What should you know to create a telemedicine app?

Telemedicine platforms are a growing trend worldwide. Today, in the period of social isolation, the possibility to receive a remote medical help is more important than ever.

High requirements are imposed on the speed of obtaining and processing medical information. QuickBlox helps to develop telemedicine software platforms, which provides high-quality, affordable medical care to patients, integrating and connecting basic telemedicine services.

Key features and functionality of a telemedicine platform

Telemedicine app development requires great responsibility as it directly influences people’s health. Telemedicine platforms usually have the following components: doctor & patient profile, and admin panel.

For better understanding, the core functionality of telemedicine apps below is the review of telehealth software systems’ features that address the specific users’ needs.

User Profile

It contains all the necessary information about the patient, such as name, address, gender, age, etc. The medical records and critical information, such as allergies is also stored here.

Doctor Profile

The patient can view a list of doctors’ profiles, and book an appointment. It provides information about a medical specialist’s availability, specialization, proximity, doctor rating. The feature allows booking a time that’s suitable for a patient. Patients also can leave reviews and rate the doctor.

Geolocation

Telemedicine platforms use Google Maps or similar services to determine a patient’s location to give directions to the nearest pharmacies and hospitals or find a nearby doctor available to book an appointment.

Communication Methods

It’s crucial for telehealth apps to ensure efficient chat and real-time communication functionality. To offer a quality tool for communication the following options must be integrated:

• In-app chat messaging;
• 1-1 & group video calling;
• Video conferencing for consultations with the colleagues.

All these features can be easily set up with QuickBlox APIs and SDKs. This will allow you to set up the high-quality connection without spending lots of time and money on managing the development.

Electronic Medical Records (EMR)

This option allows checking the latest updates to a patient’s medical records in case there are any questions or concerns. It can help identify those who are due for preventive checkups and screenings. It also monitors how each patient follows the doctor’s prescriptions. EMR delivers efficient and precise medical care while respecting patient privacy. But, EMR integration requires a focus on security and strong development skills.

Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM)

Remote patient monitoring systems are used by healthcare providers to check the health status of the patients. It is also used to monitor older people who are not able to independently carry out all the necessary medical manipulations. Home telemedicine is especially relevant for patients with contagious disesases who need regular examinations.

Symptom Checker

This feature can accurately diagnose the symptoms without a doctor’s office visit. Although it cannot substitute the face-to-face diagnostics, it provides fast and rather accurate health assessment. A patient needs to enter the symptoms and answer some questions. As a result, possible future treatment steps will be established. It also stores the patient’s history in the medical platform.

Prescription and Medication Tracker

Such features as file sharing, and push notifications will make the doctor-patient interaction more productive. The app will be able to send reminders for the patient to take medicine, and the doctor will be able to efficiently monitor the progress of the treatment.

With QuickBlox, you can integrate the push notification system to your telehealth platform and customize it in a way you need.

Telemedicine platform legal issues

According to the American Telemedicine Association, telemedicine development is transforming the healthcare industry. But despite the popularity and healthcare executives’ encouragement, it does not completely remove challenges of implementation. Most of the issues with telemedicine apps development refer to complex technical grounds. They can be resolved by choosing a reliable custom software development provider.

First, telemedicine services must stand for HIPAA privacy and security rules. These rules set standards for securing sensitive patient data. To build a HIPAA-compliant telehealth platform, the team should use the corresponding security measures, including encrypted data transmission, peer-to-peer secure network connections, and unique user identification, among other protocols.

Working with healthcare organizations, QuickBlox provides the Business Associate Agreement. This will help us to protect the confidentiality of patients’ sensitive information according to the highest standards.

Conclusion

Delivering health care through telemedicine apps is a growing trend today that becomes even more important during the social isolation period. Telemedicine allows you to make an online appointment with a doctor without the necessity of breaking quarantine measures.

QuickBlox team has extensive experience in developing HIPAA-compliant telemedicine software. When you are ready to create your doctor-on-demand app, be sure to contact us. We will offer you the right solution to grow your business and drive more revenue.