first to test the market demand?
Determining this will lay out the timeline needed to build the app, along with how many experts are needed. This will also lead to estimating the time needed to build the subsequent app version, and hence, you can estimate the cost accordingly.
Full-fledged development of a medical app goes through market research, requirement simplification, finding pain points, UI/UX designing, frontend development, backend development, testing, improvement, and deployment. MVP development focuses on quickly building and launching the initial app version with core features to test the market demand and then expanding based on user feedback.
Adherence to Healthcare Regulatory Compliance
Being the best healthcare app development company in the USA, ChromeInfo Technologies brings clarity regarding regulatory compliance that the business owner has to adhere to while building the medical app.
We determine compliance to be followed for HIPAA, HiTECH, CCPA, local data protection laws, user authentication, secure patient data management, or any other relevant healthcare standards, so that right from day one, risk management and industry compliance are well taken care of.
The higher the compliance, the more the app development cost.
Use of Advanced Technologies
Furthermore, are you looking to hire the best healthcare app developers who can integrate advanced technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Conversational Chatbots, Blockchain, Machine Learning, Robotic Process Automation, etc, into an application?
If yes, then that will shoot up the cost of healthcare app development in the United States. Depends on the extent to which you want to integrate these technologies to solve for end-user goals. App development experts who specialize in these technologies come a bit at a higher cost due to the need for specialized product development and maintenance.
Scope Of Third-Party Integrations
How many third-party tools are you planning to integrate into your healthcare application? Is it an ERP software that will simplify employee management aspects? Or are you looking to simplify patient management with custom CRM integrations?
Do you need to integrate third-party health insurance platforms with your application to simplify patient billing and insurance claim management? Or are you looking to add third-party tools that can simplify medical records management?
Determining the clarity of third-party integrations will help you figure out the precise cost for your healthcare software development needs. These integrations form a major chunk of work effort when product development starts, and setting up an ecosystem where everything functions seamlessly demands workflows that these third-party tools provide in a pre-built format.
Application Security and Data Integrity
Maintaining the security of a healthcare application demands implementation of robust cybersecurity measures like encryption, multi-layer authentication systems, custom algorithms, firewalls, and more. The best healthcare app developers who specialize in these areas of medical cybersecurity come at a premium due to their custom capabilities in ensuring the best security and integrity of your app and patient data.
So, to ensure the cost remains within your budget constraints, you need to determine the complexity of your healthcare app and list down the security protocols needed. This will give you clarity regarding the extent to which you have to implement application security measures to fulfill end users’ data integrity.
Level of Real-Time Update Mechanisms to Maintain
Are you planning to implement features into your medical app that will update end-user data in real time? If so, this can raise the cost of your app development due to the need for specific technology integrations.
An example can be building and updating a custom dashboard based on healthcare parameters specified by end users that refreshes in real time. Something like this needs extensive computing resources and specialized talent, which adds up to the development cost. With proper planning and guidance from the best healthcare app developers from ChromeInfo Technologies, you can streamline processes and save significantly on overall medical app development.
Miscellaneous Factors
Are you building functionalities for your medical app that have a dependency on healthcare professionals? Will your application be connected to healthcare diagnostics? Are you providing any modules in your medical app that facilitate patient education and support? Or are you planning to develop modules that support preventive care for patients?
Determining these is crucial for estimating the cost of healthcare software development specific to the USA market.
Concluding the Checklist to Determine Medical App Development Cost
Attaining clarity on the above aspects is crucial in determining the precise cost of building a healthcare application catering to patients, providers, or service platforms. ChromeInfo Technologies specializes in building top-notch, quality-assured healthcare applications for startups and enterprises across the USA for 14+ years.
Get the best health app developers who will assist you with multiple areas. These include market research, UX design, full-stack app development, end-to-end software automation testing, and product maintenance. Our experts have deep industry knowledge of the USA healthcare segment and understand the nitty-gritties of how to build digital solutions that bring real impact and simplify workflows.
Last but not least, we specialize in USA healthcare compliance and risk management for building cutting-edge digital products. On the other hand, you can focus on core business growth. Moreover, with a client-focused approach, we deliver the best for your USA healthtech business.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What healthcare regulations do I need to adhere to while building my medical app?
HIPAA, HL7 FHIR, PCI, ICD-10, FDA, HiTech, or HITRUST are some of the USA healthcare regulations and compliance. These may apply to you based on the type of application developed.
How do advanced technologies enhance Healthcare Apps?
Advanced technologies like AI, Chatbots, Blockchain, etc, improve the capabilities of your healthcare application. They automate multiple workflows and simplify the pain points of end users efficiently with less complexity.
What is the biggest factor that can significantly increase healthcare app development cost?
Deciding when to go with full-fledged app development or MVP development. This is the biggest factors that can majorly affect the cost of healthcare app development.
Do I need to be a full-stack developer or a team with dedicated roles for building my healthcare app?
Firstly, if you are going with initial MVP development, then go with a full-stack developer to save costs. Furthermore, if you are developing a full-fledged app, then it’s better to hire a dedicated expert for each role. Also. hire experts from a reliable medical app development company like ChromeInfo Technologies.
