Healthcare Insurance App: Your Family Doctor in Your Smartphone

Every industry can benefit from going digital. You’ve heard this cliche a million times now, especially from me. Sorry but that’s true. The app won’t hurt your health insurance business, if you already have one, especially now when health industry is told to employ the most promising tech advancements and bring in the most revenue in the nearest future. 

The popularity of medical apps and insurance subscription packages that monitor you online is clearly present. To subscribe for a program and to make a virtual visit to a practitioner will be a common thing in the not so distant future, you better believe it. And it is now the best time to try and benefit from what Healthcare Tech Industry is predicted to become.

Healthcare Tech Upheaval

Have you heard that Google acquired Fitbit and buying Fitbit allows it to save a lot of time on building relevant connections in the industry that has a myriad of corporate labyrinths and pitfalls on every corner. 

Google also wants Fitbit data that it gathered for a decade. And it is a long-established tradition that Google is a pioneer in software development, so wherever it goes, the software development industry follows. Simple as that.

It Saves a Lot of Time

You can open the app instead of visiting a doctor and your health insurance officer which is especially good for monthly subscribers. There are already many apps that blend insurance, fitness, and medical consultation and range from, for example, exclusively psychological to all-inclusive subscription options.

App Functionality

Video Streaming

Users can have a 1-on-1 video chat with a doctor. That requires integrating API that allows streaming. Doctors can do many of their routine tasks, based on what they see. And the quality of video that smartphone cameras can produce have gone significantly up in the last couple years. 

Take, for example, computational photography and how it is influencing the overall quality of the video, making it possible to notice every little detail, even for dentists. It can save users a lot of time if the problem can be addressed immediately as it arises. With such incredible solution one may even visit a doctor without leaving his workplace. 

Chat with Doctors 

It is absolutely crucial for users to be able to have private chat with the doctors. After getting through quizz/FAQ section patients will be redirected to a doctor to have a conversation regarding their health matters. It can be via chat where photos and files can be exchanged.  

Quizzes and FAQ 

FAQ section or quizzes constructed by doctors and research specialists will save the time of practitioners because that way many issue would simply disappear while those remaining are going to be more focused and help refer patients to the right specialists, saving everybody’s time. Same happens in clinics and it is also done by many other service providers as the 1st level customer support stage.   

Every good physician will advise his patients not to self-consult, using medical resources online. Because every case is individual and even a slightest difference can cause changes in treatment and approach. Still, in order to save time of the practitioners and make the most out of every visit, users are to be offered basic quizzes and questionnaires in order to assess their overall physical condition.

Geolocation

Users will be able to find nearby clinics thanks to geolocation. Participating hospitals and doctors will be tagged on the map.

Extensive profile information

Profiles of patients are critical in order for doctors to be able to compare current test results with the old ones and consider continuous health monitoring done previously. This resembles patient cards in hospitals only they’re gonna be stored in cloud instead of being located physically in the hospital.

More features may include:

• payment for selected subscription
• synchronization with web version of account and payment process
• subscription management
• form for sending information to the insurance agent / manager
• chat or video chat with an insurance agent / manager

Additional features: 

• internal search medical directory;
• the formation of an electronic prescription according to which you can get drugs in a pharmacy
• booking a visit to the clinic
• family and corporate accounts with correspondingly different access levels

Value

The final product will be of enormous value for doctors and users, simplifying the process of health monitoring, saving a lot of time and optimizing everything that happens in between the patient’s initial concerns and final recovery. And instead of the patient’s card being available only in the hospital database, it will be stored in the cloud with the possibility to access it anytime from anywhere, even if a doctor visits a patient at home. 

Minimum Viable Product

As Paul Graham and many others have put it, going fast and breaking things is the best approach for every startup. Start small and grow big, switch off your perfectionism and instead gradually improve your product over time. Include only the most necessary core functions in your MVP to allow gathering user feedback. Upgrade your healthcare insurance app on the way in order to test its monetizing possibilities and self-sustainability instead of relying on external funds and investment influx. 

FAQ

Wrapping Up

So, what did we learn? Software conquers healthcare and this industry is going to exceed a $150 billion valuation in 2020, so what else is there to know? People are happy to use apps for quicker food delivery, movie tickets, taxis and meditation. They will be twice as happy to pay for something that matters much more for them and the target audience here has not age limit. 

Even though older people might still prefer personal live contact, the booking and the assessment of the patients as well as documentation and payments will all be made quicker with the introduction of many different mobile health insurance platforms worldwide. Live medical assessments will remain but only when and if it is absolutely necessary. 

Imagine that you have been struck down by the unknown allergy, camping somewhere in the desert? You can start googling the Wikipedia with no guarantee that your findings won’t make it worse. Or you can contact your doctor for the emergency meeting online. What would you choose? What do you think your future potential clients would choose?