How mHealth Apps Are Changing the Face of the Healthcare Industry

In today’s digital world, technology has become an integral part of the healthcare industry. As smartphones and their users are increasing worldwide, mHealth app development is now becoming a new fundamental aspect of digital health. It consists of everything about medicines, public health, and patient care using devices like laptop, tablets, mobile phones, digital assistance and wireless infrastructure.

Now, patients have numerous opportunities to get cheaper and faster health services due to digital technological advancement. These apps are not only used by patients or customers but also by physicians and various health care centers to keep a record of their patients virtually. 

 In this article, you will get to know the current state of mHealth market, its advantages, disadvantages and its future perspective.

What is mHealth?

Mobile Health (or mHealth) is an amalgamation of mobile technology with the health care sector. The term ‘mHealth’ generally denotes the use of mobile devices and wireless technology to contribute towards a healthy lifestyle. It enhances the communication between patient and the doctor. It is helpful in providing quick access to medical data, monitoring diseases, and many more. These apps help in improving patient’s experience and make many health care services accessible.

Related read: A step by step guide to build on-demand appointment apps for patients and doctors

Some of the most popular examples of mHealth technologies are several types of healthcare apps designed to help people in:

• Tracking
• Guiding
• Bolster their physical condition.

Generally, most of the mobile apps that are dedicated to health care fall into three categories:

• Health care apps for the institution
• Medical apps for professionals
• Health care apps for patients

Trends shaping the healthcare mobile Industry 

Below mentioned are few types of popular mHealth apps:

• Artificial Intelligence: AI is finding strong applications in mobile health care and supporting healthcare digital transformation. It alters the perception of modern services in the healthcare sector. Artificial Intelligence touches areas like self-examination of the patients and also helps doctors to conduct complex operations without patients resulting in reducing clinic visit frequency and also the medical cost is decreased.
  

• Big data: Big data helps in addressing the complex challenges associated with the health records of patients. Doctors can easily access the lab test results, medical history of the patients, and other records to manage treatment plans and medication lists. Since health care is a multi-dimensional system and therefore big data helps in collection of data, storing, retrieving, linking and often manipulated and analyzed.
  

• Blockchain: Keeping massive amounts of data securely, is a major issue within the healthcare industry. Preserving patient’s data and censorious information as well as making it accessible when required might be quite challenging for the healthcare industry. Therefore, using blockchain in healthcare apps can help to eliminate this problem. Blockchain has a great ability to keep patient’s data decentralized, incorruptible, and transparent. This transparency, ability to conceal the identity, and decentralized nature make blockchain a technology widely used in healthcare app development.
  

• IoT: The need for fitness and health apps has been much on demand and rising for the last couple of years. The Internet of things (IoT), is contributing towards the betterment of health and patient care. Patients have the privilege now to keep a track and also monitor their fitness level whereas the doctors and the hospitals can manage with their administrative tasks using wearable devices.
  

• Machine Learning: Machine learning combines motor patterns and visual data to allow the machines to undergo complex surgeries. Machine Learning has brought independent robotic surgery to make the lives of doctors and patients easier.
  

• Cloud: Cloud technology is supporting healthcare by enabling faster access to the required information to health service providers as well as to their patients. All mHealth apps are backed by cloud infrastructure. By computing power and storing data in the cloud, the health care service providers can enable their staff to have access to the required information anytime and anywhere.

Importance of mHealth apps in the market:

As we all know, mobile app development firms are exploring the potential in mobile healthcare applications and the healthcare sector has a lot to offer. Let’s discuss some of the key points about the importance of mHealth apps in health care sector:

• Increasing awareness amongst people: growing healthcare industry has given access to a large number of people who are looking for quicker medical aids.

• • Personalized treatment methods: Now people are looking for tailored treatment options that focus individually on particular requirements & give the precise output.

• Tracking and reaching patients have become easier: These apps have given leverage to tap people’s attention through SMS, alerts and push notification.

• Convenient to use mobile devices: as mobile users are increasing, therefore, mHealth apps are convenient to monitor people’s health status.

• Improved user Experience due to rising internet: mHealth apps offer better user experience because of instant basic healthcare aids due to improved internet connectivity.

Challenges faced during the development of mHealth apps:

No doubt, the mHealth app is an amazing area to be explored and quite innovative. But there are certain challenges faced during the app development cycle. Let’s read them too:

• No proper knowledge about supply and demand: due to incomplete knowledge it resulted in the loss to business, also non-acceptance amongst the people, and the product failed to attain the objective.
  

• Compatibility with legacy medical systems: due to the lack of compatibility of old enterprise systems with the latest apps and technologies.
  

• Data security of mHealth apps: data security is the major concern and challenge faced by most of the mHealth app development companies.
  

• Nor considering interoperability and Usability: due to the availability of various mobiles and operating systems, it is challenging for the apps to be well integrated and compatible with all the devices.
  

• Bad user experience: many fail to meet the user experience by not well integrated with healthcare centers, doctors resulting in delays in the treatment and missing the main point of mobile healthcare.

Benefits of mobile healthcare app:

Besides the challenges, there are some exceptional advantages too that make this sector worth investing in. Let’s have a look at them:

• Better decision making
• Improved diagnostic accuracy
• Real-time communication
• Improved Efficiency
• Easier for caregivers and the patient’s family
• Beneficial in remote areas
• Opportunity for new businesses
• Reduces healthcare expenses.

Wrapping Up

The Health and care sector may be perceived as more intended on the good of humanity than on revenue. Healthcare apps help improve public health and medical practices and also can provide greater patient care. Patients, as well as doctors both, are relying on these innovations for patient-centric care and better outcomes.

Must read: Mobile Apps in Healthcare. How to Build the one among 320000? 

Summarizing the above points, we can say that MHealth Company has much potential and substantial scope in the coming years. As technological innovations are growing, healthcare mobile apps have also been adopted on a larger scale across the globe. People are also now becoming more health-conscious resulting in more awareness amongst the people regarding the advantages of mHealth apps.