Medical app development is paving new paths towards patient relief and connecting healthcare to people who may not otherwise have access.

In our expert guide to creating the best mobile healthcare app, we discussed how mobile health (mHealth) apps are customizing solutions for anyone’s needs, creating the perfect environment for health tracking. It creates the perfect platform for physicians so that they can track patient symptoms or assist patient needs without even having to be in the same room. This has also led to a reduction in diagnosis errors.

With over 325,000 mHealth apps already available, it’s apparent that these apps are filling certain needs that the health industry has been reluctant to change. Not only are patients getting the individual, customizable care they need, but providers are benefiting from this efficient new way of patient care.

But, is this reason enough to invest?

You have to think long and hard about three phases of investment within this industry: Research and planning, development, and marketing and maintenance.

Factors to consider before you invest:

Before investing in Phoenix healthcare app development, be aware of the cost to research and plan the app. To find this cost information, ask yourself the following questions.

What is the need?

There is already a surplus of mHealth apps. What makes your app special?

Figuring out the area of healthcare services is the number one thing you need to consider. Will your app schedule and provide telehealth services? Are you going to help smokers quit? Are you helping the youth with mental health and anxiety?

There are so many different things you can do with medical health apps, so it’s crucial to pick your service and be the best at it.

To help you find your niche within the healthcare industry, we put together a guide that teaches you how to use product-market fit to develop a fail-proof app. Check it out to learn how to find the need that makes your healthcare app special.

Rules and Regulations

As mentioned in our previous article, every country has its own rules in regards to patient information.

In the United States, patients are protected under HIPAA, ensuring that their medical information isn’t shared or sold to other companies.

If you’re in violation of these rules and regulations, you could be fined anywhere from $100 to $50,000 depending on the severity of the breach.

Not all apps need to be HIPAA compliant, but if yours does, expect to spend anywhere from $4,000 to $50,000. To learn more, check out our guide to healthcare app regulations you need to know.

Research and Testing

Nothing is more important than honest feedback. How else will you grow as a company?

Without thorough research, you cannot know what your users want or how the app will solve their problem.

Testing should be done before and after the app is created so you can make sure your app is prepped ready for the app store. This should cost you around 25% of your total programming expenses.

By finding out what resources are best for your app before you start building, you’re able to save a lot of money and time with the next step: development.

mHealth Development

There are many different factors that go into the cost of mobile healthcare development.

If you decide that your project is small enough and you just want to work with one full-stack engineer, your development costs will probably be in the ballpark of $20,000.

Even though this price-point may look intriguing, you’re probably not going to create an app that has all the functions and features it needs. Unless you’re building a calculator, you cannot realistically fit into that budget.

However, if you are going to be hiring a team of developers, your app could range anywhere from $70,000 to $400,000 or more depending on the complexity of the app.

Although this seems like a lot, the payoff is often greater when working with an agency.

With their experience and dedication, a team is more likely to give you the full stability and security your app needs. And not only that, they’re often able to provide feedback on what features could be more or less useful.

Features

There is really no specific answer on how much each feature will cost you specifically… Agencies work by the hour, so one feature could take four hours or 100+ hours.

From all the features, this side of the project can cost you anywhere from $12,000 to $60,000.

Features can include:

  • Notifications (This can take anywhere from 10-30 hours)
  • Login and user profiles (Usually ranges around the 20 hour mark)
  • Location features (This is usually within the ballpark of 10-20 hours)
  • Payment (Again, this is always different, but is usually around 10-20 hours)

Because medical health apps are dense with features, the smartest way to navigate through this process is to figure out which features are crucial and then work your way down the list.

And remember, you can always add features over time. So don’t stress too much over it.

Design

By this point, you should recognize that the cost of your design is going to vary by how intricate it is.

App design usually ranges within 10-200 hours, and yes, I know, this range is huge.

Smaller applications with minimal UI usually take around 10-50 hours to complete.

Medium apps usually take between 80-150 hours depending on features used.

Larger apps with complex UI and major features usually take at least 150-200 hours to complete, but don’t be surprised if that number is exceeded.

Again, there are so many factors that change the price point, but your team should be able to give you an estimate.

Post-Development Payoff

In order to get all the publicity that your app needs, you need to consider the costs of marketing and maintaining your healthcare app.

For app maintenance alone, expect to pay around 15-20% of the original app cost each year.

This may seem unnecessary, but this is crucial to the shelf life of your app. Maintaining and updating your app will keep giving the users what they need, and no less.

Remember: Every successful app has had to update and evolve in order to keep up with demands of consumers. Your app’s long term success depends on this part of the process.

Marketing also makes a big influence on how much you’re going to make off your app.

You could have people on your team that handle marketing, so you may not have to outsource. In that case, great!

But otherwise, you should consider hiring an agency to help spread the word. Or, you might want to consider influencer marketing.

Depending on the kind of influencer, you could get anywhere from 1,000 views to millions.

If you want to learn more about using influencer marketing to your advantage, check out this post.

The Value of Medical App Development

By creating ways to help this industry, not only are you helping patients get access to the care they need, but you’re also helping grow the industry for future innovators.

If you are interested in investing in a mHealth app, expect to spend around $450,000, but again, depending on features and other factors, this number is expected to vary.

When hiring the right agency to carry out your vision, your healthcare app can revolutionize industries, helping those around the world take better care of their health.

If you’re interested in creating a medical health app, contact Fyresite today and see how we can help make your dream a reality.