Have you ever considered online doctor scheduling app development at your medical practice? We will talk here about how this kind of software can increase efficiency and mention what the best apps offer.
Scheduling is a huge aspect in the healthcare experience. It involves a lot of communication between patient and staff leaving room for human error.
It is not uncommon for medical offices to have operational inefficiencies but things like poor scheduling and missed appointments can have a huge impact. Inefficiencies like these account for losses over 100 billion USD each year in the US alone. To minimize patient no-shows and to operate an efficient medical practice healthcare operations rely on medical appointments scheduling software.
Besides, due to the pandemic, the most radical transformations happened where everything moved online. Medical settings got digitized and more independent. This is why they tend for their active involvement in app development, including creation of their own ones as well.
Tools for online scheduling are great in handling patient appointments, providing administrative workflow with no human efforts, and saving the time of medical staff immensely.
The best versions of it have schemes of minimizing patient wait times and go in accordance with digital health records for updating patient’s current conditions info. Others even offer self-service planforms for more convenience.
So, let’s talk about developing a doctor appointment app with great features and the best examples of the solutions in the market.
How It Helps Your Business and Your Clients
Having invested in your own doctor booking app, you are opening the door for the most inviting benefits. Let’s consider some of them.
- Saving financial resources
The lower costs appear in two ways. First, it means less time for your management staff and a better canceling and postponing visits. Then, this practice also minimizes the further expenses in general.
- 24 hour a day/7 days per week available
This is a common issue, as a rule, when you are in a medical emergency and it is an off-hour, and you have no choice but wait till early morning hoping to fix a visit. Doctor scheduling app development totally wipes out this problem.
What is even more important, with an online scheduling app your patients are relieved from the boring routine while calling – no music or recorded voice messages about how this call is appreciated that may last for hours until a manager finally responds, etc. That will add a lot to your clients’ confidence and trust, boost your company’s reputation and long-term patient relationship.
- Managing private data
Sharing personal information is inevitable when fixing an appointment to a doctor. It may often be very sensitive and describing it on the phone is stressful for many people and requires some act of courage.
Things are entirely different with text messages where you describe your symptoms and other indicators a way more detached, calm and focused. Here you are able to express yourself properly and confidently.
Main Features For Your App To Stand Out
There are tons of medical apps today, of course, but they all differ in terms of quality and final outcomes. So what do we have to consider before building one of our own? Let us study the must-haves of a doctor appointment application development now.
- Security & legal regulations
All values concerning data protection in a company’s documents are naturally relevant to software solutions in use as well. HIPAA compliance is a top priority and the first step for medical settings in terms of any software for their operational workflows. It is great if you discuss it with a lawyer, being empowered with professional advice will lead you to the right way in future. Believe, this little investment proves to be very few compared to the fine for a breaking of the law.
- Integrations
It is never fine for your scheduling app to be operating independently only. The more integrations it has, the more functionality comes up and user satisfaction grows. It is cool when the app coordinates with other software like medication tracking, electronic billing, insurance, fitness or sleeping trackers, etc.
- Intuitive UX or wonderful design
The patient is always your target audience. And it is probably the most diverse one – various age groups, occupations, and with totally different levels of technology experience. For the obvious reason, the use of a scheduling app should be as simple and obvious as possible for everyone. The principal points of the interface, to our humble opinion, are the following: Patient’s account page with private data and health records, then Doctor profile pages, Calendar, of course, Search service for keywords is extremely useful to include as well as the Reminders.
Trying to make your app to be cool or sophisticated is not the right strategy here at all. The key is Minimalistic design and Simplicity in functioning. The right colors and readable size of the icons are practically the most important to focus on.
- Possible to work offline
It is impossible to schedule a doctor’s visit while in offline mode. Nevertheless, it can be managed in real-time and synchronized. All the main features listed above should be possible to access always, even with zero Internet connection.
All the top apps in the market have freemium plans with automated Reminders, their interface is user-friendly and nice, possibility for online payments, up to 4 users in their free version, etc. Premium features may include special Calendar sync, voice messaging feature, etc.
Want to develop online doctor appointment scheduling app? Check the box below to have a free consultation with our specialist.
Conclusion
Scheduling appointments can be a huge mess, but medical app scheduling software can optimize your scheduling processes to reduce costly no-shows and to make it easier to gather patient data. The software you choose will depend on your company’s needs.
Doctor appointment booking app development process requires solid experience in Healthcare. Our ZenBit Tech team is proud to have that work history and being experts in core fields like HIPAA and ISO 13485 certification, and a lot of telemedicine solutions.
We offer you our knowledge and skills. Please feel free to contact us right now for more information and advice! Take care!
