How Much Does It Cost to Develop a Telemedicine App in 2024?

Posted in Telemedicine

Executive Summary – How Much Does it Cost to Develop a Telemedicine App?

Are you an entrepreneur, a startup, or a healthcare organization venturing into the telehealth space? Read this article to get an insight into telemedicine app development cost, required features, and other key details.

Overview – How Much Does it Cost to Develop a Telemedicine App?

COVID-19 has triggered digitalization in healthcare sectors of developed countries across the world. Countries like the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States are the driving forces in the shift from in-person doctor visits to telemedicine, using apps, smartphones, and video appointments.

Telemedicine adoption has made its way into these countries in response to the pandemic, where healthcare workers seek to provide easy and safe access to patient care.

The factors that underpin the increase in telemedicine adoption are:

•       The growing interest of consumers and providers in this new technology
•       Greater access and affordability it promises
•       Strong investment

Besides healthcare providers and patients, telemedicine is a lucrative area for entrepreneurs and startups as well.

Many startups have been investing in virtual healthcare and digital health spaces, fueling innovation. In 2020, the venture capitalist digital health investment spiked to $14.7 billion, almost twice the investment in 2017; however, it is considered a mere scratch on the surface.

Telemedicine has much more potential, and further initiatives can solve many ongoing issues regarding quality care and healthcare spaces.

If you want to venture into developing a telemedicine app, we can help you. This piece of reading includes different aspects of telemedicine software cost. So, let’s dive right in!

How Much Does it Cost to Develop a Telemedicine App?

Telemedicine – The New Face of Healthcare

Telemedicine is a component of digital health that allows patients to participate in real-time virtual consultations with healthcare providers.

A major focus of telehealth is making virtual medical care accessible to patients in far-fetched areas. It promises convenience and affordability to patients, supports weak healthcare systems, and connects global networks of healthcare providers.

By opening a virtual window for patients, telemedicine allows them to receive care at the convenience of their homes. According to Statista, 58% of US adults feel comfortable using telemedicine for urgent healthcare concerns.

The idea behind telehealth is not to replace clinical visits but to complement regular healthcare. Patients may use telemedicine applications to:

•       Talk to a doctor (and see if there’s a need for a physical appointment)
•       Access nutritional and other mental health counseling
•       Request or renew medication prescriptions
•       Receive urgent healthcare for conditions such as common rashes

The Rise of Telemedicine Apps

In some large states, telemedicine is becoming the talk of the town. With the rising interest in this sector, the global market has seen significant growth in recent years. According to a forecast, by 2030, the market will spike to nearly 460 US billion dollars.

Luckily, the growing market always has room for a new product. When considering how to start a telemedicine practice, developing a new telemedicine app requires extensive analysis and a deep understanding of the targeted audience.

The more you know about users, the better you can identify their pains, gaps, and problems, resulting in faster evaluation. Once you evaluate your target group, you can learn about the telemedicine platform cost and develop a budget.

How Much Does it Cost to Develop a Telemedicine or Telehealth App?

So, how much does a telehealth software cost in general? To give a straightforward estimation, developing a telemedicine app can cost $40,000 to $250,000+. This price is average which ranges for different types of applications, for example:

•       The cost of a store-and-forward app can be $40,000 – $50,000
•       For a remote monitoring app, the development costs $55,000 – $200,000+
•       A real-time interactive can cost $75,000 – $150,000+

The cost of setting up telemedicine apps largely depends on the number of features you want and what the potential users expect to see.

To give you a better idea of the overall telehealth platform cost, let’s break down the development aspects:

1. Development Cost Breakdown

If you are developing a basic solution, it may cost you somewhere between $25,000 to $50,000. The variation in this range is subject to factors like:

• Size of the development team
• Number of integrations you add
• Features and functionality (for example, a highly complex and feature-rich app will be more pricey than an app with basic functions such as appointment management, video calls, text chats, and user profiles.)
• The platform (iOS, Android, Web) is the precursory point in the telemedicine app cost estimate and varies for different operating systems. For example, developing a doctor app for Android can cost more than for iOS.
• Design and user experience are critical. The more intuitive the interface, the better the user experience, which means an increased telehealth software cost.

2. Timeframe for Development

Expect to spend around 4 to 8 months on development, including requirements evaluation, project planning, UI and UX design, and MVP development and launch.

The timeframe can increase or reduce depending on whether you hire medical app developers or partner up with a telemedicine software development company. A company with years of experience in the development space can take less time than a team of freelance developers.

3. App Marketing and Promotion Costs

Today, the app store landscape is ruled by the well-known duopoly- Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store. Although these stores have numerous options, people only use a smattering of apps regularly. Nonetheless, the number of applications is constantly increasing, and so is the competition.

In this competitive environment, promoting a new medical app consumes most of an organization’s marketing expenses.

Regardless of the type of app, here’s a glimpse of what the costs of marketing a telehealth app look like:

•       Market research- $5K to $15K
•       Beta testing- $5K or less
•       ASO tool – $25 to $1,500/month
•       Marketing agency fee- up to $25k /app
•       App PR outreach – $100 – $300 /hour
•       Influencer marketing – $10 to $18k /month

These numbers are only estimates. Your marketing budget will vary based on the size of your business and the audience you want to target.

4. Maintenance and Support Costs

Developing a telemedicine app is rarely a one-time activity. After its development, the app requires updates from time to time to support the app and prevent uninstallations. So, you need to consider the maintenance phase from start to finish.

The rule of thumb is to allocate up to 15-20% of the initial development cost to app maintenance. However, your app upkeep expenses can be more or less than this, depending on the different steps and factors your maintenance process involves.

The cost of developing behavioral health software differs. Learn more about it and find out if it is useful for your healthcare business.

Also, find out the cost of LIMS software; it may benefit your healthcare business.

What are the Features and Costs of Telemedicine App Development?

Features can make an app better and more valuable. Various elements can be added to expand the functions and create more convenience for users, but increase its complexity and telemedicine platform cost.

Let’s take a look at some important tabs you can add to your app:

Registration

A sign-in feature is a primary function, and the telemedicine app should let patients sign in using their email addresses or third-party applications like Google and Facebook.

Profile Management

After signing in, the next step for users is to set up profiles. From patients, the app should collect details like health information, health condition, and treatment history.

For doctors, their profiles can contain their experience, the hospital their work in, contact details, etc.

Video Conferencing

This is a prime element of a telemedicine app and the key factor in deciding the cost. The app should allow live video calling and transmit video in high quality for doctors to see symptoms clearly.

Calendar

A calendar is useful for both patients and doctors. It helps make appointments and keep track of them.

We recommend syncing the calendar with the one that patients use – for example, Google Calendar or Microsoft Calendar. This way, their phones will notify them when an appointment is due.

Payments

One of the key features of a telemedicine app is a smooth payment process. You can create your own payment mechanism or integrate your app with a third-party payment option. Creating a new payment mechanism in your telehealth software will cost you more, whereas using a third-party payment service will keep it on the lower side. There are many payment gateways to integrate with, such as PayPal, Braintree, and Stripo.

Search and Filters

The search algorithms can help doctors and patients find each other. Patients can use search options to find doctors based on their locality, preferred language, specialty, availability, and consultation fee.

Notifications

Receiving notifications is an important feature for both doctors and patients. It notifies them of upcoming appointments, a new text messages, payment status, and more.

e-Prescriptions

This function allows doctors to send electronic prescriptions, which will be saved in a patient’s database.

You can also learn the costs of developing behavioral health software and determine if it is useful for your healthcare business. Go through the complete guide for a Telemedicine Business Model.

United States Telemedicine Users’ 2021-2025

How Do You Make a Telemedicine Platform by Folio3 Digital Health?

Folio3 Digital Health, the leading healthcare software development company, helps you make a telemedicine platform that bridges the gap between doctors and patients.

Whether you want to develop a cloud-based telemedicine platform, a telemedicine mobile app, a telemedicine videoconferencing software, or integrate your platform with healthcare ERP systems, our services cover all your needs.

We are also recognized as the best electronic health records software company. Our electronic records integration solutions offer a highly secure exchange of patient data from your app to your existing EHR systems.

To learn more about our services, drop us a line so we can help you.

To Sum Up – How Much Does it Cost to Develop a Telemedicine App?

Now you know how much does a telemedicine app cost, and its potential to increase patient outreach and improve care outcomes. Telemedicine applications can provide clinical support to any remote area by reducing geographic barriers.

As a healthcare organization or a medical software startup, your primary goal should be to address user pain points by developing a solution that specifically targets their needs. Custom healthcare app development services can give you the liberty to choose the features and functions you want.

If you want to build a custom app, contact us for a free consultation. We can help you develop a reliable telemedicine app in your target niche for your target users.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to develop a telemedicine app like the “Doctor-on-demand”?

The doctor-on-demand app is very broad in terms of features and functions. It is a blend of two applications: a doctor and patient app with a strong admin panel that links them.

The cost of developing a doctor-on-demand app depends on the services you take while hiring software developers:

• UX/ UI Design
• iOS and Android native app development
• Web development
• Backend development
• Project management
• Quality assurance

The cost of the services can be estimated on hourly charges, which can be $20/hr – $50/hr. Based on these estimates, if you plan to get a simple on-demand doctor app, the total cost can start from $25,000-$40,000 and go up to $40,000-$70,000.

How to build a telemedicine platform?

Telemedicine platform development involves custom development, white-label solutions, and SaaS. Let’s talk about them one by one.

1. Custom Development

Custom development involves building an app from scratch. With a custom app, you have the flexibility to add whatever features and functions you want. Once it is stable, you can add more options to make it a full-fledged platform.

2. SaaS

SaaS is a software-as-a-service platform that is ready-made software for subscribers to use. For a SaaS platform, a vendor is responsible for everything, which saves you from all the hustle of maintaining and updating the solution.

3. White-label Solution

A white-label solution is also owned and developed by a third party. But you can purchase, rebrand, and use it as your own custom telemedicine platform.

But, you don’t get the intellectual rights to the codebase (so you do not sell the code. But, you can still sell the platform.)

How to develop a telemedicine app?

When developing a telemedicine app, you have to consider many parameters. There are many steps that can help you make the right path to avoid mistakes.

Here’s a brief overview of the steps:

• Determine what problems the application will solve and choose a niche
• Understand the target group of your app
• Do market research to find an application type
• Devise a business plan to reduce risks and think of more ways to attract investments
• Create UX/UI to make your app visually compelling

Having considered all essential points, start creating your app. A better way to begin is to develop an MVP (minimal viable product) that will have similar features as the final product. This will let you evaluate the product viability with minimal investment.

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