10 Reasons Your Hospital Should Develop a Mobile App
As more and more industries continue to reap the benefits of investing in mobile application development, perhaps no sector is better suited for taking advantage of custom mobile app technologies than healthcare. Hospitals and healthcare clinics have exponentially increased their investments in mobile application development in recent years. The global mobile health market projects a rise from $45.7 billion in 2020 to $189 billion in 2025.
It’s not just patients who are advocating for the accessibility and accommodations mobile smartphone applications can provide for patients. Surveys show 93% of doctors believe mobile health (mHealth) apps can improve patient health, and 74% of hospitals utilizing mobile application devices report better efficiency than healthcare clinics that don’t use mobile apps.
Even as this market rapidly expands, subtle confusion about the benefits associated with mHealth apps specifically designed for hospitals is typical.
To better understand how mobile application development can improve patient satisfaction and overall efficiency, take a look at these six reasons your hospital should consider developing its own mobile app.
1. Offer Patient Convenience
With 85% of Americans owning a smartphone, the primary advantage that mHealth apps provide hospitals is to cater to their patients’ preferences when utilizing a healthcare clinic’s services. This alludes to allowing patients to use your hospital mobile application to schedule appointments, check in, or update medical records and personal information.
With the ease of accessing all these healthcare elements through their mobile device, you can expect to maintain and most likely increase overall patient satisfaction by providing them with convenient options to utilize your hospital’s services however they please.
2. Boost Staff Efficiency
When your hospital fully adapts to electronic medical applications and platforms, hospital staff and patients benefit from overall convenience and increased efficiency. Doctors can instantly access and share any patients’ medical records with the touch of a tablet or other mobile device. Documents and essential information can immediately be edited, saved, and uploaded without a single piece of paper having to be exchanged.
The easier it is for clinicians and patients alike, the faster and more efficient your hospital will continue operating.
3. Track Performance
Aside from promoting convenience and accessibility, hospital mobile apps can do wonders for tracking the performance of your healthcare facility and highlighting which caregiving elements are vital and which ones need improvement.
From reading waiting time averages to monitoring clinician assignments to reviewing patient feedback, hospital mobile apps allow clinics to understand better how their facility operates, allowing for optimal managerial perspective.
4. Enjoy Proficient Patient Monitoring
Before implementing mHealth apps, monitoring a patient’s condition or progress was essentially only conducted with in-person visits. Now, mobile healthcare applications can provide doctors with remote, real-time tracking and assessments of their patient’s care and treatment.
Whether receiving instant notifications on lab or test results or patients recording any developing or diminishing symptoms, monitoring a patient’s health has never been more efficient or convenient for healthcare providers.
5. Provide Navigational Assistance
In addition to installing digital wayfinding signage systems, hospital mobile apps can provide patients with easy-to-access and interpret navigational assistance to help them find their way when occupying the premises.
With hospital wayfinding apps, patients of all ages can instantly pull up a mapping outline of your healthcare facility and receive the needed directions without requesting personal assistance from any staff members.
6. Customize Patient Care
Every hospital should invest in mobile application development to prioritize making patient care as customizable as possible. Every patient has unique needs or requirements when it comes to managing their health, such as allergies, insurance plans, preferred medications, scheduling options, financial constraints, etc.
Mobile hospital apps also help patients match with doctors most applicable to treat their specific ailments or conditions, especially when health questionnaires are included in the application design. By developing your hospital app, you can customize healthcare plans as simply as possible for all your patients!
7. Enhance Patient Communications
Investing in mobile application development also allows hospitals to enhance their communications with patients through tailored messaging campaigns or notifications. These messages can help keep patients informed about their care, remind them of necessary appointments or procedures, and even offer health tips for preventive care.
Additionally, such an app can provide access to educational resources about medical conditions and treatments, allowing patients to become more informed and engaged in their own healthcare.
Implementing a more integrated messaging system between patients, physicians, and staff within the app will make communication between all parties more streamlined and efficient.
8. Simplify Payment Options
One overlooked way mobile application development benefits healthcare facilities is just how much it opens the door for hospitals to simplify patient payment options. With an easy-to-use interface within the app, all billing information can be securely stored, and payments can quickly be processed right from a phone or tablet.
This means there’s no need for lengthy check-in processes during visits, as all billing is handled before a patient arrives at the hospital. Not only does this reduce wait times and streamline the billing process, but it also improves overall patient satisfaction.
9. Establish Better Branding
Perhaps the overarching advantage of investing in a custom healthcare mobile application is the ability to reinforce your hospital’s branding with your patients. When you provide patients with the ability to self-manage their hospital visits, stay in touch with their doctors, and increase the convenience and accessibility of enlisting your healthcare services, these accommodations will reflect positively on your hospital’s image and reputation.
Investing in a mHealth app can be the key to preserving and promoting the integrity of your hospital’s brand.
10. Stop Wasting Money & Draining Resources
The most significant advantage of mobile app development is to stop draining resources by having one centralized medium for all facets of customer service. Take investing in a wayfinding app, for example; Previous studies have shown that the average amount of time hospital staff workers spend giving directions to patients and visitors over a year equates to around 4,500 hours.
Forget about what those hours do concerning reducing staff efficiency – think about how much money is wasted yearly on staff distractions and drained resources!
Hospitals can better optimize their staff and resources by giving patients and visitors a one-stop shop for all their scheduling, navigation, and general customer service needs, cutting out plenty of setbacks and obstacles that only reduce efficiency and productivity in the long run.
Mobile Application Solutions Designed for Your Hospital’s Needs
If you’re interested in improving synergy, enhancing patient experience, and promoting your brand, Oppna Digital has the custom mobile application solutions best suited for your hospital! Our mobile app development team will work with you to design a mobile app specifically catering to your facility and patients’ needs.
Contact Oppna Digital today to request a demo of our mobile application development services, or call us at 651.237.5677 for direct assistance.