The healthcare industry has always been one of the most conservative fields, agnostic to innovation. However, rising costs of care, staff shortages, and the lack of qualified healthcare professionals in rural areas made the healthcare industry seek new care delivery modes. Telemedicine apps emerged as a new, tech-driven way to address care gaps and reduce disparities in access.
Now a fixture used by over 78% of U.S. hospitals and favored by over 166 million global users, telemedicine app development attracts many startups as a profitable niche and a way to make a positive impact on communities worldwide.
As a health tech development company, Orangesoft has been delivering innovative digital care solutions to global startups since 2011. In this article, we’ve gathered the expertise gained from over 300 solutions to tell you about the benefits, challenges, and how-tos of the telehealth app development process.
What drives the demand for telemedicine applications?
In 2023, the global telehealth market was valued at $142.6 billion and is estimated to surpass $791 billion by 2032, advancing at a CAGR of 22.0% during the forecast period. This growth trajectory is driven by the multiple benefits telemedicine apps bring to the table.
Advantages of telemedicine apps for patients
By the end of 2025, the number of telehealth users in the U.S. is expected to reach 104.7 million — an impressive increase from 91.9 million in 2023. So what’s there to telemedicine software that makes people switch from IRL to URL care?
Reduced costs of healthcare services
Virtual visits can save consumers as much as $141 per visit when compared with an in-person urgent care visit and $120 on a specialist visit. With televisits, patients can access remote medical services right where they are, avoiding the costs associated with transportation. By addressing minor health concerns via telemedicine apps, patients can also reduce the number of costly in-person visits that incur high out-of-pocket expenses.
Easier access to high-quality care
The accessibility of care is incumbent on the availability of qualified health workers, among other things. However, the global healthcare system is understaffed, with the global labor gap expected to reach 10 million by 2030. Telehealth solutions can break down geographic barriers, connecting patients with specialists who may not be available in their local area while also making it easier for individuals with limited mobility and the elderly to access care from the comfort of their homes.
Remote medical services delivered via telehealth also address healthcare disparities, providing equal access to care for patients in underserved communities.
Better care outcomes
According to a study conducted by MDLIVE, virtual visits resulted in a 19% reduction in ER and urgent care visits. Telemedicine apps allow patients to promptly address minor health concerns before they escalate into more serious conditions. Advanced analytics capabilities built into telemedicine apps also help detect early-stage diseases and improve patient outcomes.
As hospitals and doctor's offices are the ground zero for spreading illnesses, there is a high risk of getting an infection during in-person visits. It is especially dangerous during the pandemic and for those with weak immune systems. Virtual doctor-on-demand services help decrease the risk of catching an illness as patients have less exposure to others.
Advantages of telemedicine apps for healthcare providers
In 2023, over 80% of physicians reported using telemedicine at least weekly, with 40% making it part of their daily clinical practice. By combining telemedicine with in-person care, physicians and care teams can create flexible care models that better meet the diverse needs of their patients and allow them to do more with less.
Lower costs
Telemedicine reduces overhead costs for healthcare providers by eliminating such expenses as rent, utilities, and maintenance. According to khealth, the average cost of a telehealth visit for an acute respiratory infection was $79 compared to $146 for an in-person visit.
Also, telehealth platforms can take some administrative tasks, such as appointment scheduling and data collection, off the staff’s shoulders, thus slashing the costs associated with administrative work. Thanks to increased convenience, accessibility, and convenience of URL visits, telemedicine applications also reduce patient no-show rates — a benefit noted by over 60% of physicians.
By improving coordination between care teams, remote medical services also minimize the risk of duplicative care and unnecessary procedures that incur high costs in the healthcare system.
Improved work efficiency
Over 65% of physicians who incorporate telemedicine report at least one time management benefit. Productivity and efficiency gains delivered by virtual care stem from flexible scheduling, easier communication with patients, and seamless real-time access to patient medical records. Unlike traditional care, where paperwork and vitals have to be done manually, telemedicine digitizes these processes, allowing providers to spend more time delivering care to patients.
Additional revenue
By combining in-person and virtual care, providers can reach more patients and increase visit volume, bringing in supplemental revenue. The flexibility of telemedicine also allows providers to serve patients in remote or underserved areas, thus expanding their patient base.
With telehealth, providers can also create new revenue streams that include episodic or ongoing care services. However, to unlock additional revenue, providers have to make sure their telemedicine platform can easily collect copays and bill insurance companies.
Higher patient satisfaction
In 2023, 54% of U.S. patients reported increased satisfaction with their care thanks to telemedicine. As an alternative and complementary addition to traditional care, telemedicine facilitates the patient journey, streamlining the communication between the two sides of care and keeping all caregivers connected. This uninterrupted flow of information ensures that nothing is lost in translation and that treatment plans are built based on accurate, up-to-date patient data, which leads to better outcomes.
Telemedicine also relieves patients of coordinating follow-up care — a burden erstwhile placed on ER patients. Today, providers can use telehealth to set up follow-up appointments with specialists prior to discharge.
How to create a telemedicine app in seven steps
Telehealth solutions can cure many healthcare ills, provided they are designed with the right target audience in mind, the right functionality under the hood, and the right business model at the core. Let’s see how to get these three ingredients right and develop a secure, compliant, and innovative virtual care solution that moves the needle.
Discovery
So, you are a telemedicine services company on a mission to develop a remote care solution from scratch. You find an experienced development team and hire them to buckle into the end-to-end telemedicine app development process. In this case, your collaboration starts with a deep dive into your app idea to outline product requirements, size up the competition, and gather compliance and data security requirements.
At this stage, your team also plans necessary integrations, decides on the core functionality, and helps you determine an optimal business model. The deliverables of the initial development stage include a high-level system architecture, tech stack design, and clickable prototypes that inform design and development decisions later on.
Development planning
Based on the results of the delivery stage, your telemedicine application development team scopes the project and prepares a detailed product roadmap with milestones, KPIs, budgets, and timelines laid over it. During this stage, your team also assesses potential security risks and vulnerabilities in the telemedicine app and develops a mitigation plan.
Accounting for software development risks such as integration challenges and scalability limitations is also necessary to smooth out peaks and valleys in the development journey.
MVP design and development
Your UX/UI team tests the app prototypes with real users to refine the interface and make sure it is built to the needs of the target audience. The final layouts are handed over to the development team that codes them and brings them into reality. Developers also set up the backend of the application, configure predefined integrations, and implement the necessary ISO 27001 data security safeguards such as data encryption, data minimization, access controls, and others.
A quality assurance team then runs multiple tests to check the performance, usability, accessibility, security, and compliance of the telemedicine application. During development, your development team also prepares comprehensive software documentation for demonstrating compliance with IEC 82304-1:2016, 21 CFR 11, HIPAA, FDA, and other applicable certifications.
Product launch and post-launch support
The big day comes, and your MVP is ready for a take-off in the market. After launching it on the target platforms, your development team keeps a close eye on the application to fix defects, facilitate smooth operation, and make sure your app can accommodate device and OS version updates.
Moreover, your development team collects and prioritizes user feedback that lays the foundation for product updates. Regular security audits also play a pivotal role in the post-development stage as they keep your application HIPAA-compliant and make sure the PHI is under lock and key as it should be.
Scaling
Developing telemedicine apps is an ongoing process that doesn’t end with an MVP launch. As your telehealth app grows, it requires code and architecture adjustments to accommodate a growing user base and evolve alongside your company’s needs.
Core features to include in an MVP for a telemedicine app
When it comes to telemedicine software development, we recommend building a minimum viable product before investing in a full-fledged telemedicine solution. An MVP, with its set of core features, can reduce your development costs by up to 30% and allows you to collect feedback from lighthouse users to inform your product roadmap.
An MVP for a telemedicine platform usually consists of the following modules:
- An application for patients and an application for providers ;
- Backend;
- Admin panel.
The interface and set of features vary based on the user type, meaning you have to develop a separate feature bundle for patients and doctors. Keep in mind that MVP features differ based on the unique project requirements and the type of telemedicine app.
Key telemedicine app features, patient side
A patient-facing telemedicine app module usually includes the following key features:
Sign up and patient enrollment
New patients set up an app account, filling in basic information such as contact details and personal information. The registration module should also allow users to add an insurance ID to see if the visits are covered and what the copay is. Keep in mind that telemedicine apps often require Know Your Customer (KYC) verification to comply with the regulations and demonstrate a commitment to data security.
Profile management and patient dashboard
Depending on the application, a patient dashboard can deliver a real-time snapshot of health data, message history, appointment history, prescriptions, and medical recommendations. Patients should also have the ability to edit their profile info and delete their accounts after downloading all the personal information that is stored in the mobile app.
Also, some apps allow patients to download a PDF of their consolidated medical record to share it with their care team or family — or send a limited-access link to providers and loved ones.
Search for a medical specialist
A telehealth app should also have a convenient search engine so that patients get matched with the right specialist based on their preferences. Search filters should include location, area of expertise, price, rating, language, and available time slots.
For more convenient search results, you can implement a search by category so that the users can organize information depending on the price or rating, etc.
Another feature you may want to consider is making it possible to save previous search parameters and track relevant doctors.
Doctors' profiles
The patients should be able to easily access detailed information about the doctors, including reviews and ratings.
Next to a doctor’s profile, patients should see the following options:
- Check appointment availability;
- Book a video appointment;
- Send a message;
- Leave a review;
- Block and report.
Messaging
A telehealth app should also include a chatting feature that can be used not only for consultations but also for asynchronous or store-and-forward care, where users send medical records, photos, laboratory results, and other important information to a provider for review at a later time. Messaging should also enable both parties to share media in both DICOM and non-DICOM formats.
Video consultations
Compressed high-definition secure video calls with quality audio are a non-negotiable for telemedicine applications as they allow healthcare providers to see more details during consultations. Patients who have challenging network conditions should be able to switch to alternative communication methods, such as audio calls or voice-to-text transcriptions.
Appointment scheduling and management
Telemedicine app features usually include an appointment scheduler that helps patients manage their appointment calendars. Patients should be able to self-schedule, access the list of completed/upcoming/canceled consultations, and reschedule appointments.
Billing
The opportunity to pay medical bills from a telemedicine application is a must-have feature for a seamless patient experience. Payment modules should allow for instant payment processing via integrated payment gateways and support different payment methods, including cards, mobile wallets, and others. Here, users should also be able to track their transaction history, payment cards, and available subscriptions.
Notifications
Push notifications remind users about upcoming consultations, new messages, test results, and relevant doctor recommendations.
Additional features for a telemedicine app, patient side
Once your app gains traction, you can add supplementary, nice-to-have features that extend its functionality and appeal to a broader audience.
Multiple profiles
Multi-profile records allow patients to add their partners, children, and relatives to their profiles to connect and keep updated on their family’s health data within one interface.
Virtual waiting room
Akin to a traditional waiting room, a virtual reception area allows patients to check in remotely. A medical assistant can then do a preliminary evaluation and guide the patient to the consultation space. Medical assistants can keep the camera and microphone off until the provider is ready to see the patient, thus avoiding potential connection issues cropping up during the consultation.
Electronic prescriptions
To provide a full spectrum of medical services, telemedicine apps can be integrated with an eRx module that enables providers to prescribe medications electronically. The module also syncs with an EHR system and pharmacies to streamline the prescription process and reduce hand-off errors. E-prescriptions are sent to a patient via a text message or email. The app can also send reminders to patients when their prescriptions are due for refills.
Medication tracker
Tracking medicine intake improves treatment adherence and promotes better care outcomes. This feature enables patients to set customizable medication reminders and track intake with a logbook that can be shared with their doctor.
Documents and photo storage
This feature allows both patients and doctors to have on-demand access to important medical records and share them easily between themselves.
Symptoms tracker
By recording symptoms in real time, telemedicine apps allow healthcare providers to identify developing patterns to prevent more serious conditions. Effective symptom logging also demonstrates the effectiveness of treatment lines and helps providers make more informed medical decisions. Virtual care solutions can track symptoms automatically through wearables or ask patients to report the data.
Dashboard with health analytics
Healthcare analytics solutions can be integrated throughout the telemedicine app to deliver a consolidated real-time picture of a patient's health data, provider’s earnings, appointment performance, and other data points.
Key telemedicine app features, doctor side
On the doctor side, virtual care applications are kitted out with the following must-have features:
Healthcare provider dashboard
Physicians should be able to have a comprehensive, centralized overview of their patients, performance, and appointments.
Appointment management
A telemedicine app should be equipped with a calendar functionality that allows specialists to set free time slots for appointments, access the list of completed, upcoming, canceled, paid/unpaid consultations, and manage or modify appointments. Some telemedicine apps also allow doctors to manage their upcoming appointments while they’re in a session.
Patient management
This dedicated functionality enables physicians to access the list of all patients on the go, along with their medical data, last session notes, questionnaires they have filled out, and appointment history.
Messaging and video conferencing
Before video consultations, doctors can send pre-visit patient questionnaires to do intake assessments. During video calls, doctors should be able to share their screens with patients to present information. The option to record the call also makes it more convenient for specialists to review the consultation and ensure continuity of care.
Pre-designed and customizable forms and templates are another feature many telemedicine apps incorporate to streamline note-taking for doctors during consultations.
Access to EHR
Although not considered a must-have feature, EHR integration has become an industry standard for telemedicine applications. Working alongside an EHR, a telemedicine app provides a 360-degree view of a patient's health and allows physicians to create and update medical records directly from the app.
Billing and fee scheduling
In this module, providers can create and send invoices to patients for consultations, submit claims for reimbursement to insurance payers, and create custom fee schedules.
Related: Top 10 telemedicine apps of 2024
Trending technologies for telemedicine app development
It takes a lot to develop a digital health solution that can differentiate in today’s competitive landscape. To increase your chances of the home run, consider leveraging the latest tech advancements in the telemedicine space. Not only do tech boons give you a competitive edge, but they also make telehealth services play to their full potential.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence — generative AI, machine learning, and NLP included — has become a foundational technology for cutting-edge virtual care solutions. In telemedicine, AI takes many forms, supercharging various application aspects:
- Generative AI and NLP empower conversational interfaces to understand and respond to patient queries in a natural language, providing tailored guidance in real-time
- By analyzing medical records, logged symptoms, health data, and treatment outcomes, ML algorithms can uncover patterns, predict complications and risks, and personalize treatment recommendations.
- AI solutions can support clinical decision models, providing healthcare professionals with recommendations drawn upon patient data and evidence-based guidelines.
Also, artificial intelligence can automate administrative processes, such as patient intake, appointment scheduling, insurance verification, data entry, and more. For example, Healow, one of the leading telemedicine apps, relies on a medical AI scribe solution that integrates with EHRs and transforms conversations between patients and healthcare providers into clinical documentation.
Internet of Medical Things
The Internet of Medical Things includes a growing ecosystem of devices, such as wearables, medical sensors, and remote patient monitoring systems that integrate with telemedicine applications to enable a 360-degree overview of the patient's health. The integrated data is then sent to doctors and care groups for further analysis.
One of the remote care companies that bet on such integration is BodySite. The remote care platform integrates with Oura Ring to aggregate patient biometric data for easier progress monitoring and smarter care decisions.
Extended Reality (XR)
Encompassing Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR), and Virtual Reality (VR), XR is another trendy innovation that is rapidly gaining popularity in the field. XR can create immersive environments where patients and doctors can interact in real-time. Telerehabilitation is the main adopter of XR technologies in telehealth, using immersive experiences to support remote physical therapy, pain management, and relaxation.
Today, clinics widely implement XR technologies to provide remote healthcare. For example, XRHealth is a fully remote XR clinic that employs VR to provide effective relaxation and mindfulness experiences to patients. The clinic also delivers VR-supported occupational therapy and physical therapy.
Blockchain
Since virtual care implies a constant online exchange of electronic health records between patients and doctors, the risk of a data breach is high. Blockchain technology can address the risk by bringing forth a mutually-agreed decentralized and anonymous interaction between doctors and patients.
Blockchain can provide decentralized and encrypted storage for patient medical records, making it difficult for unauthorized parties to access them. Additionally, this technology can be used to manage patient consent, with each instance logged on the blockchain.
Although deemed effective, blockchain is still in its nascent state in telemedicine and overall healthcare. High implementation costs, the need for expert talent, lack of standardization, and regulatory complexities hinder the adoption of blockchain and put it on a back-burner.
Challenges in telemedicine app development
The road to an effective telemedicine app development solution is laid out with challenges that you need to account for early in the development process to avoid setbacks later.
Challenge 1. Data interoperability
Today, over 70% of healthcare providers grapple with legacy information systems. Known for the lack of data standardization, outdated software can turn out to be incompatible with telemedicine technologies, meaning that healthcare organizations can fail to integrate telemedicine solutions in their ecosystem.
Also, the lack of data interoperability between virtual care applications and EHRs makes it challenging to enable a seamless flow of data between the systems. As a result, providers have to manually input diagnoses, prescriptions, and clinical notes from virtual appointments into patient records.
To get this obstacle out of the way, telemedicine providers should stick to standardized data formats such as HL7 FHIR or USCDI, along with standardized APIs.
Challenge 2. Compliance with regulations and data security standards
In the U.S., telemedicine applications face a complex regulatory landscape that includes an interplay between federal laws and state-level data laws. In particular, telemedicine providers have to either align with insurance plans and comply with HIPAA — or operate according to a cash-only model and abide by state-by-state data privacy laws, provided the state data privacy laws don’t have exemptions for businesses and data regulated by HIPAA or other federal laws.
When it comes to HIPAA, telemedicine software must implement a specific set of data security and privacy measures to comply with the regulation, including:
- The login controls, monitoring process, and storage of data should all be synchronized;
- A HIPAA-compliant product must have no scope of data leakage or unauthorized access by any third parties;
- The usage of AWSCloudTrail and AWS CloudWatch tools to help your telehealth app development meet the regulations;
- There should be SSL-enabled endpoints to provide the best solution to secure the data in the transfer process;
- A HIPAA-compliant app must encrypt data at rest and in transit;
- An application must implement strong access controls to restrict access to PHI
- A compliant telehealth platform should use only secure API frameworks and libraries, and more.
These are just a few examples of security measures you need to implement into your telemedicine app to make it HIPAA-compliant. To achieve full compliance, we recommend contacting a vendor with expertise and experience in building HIPAA-compliant mobile apps. Keep in mind that HIPAA mandates companies that outsource telemedicine development to sign a Business Associate Agreement with a vendor to ensure data security.
Related: HIPAA compliance for healthcare applications
Challenge 3. Accessibility
Telehealth applications have the potential to address long-standing health inequities as they can help remove barriers to care. However, if your telemedicine application is not developed with accessibility in mind, it’s likely to add to already existing digital barriers. Today, around 13 million older adults have difficulties accessing telehealth services due to hearing difficulties, cognitive impairments, a tech curve, and visual impairments. Additionally, 25% of users have difficulty accessing telehealth due to spotty internet/cellular connectivity.
To address the digital divide, your telemedicine platform should be designed according to WCAG guidelines, the WHO-ITU Global standard for accessibility of telehealth services, and regional accessibility standards and regulations.
Additionally, your telehealth solution should allow for multiple communication modes, such as video-based consultations, phone-based consultations, and text-based messaging. For one of our projects, we also implemented voice-to-text transcriptions for real-time app consultations to enable the app to maintain clarity even in challenging network conditions. If you’re planning on implementing an AI-powered functionality, make sure the model prioritizes equity and unbiased data.
How much does it cost to develop a telemedicine app?
Telemedicine app development cost varies based on the development platform (web/mobile telemedicine app), the number and complexity of features, integration requirements, advanced technologies, and other variables. Below, our development experts have broken down the cost for an MVP based on the estimations from our previous projects.
| Features | Development time, hours | Backend development time, hours | Approx. cost, $ |
|---|---|---|---|
Patient | |||
| Sign in / Sign up | 42 | 32 | 3,700 |
| Personal information | 32 | 16 | 2,400 |
| Filters | 32 | 32 | 3,200 |
| Doctors' profiles with ratings and reviews | 32 | 24 | 2,800 |
| Messaging | 120 | 96 | 10,800 |
| Video calling | 148 | 40 | 9,400 |
| Scheduling and appointment management | 50 | 32 | 4,100 |
| Personal profile | 48 | 24 | 3,600 |
| Payment integration | 64 | 64 | 6,400 |
| Notifications | 24 | 24 | 2,400 |
Doctor | |||
| Sign in / Sign up | 42 | 32 | 3,700 |
| Personal information | 56 | 32 | 4,400 |
| Personal profile | 64 | 32 | 4,800 |
| Appointments screen | 96 | 40 | 6,800 |
| Messaging | 16 | 16 | 1,600 |
| Video calling | 16 | 16 | 1,600 |
| Notifications | 24 | 24 | 2,400 |
General | |||
| Architecture | 32 | 32 | 3,200 |
| Server interaction & API | 32 | – | 1,600 |
| Database | 24 | 16 | 2,000 |
| Admin panel | 156 | 110 | 13,300 |
| Total | 1,150 | 734 | 94,200 |
Keep in mind that our estimation lists only the costs related to the development stage. To plan, design, and test a full-fledged product, you will also need a team of business analysts, Q&A specialists, designers, and other specialists. These activities are priced separately and aren't included in the estimation above.
The prices above are based on two platforms. You can contact us to get a consultation and ballpark estimation for your project.
Money talks: how to monetize a telemedicine app
So, you've invested an impressive amount of money into developing a remote care solution and hope to make a return someday. Here are the most efficient ways to break even and make a profit in the telemedicine industry.
Subscription
This is a common business model for a mobile app based on renewed membership plans both for patients and doctors. Subscription plans could be monthly, semi-annual, or annual. You can also include a free trial to demonstrate the value of your product.
Pay per appointment
In this case, the doctors set the prices for their services, while the platform charges a fee for every payment. Pricing per appointment may vary depending on the qualifications, specialization, and the type and time of consultation.
Develop a telemedicine app with Orangesoft
No matter the challenges telemedicine is facing today, it has already become a centerpiece in the future of healthcare delivery, making high-quality care inclusive and accessible for all. With over 13 years of hands-on experience and an exclusive focus on healthcare, Orangesoft helps telemedicine startups deliver on the promise of effective virtual care.
Collaborating with us, you get a competitive tech edge that is made of:
- An experienced, full-cycle development team with extensive experience in mobile and web app development, quality assurance, discovery, UI/UX services, and more.
- Experience implementing AI, IoMT, and XR solutions for telemedicine.
- A proven track record of developing compliant telemedicine solutions according to HIPAA, HITECH, FDA, HL7, etc.
- Data security excellence in line with ISO 27001.
Share your vision with us, and our specialist will help you transform it into a successful app solution.
