Category: How-To

Everyone likes music. The tempo of life is getting faster and faster.  Often there’s no time to go through an entire list of music tracks and purchase the ones you like. Fortunately, audio streaming applications have changed the way we listen to music.

With modern technologies, we get an effortless user experience and receive music in a matter of clicks. Mobile devices and a stellar speed Internet connection only complement this trend.

If you want to learn more about music streaming apps or create a music app, this article is right for you. Below, we share the music streaming market statistics, song streaming app monetization strategies, and how to make a music app like Spotify.

Read on!

5 Steps to create an app like Spotify 

Step 1. Consider the main Spotify-like app features 

A music streaming app includes such features as registration and signing up, music organizing, music discovery, social sharing, push notifications, and a music library. 

Step 2. Choose licensing type

As for Spotify, the platform has two types of licenses including the Sound Recording License Agreement and the Musical Composition License Agreement.

Step 3. Find music app developers

Choose a team that will build an app like Spotify for you. There are a lot of factors for you to consider. You also should check the portfolio of your music application development company.

Step 4. Develop an audio streaming app UI/UX design

Now, you and your development team should agree on how the future app will look. For that, you need to create an app Wireframe, Mockup, and Prototype. 

Step 5. Create audio streaming app MVP

At this stage, you will decide on your MVP (minimum viable product), and all the other details with your development team and you are ready to go.

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Why consider music streaming

If we’re talking about music services – there are typical online radio stations and music streaming services, like Spotify. That’s how people enjoy quality, easy-accessible sound spots.

What’s more, people globally shift to their mobile devices to do pretty much anything. Phone calls only use a fraction of the time people spend on their cell phones.

But there is more!

• The global music streaming market is growing steadily — the global subscriber base is expected to reach 2.81 billion by the end of 2025.

[Image source: Goodwater]

• Music Streaming Application Market is expected to reach $17.50 Billion by 2025
• Statista said 14% of the population use paid music streaming services several times a day.

[Image source: RIAA]

• There are 186.7 million digital music users in the U.S.
• Spotify has over 200 million active users, more than 109 million paid subscribers, and about 40% of the global music streaming market

Did I mention that 72% of Spotify users are millennials, who, it seems, were born with mobiles in their hands?

Driven by advantageous technologies, the music streaming industry continues to grow. Therefore, the development of your live audio streaming app might be a great idea.

Current Leaders of the Sound Streaming Market

There are three leaders in the sound streaming market, including

• Spotify with 31% market share
• Apple Music with 15%
• Amazon Music counting 13% market share

Now, let us take a closer look at each of them.

Spotify

Being a pioneer in the music-streaming market, Spotify is the best-known music app. The app has 109 million premium subscribers and 232 million monthly active users.

App users receive access to different music services. They include Discover Weekly playlists and experimental ones, like the Australia-only station.

Spotify has Facebook integration, which allows users to share with their Facebook friends. Besides, this feature enables Spotify users to share their music easier than competitors.  

[Example of Spotify interface]

Apple Music

Apple Music is the second most popular music streaming app. It provides users with plenty of features and a discount for families and students. In June 2019, Apple Music had over 60 million paid subscribers, and 50 million songs in the library. All Apple devices, including Apple HomePod, are compatible with this app. Still, unlike Spotify, the app does not have robust sharing options.

[Example of Apple Music interface]

Amazon Music Unlimited

Amazon Music is an advanced version of Amazon Prime Music, provided to Prime subscribers for free. For an extra payment, users receive access to an expanded catalog. Amazon Music recommends playlists grouped around artists the user already listened to. Also, the app shows the song lyrics on the “now playing” screen. 

[Example of Amazon Music interface]

To conclude, Spotify is not alone in this online music thing. Other significant players are Apple Music and Amazon Music.

All music streaming services have a lot of benefits, including:

• Quick access to music
• Affordability
• Unlimited storage
• Social engagement

As you can see, all these services appear to be outstanding because of these common features- they are effortless, intuitive, and easy to use. 

The Killer Idea Behind Spotify

To give you a clear idea of how to start a music streaming service, let’s discover the inner logic behind Spotify. 

• Spotify stores music on various servers
• To stream a random track on your mobile, Spotify finds it on one of the millions of servers and sends it to your device
• Servers, in this case, are computers and all other gadgets of Spotify’s subscribers 

This concept is more effective than hitting servers with requests to download the track. At the same time, you become an essential link for the global social music sharing network, which is engaging too. And, it enables users to listen to all this music legally by paying royalties to authors. 

Now, let’s learn how to build a music streaming app and make it profitable.

How to Make Money with a Spotify-Like App

Music streaming services, like Spotify, have two main ways of earning; premium account and running ads. Let’s check how Spotify applies these strategies.

Premium Services

The premium Spotify account provides users with free access to unlimited music across other devices. Besides, the app allows the temporary downloading of songs for offline access and plays the highest quality music. There are several types of paid plans, including:

• Student plan cost $4.99 per month
• Individual account – $9.99 per month
• Duo account – $12.99 per month
• Family account – $15.99 per month

Ad-supported Services

App users with a free account can listen to a limited among of songs on demand, which may be interrupted by an advertisement. By using this business model, Spotify charges advertisers a cost-per-click and cost per mile fee.

According to their site, Spotify spends a significant chunk of money to pay royalty rewards to artists.

Read also: How Do Apps Make Money?

This concludes how to earn with your Spotify clone. You have to become a part of “back to paid music” preachers, deal with authors and provide your users with a good deal of music value for their membership.

Critical Features to Include in a Spotify-Like App

If you are looking for ideas on how to make an app like Spotify, consider the following app features:

Registration / signing up

First, a user should be authorized to use your system. Users can register in Spotify via email or social media like Facebook. 

Make sure you take this step very effortless for users. Connect it to social media and you get new subscribers in a matter of taps.

Music organizing

The app should provide features of grouping one’s music, etc.

So, users can create playlists for different purposes, like current activities and genres.

Music Discovery

To motivate users to engage with your app more often, you need to provide them with personalized content. And here is where Spotify has a great competitive advantage over other services.

Spotify uses an AI-based recommendation algorithm that selects songs for the Discover Weekly section. Spotify developers created their own powerful discovery engine.

Let us check how it works.

For Weekly Discovery recommendation, Spotify uses three types of recommendation models, including:

• User crossovers with the listening history of other users
• Natural language processing. In Spotify, this technology works on the Echo Nest API. It learns about the music genres by analyzing the text and looking at similar terms associated with the artist across the Internet. Kafka manages the data in real-time.
• Deep learning to analyzes the raw tracks. For this, Spotify applies a” convolution neural network.” This deep neural network learns from experience using only raw data input.

All things social

This feature allows users to share songs with friends and highlight favorite tracks on a social feed. It’s also going to serve your app with a good deal of word-of-mouth advertising at the same time.

Read also:

Case Study: Video Streaming App Proof of Concept

How To Develop a Social Media App?

Push notifications

Push notification is a deciding feature for such a social community based on follow-ups and spreading content. People want news from their favorite sources; that’s how it works now – users wish to have valuable personalized benefits from your service.

Music Library

Unfortunately, this feature is absent in Spotify. Because of this, users can not host or upload their tracks and create a music library. The only option is to create personal playlists and subscribe to music channels created by other users.

At the same time, this feature is available in Apple Music. It allows users to add and synchronize songs on their devices and in-app playlists. Users can store a certain amount of songs on their app for free or upgrade to a premium plan.

To give you a clue of how to make a music app, and even better app than Spotify, consider this function as well.

Now, let’s find out, how to build a music app.

Where to Start: Your Guide to Making a Music App like Spotify

Now, let’s dig deeper into the process of music streaming app development. Below, we share a step-by-step guide on how to make a music streaming app, together with cost estimations.

Check this out.

Ideas are everything

For music app development, you need to specify the whole concept of the app.  In order to do this, find a similar application, and of course, think of something that makes your app special. 

Licensing

When developing a music streaming service, you need to get a license to provide your subscribers with legal audio content.

As for Spotify, the platform has two types of licenses for music distribution, such as:

• Sound Recording License Agreement, covering recording rights. Spotify uses licenses received from the big three record labels – Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment Group, and Warner Music Group.
• Musical Composition License Agreement. This covers the rightful owners of the songs, managed through two main firms in the U.S.-BMI and ASCAP.

When looking for an answer on how to make your own music app, do not forget to get such a license.

Find music app developers

Now it’s time to come to the actual work and choose a team that will build an app like Spotify for you. There are a lot of factors for you to consider. To estimate how much it costs to develop a music app like Spotify, check developer rates among regions:

• USA/Canada-based dev teams – $50 to $250/hour
• Western Europe – $80 to$170/hour
• Eastern Europe – $50 to $150/hour
• Australia – $80 to $150/hour
• India – $30 to $80/hour

You also should check the portfolio of your music application development company.  From the beginning, communicate with your team to make sure you’re on the same track. At the APP Solutions, we usually hold meetings with our clients on a regular basis via Skype.

See also: How to Outsource App Development?

Plan & Estimate

This market has significant potential, but that’s not enough to run and spend all you have for a killer application. You need to run a study and learn about your target audiences’ preferences. Then, communicate your business idea to your development team. The team will come up with some technological solutions, cost estimation, and project requirements.

Develop an audio streaming app 

UI/UX design

Now, you and your development team should agree on how the future app will look. Here, you can offer the design team some ideas, if you have them.

The necessary process of the music app design creating includes the following stages.

• Wireframe. The team will create a black and white app that shows the general concept of the app.
• Mockup. The team develops colorful but static screens of the future app. Mockups include icon design, button shapes, spaces, etc.
• Prototype. The team creates an interactive model of the app that shows how the app acts. As a rule, prototypes give you an option to tap, swap, drag, and see the result. 

Choose tech stack

To develop your Spotify-like app, consider Spotify developer tools, like Python and JavaScript. Besides, Spotify uses PHP for the server-side and Java for the back-end structure. As we said, Spotify stores all the music files on the device cache. For this, use Cassandra, PostgreSQL, as well as a general memory caching system.

When looking for a clue on how to create a music streaming service, take into account that Spotify uses the following technologies:

• Kafka software for real-time data management and processing
• GraphWalker for model-based tests and Python integration
• Amazon S3  for cloud-based music streaming
• Dataproc  for platform infrastructure
• Chromium embedded framework for building UI for desktop application
• Bootstrap for web app development
• Nginx as open-source HTTP and proxy server
• C++ for Windows/Mac clients
• Java for Android music streaming app
• Objective-C for iOS  music streaming app

How to make a music streaming website?

You can empower your app with Spotify players by integrating Spotify player SDK. This library contains classes to stream management and audio playback. It takes on all the negotiation with Spotify’s back-end, digital rights management, and decoding.

[Spotnews screens]

We did such integration for our recent project, SpotNews. SpotNews is an audio streaming platform that provides personalized music content. The idea behind the app is to allow users to listen to their favorite songs while reading the news sections. 

We also used:

• Spotify SDK for authorization via the Spotify user profile
• Java Android SDK, Retrofit, Fresco, Crashlytics, and Realm to provide smooth app performance
• PHP, Silex, MySQL, Composer HTML5, CSS3, Twitter BootStrap, Jquery, Bower, Less, Nginx to moderate the news feeds via the Admin Panel

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Create audio streaming app MVP

At this stage, you will decide on your MVP (minimum viable product), and all the other details with your development team and you are ready to go.

When looking for ideas on how to create a music app, consider the following features for your music streaming app MVP: 

Feature	Integrations	Estimation in hours
Registration / signing up	Email Facebook Google+	From 32 hours
Profile user	Edit user profile Choose genre	From 36 hours
Social Share	Facebook	From 15 hours
Personalization	Pick-up algorithm that will choose the next music track for each individual user. Use ML to find  appropriate songs for users	From 100 hours
Music player	Key visual Music player functionality Play, stop, pause, forward, etc.	70
Track search	Search in connected music service	From 32 hours
Playlist manager	Create playlist Edit playlist	From 60 hours
Total		From 345 hours

The average development cost of a music streaming app like Spotify is about $40-50K per platform.

For a more detailed estimation, you can use our project cost calculator. Now you know how to create a music app like Spotify.

You might also like: HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO MAKE AN APP?

Take it to the test

After the application is ready, the team does in-depth testing to ensure the app runs smoothly. We usually implement it right after the app is prepared and approved. Plus, three months after release our developers can fix any issues occurred for free.

Wrapping up

The music streaming app market is growing, and its revenue is expected to reach $17.50 Billion by 2025.

Spotify is the leader among music streaming apps. It uses a raft of modern technologies to provide users with relevant music content.

While music streaming is a hot trend, you have a chance to get your share of the music streaming market, as Spotify did.  

But, to achieve success with your app, and be ahead of competitors, you need to get started asap. 

The last thing that remains is to find a development team. And we are here to help.

When we talk about healthcare data integration, emphasis is often placed on  components, such as EHR systems.

Sometimes, the problem isn’t about collecting data, but how to manage and use it easily. Imagine if everyone in healthcare used the same system for their data – that would make things a lot simpler, right? But, unfortunately, that’s not the case. 

Different companies use different systems and ways to store their data. Even within the same company, information can be fragmented across various systems. Mishandling of this data can lead to repeated information, inconsistent care for patients, or issues when trying to share it.

For everyone to be able to access it, we need to bring all that information in one place. This is what we call “health data integration.” But how do we go about it? Should we use systems like Redox or InterSystems, or just combine everything directly? Also, what issues might a clinic face while putting all this data together? Let’s dive deeper to answer these questions.

What Is Health Data and Why Integrate It?

Health data is information about an individual’s or population’s health. It includes aspects such as medical history, diagnostic results, and beyond. It also extends to environmental and behavioral factors that might influence medical outcomes.

In the past, doctors used to gather all the health information they needed when a patient came to see them. They would use this data to decide on the best treatments based on evidence.

But now, things have changed thanks to digital health technology. Doctors can now get important information much faster. Plus, they can use these new technologies to keep the information safe and make sure patients can access it easily. We have fitness trackers and health apps that help us collect facts outside of a doctor’s office.

In short, the main goal of health data is to make care better and less expensive. This is helpful to the patients and hospitals alike.

For instance, by predicting which patients are at risk of certain diseases, we can intervene earlier and prevent expensive treatments later on. It can also help avoid unnecessary or duplicate tests and procedures. Patients and healthcare providers thus save money.

According to Statista, the amount of global health data grew a lot in 2020. To give you an idea, in 2013, there were 153 exabytes of data (that’s a lot!) created. But in 2020, there were about 2,314 exabytes of new ones created. Now, think about how much more data we’ll have in the future, especially with big data technologies like AI and ML revolutionizing medicine.

Thus, it’s fair to say that combining all these different sets of information isn’t always easy. Before hospitals can use any of this data, they need to clean it up and make it standardized. This means making sure all the different bits of data fit together well.

Nonetheless, cleaning and standardizing data are only one facet of the problem. Let’s look at other challenges medical groups might face when they try to put all their information in one place.

Health Data Integration Challenges in Hospitals 

Research by Techcrunch shows that 44% of healthcare firms avoid data integration due to inherent risks and obstacles. Here are some of these challenges.

Healthcare data comes in many forms. This variety makes it hard to combine it from different sources. With no universal format, researchers often struggle to access valuable information.

Handling hospital records lacks a standard method, leading to potential data loss. Unclear data ownership rules compound this issue. Hence, strict protocols to standardize data handling and clarify ownership are a must.

Often, medical teams don’t fully understand the rules about keeping patient information private when they have to share it. This is why health companies in the US are making more efforts to follow privacy rules. Statista reported that more than half of the C-level execs said they are either updating privacy rules or training their workers as part of their plan.

Healthcare firms use many apps that hold similar data. But this asset isn’t always accessible across platforms. Even small discrepancies can hurt data-driven insights. Uniformity across apps, through compliance standards, is crucial.

New medical devices and wearables are increasing the number of data sources. But integrating information from wearables can be tough due to its format and privacy issues.

Another Statista survey revealed that in 2022, there were over 340 cases of health data breaches in the US. To give you a perspective, back in 2005, there were only 16 cases.

So what does this mean?

As technology and healthcare systems get more advanced, we also need to do a better job at keeping data safe. It’s super important for medical companies to protect their records from hackers. They have to follow the rules that are already in place.

For example, HIPAA gives guidelines on how to protect data. Differently, HL7 standards direct the sharing information between different healthcare providers’ apps. But how many of our medical institutions are really following these rules all the way? Are they really using the best ways to bring all their facts together? If you’re unsure, contact us to audit these questions.

Need more data?Keep reading. We’ll look at the best ways to integrate data, and you can see how this compares to what you’re doing now and figure out what you might need to add or get better at.

What Is the Best Way to Integrate Data? Redox vs. InterSystems vs. Direct Integration

At our company, The APP Solutions, we use Redox, Intersystems, as well as direct integration with systems like Epic and Cerner. At the end of this article, we’ll share a real-life example where we used this expertise to help a client.

But before we get to that, let’s compare Redox, Intersystems, and direct integration so you can understand what each one involves.

Redox stands out as a leading name in healthcare integration in the US. It ensures secure, real-time data sharing between over 400 software vendors and more than 4500 healthcare organizations across 90+ Electronic Health Records (EHRs), health information networks like Carequality, and more.

The Redox platform is a cutting-edge, standardized API that minimizes integration challenges, allowing health tech innovators to concentrate on building unique workflows and experiences.

• User-friendly: Redox provides a single endpoint. So, you write the code once and use it across any health system. All integrations, regardless of the EHR provider, will have the same appearance and functionality.
• Speedy: The design of Redox encourages reuse. It lets you benefit from the technical mapping and connectivity already established with over 4,000 organizations.
• Scalable: Hosted on AWS, Redox caters to the demands of its entire network. It processes over 750 million messages every month. In other words, you’re assured of dependable and scalable deployments.
• Tech supported: A dedicated team of specialists handles healthcare integration and data management. They work as an extension of your team. Everything from product design to implementation planning and long-term support are managed. 
• Secure: Redox holds HITRUST certification and is SOC II compliant.

Redox is available in the US and Canada and follows an annual licensing structure. It additionally includes a base platform fee and a cost per transaction. The cost depends on the expected total message volume and the complexity of transforming to JSON/FHIR. Early-stage digital health companies can avail of discounts.

Redox offers different subscription durations at varied costs. Please note that extra taxes or fees might apply. In case you need assistance with this question, schedule a call, and we’ll help you find the best solution for you.

All Redox plans come with developer tools and sandboxes. You get a centralized dashboard and transmission logs, and more alongside those.

Redox is available as Software as a Service (SaaS). The application is hosted and operated over the Internet by the vendor. Customers are billed for usage through their AWS account.

InterSystems runs on four main solutions. These are Health Connect, InterSystems Iris, InterSystems Caché, and InterSystems Ensemble. 

Health Connect is a versatile healthcare integration engine that supports high-volume transactions. It engineers process management and monitoring for crucial applications. You can use it as a Platform as a Service (PaaS) or for on-premises/private cloud.

Health Connect brings along benefits like 

• swift scalability;
• zero-downtime stability;
• faster interface development, 

They all translate to cost savings. Health Connect caters to healthcare delivery systems of all sizes, from small clinics to large, complex networks.

At the heart of Health Connect is an efficient, multi-model data engine. This smoothly manages different types of information at high speeds. Other functionalities are:

• interoperability by design;
• quick failover recovery;
• user-friendly HL7 schema editing;
• and a flexible security model, and more.

  HL7 INTEGRATION: A REFERENCE FOR ITS BENEFITS, IMPLEMENTATIONS, AND APPLICATIONSRead also:

InterSystems Ensemble consolidates all the data you need to capture, share, understand, and use within your organization. There’s no need to invest time and money in assembling multiple tools to gain a comprehensive integration environment. Ensemble has everything covered.

Every component of your integrated solution is stored as an object in Ensemble’s efficient, multi-model data repository. This provides a unified and consistent view of the systems, applications, and services that make up your solution, significantly reducing the complexity often associated with integration projects. This makes solution development faster and management easier.

InterSystems IRIS represents the latest evolution of the InterSystems data management suite. It includes all the features of InterSystems Caché and Ensemble tools, and adds a number of exciting new abilities. This makes it easier to create and launch applications for businesses that are based in the cloud, are analytics-focused, and require superior performance and scalability.

InterSystems Caché makes it easier to design and launch applications. It offers multiple options for high-availability, including a sophisticated mirroring approach, giving your applications a high level of reliability. You would require less hardware than solutions from other vendors.

Caché comes with a flexible security model that’s easy to adapt. It includes simple provisioning features, making it effortless to control who can access your resources.

The general framework of Caché is simple, and its powerful system management tools mean that you need fewer database administrators (DBAs) than with other databases. In many cases, you might not even need a dedicated DBA at all.

Epic and Cerner l are major companies that provide technology for health information. These systems help big hospitals and health services in the U.S. to save and share electronic medical records easily.

Integrating a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) into the Epic Electronic Health Records (EHR) system necessitates a detailed process. It involves six key steps and typically takes about a year and a half. This task needs a clinical expert or health data integration company who can lead the process.

Cerner, on the other hand, focuses on making data accessible everywhere. Their Interoperability service ensures that healthcare professionals can get the information they need, no matter where it comes from. This aids in sharing data across different health services.

The specifics of integrating either Epic or Cerner are quite complex. If you’d like to understand more about them and see how they compare, we recommend reading this article where we discuss their differences.

Action Plans for Tackling Data Integration

If you’re looking to weave together health information from various sources, it’s essential to have the right approach. Here’s what you can to effectively merge information at your healthcare practice.

To consolidate health data from various sources, make sure your technology can handle different data formats. Use integration tools (ESB or iPaaS) that can standardize this information, ensuring it’s accurate and easy to read.

Before merging data, review and update all information. This helps avoid integrating incorrect or outdated data. Back up all vital data to prevent any loss during the process.

Creating a structure for your data simplifies integration. Set up workflows for gathering, processing, cleaning, and sharing data from various systems.

These are storage solutions for data. They allow for data searching and analysis, although they work differently. Data warehouses are great for storing structured data, while data lakes can handle a mix of unstructured and structured data.

Data integration is an ongoing process. Determine which information needs to be integrated first and which can be done later to avoid disruptions.

Traditional IT systems in many organizations can’t exchange data with modern systems. In contrast, using cloud-based solutions can provide a unified view of data from different systems.

Consider how the end-user will see the data. This will help you present your findings in a meaningful way, making it easier for users to access and utilize the data effectively.

Health Data Integration with The APP Solutions: Orb Health Case

Orb Health provides a service that makes healthcare easier to manage for health centers, systems, hospitals, and unions. It helps improve patient results and makes the transition from traditional fee-for-service to value-based care smoother, without needing to add more staff or infrastructure.

The APP Solutions helped Orb Health to extend their service to more patients. We set up remote contact centers that are connected to electronic medical records (EMR), helping to provide a seamless healthcare service. 

Here are the solutions we delivered:

Redox Integration

Redox integration simplifies the process of connecting digital health products to different electronic health records (EHRs) systems, saving time and avoiding complications.

Genesys Integration

This solution allows existing workforce management software to easily integrate with other systems, which makes setting up a contact center quicker and easier.

Power BI Integration

We opted for Power BI integration so that the company could take data from various sources and turn it into clear and interactive insights. By doing so, they would better visualize and understand important data.

Data Security (HIPAA Standard)

Ensuring that sensitive patient data is stored securely was a top priority, and necessary to meet HIPAA standards.

As a result of these solutions, Orb Health saw significant improvements, such as:

54% | 22% ED / Hospitalization Decrease

• 70% Care Gap Measure Closure
• $6 MM Annually Medicare Savings Per 1k Patient
• 26% Overall Patient Savings

Conclusion 

Connecting health information is a special task for every company. If you’re thinking about using Redox, InterSystems, or direct integration, we suggest you engage an experienced team. At The APP Solutions, we assist health groups to surmont their integration woes and build interconnected systems for improved patient results.

 

Healthcare is an industry for which rapid implementation of innovations is as necessary as air and, at the same time, one where these innovations most often pass with pain and misery. The entire hefty system has long needed reform, but change has been too slow. The new touchstone is believed to be COVID-19. The scope of the disaster forced many medical institutions to change their work processes to help significantly increased patient flow effectively.

One option for dealing with the epidemic was Agile. This methodology’s flexibility has helped significantly improve and streamline the interaction between doctor and patient, medical center, hospital, and pharmacy.

What is Agile?

The term Agile came to healthcare and other industries from the IT field – from the need to smooth workflows in software development. About a quarter of a century ago, developers used the methodology of Waterfall, where the second part of the team could not start working until the first part was ready. Constant downtime did nothing to improve productivity.

Agile is a kind of team approach to project management. It is designed to increase team productivity by doing the work in small repetitive parts – sprints (usually a two-week period with specific goals and objectives, but iterations can be shorter and longer).

STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE ON MOBILE APP HIPAA COMPLIANCE

Next, a list of results is compiled, and the priorities of those outcomes are determined based on customer opinions (or clients, customers – depending on the field). Finally, when each sprint is over, the team and customers evaluate the work and make changes for future sprints.

That is, instead of relying on legacy processes that often led to long delays, Agile emphasizes building the product quickly with short sprints and using end-user feedback to make improvements.

Source

Operational communication between employees, and their vision of the situation at that moment, was placed at the center of the process – this allows a quick response and effective elimination of problems, as opposed to when employees strictly follow template instructions.

Thus, the connection between the customer/executor becomes stronger when the parties don’t go exactly according to the contract but rather, the circumstances.

Another practice of Agile is daily stand-ups. These check-in meetings unite team members to note progress toward sprint goals and identify any blocking or hindering factors. Each participant in such a rally should briefly discuss the work that has already been done, what they are currently doing, and what is preventing them from completing the next work phase.

Regardless of the specific application case, Agile helps companies move from a method where everything is carefully and diligently planned, to a technique that quietly breaks down those plans if necessary, immediately creating new ones and accepting changes.

 

What is Agility Healthcare?

In healthcare, most of today’s management, business planning, and information technology implementation processes aim to reduce the risk for organizations and are often inflexible to quickly adapt to new technological changes, resulting in incremental changes that fail to deliver much-needed transformation.

Digital innovations entrepreneur Martin Högl can confirm this – as he has encountered it in Germany. According to Martin, German healthcare is a highly conservative field.

You can learn more about thi from the CareMinds channel – The APP Solutions podcast. You’ll find other exciting guests there as well.

Agile in healthcare starts with ensuring patient satisfaction. At the same time, adopting Agile methodologies helps companies deploy functional applications quickly, accelerating flexible development processes.

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When to Use Agile in Healthcare?

Given the complexity and limitations, healthcare companies can benefit more from adopting an Agile methodology than other industries. Healthcare organizations are inherently complex adaptive systems. Multiple, medical and non-medical professions work with technology to meet the needs of virtually every patient who walks through their doors within an ever-changing regulatory and reimbursement environment, and with rapidly growing medical knowledge.

Agile does not dictate what medical teams should do. Instead, it offers guidelines to help teams decide how to prioritize work, communicate, and adapt to challenges along the way.

HEALTHCARE CYBERSECURITY: HOW TO PROTECT PATIENT DATA

In healthcare, Agile focuses on patient voices and developing the best solutions to satisfy those voices. To succeed, individual departments within organizations, such as business planning and information technology, must give their employees freedom and flexibility.

An Agile team comprises of clinicians, engineers, project and product managers, data scientists, and testers. Each team creates an iterative cycle to improve outcomes and increase value for patients, healthcare providers, and the system. At intervals, the team meets to review progress and identify bottlenecks and the means to address them. In addition, the team analyzes user experience to respond to feedback and promptly make revisions.

Teams start by discussing the “dream project” as the customer sees it. Then a start and finish line are formed – from what and to what they should come. And the points between these distances may undergo significant changes along the way, because when you bluntly follow a linear process, you risk falling behind your competitors, or simply getting a  different result from what was planned.

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This approach no longer works in the dynamic marketplace that the healthcare industry has recently become. Instead, there needs to be constant communication between everyone involved in the process, even those who have not yet started or have already finished their part. Everyone involved, from developers to testers, from engineers to doctors, from the delivery to the marketing team, must be in close contact at all times to avoid unpleasant surprises.

Agile allows healthcare companies to start adapting and innovating effectively in the field of:

• Patient care
• Clinical workflows and digital health technology
• Organizational strategies
• Clinical Operations
• Pharmacology
• Insurance Medicine

Teams can use agile to redefine the model of care for patients, taking into account their goals and needs. The Agile approach provides the means to explore, integrate, and adapt to new and emerging scientific knowledge and tools, as well as the ability to respond to the changing needs and expectations of patients and families to create a truly adaptive, responsive system of care. Innovative healthcare organizations are using this Agile approach to deliver patient-centered care.

The Benefits of Agile in Healthcare

Such a work structure (if it is done correctly) promotes a number of advantages.

1. Improving the quality of medical services – focusing on the patient’s needs. Now the patient can consult with a doctor without leaving home thanks to telemedicine. Patient monitoring and care are constantly being improved through adequate documentation in medical facilities.
2. The flexibility of communication/reaction – Agile healthcare eliminates unnecessary correspondence and reduces the time for organization and coordination. Different departments that consistently relate to each other can communicate effectively, resulting in simplified mechanisms and innovations that were not even planned for at first.
3. Introduces clear metrics, encouraging the team to self-organize, empowering it – all team members must clearly understand the scope of their responsibilities, which depends on their actions and on whom they depend (so there are no blockers and bottlenecks). KPIs are better tied to some kind of unit expression to make it easier to measure efficiency. Your staff must be trained to organize themselves and make decisions at critical moments.
4. Innovations – when introducing a new process, going through the cycle faster always plays into your hands. For example, developing and testing a new drug will be much more effective with constant checking and correction, rather than blindly following a plan that may end up being very different from reality. Agile teams quickly respond to difficulties and lapses, correcting them promptly.

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In moving to Agile, teams work directly with users for development and feedback, IT team members continue with initiatives rather than withdrawing from projects after the initial launch, and budgets and strategic plans remain as flexible as possible to accommodate the uncertainty inherent in the process. All of these initiatives have been woven into the fabric of the health systems using Agile methodology.

Teams do not follow prescribed practices or established tools, although they do use some organizational frameworks, such as Scrum, to plan their work. Prototypes, or minimally viable products, are prioritized to ensure early launch and experience; they are often initially deployed in a small area for improvement and data collection. Documentation in workflows, training materials, or code development is created as part of an innately collaborative process, fostering sustainability but with the initial goal of communication.

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Teams focus on vision and goals, both short-term and long-term, define key metrics and performance measures and engage in iterative work cycles. For example, teams change direction when data and user reports show that tools or services are not being used as intended initially, or when the user needs change.

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Implementation of Agile Principles: Step-by-Step Guide

How to implement Agile methodology in your medical institution? Here are some tips from McKinsey:

1. Define the goals – meet with the team leading the organization’s transformation into Agile. Then identify the overall strategic objectives of the enterprise and discuss how applying agile will help you achieve them. Plans may include targeted segment/market growth, improved value-based service models, and cost recovery opportunities.

2. Determine which part of your company is easiest to introduce Agile – for example, the development department. Start with changes there, gradually moving to more “conservative” teams.

3. Create a new model – identify the specific aspects that make up the stable backbone of your organization, then overlay dynamic capabilities and a model for agile teams and departments.

4. Introduce Agile gradually – start with general features and patterns and then refine those processes with each new iteration through feedback. Create space to learn and adapt in the field, then scale by moving target areas to a more agile model.

5. Improve – using the standard features of the methodology, use it in a way specific to your company.

Outcomes

Healthcare organizations can accelerate the introduction of new ideas and learning through the following key elements derived from Agile principles: using user-centered design to clarify the problems to be solved, key metrics, and potential solutions; empowering the team to quickly develop a usable prototype using a collaborative, disciplined approach and testing the initial implementation of early work; and adopting new ideas Agile includes testing and validation as an integral part of the product improvement process.

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In this way, Agile innovation tangibly contributes to revitalization in healthcare by helping:

• Multidirectional development of the industry as a whole

• Shorten the lead time for product MVPs

• Diversify the range of solutions by investing in new features or products

• Improve efficiency and reduce costs through productivity

• Respond quickly to customer/user requests and feedback

• Increase transparency in both clinical and non-clinical areas

• Qualitatively improve staff skills, promote staff autonomy

The APP Solutions builds any project based on Agile methodology because it has proven its effectiveness in communicating with clients and getting feedback from users. You can see the results of our work in the Portfolio. See also our case studies in the field of healthcare.

When people talk about cybersecurity and cybercrime, the first thing that comes to mind is financial fraud and bank security. However, what could be more important than the security of our data in healthcare? After all, it’s not about mundane financial well-being, but our physical condition, and even our lives. And it’s not so much a matter of someone possessing and taking advantage of our health data as it is of a doctor not being able to access such data on time. 

This is especially true since healthcare is second only to finance in the interest of cyberattacks. And, the cost of a data breach puts healthcare in the lead (according to HIPAA Journal – $408 per record, compared to about $148 in other areas). In addition, 21% of the consequences result in legal liability, 40% in loss of essential data, and 33% in outages. 

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What is Healthcare Cybersecurity?

Healthcare cybersecurity is an area of information technology aimed at protecting healthcare systems. These systems include electronic health records, health tracking devices, medical equipment, and software to deliver and manage care. 

Cybersecurity in healthcare aims to prevent attacks by protecting systems from unauthorized access, use, and disclosure of patient data. The main goal is to ensure the availability, confidentiality, and integrity of critical patient data, which, if breached, could endanger patients’ lives.

However, there is a global shift in health and human services, with more and more of these services being made available online since COVID-19. Accordingly, medical and paramedical processes, and all other areas, began to digitize as quickly as possible, which has happened before but not on such a scale or at such  speed. The catalyst, in the form of the coronavirus, has given a significant load of medical professionals not only offline but also online – telemedicine, e-prescriptions, and even remote surgeries. Thus, the need to optimize processes through digitalization has become evident. And when it comes to the secure storage of big data, the question of cybersecurity is bound to arise. 

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How Common are Cyberattacks in Healthcare?

According to Statista, the industry is expected to be worth $345.4 billion by 2026, up from $34 billion in 2017. In other words, the financial infusion into Healthcare Cybersecurity has increased tenfold in 10 years. Not surprisingly, Statista cites a study showing that in 2020, 17 percent of healthcare cyberattacks caused severe injury or damage to patients, and nearly 30 percent caused disruption of emergency services.

According to the HIPAA Journal, healthcare cybersecurity statistics show an 8% decrease in incidents in February 2022 compared to January 2022. Nevertheless, those 46 incidents affected 2.5 million people. As a result, the healthcare industry has lost $25 billion over the past two years. 

The number of breaches and affected people:

Source

Why is Cybersecurity a Problem in Healthcare?

By far, the most common type of cybersecurity attack is a money-making attack.

In addition to ransomware attacks on financial assets, the industry has seen invasions aimed solely at disruption, as well as attacks aimed at compromising user data. Recently, cybercriminals have been using indirect supply chain attacks to disrupt companies far beyond their original targets. 

There is a vigorous public debate that responsible government agencies simply cannot keep up with the scope and “quality” of the threats that must be met. In such an atmosphere, it is every man for himself, and private companies are forced to establish a system of protection on their own without being able to ask for help from government healthcare providers. There is an understanding that it is necessary to work proactively rather than respond to attacks after the fact. 

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The Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022 is designed to help with this, but it is too early to tell if it is effective. 

As a result, more than half of the world’s population does not trust healthcare providers to protect personal data. At the same time, in the U.S. the figure is much better – 80%.

The difficulty is that, in any clinic or hospital, there are many networks and digital complexes: EHRs, electronic prescriptions and decision support systems, intelligent heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, infusion pumps, and medical Internet of Things (IoT) devices, etc. All of these can be threatened by cybercriminals.

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Types of Attacks on Healthcare Organizations

Deloitte experts identified several threats faced by many healthcare organizations: 

1. Phishing. One of the most unsightly, and therefore most common, methods – links or attachments in emails infect computer systems with malware, which then spreads across the clinical network. 
2. Man in the middle. Cybercriminals infiltrate data transmissions and steal users’ personal information, resulting in severe damages and fines for privacy violations. Sometimes it’s much more trivial – attackers quickly gain physical access to the computer with the data. 
3. Attacks on network vulnerabilities. Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) cache poisoning, HTTPS spoofing, and other similar cybercrimes targeting wired and wireless networks that provide access to patient information.
4. Ransomware attack. Criminals not only encrypt data and extort money for decryption, but also block access to the entire clinical system, paralyzing surgical and life-support equipment.  
5. IoT attack. Personal patient information and high-tech connected medical devices used in invasive and noninvasive procedures can be attacked, as well as auxiliary equipment not directly related to medicine – smart elevators, intelligent heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, and infusion pumps.

Healthcare Cybersecurity Challenges

Indeed today, there is no medical institution that is not protecting the personal data of its patients, as they are required by law to do. But, undoubtedly, one of the most important challenges in this situation is the backwardness and complete irrelevance of such protection. Sometimes the so-called cybersecurity of an individual hospital can be compared to a cardboard wall that shields itself from a fire-breathing dragon. 

The reasons for this may be different – from the inability to allocate an adequate budget for protection to the banal connivance – “it won’t affect us.” 

One of the factors of such a challenge can be considered the forced pulling of your medical institution/company to the super modern standards of cybersecurity. Otherwise, no insurance company will want to cooperate with you to avoid their losses from attacks on you. 

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How to Improve Cybersecurity in Healthcare

To make the number and possibilities of cyber attacks less and less possible every year, you need to work systematically on the process of building your security. Cybersecurity solutions include endpoint protection, identity access control, data protection, and network security. These technologies are used to protect sensitive information and critical systems from attack. More specifically, these measures aim to protect against threats from inside and outside the organization. This underscores the need to view cybersecurity as a comprehensive strategy consisting of practices and technologies.

 

Thus, it is first important to implement technology and collect analytics regarding the frequency and nature of cyberattacks so that a preventive level can be triggered later. In parallel, fundamental security should be in place in any business or government institution related to the protection of citizens’ data – from the tax office to the online lingerie store – should not be forgotten. Organizations should adopt modern security measures, including multifactor authentication and privileged access management, to create a threshold level of security.

Another effective measure should be cybersecurity training for all staff from the lowest to the highest levels (hopefully, no one keeps their account password on paper under their laptop anymore) – how to keep themselves safe; which links to click and which not to click; which emails to open and which not to. How often to backup data and make software updates, what passwords should be, what is multifactor authentication, and what to do if a hacker attack still occurs. 

We would like to remind you that about a third of all data leaks are due to human factors – deliberately or not, an employee of a healthcare institution gives out the necessary data to malicious insiders. Of these types of leaks, twice as many are unintentional. In other words, the culprit is trivial human negligence. 

Clinics must control and monitor malicious file activity. To do this, they can implement systems that block unauthorized actions with data, prevent unauthorized email exchanges, prohibit the possibility of copying to external sources, etc. Unfortunately, the institution doesn’t find out about 39% of hacks until a month later; this situation needs to change urgently. 

Finally, endless testing is essential – APIs must be thoroughly tested before they can be trusted in healthcare systems to enable data sharing while maintaining internal security measures.

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Conclusions 

As times have changed, healthcare systems must change with them, which means more than just annual risk assessments and periodic tests. Each year we come to an increasing realization that the modern hospital is not just physicians and nursing staff, but also a complex system designed to automate, optimize, and store databases, integrated with pharma, biotech government, insurance, and financial entities. Breaking into this system would result in hours to weeks of paralysis, which is unacceptable due to the nature of the industry. 

As we advance, organizations and their technology partners must take responsibility for implementing robust, thoughtful technology and procedures, as well as regular testing and validation of systems. These measures are the best way to meet today’s cybersecurity requirements while preparing organizations for future events.

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These frameworks focus on:

• Describing the security situation and communication risks
• Identifying methods for dealing with cyber threats
• A plan for continuous improvement

Obviously, it’s too costly and impractical for the smallest medical center to keep its own cybersecurity staff. It’s better to outsource that kind of responsibility and not have to worry about anything. But to do that, you have to find professionals you can trust. 

The APP Solutions can find you a team of specialists who will protect against cyberattacks, regardless of the complexity of the product you need to secure. 

Credits to Depositphotos

Neobank is a logical stage in the evolution of financial institutions, which appeared in response to society’s demand to simplify services as much as possible and to minimize communication with bank employees. In essence, it is a rejection of misplaced scaling and an emphasis on marketing.

Today, every country with normal development of digital technology has at least one neobank. So, despite all the convenience and simplicity of the mechanism of work, the niche of neobanking is far from being oversaturated. And the earlier you dare to do something like that, the more chances you have to get an original product, which will have a lot of consumers.

However, do not forget that neobank is not just an application on your mobile but a complex of services requiring maximum security, a well-organized technical infrastructure, and the highest level of usability. Moreover, it requires a high-class development team and considerable investment to make the result worthwhile. 

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What is Neobank and its Workflow?

Neobank is a digital fintech institution that provides the usual banking services (loans, investments and savings accounts, credit cards) without being a traditional bank in the legal sense (no banking license). It has no physical offices and practically no cash machines because all the issues can be solved through a mobile app. The very principle of providing financial services in a digital format is designed to anticipate all the desires and requests of the user and solve them in a few clicks without long and tedious calls to support or – even worse – without standing in queues for a “live” consultant.

The best-known examples of neobanks are U.S.-based Chime and UK-based Revolut. By the way, the U.S. and UK are the top countries in this area by transaction value.

According to Statista, the market size of neobanks in 2021 with a forecast for 2022 and 2030 looks like this:

The market volume in 2021 was estimated at nearly $47 billion. The sector is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 53.4% through 2030 to reach $2.05 trillion. The average transaction cost per user in the neobanking segment will be $18.21 thousand in 2022.

The last five years have been a rapid development of alternative banking services. Part of the reason for these trends is the growing frustration of users with the complexities of traditional banking, which has led to a search for more straightforward and less expensive solutions. 

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What is a NeoBank in 2022?

There is still a perception that neobank is only for young people who understand digitally, but this is not true. In truth, Neobank’s target customers are men (58%) and women (42%) aged 25-44. The EU, Britain, and the U.S. are at the top of the list for downloads. However, an increasing proportion of the population aged 65 and older are also discovering the delights of digitalization.

For their audiences, neobanks take a friendly approach or so-called “new sincerity”. Customer service communicates with you as a longtime mate, not as an absolutely polite, aloof dialogue line. The application itself is built so that you can find any option in a couple of clicks, even if you have no idea where it is. There are gamification elements, no commissions, minimal interest, and favorable cashback, all of which encourage the customer to use neobank as much as possible. Such a beneficial environment is ensured by minimizing the costs of project infrastructure. 

Why Should You Start NeoBank in 2022?

NeoBanking has advantages that make the project profitable and repayable in a short period:

• A niche that is not fully filled

• Attractiveness for clients due to accessible communication

• Greater flexibility compared to traditional banks

• High investment attractiveness

You can create your own neobank from scratch or use a ready-made solution with additional functions and features that will distinguish you from your competitors. Neobank software is more flexible, allowing you to add and expand features faster than traditional systems. Neobanks rely on advanced process automation, web services, and APIs to provide banks and customers with high profitability, security, and flexibility.

You can also create a subsidiary of a conventional bank, but there are some differences. 

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What’s the Difference Between Neobanks and Traditional Banks?

It is important to distinguish between traditional banks offering online banking services and neobanks. As we have already mentioned, neobanks have no offline departments because the working principle is built, so there is no need for them. 

Legally, the regulator for conventional banks is the Central Bank, but for neobanks there are two regulators, the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank. Also, Conventional credit institutions can only operate with full banking accreditation, while a neobank can have both payment and financial certification, depending on the services provided.

One should also distinguish between neobanking and digital banking. If, for the first one, the mobile app is the only available form of existence, the latter is just one of the “avatars” of a traditional bank that wants to become more accessible and user-friendly. Neobanks perform the same functions as digital banks, but large financial institutions do not support them in the same way as conventional and digital banks. Instead, most are launched by private organizations and follow an online-only service model.

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With conventional banks going online, though, we can say that the line between the two types of financial services is already blurring. Representatives of traditional banks understand that they need to keep up with the times to retain their customers. But rapid change is usually impossible because of the growing gap between the current level of technology and their large-scale corporate systems. 

One solution is to create a dedicated neobank in which the parent bank takes over the regulatory environment and requirements. On the one hand, the parent takes on new risks, but on the other hand, the subsidiary can provide a broader range of banking and lending products, such as auto loans, mortgages, etc. In this way, you open up the neobank to your company’s existing audience. 

As an option, one of the IT giants, which is not directly related to financial services, can open its own neobank. One of the most popular neobanks in China, Alibaba’s MYBank, serves 35 million users and SMEs. The bank specializes in small personal and business credit services. 

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Developing a Neobank from Scratch

As with any financial product, developing a neobank should start with precise planning, and then follow the steps that are appropriate for creating every outcome. 

1. Having a well-formulated idea that is transformed into a business idea

2. Analysis of the market and competitors

3. Analysis of the target audience

4. Hiring an experienced team of managers and developers

5. MVP creation (from UX Design prototypes to testing and deployment)

6. Launch

7. Feedback gathering

8. Work on mistakes and support

If you have an idea at this stage, contact The APP Solutions company, which will help you investigate the market situation and hire a competent outsourcing team to create a product that will pay for itself in a short time. 

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Neobank Software Development from the Very Beginning

It is necessary to pay attention to the basic details, without which it is impossible to create a sustainable product. 

Every country has its peculiarities of legislation concerning the regulation of neobanking. Therefore, before you start implementing the idea, you need to understand all the aspects due to banking licensing and so on.

A financial product works not only with personal data, but also with the money tied to it. Therefore, the first priority is ensuring the appropriate level of security to prevent information breaches, such as with two-factor or multi-factor authentication.

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Since the primary use of neobank is through a mobile app, payments should be a couple of clicks away for maximum convenience, without filling out a whole bunch of boxes. 

For the payment gateway mentioned above to really work efficiently, you need integration with the most popular payment systems in the region. However, do not forget about security – when you integrate this or that system into your code, you must consider the risks that it can be hacked, and your customers’ data will go to fraudsters. So it helps if you are very selective when choosing partners.

Perhaps there’s no need to repeat once again how important a positive user experience is in a situation when this is the main feature of the application through which it presents itself. This includes everything from lightning-fast account creation and the same fast receipt of a card, to personalized banking services (the ability to buy cryptocurrency and shares, make investments, and take long-term and short-term loans). And all this with zero commissions and no hidden fees. 

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Must-have features for neobank 

What features should be present in your application to interest the user?

• Cashback (a nice little something to spend not only on yourself, but also to donate a small amount to charity at the end of the month, this is a very effective motivator)

• Dynamic CVV2 (as a means to further protect your finances)

• Expense reports and savings against goals (here, neobank takes over the function of the financial app, helping the users keep track of their balance)

• Referral program (one of the ways to get new users by getting existing ones interested)

• Cryptocurrency (an opportunity to integrate your crypto-purse into the application or create such a wallet right here)

• Paying bills (utility bills, apartment rent, car insurance – all of these can be paid with a single click, or you can set up automatic monthly/weekly/annual payments).

Can neobanks be profitable?

As of 2020, there were more than 300 neobanks launched around the world. Statista predicts that by 2026 the number of users will be 347.21 million, which is 4.4%. So as you can see, the market is far from saturation, and the growth prospects are excellent. 

By 2024, there will be 47.5 million digital-only bank account holders in the U.S., a 19.8% increase over 2020, and digital bank penetration in the U.S. will increase by 8.9% from 2020 to 2024.

Source

In addition, not all populations are yet reached. For example, neobanks are mostly aimed at young people who strongly connect to gadgets. But what about teenagers? They are also great with any app in a few minutes, but their reach in neobanking is still minimal.

If neobanks are so profitable for users, then how do they make money? Don’t be surprised, but one source of income is commissions. Yes, for the consumer, they are practically non-existent, and there is no deception here. Neobanks get a cut of the interbank commissions, only their mechanisms are more complicated and are not obvious to the customers.

Neobanks also introduce premium accounts for users who want more convenient services, from two-click medical insurance to VIP cards. What’s more, premiums can come in different levels, too. 

Due to favorable terms, loans in neobanks are much easier to get than in conventional ones, and the terms are better, so the pool of lenders is expanding very quickly. However, there are risks in the sense of unreliable clients. 

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If we are talking about the basic version of neobank, its creation, depending on the features, can cost you from $300-500 thousand. If you have a bigger budget, you can talk about additional options. Be prepared that, on average, the project takes about six months to complete. However, you can always speed it up if you need to and have the right resources. For example, if you agree to work on an out-of-the-box solution.  

In parallel, focus on marketing efforts to attract customers. Make sure you are appealing all the way through. Remember that the profitability of your neobank can be determined by the customer lifetime value (LTV)/customer acquisition cost (CAC) ratio. The higher the LTV/CAC ratio, the more revenue will be generated from each new customer. So, the most important thing is to keep your customers happy.

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What are the Trends of Neobanks?

In order to be one step ahead of your competitors, you need to understand which trends in the niche can be advantageous. Right now, when going through the natural neobank development process, you need to pay attention to the following points.

Even though neobanks are not banks in the usual sense of the word, their security is just as important. Digital banking uses biometric verification, encryption technology, and other security measures to protect customer and mobile data. They also provide highly secure features such as locking and freezing anytime through the app. That said, all security measures need to be configured to make usability easy, and customers face unnecessary steps during transactions or verifications.

You can go further and create your own security tool and software solution to protect customer data. However, it is highly recommended that you keep logs of access of everything that happens on your neobank platform so that your security team can review them at any time in the future.

The advantage of neobanking is the openness of its operating mechanisms compared to traditional financial institutions. And since the neobank has no physical branches, all information about services, rates, transactions, promotions, commissions, and much more must be presented and posted so that the client is sure to be aware of everything promptly.

AI is now present in almost every digital niche, and in financial services, there is no way without it at all. Neobanks are polling users about what they would like to get out of the app. It is important to analyze and anticipate the behavioral factors of your target audience so that the client only thinks of a feature and finds it has already been implemented into your app. This kind of thing helps to increase conversion rates. AI is also heavily used in online support chats and is improving every year.

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The bottom line

Neobank is a financial product that makes life much easier for people without bank accounts and those who can’t imagine themselves without dozens of financial transactions daily. Neobank manages to do it at the same time. 

To expand its audience without losing old customers, neobank has to offer new features and capabilities with enviable regularity. You can do this by working closely with a team of managers and developers who will work for the result, even after the project launch. And we at The APP Solutions can help you with that! So click the button below and tell us your idea; we are here to make it happen.

Credits to Depositphotos

Healthcare mobile app development is a complex and demanding job that requires maximum concentration and attention to detail. The cost of a mistake in such an application can be money, health, or even a person’s life. Hence, before taking on the development of such a project you need to consider many nuances and, in no case, release a faster, “raw” product. Therefore, we will try to tell you about the most important aspects and features of healthcare mobile app development.

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Mobile health is growing at a rapid pace these days. The demand for mHealth apps is driven by the growing prevalence of chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and obesity, as well as the increasing diffusion of digital health technologies. Among others, the monitoring services segment accounted for the largest share in 2019. Nonetheless, diagnostic services are projected to show the highest CAGR.

Covid 19 also contributed a lot to the spread of mobile healthcare apps. However, in 2017, about 64% of the U.S. adult population regularly used the app to measure health indicators. Still, there are some doubts about the confidentiality of personal information and data systems security. But this does not mean that such a suspicious audience cannot become a target – this will be another challenge for healthcare app developers in the cybersecurity field.

The healthcare app market is still far from being oversaturated due to its changes in recent years. Until a few years ago, the list consisted mainly of lifestyle and fitness apps. Now it is starting to include more and more apps focused on specific tasks. For example, working as a complementary medical app clinic or helping people with certain types of diseases. In the mobile health market, analysts have identified several main segments of applications designed for diagnostics, monitoring, prevention, treatment, and medical simulations.

What is a Medical App?

 So, what kind of applications can be called medical or those related (albeit indirectly) to your health?

First of all, these are applications that help users effectively manage their physical/psychological illnesses and fitness achievements, as well as keep records of hospital visits and insurance payments.

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Doctors, in turn, have their own goals when using mHealth apps. The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society names the tools most commonly used by doctors:

• Collect bedside data
• Monitor data from remote devices
• Transmit data and coordinate care continuity
• Conduct telemedicine visits
• Communicate with patients
• Integrate data into EMR

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As a result, Health IT Outcomes reports on a variety of usage trends by the physician and healthcare community:

• 93% of doctors believe mHealth apps can improve patient health
• 74% of the hospitals using mobile app devices to collect patient data are more efficient than those that don’t
• 42% of patients say they prefer digitally scheduling an appointment over calling their provider

 

With the reality of Covid 19, doctor visits quickly moved online. Furthermore, the clinicians themselves claim that 75% of calls do not really require the patient’s personal presence in the office, meaning most medical situations can be handled using telemedicine. This immediately gives tangible relief for ambulances.

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What is the Difference Between a Health App and a Medical App?

The difference between a health app and medical app is that health apps are designed to provide health-related services for all types of smartphones and communication devices, whereas medical applications are software on mobile gadgets that users can apply to regulated medical devices.

Types of mHealth apps

For patients:  

• Fitness and wellness apps
• Mental health apps (including meditation)
• Self-diagnosing
• IoT
• Applications for caring for the elderly and sick people
• Patient well-being diaries, vital sign monitoring (blood pressure, pulse, glucose, and cholesterol levels…)
• Health management apps such as hydration monitoring, calorie calculator, diet tips, etc.
• Social networking, health forums, and portals
• Assistants for pregnant women
• Womens’ health
• Telemedicine/Doctor on-demand
• Appointment and recipe reminders
• Medication management/Mood trackers/Sleep monitoring

STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE ON MOBILE APP HIPAA COMPLIANCE

For doctors:

• Medical resource and education apps that contain information about drugs, medical articles, or lists of symptoms
• Remote diagnostics
• Remote monitoring
• Communication
• Appointment management
• Telemedicine

 

The classification is limited to these two groups, but there is also a third cluster. These are medical applications for institutions that are somehow related to the medical industry.

• Clinical assistance apps with EMR and EHR access
• Appointment and scheduling
• Billing
• Inventory management

 

Is Mobile App Development Profitable?

The IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science report has found that the consumer digital health app market reached new records in 2020. Over 90,000 healthcare apps were released that year. In general, there are now over 350,000 digital health apps available to consumers in stores.

However, the quality of most of them is poor. The main disadvantages of many applications currently on the market include:

• Fuzzy structure that does not solve a specific problem
• Lack of clinical data
• Poor usability
• Non-observance of the rules of confidentiality and security

 

As a result, 83% of applications were installed less than 5,000 times, which together represent less than 1% of total downloads. Meanwhile, the Lucky Hundred Leader Apps have been downloaded over 10 million times. This is almost 50% of the total number of downloads.

Nevertheless, various healthcare mobile apps continue to storm the market. Health IT Outcomes predicted that global mHealth revenue would reach $49.12 billion by 2020.

According to a report by ResearchAndMarkets, the global mHealth market size is expected to reach $ 316.8 billion by 2027. Statista expects this figure to rise even higher – to $ 333 billion by 2025. The most optimistic forecast suggests that the global digital health market will increase to over 500 billion U.S. dollars by 2025. During this time, the health information technology segment of the industry should generate the largest revenue share, reaching some 280 billion U.S. dollars already by 2021.

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At the same time, back in 2015, Forbes wrote about one million telemedicine patients. By 2018, patient encounters had increased to seven million. This statistic shows the top-funded digital health categories worldwide during 2020. In that year, over 4.2 billion U.S. dollars of funding was provided for telemedicine, making it the most funded category.

Benefits of mHealth apps for business owners

As a health care business owner, you can increase customer loyalty. This will help you with:

1. Convenient functionality. Achieved by providing a quality product that will cover all “medical” needs from making an appointment to storing test results, from telemedicine to reminders to buy drugs. This will attract a new audience and increase the loyalty of existing ones.
2. Successful marketing. Increase customer engagement with self-reminders. For example, by creating a healthcare app for a specific hospital, you can attract more users with promotions, news, offers, and just being creative.
3. Knowledge of the client’s needs. Keeping personal information in your app is the easiest way to collect customer data to improve user experience.

KEY DIFFERENCES IN EHR VS. EMR VS. PHR: WHAT TO CHOOSE FOR YOUR HEALTHCARE ORGANIZATION

Ultimately, the development of a healthcare app helps not only improve a particular hospital’s business processes more efficiently, but also improve the image of both the hospital that ordered the healthcare mobile application development, and the company that developed it.

 

Healthcare Mobile App Development vs. Covid

The PWC “Medical cost trend: Behind the numbers 2022” report suggests that coronavirus isn’t the only thing affecting the health of Americans. Lack of exercise, poor diet, increased use of psychoactive substances, and smoking…all can lead to poor health in the U.S. population and increased health care costs.

At the same time, App Annie statistics show that there has been a surge in downloads of medical apps in the months of isolation. These country statistics compare downloads in the “peak” local month, with January 2020 considered the benchmark month. The world average is 65%.

Interestingly, the most significant surge was in South Korea. There, the number of downloads increased by 135%! India’s official tracing app might also be responsible for the 90% upswing we see in that market. We see lower but still significant growth in the European and North American markets as well.

WHAT IS FEMTECH IN HEALTHCARE

This speaks of both the level of fear felt around the world and desire to be as aware as possible in uncertain times. However, government agencies are using apps as a platform for managing and tracking outbreaks.

Number of health and fitness app users in the United States from 2018 to 2022 (in millions):

How to Build an Effective Medical Mobile App

 About 30% of startups make it to the 10-year mark, with one in five failing in the first year, and the percentage of failed healthcare startups even higher. As mentioned earlier, the most important reason for failure is the inability to identify the target audience, its problems, and how to solve them. In other words, healthcare apps are often not needed at all.

Therefore, in order not to fail, you should clearly define ‘why’ and ‘what’ you are doing. Such simple questions, but the above statistics say that not everyone is asking them.

The process of developing a mobile app can be divided into an almost infinite number of stages. Here are the most basic ones:

• Shaping an idea
• Market Research
• Making an MVP
• Design process

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Make sure your mobile healthcare application solves a real problem with enough people. Then, form a clear target audience to further direct all available advertising methods to it. Finally, define a list of features that will only be in your application, and also a list of reasons that prevent you from becoming the best right away.

Conduct detailed research of your competitors to understand their strengths and weaknesses. In this way, you don’t have to waste time adding a new feature your customers are asking for or removing any old parts that nobody needs.

MICROSOFT CLOUD FOR HEALTHCARE: HOW MS CLOUD SOLUTIONS ARE BENEFITING HEALTHCARE ORGANIZATIONS

 

Healthcare App Development

Before starting work on the healthcare app, we recommend you think about such challenges that you will definitely have to solve within healthcare mobile app development: 

• APIs and integrations
• Data encryption
• Multiple devices and channels
• Security and privacy

 

There is nothing more important to do in the development of healthcare apps, than solving these problems.

Start healthcare mobile app development with MVP. This version should include the basic functionality of any healthcare app. But, of course, it all depends on what type of medical healthcare software you are building. For example, some are exclusively engaged in tracking health indicators, some order medicines for you in pharmacies, and some banally remind you that you need to drink another glass of water. But if you want to create an application that will perform many functions at once, think about the features below.

THE APP SOLUTIONS – CUSTOM HEALTHCARE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT COMPANY

Tracking

The doctor and user should be able to independently enter health indicators – height and weight, sugar and cholesterol levels, heart rate and blood pressure, regardless of whether these indicators are measured at home or in the laboratory.

Scheduling

When a patient knows that he has the opportunity to independently book a visit to the doctor in a matter of minutes, he will do it much more willingly than when he needs to call, clarify something and wait for an answer. With this approach, it is easier to miss a visit than to struggle with an appointment. But, of course, we don’t want that, do we?

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Notifications and reminders

If the planned visit takes place in a month, or even six months, it is easy to forget about it as well as being reminded to take a pill that you need at a specific time.

Personal account

Allow patients to add their personal information (name, gender, age, etc.) Along with that, permit them to add their health biomarkers and help track them.

Chat and Communication

Allow the doctor to correspond with the patient to enter the conversation results into the necessary documents. To do this, you will need to integrate your healthcare mobile app with the doctor’s software or platform.

WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN HEALTHCARE?

[The APP Solutions layout for a healthcare mobile app]

Telemedicine options

Often correspondence alone is not enough. As mentioned above, video chat with doctors is gaining more and more popularity as it saves time for both the doctor and patient. And, the latter is also not at risk of catching any virus if he doesn’t have to come to the hospital in person.

Geolocation

Allow the patient to find a specialist doctor with good reviews near their location.

File Storage

Hospitals need to create an EHR system to store files securely. As you develop your mobile app, allow users to store their medical data and files.

These can be prescriptions, ECGs, doctors’ recommendations, medical bills.

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Security

A big problem is the distrust of many people in the safety of their data, especially in such an “intimate” sphere. Therefore, place special emphasis on this, do not spare the money spent on security.

Integration with wearables, social integration

Integration with Apple Watch, “garter” to selected social networks.

Search

Create a filter system that can help you find a specific doctor by last name or choose the most suitable one by specialization, location, cost of the visit, etc.

Ratings and reviews

We have long been accustomed to rating the services of taxi drivers and couriers. User feedback about which doctor or hospital will be extremely helpful to future patients and motivate nursing staff to perform even better.

HEALTHCARE APPS DEVELOPMENT: TYPES, EXAMPLES, AND FEATURES

HIPAA Compliant Messaging

The business owner must clearly understand which region they are targeting with their medical app. Where and what kind of correspondence should you pay attention to?

• HIPAA (The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability). The most common rules in the United States were governing confidentiality, integrity, and availability of all electronically protected medical information.
• GDPR (The General Data Protection Regulation). A set of rules adopted and operating in the European Union since 2018. All medical mobile apps must adhere to the provisions on the protection of personal data prescribed in the document. The GDPR applies to both the companies that collect the data and those that process it.
• CCPA (The California Consumer Privacy Act). An analog of the European GDPR. The law includes informing the client about what data is collected, preparing a free report on the collected data at the client’s request, and deleting the collected data at the client’s request.
• PIPEDA (The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act). A policy designed to safeguard patient privacy in Canada. More often than not a healthcare app that is “confused” with standardization, according to the GDPR, will work with PIPEDA as well since the provisions are very similar.

Payments

You need to decide how you plan to receive income from your medical mobile app. Choose a Monetization Model.

• In-app ads. The healthcare app has no paid options, and it earns by displaying ads
• Freemium. Basic healthcare application options are free, and you need to buy additional exciting features
• Subscription. Users pay only when they use the mobile apps, subscribing for a week, month, year
• Paid. One-time payment for the healthcare app upon purchase

 

Also, do not forget about those payments that are made between the patient and medical institution. It will be excellent if your healthcare app allows you to pay for doctor visits, order at the pharmacy, and so on.

Only 5.76% of apps are paid, and that number is falling every quarter. As a result, Healthcare apps are usually not monetized and serve as an add-on service in and of themselves.

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What tasks should healthcare mobile apps perform?

The most popular healthcare app functions are:

• Improving health data gathering
• Providing timely care, despite the location
• Minimizing medical mistakes
• Lowering spending for healthcare providers and patients
• Improving communication between physicians and patients
• Increasing customer loyalty and engagement
• Providing time-saving features for medical staff

 

UI/UX Design in medical mobile app development

When create a medical app design, you need to remember you are making them for a “sensitive” target audience. Remember that your healthcare mobile application may be used by older people who are not good at all these “newfangled things.” Also, users can be people with specific mental and physical disabilities. Accordingly, in this case, you need to focus on an intuitive interface as never before.

Minimize the number of actions the user must take to complete the task. For example, you can group related content to make it available with one click.

[The APP Solutions layout for a healthcare mobile app]

We recommend using cool colors for the background, warm colors for markers. You shouldn’t use more than three different fonts – choose their sizes following the target audience. The font color should be easy to read and contrast with the background of the healthcare app. Avoid using colored fonts as their visibility is poor. Usually, the best choice is black or dark gray on a light background. It will not be superfluous to accompany the pressing of buttons with characteristic sounds.

And of course, don’t forget about responsive app design!

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Trends in mobile medical software development

In whatever year your healthcare app is developed, it should always remain up-to-date. To do this, you need to track trends, the successful implementation of which will allow you to bypass the competition. And most importantly, both doctors and patients benefit from this.

AI

It is difficult to find an area in which AI technologies would be inapplicable. However, it was a medicine that became the flagship of this trend. Moreover, these are not always global tasks, such as how to overcome cancer. As a rule, these are simple administrative tasks that are not noticeable at first glance, but they free up a lot of time for medical staff to plan – optimizing their work.

With the help of the ability to analyze vast amounts of data, artificial intelligence can identify the most critical patients in a group with similar symptoms or, based on practical experience, prescribe appropriate treatment to a new patient. Artificial intelligence can diagnose diseases, and can also recommend medicines. And of course, where would we be without chatbots!

Blockchain

The healthcare blockchain is used to manage electronic health records, conduct clinical and biomedical research, monitor patients remotely, improve insurance and billing procedures, and analyze medical data. In addition, the blockchain ensures that all transactions are conducted confidentially and without third-party intervention, which is HIPAA and GDPR compliant.

The Internet of Things (IoT)

By 2025 there will be a total of 41.6 billion connected IoT devices, which means there will be more connected “things” than people. And this is not the limit. Thus, more and more medical ecosystems will be created, simplifying the interaction between doctor and patient. For example, the doctor will be able to conduct remote examinations of internal organs and progressive diseases. Likewise, the hospital management will monitor and take into account medications and the use of special equipment.

Patient-Generated Health Data (PGHD)

This is information that the patient enters on their own, or with the help of family members, to the healthcare app. At first glance, this is not the best solution since it is not known how honestly, correctly, and objectively the patient will enter data about himself. A doctor would, of course, do this much more accurately. Nevertheless, the practice has shown that this is a working scheme. And again, a win from all sides. 

For example, a patient with a chronic disease monitors his indicators, diligently entering them into a mobile healthcare app. A doctor can go there, quickly go over all the details and decide whether to adjust the treatment. This solution significantly reduces the burden on clinicians.

Telemedicine

You may say that this is not a trend. Video communication with a doctor has become a habit for a long time. However, it was in the era of  coronavirus that telemedicine became more relevant than ever. Not surprisingly, 42% of adults in the United States say they prefer to have their sessions with doctors online, so they don’t end up in danger. As already mentioned, the most money is now being invested in healthcare mobile app development with this function.

In addition, telemedicine covers the needs of that part of the population that lives far from medical facilities. But this can work not only within one country. As a result, video communication with qualified doctors has become a real salvation for underdeveloped countries. In such conditions, the apparent shortage of doctors in failed states has noticeably improved.

VR/AR

It’s no secret that virtual reality creates the effect of presence. So how does it help in healthcare? There are many areas – from creating conditions for training surgeons to the bland feeling of being in a fitness club. The fantasy of healthcare app developers is unlimited.

The APP Solutions and mobile app development services

Our company has already been developing mobile healthcare apps for several years. Therefore we have something to offer you – we keep up with the trends, develop innovative and original solutions and bring your wishes to fruition. Among the services we provide are:

 

• Medical Practice Management Software
• Electronic Health Record Software (EHR/EMR/PHR)
• E-Prescribing Software
• Healthcare CRM
• Data Management/Warehousing
• Predictive Analytics Software
• HIPAA/GDPR Compliance
• Medical Devices Integration

[The APP Solutions layout for a healthcare mobile app]

Check out our portfolio and choose your preferred method of cooperation. The APP Solutions team will do everything to make it as fruitful as possible.

 

Outcomes

Despite the significant number of healthcare apps that flood the market every year, this is far from the limit. All over the world there is a trend towards taking care of one’s health. Covid 19 was the impetus for improving the systematization of patient data in the healthcare sector. Global digitalization has created whole new directions; maybe something new will appear soon that you will come up with and our company can help you implement your idea in healthcare mobile app development!

The medical field in the United States was one of the first to be affected by universal digitalization, which had a positive effect on patient treatment. However, perfection knows no limits, and ordering medical records is the first step to a “bright future,” which is impossible without technology development.

Please dive deep into our Podcast with Jeff Fried, Director of Product Management at InterSystems. You can gather insights about EHR integration like Epic with the use of InterSystems technology.

The APP Solutions is a long-standing InterSystems partner, and we use InterSystems technology to integrate with 99% of EHR systems within the US. This is the quickest and most affordable way to solve all your interoperability challenges.

What does Epic Software Mean?

Epic Software is an application created to help doctors and other healthcare professionals (insurance agents, pharmacists) effectively manage electronic medical records and track any information that is in any way related to a patient’s health. Such software helps access data much more quickly, not prescribing unnecessary tests or drugs that can cause side effects, etc. Epic software helps to significantly improve business processes.

According to statistics, in 2022, Epic named top EHR 12th straight year in nomination “Best overall software suite”. Isn’t that compelling enough reason to incorporate the system into your application?

What is EHR/EMR Integration?

EHR (electronic health records software) and EMR (electronic medical records) are medical records systems. Despite the similarity of concepts, they still have a defining difference that affects the degree of compatibility due to the amount of information. EMR contains data maintained by one doctor or group of doctors from one medical institution; as soon as you go to another hospital, you need to start all over again. 

The EHR absolutely systematizes all info from any medical personnel that has ever been entered into the system. Any doctor anywhere in the country can view the current data or send it to colleagues when needed.

KEY DIFFERENCES IN EHR VS. EMR VS. PHR: WHAT TO CHOOSE FOR YOUR HEALTHCARE ORGANIZATION

EMR/EHR epic integration simplifies the life of medical staff and patients, allowing them to download the entire medical history of a person in seconds, and saves time on various burdensome but necessary formalities such as filling out personal and insurance information.

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Does Epic have an API?

You can integrate your software with EHR (which we have found will give your product a huge advantage) in several ways:

• HL7 (Health Level Seven) – a set of international standards that issue recommendations for the transfer and exchange of data between medical institutions and other healthcare providers
• FHIR API (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) – preferably for iOS 
• Middleware
• Personal EHR integration modules created by your developers

CASE STUDY 

A White-Label Telemedicine Platform – organizing data transmission in FHIR HL7 standard for health care data exchange using FHIR HL7 infrastructure

OTHER CASE STUDIES:

Calmerry Online Therapy Platform

Orb Health – Сare Management As A Virtual Service

BuenoPR – 360° Approach to Health

But Epic is the most optimal because interoperability is easier to achieve using EHR solution providers’ public or open API. And the exchange of data between Epic EHR and your product takes place using the Epic API.

API is an application programming interface, a set of rules for working with data. With its help, you can understand how to retrieve info and send it back in each case. It acts as a kind of intermediary between the application and the EHR/EMR system.

Upon receiving a specific request, the API relays it to the system. It then receives, processes, and issues a response containing all the necessary information about the patient in a unified approved format USCDI (The U.S. Core Data for Interoperability). 

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This standardization is part of the Affordable Care Act. It allows the creation of a homogeneous data set so that information does not get confused, and any doctor can quickly and easily figure it out.

***

Want to learn more about EHR integration? Watch our podcast with the expert Jeff Fried, Director of Product Management at InterSystems.

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How to Integrate Your Health App with Epic EMR/EHR Systems?

First, think about the server where your application is stored. Next, check the compatibility of the sites from which you are going to collect information. Make sure the EHR/EMR supports these sites. 

FHIR STANDARD: THE CRUCIAL HEALTHCARE DATA SOLUTION FOR SECURE INTEROPERABILITY

The next step is to create an account at Uscdi.epic.com, which we mentioned earlier. This is required to access the API key. Confirm your identity; it is important to protect data transmitted encrypted via the SSL protocol. 

Check if the API will have the necessary endpoints so that, at some point, your application does not stop receiving data from the system. Check everything from medical history to allergy markers. You will see the API key on the website, which is best tested to see if all endpoints are working as expected.

Include API calls in your application code using endpoints. After everything is implemented and tested, you can take advantage of the Epic EHR/EMR integration.

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The Benefits of Integration EHR/EMR

 Among other preferences, we wanted to emphasize again:

• Quick access to any medical institution. Doctors don’t always have the opportunity to see a patient in their office; sometimes, they have to go out and work with no computer with available data. The implementation of Epic EHR allows viewing everything from a smartphone. With Epic, healthcare providers exchange more than 200 million records each month.
• Cost optimization. The Epic API is easier to integrate than HL7 or CCD. In the latter case, the developer must write a lot on his own; this significantly affects the project’s cost. Whereas Epic syncs with EHR/EMR for free.
• Scalability. With Epic’s electronic health record integration, you can easily resize your database. It is helpful for medical organizations such as intensive care units, where patients are under constant supervision, resulting in many entries.

KEEP A PULSE ON EPIC APP ORCHARD AND HOW IT BENEFITS THE HEALTH SYSTEMS

Who Needs Epic EMR/EHR Integration?

In addition to the above cases, the Epic USCDI API is the best fit for applications focused on remote patient treatment. For example, telemedicine. The patient does not need to collect all of his data from different clinics to forward it to the appropriate specialist. The doctor will find where to get them.

Epic EHR/EMR integration is also suitable for patient management, which tracks and controls treatment plans. When a patient’s medical history is reviewed, the app retrieves baseline and current clinical data (drug status and test results) and tracks changes.

 Source

THE APP SOLUTIONS – CUSTOM HEALTHCARE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT COMPANY 

Which Healthcare Organizations don’t Need Epic EHR/EMR Integration?

Note: if your software requires more than just retrieving data, you need to consider other APIs, because Epic only allows you to view the data, not make edits! Thus, if the attending physician is going to add new or correct existing information, remember about HL7, FHIR API, etc.

Epic is also not suitable if you need data synchronization or extensive analytical data (as a rule, there will be no overload with data on one patient). Also, Epic is not suitable for patient-oriented applications, as the information stored in the EHR/EMR is primarily for physicians.

Among the many different applications, games have been the undisputed market leaders for several years. However, this does not mean that smartphone owners prefer only to have fun. According to Google, back in 2016, 73% of smartphone users used at least one finance management app. And already AppsFlyer pointed to a 354% growth in the popularity of personal finance apps in the 5 years from 2014 to 2019.

In addition, the emphasis is on the fact that it is mobile applications, not web versions, that are now a more promising segment. According to Allied Market Research the U.S. personal finance software market size was valued at $232 million in 2018 and is expected to reach $343 million by 2026, registering a CAGR of 5% from 2019 to 2026.

What is a Finance App and Why do People Need Them

Al finance app, also known as money management or budget app, is a mobile personal income/expense tracking application with a variable functions set that allow you not only to control personal spends, but also advise where to invest. So the user can not only save, but also earn.

All accounts, bank cards, e-wallets, and other money custodians are collected in one place. The information is systematized, analyzed, and the user observes his/her expenses on charts and diagrams ad oculos. If the first created financial apps required a person to contribute all their income and expenses, everything could be done automatically. Every cup of coffee and every donut counts – they shall not pass! However, manual versions of money management apps are still in demand. Financial apps help:

• Take control of your spending
• Save money for a substantial purchase
• Collect an amount for a rainy day
• Deal with tax charges
• Get out of debt with the least losses

The same Google statistics suggest that users abandon half of the applications because they find something more interesting, suitable in functionality, and meeting current needs. On average, users who decide to control their finances tend to download 2-3 apps because they cannot find all the functions they need in one place. Is this not a reason to create the “perfect” application for your target audience? And The APP Solutions can meet this challenge.

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Types of personal finance apps

As we have already mentioned above, most often, budgeting apps are divided into two types:

• Manual (simple)
• Automatic (complex)

In the first case, all data is entered by the user himself. In the second, electronic transactions provide such information to the personal finance app.

The advantage of manual budgeting apps can be called a “psychological” moment at which the person driving all the expenses realizes that some of them could have been avoided. Accordingly, he/her has a better idea of ​​what to save on and where to fork out. Such applications are more secure in terms of security. Plus, their interface is much simpler. Among the minuses is the human factor. The user can not only make a mistake when entering data, but also banally forget to enter something.

In contrast, automatic management apps do not forget anything (unless the payment was made in cash and is not registered) and save time. Security issues can arise, but if you invest in good cyber defense, nothing will happen.

Accordingly, the first type of personal finance app is much easier and cheaper to develop. But in the future, the second may be more advantageous due to broader functionality.

Note that fintech applications also include:

• Peer to Peer Payments App
• Full-Service Banking App
• Money Investment Management App
• Financial Management Software
• Bookkeeping Software
• Financial Forecasting Apps

However, here we will be talking solely about personal money management apps.

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How a Personal Finance App Makes Money

How can you earn money on a finance app? Well, the most obvious way is to pay for it, invite potential customers to get a monthly or yearly subscription. However, for users to understand what they are paying for, they need to be given a trial period or make the basic set of features free for all time – the so-called freemium model.

For example, one of the most popular personal finance apps in the world, Mint, is available for free, but for a fee, you will receive, not only a set of more advanced features, but also personalized offers. The AI ​​of the application, based on the financial situation, makes calculations and, based on them, offers the most relevant investments, loans, credit cards and types of savings that would ideally suit a particular user. And U.S. users for a separate monthly subscription get the opportunity to communicate with a live financial advisor.

Another easy way to make money on a financial application is an affiliate program (advertising, which can be turned off for a nominal fee).

A personal finance app vs. Covid 19

Deprived of the opportunity to spend money offline for a long time, confused people worldwide have reduced their spending. However, now, when the market is slowly recovering and people are happy to leave their homes, the mood to spend what they have not spent encourages impulsive purchases. To control themselves, many users download personal finance apps.

Even without the peak of Covid restrictions in 2019-2020, the Asian market grew significantly – weekly use of fintech applications in Japan grew by 55% between December 29, 2019, and March 1, 2020. Whereas in Western Europe and the United States (only 20%), money management applications were used less often. In France and Spain, the growth was zero.

This suggests that emerging markets are more promising for budget mobile apps. So, among the attractive countries, Apptopia analysts named Brazil, Turkey, and Ukraine. That is, countries where the general level of financial literacy of the population and its training in educational institutions leaves much to be desired, which causes users to need money management apps.

What is the Best Personal Finance App

According to Investopedia, the best financial mobile apps at the moment are:

At the same time, in addition to the budget management apps listed above, Forbes advises Personal Capital, Good Budget, Stash, Honeydue, Digit… All of them received a score of 3.5 out of 5 and higher. Each personal finance app has its own strengths.

How to Create a Budgeting App that People will Want to Use

What do users want to see in the perfect finance app? In fact, many of them initially don’t even know what they want. They just download the apps recommended by friends or ratings and see how easy or difficult it is to figure out how to use it, exclaiming along the way: “Oh, this is an interesting thing, I didn’t even think it was possible. Well, I’ll use it.”

Remember that finance isn’t always a deeply personal, intimate topic. Many couples have all their accounts in common. Also, a lot of parents want to teach children from an early age financial literacy through gadgets, because in the digital era, not textbooks, but smartphone screens for children have become the best teachers.

So, when developing a concept it is best to contact competitors who are already working with your target audience. Your money management app should balance between information content and simplicity that won’t scare an uninformed user the first time they open it. Keep in mind that a financial application must meet these criteria:

• Minimalistic interface. Study your audience. Your task is to ensure that any option in the personal finance app is within a 3-step accessibility maximum. Make the home page as simple as possible, and at the same time, visually attractive so that there is a desire to download your budgeting app from the first screen.
• Comprehensibility. Each hierarchy should be logically built. Each schedule should be clearly substantiated. The financial due diligence process should be as fast and straightforward as possible since people use financial applications on the run.
• Micro animation. It helps to better explain what you want to focus the user’s attention on. Various buttons, sliders, dynamic charts, and other interactive elements, help to  show more clearly the success and gaps in a person’s budgeting.

Separately, we’d like to note how important two-way communication with the client is. If your finance app has technical support (even if not round-the-clock, and in a chatbot-form), this will significantly elevate you over competitors.

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Trends in personal finance app development

In addition to the standard set of options found in every second budget app, it is very important to keep up with the times and try to win with attractive features that will make your budget application even more attractive.

Consider implementing artificial intelligence first. Algorithms will help the application form personal advice for users: indicate excessive spending, suggest how best to manage the rest of the monthly budget, advise how to build your budget in accordance with the goals of each specific user…

Another important point that a wide variety of personal finance apps have increasingly begun to implement is voice commands. Agree that voicing your expenses and the categories you need at the moment is much faster than typing them.

The easiest way to achieve the maximum simplicity of the money management app mentioned above is to place the expense history on the main page. In the overwhelming majority of cases, this is exactly what users come for, so now it has become a trend among budget apps.

Do not offer users a simple cost calculator – often, these are people who have no idea how to save their money. Instead, give them a clear outline that will allow them to streamline their spending, see their gaps, and correct mistakes from the very first month of using the budgeting app.

Finally, to attract as many users as possible to your side, introduce an element of gamification so that the boring practice of balancing an account will become an extraordinary incentive for the user. Reward the user for fulfilling the plan on a monthly budget, help the user playfully achieve the desired result:

• Add the option to “compete” with family and friends
• Make an attractive visualization of savings growth so that the user can literally feel and see the increase in their income
• Add a strategy element to the application.

 

For example, personal finance apps like Nestlings and Fortune City may entice you to make smart financial moves to advance your virtual characters’ storylines. If this approach is made correctly, the application is bound to succeed!

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Psychology of personal finance management

For the target audience to hire us for jobs to be done, you need to understand what an ordinary user expects from personal finance applications. There are two main groups among users of budgeting apps.

• Spenders
• Savers

 

Those who cannot control their budget without help, and those who know how to distribute their expenses correctly, like to track the dynamics of cash receipts and spending visually.

As practice shows, it is better not to be limited to one of these two groups but to work with both at once. Help spenders keep their money within limits so that they don’t exceed their salary. And show savers what useful things they can do with their saved money. Debt is bad. Emergency funds are good. Overdrawing your account is bad. Earning interest on your savings is good.

With a set of useful options and minimalistic design, you should be able to catch even people who are not interested in financial applications, who are scrolling through Apple Store or Google Play Market in search of useful applications.

What people expect from a money management app

In order that your budget app is wanted to be downloaded and not abandoned after the second entry, you should focus on the user’s needs, both in form and in content. An application should not only keep up with the times in terms of technology and UX/UI design but also offer users the options they need, including:

• Simple authorization and personal account without redundant functions
• Ability to bind to bank cards, integration with banks, scan checks
• Transactions history, as well as their tracking, viewing balances on accounts and cards
• Limit on spending – per day/week/month
• Categorization of expenses for food, clothing, rent, taxi, household appliances, unplanned expenses
• All conceivable and inconceivable reports and statistics in dynamics (comparison of spending with other family members or a certain product in different stores)
• Setting goals and tracking progress
• Tips on financial literacy, such as how to save up for a large purchase
• Reminder about paying taxes, fees, fines, etc.
• Standard features of any fintech app: calculator, currency converter, exchange/cryptocurrency indices, regular payments calendar, etc.
• Payment templates
• Search
• Backup (is a must!)

But the most important thing is safety. According to Google statistics, 30% of financial applications succumbed to hacker attacks. In this regard, always build budgeting apps with a secure cloud infrastructure, conduct penetration testing and security audits. When building a personal finance app it’s important to pay attention to PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) and GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). And, of course, choose trusted developers to collaborate with.

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Personal Finance Management Mobile App Development

First, you need to understand what kind of team you need to develop a financial application. This usually includes:

• Project manager
• Android developer
• iOS developer
• Front-end developer
• Back-end developer
• QA engineer
• UI/UX designers

You will work closely with this team for the next six months (the time may vary depending on the number of team members and your willingness to invest).

App development process: a step-by-step guide

The algorithm for creating a budget application is not very different from making any other. Specificity with emphasis on safety. Otherwise, as always, you need to go through a similar algorithm of actions.

1. Market research and analytics 
2. Development process
3. Security
4. App design
5. Testing and launching

Now a little more detail about each step.

Market research and analytics

First of all, you need to study your target audience. What needs should your proposal cover? What are they waiting for? An analysis of competitors’ financial applications follows from this. What have they not yet managed to offer the public, and what are their strengths? What interesting features can you take on board for yourself, and what weaknesses can you improve? It is important to study the market itself to understand where the industry may move in the future and, as a result, your application.

It is also essential to analyze marketplaces and other advertising spaces to place your personal finance app.

Development process

The technology stack should focus on adaptability, scalability, debugging capabilities, and security. At this stage, experts decide which technology and platform to choose and determine the desired functionality. This phase also includes the technical specifications for creating the application and the product information model. But it’s not just technical nuances that play a role in this step. Business processes need to be modeled as well.

Security

When developing a security system, there is never “too much.” This delicate process should be carried out by real professionals who, among other things, could establish:

• Bank-grade data encryption
• Two-factor authentication
• SSL and HTTPS protocols
• Bio authentication
• Reverse for inactive sessions 

This is just a basic package of precautions, you can always discuss additional measures with security experts that would add more security components and, at the same time, will not slow down the operation of the mobile app.

App design

What have we already mentioned several times? Simplicity rules! The clearer you explain complex fintech questions for users, the more likely your budget app will be downloaded.

For example, a familiar hamburger menu, loved by many users, can play a bad joke in this case since it only shows a few functions. There is a chance that the user simply will not see what he needs (although in fact it is) and will leave. Menu bar tabs looks more organic, but there is also a priority issue here.

Speaking of priorities – Priority + Navigation Pattern seems to be the best combination for a financial application. However, only if these very priorities are set as logically as possible, otherwise the venture risks failing. Likewise, a floating button menu can only work profitably if its design is really damn good.

There are also options for gesture-based navigation and full-screen navigation – we do not recommend this. However, this type of design can work with proper design.

Testing and launching

Now it’s time for QA engineers. Before launching a financial application it is important to check the correctness of all calculations, the order of transactions, and test performance. It is important to check the application’s update ability and normal operation in case of complications in functionality. 

But security testing is an absolute priority to ensure that personal data is transmitted after encryption and that the data transmission channel is secure. After that, you can move on to production.

To avoid wasting time on cooperation with each freelancer separately, it is better to turn to outsource services where there is already a well-coordinated team of specialists sharpened for the development of such projects as in The App Solutions.

Thus, creating an application like Mint or YNAB will take at least 2,000-2,500 hours of work. 

Outcomes

The personal finance app market offers many solutions, but none are perfect. Each of them, offering a certain range of services, chose a specific feature that performed best. This is exactly why people download the application following their needs.

You can still find an unfilled niche and become a leader there. To do this, you need to monitor the market, decide on a concept, draw up a roadmap and contact our company for development. The App Solutions will make an MVP version, gradually adding new useful options, as well as help with project support.

If you want to create a freelance platform, it’s time to get to work! According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the share of freelancers in the United States alone, from 2014 to 2020, grew by about 1 million per year. At the same time, Website Planet has put forward a bold estimate that the share of outsourced workers will increase to 67 million by the end of 2021. Meanwhile, ¾ of the respondents stated that they are looking for work through specialized websites.

Freelance Platforms vs. Covid 19

The global pandemic has shaken up the labor market across the planet. Online businesses have left their offices and moved to the video conferencing format. With the change in work form, it has become clear that many services, previously done exclusively in-house, can be painlessly outsourced, and this can result in various savings. On the flip side, a significant number of offline workers were left behind and forced to seek jobs online.

And here, gig marketplaces entered the scene because employers and employees needed guarantees of work done on time and fair pay. The revenues of the top 5 marketplaces in 2020 speak for themselves:

Upwork: $290 million

Fiverr: $104 million

Toptal: $100 million

99designs: $60 million

Freelancer: $52 million

In addition, the steady increase in the proportion of freelancers suggests that the profits of such freelance platforms will only grow. The market is not yet complete. If you build your product correctly, you won’t have to spend a long time looking for your place in the sun.

What is a Freelancer Marketplace, and How does it Work

A freelancer marketplace is a platform where businesses are looking for contractors for remote projects. Some of the obvious business benefits:

• Guaranteed safe execution of the contract (both parties are insured)
• Quality assurance (the customer can cancel the payment if the contractor is justly caught providing poor quality services)
• Concentration of talents of different skills and value, which are selected individually for each new task
• No need to hire an employee for specific one-time work

The customer places an order announcement and waits for a response. First of all, the most relevant candidates are shown as suitable for the price or with experience in the desired niche. Also, the client can offer a job to a specific contractor himself, having studied his portfolio and reviews from other employers. Even if AI fails to find a contractor for some tricky project, the freelance marketplace attracts live employees who manually help to find qualified candidates for the perfect (or at least acceptable) match between the customer and the contractor. A listed freelancer strives to earn a good rating to take on more expensive and attractive orders.

Marketplaces can be divided into:

For example, Upwork, which was founded back in 1999, is a general international freelance marketplace for both types of projects, full-time and part-time. Here you can register anywhere in the world and order/perform any kind of work – from engineering to graphic design, from copywriting to link building.

How to Develop a Freelance Marketplace Like Upwork

Before building your own similar project, think carefully about exactly what you want to create, and which specifics your website will have. After all, Upwork already exists.

Step 1. Shape your business idea

Define the audience you will work with – learn all about their needs. There is no perfect freelance marketplace. Take advantage of the merits and take into account the disadvantages of your competitors; bring novelty. The value proposition is based on:

• Availability. There are two approaches to the selection of freelancers who will work on freelance platforms. The first (as they do on Upwork) is to allow everyone to create a profile. The second (like Toptal) is to arrange a kind of interview, selection using test tasks so that you can cut out low-skilled workers. The second case looks more attractive because you are creating a pool of professionals. However, it needs a solid resource base because you will need to hire employees with a sufficient qualification level to check the test.
• Time. Carefully work out the payment acceptance mechanism to attract as many freelancers as possible from different regions where different payment systems are available. Make sure that payments get to them as quickly as possible without prejudice to the customer’s interests.
• Price. You need to decide on a list of services provided which will be included in the basic package, those in the premium package, what can be offered, and what is not available on other freelance marketplaces.

The next step follows from the last point.

Step 2. Select a business model

The most common model for a marketplace is commission. Some websites charge commission only from the contractor, others from both the service provider and the customer. There are eight monetization strategies for your freelance marketplace.

Commission model	Every milestone in the marketplace is subject to a commission. Its size can range from 5% to 20% (like on Fiverr or Upwork).
Gigs and Packages model	Fiverr offers a similar type of work. The contractor offers a price for a certain service, and the client decides whether to buy it or not, according to the principle of an online store.
Subscription model	There are several packages to choose from with different sets of services. First, the customer selects an acceptable monthly subscription, which can be downgraded or increased depending on their needs.
Freemium model	Free model with a basic package of services that expand upon payment. Most often, the model is used in combination with a subscription.
Deposit model	In this model, the customer must show his “solvency”. For example, the Toptal marketplace requires a $500 deposit from the start. The deposit can always be returned if the work performed does not suit the customer.
Advertisement model	The model a freelancer needs if he/she wants to advertise him/herself. You can pay for a promotion for a month, and then the profile will be displayed as a top contractor.
Custom price	A special offer for a certain period of time, when it is difficult for the clients to immediately assess the scale of work for the order. In this case, the clients can be offered a fixed price.
Mixed model	The best decision. You can combine the above models depending on the specifics of your freelance marketplace.

Step 3. Identify core features 

Having studied in detail the principles of how your competitors’ work, you will be able to determine the main characteristics that have to be included in the MVP version.

[The APP Solutions layout for a freelance marketplace project]

User profile

The user profile should be transparent on both sides. The contractor sees who orders the work from him, and the client sees what the contractor is doing.

[The APP Solutions layout for a freelance marketplace project]

How much he charges per hour and what experience he already has. The client can get acquainted with the portfolio, statistics on completed projects, and customer reviews.

[The APP Solutions layout for a freelance marketplace project]

The freelancer can be offered payment for a specific project or per hour. A time tracking program will then be installed on his computer.

[The APP Solutions layout for a freelance marketplace project]

Search and filters

The employer should be able to select candidates by price, skill level, geographic location (proximity), etc. 

[The APP Solutions layout for a freelance marketplace project]

Messengers

Those freelance marketplaces where the customer does not have an opportunity to communicate with the contractor through personal correspondence are greatly inferior in usability. Before starting any work, it is important to discuss the details in private messages.

[The APP Solutions layout for a freelance marketplace project]

Payment systems

This is the soft spot of many freelance marketplaces, which most often focus on payment systems popular in developed countries, while completely ignoring possible payment methods for residents of developing countries. When working with a global marketplace, it is important to consider, not only as many universal payment methods as possible, but also currencies. It will attract the attention of many freelancers who are not ready to lose a huge percentage due to conversion fees.

Security is also important – funds from the client’s account are held in a neutral account for several days before reaching the contractor. During this time the customer manages to approve the contract, and the freelancer will not be left without money since it is impossible to order something without the required amount on the account.

Reviews

The employer, as well as the contractor, can leave feedback about each other’s profiles. In an ideal scenario, only a verified user can write a comment, and only once.

[The APP Solutions layout for a freelance marketplace project]

Algorithms find contractors for a client according to his geographic location, rating, and price list. They can show both the best candidates for work and those best suited for the client’s jobs (for example, when the customer is ready to decline a well-qualified professional but hire a lower-cost talent).

One of the significant drawbacks of Upwork is the admissibility of the deadline being overdue. The contract is concluded on a specific date, but if the freelancer does not meet the deadline, he will not face penalties. But, for example, the copywriting marketplace iWriter, after the expiration of the agreed period, automatically takes away the refusal and transfers it to others. Because of this, authors often send low-quality articles just to be on time. What’s better? The progress bar gives a correct idea of ​​whether the contractor is in process or not.

[The APP Solutions layout for a freelance marketplace project]

Allow video calls within platforms, let users record voice messages, and share important files here. Screen sharing is also essential.

[The APP Solutions layout for a freelance marketplace project]

This will allow you to resolve issues faster. For example, on Upwork, a client can plan a meeting with a contractor, as in Google Suite. An excellent solution for people who do not speak English well can be live translation (Google Translate API).

Sometimes the customer is dissatisfied with the quality of the work performed, and the freelancer claims that he did everything according to the requirements. In such situations, referees are needed who can understand the situation and decide who is right.

Your dream team should consist of front-end, back-end, DevOps, designer, QA, PM. Choose the right technology stack – architecture, development, database, testing, deployment, and maintenance.

[The APP Solutions layout for a freelance marketplace project]

Step 5. Give timely feedback during the development phase

The client and developer need to define sprint points at which it will be possible to make edits if necessary.

Step 6. Launch the app’s MVP and continue the mobile app’s development

The team should not bring the project to “perfect perfection”. Otherwise they risk never launching.

Step 7. Sign an ongoing support contract

Support (at least for several months) is necessary, not only to fix bugs, but also to understand what can and should be added to the platform to improve usability and expand the functionality.

Pitfalls to Be Aware of During Upwork-like App Development

Delayed payments

To prevent incidents, a transparent account verification system is needed from both sides, so it will not be possible to install a random photo from photo stock. Оne of the significant disadvantages of Upwork is that there are very strict restrictions on customers’ payment cards and payment methods by which contractors can receive their payment. Consequently, if one of these methods is temporarily unavailable, almost half of the Upwork is “frozen.” Therefore, it is crucial to think over several universal payment systems that work throughout the world.

Working with payment methods that only work in US dollars is not a winning strategy. E-wallets already take away a percentage of a freelancer’s earnings. If you consider the percentage spent on conversions, it may turn out to be a completely ludicrous amount. As a result, freelancers will look for a marketplace that works with their own currency, or at least a payment method that works legally in their country.

The problem already mentioned above regards the passage barrier to work on the freelance marketplace: not to moderate at all or conduct a strict selection? It seems that a platform which has just started working, and has no credits, will find it challenging to get good freelancers – experts in their fields. A rating system can solve the quality dropout problem. Having handed over several projects, the performer receives feedback from employers based on which his rating is formed. Before submitting a project, the client can familiarize himself with the candidate’s experience.

Another dilemma is that beginners do not understand how much their services should cost and may unconsciously overestimate or underestimate themselves. In the same way, any entrepreneur who has not previously encountered a specific type of activity may not know a fair price for the job he offers. Therefore, an algorithm that gives both the client and provider an understanding of the  usual price of services would come in handy.

Developing a Freelance Marketplace like Upwork with The APP Solutions

Although there are already more than enough platforms, you can still find your way, as the number of freelancers around the world is growing every day. So you can create both an all-for-all platform and a niche product. The APP Solutions can help you with this. 

There are two options for creating a marketplace:

• Template
• Own development

The first option is suitable if you are not completely sure of your idea and want to test what will come of it. However, if you have a clear business strategy, and fully-fledged roadmap in your hands, you need to work according to the second option.

FAQ

How does Upwork work?

The AI algorithm analyzes a customer’s ad and suggests freelancers best suited for a specific project based on job type, order value, and other individual wishes. Furthermore, those who have found each other conclude a contract and work on the project begins.

The main source of income is the commission charged to the contractor. Clients can also cover some of the costs through a premium account. This immediately makes him more attractive in the eyes of the contractors. 

Depending on the amount of the transaction, the commission itself also varies (20% for orders up to $5,000, 10% – up to $10,000, 5% – from $10,000). In addition, the platform charges contractors for payment processing and an administration fee of 2.75%.

Here is a common set of features for freelance websites like Upwork:

• Registration and user profile
• Advanced search
• Payment processing and transaction fees
• Job listing
• Bidding mechanism
• Messenger
• PM tools
• Payment methods

It depends on the feature list. If you need a simple service provider marketplace, it will take 6 to 8 weeks only, and if you need a complete clone of Upwork, it will take 3 to 3.5 months.

We’ll stand behind your platform and provide you 6 months of support for any code-related errors. In addition, we will be available to you anytime when you get issues or want to extend further.What is covered in the maintenance period?

Free support includes fixing of any code related errors for 6 months but if you need any upgrades or want to add any new features then that will be chargeable.

According to data from the National Alliance for Mental Health, 1 in every 5 adults in the US experiences mental illness, while 1 in every 6 youths in the US aged 6 – 17 experiences a mental health disorder every year. More abysmal is that suicide is the leading cause of death for those aged between 10 and 34 in the US. This data alone is proof that there is a need to make mental health applications available to the general public. It would also explain why there is an influx of mental health apps in app stores ranging from those helping relieve symptoms to those that help healthy people remain healthy.

Reasons why developing a mental health app is a great idea

There are several reasons why developers, who are keen on helping those suffering from mental health problems, consider creating a mental health application. Here are three reasons.

It will help bring mental health services to those who cannot get them

Data from the Anxiety and Depression Association of America shows that approximately 18% of adults in the US suffer from anxiety disorders, yet only 36% of these individuals receive treatment. Furthermore, according to data from the National Council Medical Director Institute, 77% of US counties have a severe shortage of psychiatrists. This implies that, even if more patients decided to get help, there would come a point where the current practicing psychiatrists may be unable to help many people. With mental health apps, more people can receive help from the comfort of their homes from different mental health practitioners from all over the world.

High demand

The Coronavirus has caused havoc, not just to the physical health of individuals, but also to their mental health. Many people have lost their jobs, lost family members, and some industries like the healthcare industry have been severely affected. According to a report by The Standard in 2020, 46% of health workers interviewed from a sample size of 1400 said they were suffering from a mental health issue. This is compared to 39% in 2019. This increase implies that more people will be looking for mental health apps in the future.

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Room for improvement

Data from the Digital Mental Health Revolution report shows that there are more than 10,000 mental health apps available today, with over 100 startups each year. However, many of these apps are underperforming. Some applications do not cater to many users’ needs and preferences, and some need to be upgraded to meet the current needs and demands. There is room for more to be done, moving from traditional therapy techniques to apps encouraging patients to do more self-care practices.

With the aim of improving the quality of services they offer, we find platforms raising money. For example, Lyra Health raised $175 million at a $2.25 billion valuation to connect workforces to therapists and mental health services. Similarly, Calm raised over $70 million, and Headspace raised over $400 million. Some of these funds are being used to improve the services they offer, and making mental health services more readily available e.g. free in some cases.

Calmerry Online Therapy Platform

Healthcare App Development 

A White Label Telemedicine Platform

BuenoPR – 360° Approach to Health

Types and examples of the best mental health apps

Not all mental health apps are created equal. There are many different types of mental health apps offering different services. Consider the different types and  examples of each;

General mental health apps

These applications help users to maintain their mental health by helping them maintain good habits and break bad habits. They also help them maintain their physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual health, which all contribute to their mental health. These applications can serve functions such as mood trackers, giving positive quotes, and giving relaxation exercises like guided meditation. Mindfulness and Meditation apps fall under this category. One such application is Moodfit.

Moodfit

Moodfit is a free mental health app designed with tools and insights to ‘shape up’ your mood. It helps you get into mental shape the same way you would get into physical shape. Moodfit can help you feel better whether you are feeling anxious, depressed, stressed or have PTSD.

Here is how it works:

• You fill out a questionnaire that helps you determine the severity of your symptoms. You also get articles and audio files that can help you understand what you are experiencing.
• You can track your moods.
• Eventually, you can understand the effects certain things and activities have on your mood, for example, specific medications, amount of sleep, or exercise.
• Receive actionable insights to help you feel better and alter your mood

Education and assessment apps

Such applications help their users to get information on mental health disorders such as PTSD, bipolar disorder, anxiety and depression, eating disorders, and negative thoughts, among many others. These apps share materials used by mental health practitioners when identifying mental health disorders. One such application is Sanvello.

Sanvello

Sanvello’s mission is simple. ‘To help people build the life skills they need, anytime, anywhere, in any way they choose.’ To do so, they provide their users with clinically validated, evidence-based tools and techniques to help them deal with stress, depression, anxiety, etc. A randomized study of 500 adults who had mild to moderate anxiety found that Sanvello’s tools successfully decreased symptoms. These effects lasted even after the participants stopped using the app.

By using Savvello, you can:

• Find cognitive behavioral therapy tools
• Learn mindfulness skills
• Track your mood and health using their inbuilt tools, and use this information to improve your mental and physical health
• Follow the guided journeys designed to help you feel more in control of your life.
• Use the tools to cope with specific issues, for example, the fear of public speaking.

Mental disorder apps

There are many mental disorders apps. These help you deal with specific mental disorders by providing you with the tools necessary to help you function better. Current mental disorder apps deal with problems such as depression, PTSD, anxiety, and schizophrenia. They use techniques such as cognitive behavioral therapy cbt, Mood monitoring, cognitive training, and rational emotive behavioral therapy.

More development is expected to help treat other disorders. For example, there is still room in the mental health apps market for PTSD, Bipolar Disorder Apps, Eating Disorder Apps, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Apps, and cognitive behavioral therapy cbt apps, among others.

WHY CREATE A CUSTOM MENTAL HEALTH APP IN 2021

MoodMission

One great application that caters to users with PTSD, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and stress is MoodMission. Here are some of its functionalities:

• Go through an available list of options and choose the problem you are experiencing.
• Receive five ‘mission’ suggestions based on the information you provide
• Go through each mission with mindfulness, understanding the activities in that mission together with how it may help
• Accept a mission, and after completing it, rate how distressed you feel.
• Your completed missions are logged, and you are ranked based on completed missions.

Online therapy apps

These apps act like banks when you swipe your card at Starbucks (they are intermediaries). They connect you to licensed mental health professionals near you. There are several ways to meet your therapists, depending on your preferences and what the app offers. Ideally, you can get onto an online call, a video call, or chat online. Some apps give group therapy sessions whereby several patients get on a conference call and have a group therapy session. One great example of an online therapy mental health app is Calmerry.

Calmerry

Calmerry will connect you with therapists that match your needs to get you the help you need in order to achieve your goals and meet your needs. There are many types of therapists available such as:

• Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) 
• Gestalt therapy 
• Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)
• Solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT)
• Schema-focused therapy (SFT), etc

Here’s a gist of how using Calmerry will work:

• Get a brief assessment where you answer several questions
• Choose how you wish to get therapy
• Select a subscription option that works for you
• Get matched with the right therapist for you
• Start your therapy sessions.

HEALTHCARE APPS DEVELOPMENT: TYPES, EXAMPLES, AND FEATURES

Must-have Features for Mental Health Mobile Apps

While different mental health apps have different features, there are some features that every mental health app development team should strive to incorporate. These features can be broken down into two main groups: Features for patients and mental health professionals. Here is a breakdown of each.

For the patient

These features make it easy for you to track your progress. Some have mood tracking, guided meditation, breathing exercises, and mindfulness among other important features. Here’s a more comprehensive look at the features;

An entry survey – This survey is used to collect basic information concerning the user. This information includes their age, location, gender, family status, current mental health conditions, etc. This information can help the application match the client with the most relevant therapist. Some apps give an entry assessment test that helps users identify the cognitive issues they are facing, particularly if they have never been diagnosed before.

Matching flow – The entry survey and assessment data is used to match the patient to a  therapist. In the US, counselors practice in the states where they are licensed, so factors like the state may determine which counselors will be matched. The apps typically match users to a new counselor for free if they are not satisfied with the one they get.

Text messaging functionality – This feature is excellent for patients or therapists who prefer to communicate through online chat. It’s also an easy way to reach out, for example, if the therapist is currently in another session.

Video conferencing – This function is excellent for video sessions.

Subscription – This is how many of these apps monetize their applications and pay counselors. Users chose the subscription that fits their needs and can cancel at any time or ask for refunds in line with the terms of service. Some subscriptions unlock extra features, e.g., video conferencing.

Therapy space – Therapists use this space to record their patients’ goals and track their progress in real-time.

Therapy management – Patients can use this space to manage their therapy sessions, e.g., pause accounts for some time or put unfinished sessions on hold.

HOW TO BUILD A MEDITATION APP LIKE HEADSPACE AND CALM

For counselors

Short survey – These verify that the therapist is certified to work with patients. These can include asking for clinical permits, state permits, etc. They also give any necessary information about the counselor.

Text and video chats – This is how counselors access their patients

Caseload management – This allows the therapist to manage their caseloads and even determine how many clients they are willing to work with.

Tech stack for a custom mental health application

The tech stack creates an ecosystem allowing several technologies to run one application. Some technologies to use include;

• Angular for the front-end
• Daily.co for secured video calls
• Ionic for developing a hybrid mobile app
• Node.js for the backend
• S3 Bucket for developing the messaging feature from scratch
• MongoDB for secured database
• Redis for sessions queues
• Pusher to send push notifications without sensitive data
• Kafka for exchanging messages between microservices

Ideally, you want to find developers with experience in one or more technologies listed.

Related reading: 

Video Streaming App Proof of Concept

Developing mental health mobile apps

You would be hard-pressed to find one person to develop the application. You are better off hiring several specialists. The specialists needed include;

Business Analyst (BA)

The BA will bridge the gap between IT and the business by using data analytics to find solutions that will fit both your mental health business and your potential clients.

Project Manager (PM)

The PM is responsible for running the project on a day-to-day basis, including ensuring that it stays within budget, is done on time, and is done within the scope laid out.

System Architect

The system architect will write the technical documentation for the project data after receiving and analyzing data from the PM and the BA.

Developers

Developers offer one or more technical solutions,

Designers

Designers visualize the project by making prototypes, creating flow in the app, finalizing the project design, etc.

Quality Assurance Managers

Quality Assurance Managers test the lines of code to ensure that the parts of the project align with the technical documentation and that they work correctly.

As you can imagine, it may be very time-consuming and expensive to interview every person needed to make the app a reality. For this reason, it may make more sense to outsource to a development team. Here are six steps to hiring an outsourcing app development team to understand how to go about that process.

If you are wondering what it may cost to hire an outsourcing app development team, here are some numbers. These values depend on factors such as the team’s geographical location and the app’s features. A simple app may cost you between $25,000 to $50,000. A complex app with multiple features may cost from $100,000 to $200,000.

Costs aside, government compliance for sensitive patient information is a core issue you need to understand.

HOW MENTAL HEALTH CHATBOTS HANDLE STRESS?

HIPAA, PHIPA, and GDPR compliance

Many people opt to use mental health mobile apps over traditional therapy because they understand it to be more private. Some regulatory guidelines for mobile mental health providers ensure the app’s safety and, consequently, its reputation. Essential components include;

HIPAA compliance. When developing the app, it may be helpful to determine whether the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules apply. A healthcare app becomes Subject to HIPAA if it includes the user’s Protected Health Information (PHI) that can be traced back to the patient. Otherwise, most mental health apps in the app stores are not subject to HIPAA as they are meant for the patient’s private use.

GDPR privacy standards. GDPR requirements are EU regulations directing how businesses should manage personal data. If your app will serve users in the EU, it is advisable to meet these requirements.

Regulatory guidelines. Mental health practices are regulated on federal and state levels. Therefore, it’s essential that you only engage licensed therapists who are acquainted with the federal and state laws. If you are unsure which regulations your application should meet, this interactive mental health apps tool, designed by the Federal Trade Commission, might help.

Encrypting app data. Ensure that all stored or shared data is encrypted at all stages – Passcodes, usernames, and biometrics. 

These features help keep the user’s data private from prying eyes on their end, which helps them feel more secure.

HOW TO MAKE A PERFECT MOBILE APP IN 6 STEPS

TIPS from The APP Solutions

When developing Calmerry, The APP Solutions faced many issues. Below are some solutions that were useful in solving these issues

Therapist validation

To adhere to federal and state regulations about where therapists can offer their services, you need to develop a way of validating the licenses of the therapists hired. You then need to develop an algorithm that matches therapists and users from the same states only.

Architecture

The app’s architecture needs to handle hundreds of actions done by thousands of users regardless of location. An application with video conferencing capabilities functionality, for example, may require heavier loads on the servers compared to chat-based apps.

Unique session I.D. per call and token per participant

Session IDs are necessary to initiate calls. Participant tokens will be unique to the session IDs and will enable users to join the calls. The session IDs can also help prevent double-booking in the calendar if a calendar function exists.

Encryption

To ensure the safety of confidential and sensitive information, it is advisable to encrypt text messages and videos on both endpoints.

The bottom line

According to data from the KFF, more than 30% of adults reported symptoms of anxiety, PTSD, or depression during this pandemic period. This implies that the time is ripe for mental health app developers to develop health apps and online therapy platforms to help people cope with mindfulness and mental health.

If you are looking for a reliable tech partner for your mental health project, the APP Solutions is a mental health and therapy app development company. We can provide solutions for therapy app development and other similar projects.  Drop us a few lines and we will get in touch with you.