How to Build a Healthcare App Like Practo?
The healthcare industry is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world. As per Statista, the global mHealth market size is expected to cross $300 billion by the year 2025, which was valued at $99 billion in 2021. A whopping 3x jump! There are three driving factors behind this remarkable growth- the increased use of smartphones, rapid expansion in the world of mobile technologies, and innovations in the healthcare industry.
Practo, one of India’s most popular healthcare apps, has achieved tremendous success in the fast-paced healthcare market. The platform connects millions of patients with thousands of healthcare professionals around the world. Today, it manages over 20 million patients monthly and more than 2 million doctors annually. The organization aspires to be a one-stop solution for all healthcare needs and issues.
The healthcare app Practo is primarily an online doctor search platform that helps patients consult doctors virtually, book appointments and health checkups at a clinic, order medicines, and more, at their convenience. The online booking portal allows patients to get immediate consultations from medical professionals, 24×7. They can select from a list of specialized doctors by going through their total experience, ratings and reviews, consultation fee, etc. The platform also has a very hassle-free online payment system.
Revenue Model of Practo
Practo’s revenue model comprises SaaS sales, a commission from buyer and seller, and ad-space selling. Mentioned below are some sources through which Practo generates revenue-
1. Practo Ray
Practo Ray is a cloud-based Practice Management Software (PMS) for doctors that helps them manage their clinics and the healthcare data of their patients. Though it is offered annually, they can also avail services by paying a fixed monthly fee.
2. Practo Reach
Practo Reach is just like Google Ads or promoted restaurants in the food-delivery app Zomato. Practo basically advertises or promotes doctors, hospitals, or clinics on their app and earns money through that. The platform also offers some premium listings which allows doctors an opportunity to be at the top of search results so that they get more consultations and eventually make more money. The advertising cost can vary depending on the location.
3. Practo Plus
This is another subscription model of Practo. With the Practo Plus membership, users get unlimited consultations from more than 20 medical specialists and some great discounts on lab tests or medicine orders. It’s a 1/3/12-month plan, priced at 1199 (INR), 2499, and 5499, respectively.
4. Medicine Delivery
Practo also earns revenue (or commission) through the online sales of medicines at various chemists or medical stores.
What are the Key Features Required to Build an App Like Practo?
Building a successful healthcare app like Practo requires incorporating features that focus on the needs of the target audience and minimize the communication gap between doctors and patients.
The features are categorized into four modules- Patient Panel Module, Doctor Panel Module, Admin Panel Module, and Medicine Delivery Module.
Patient Panel Module
This module focuses on providing a seamless experience to the end users (patients) across the app. The patient dashboard should consist of the following features-
Register/Login: Patients can easily register on the app and create their profile.
Chat/Call: Patients can connect with the doctors over a video call, audio call, or chat.
Find a Doctor/Clinic: Allow patients to search for a doctor/clinic at their convenience.
Book an Appointment: Allow patients to book an appointment at a clinic.
Online Payment: Add multiple payment methods so that users can pay online through their desired payment method.
Review/Feedback: Patients should have the option to provide a review or feedback about their consultation with the doctor.
Order Medicines: Patients can order the required medicines.
Doctor Panel Module
The doctor module is for healthcare professionals and facilitates doctor-patient interaction. Some of the must-have features on the doctor’s dashboard are-
Profile- The profile section should contain the name, photo, clinic address, specialty, experience, and availability of the doctor.
Appointment Management- A doctor may receive numerous appointments in a day. Having an appointment management feature would allow them to handle multiple appointments daily with ease while giving patients on-time service.
Records & Medical History of Patients- This feature enables doctors to check their patient’s medical history to make effective diagnoses and provide quick solutions or remedies to the patients.
Prescription- The app should have an in-built feature where doctors can send prescriptions to the patients after diagnosing them or hearing about their concerns. Patients too should be able to download this prescription on their devices.
Admin Panel Module
The admin module keeps track of entire operations, stores users’ data, generates reports, and helps perform useful analysis. It manages the records of both patients and doctors as well as the data related to financial affairs, supply management, etc. Moreover, it offers data security to users.
The admin module comprises the following features- Dashboard, User Management, Doctor Management, Appointment Management, Reports Management, Clinic Management, Pharmacy Management, Delivery Personnel Management, and Payout Management.
Delivery Panel Module
This module helps the delivery personnel keep a track of the pending orders and delivered orders. It ultimately helps them improve their service. This module consists of features like My Account, View Delivery, and Notifications.
How to Develop a Healthcare App Like Practo?
It takes a village to build an app. And it’s not just about knowing the features and incorporating them into the application, but what’s important is to follow the right approach to make it successful.
Here’s your step-by-step guide to building a healthcare app like Practo.
1. Identify Existing Problems or Challenges
There are several healthcare apps in the market. Will yours be just an addition to the list or do you aim to make it better than the existing ones? There’s no point in building a clone app. Even if the business model is the same, there should be something that makes your app unique. Only then users would be motivated to download your application and prefer it over other apps.
Get into the shoes of the end users. Browse similar apps. Identify the existing challenges users face and try to fill those gaps through your app.
2. Define Your Goals
What’s the motive behind building a healthcare app like Practo? What are the goals that you want to achieve (from the business perspective as well as the users’)? These are a few questions that you need to be absolutely clear about. The process becomes much easier when you are crystal clear about your goals and objectives.
3. Market Research
Market research is the process of obtaining and analyzing information about a specific market. It helps you know more about your target audience like what they like or dislike about existing healthcare apps, what reasons do they use those apps for, what kind of features they expect in the future, etc. This will help you create an app that closely matches users’ needs.
Conducting market research also helps you understand your competitors comprehensively. See what good or bad they are doing, how they are faring, and why people prefer their app. While you research your competitors and analyze their strong/weak points, define how your app can be of better value and why users should prefer it over the competitors’. It can be beneficial in building the right product.
4. List Down Features and Create User Flow
Once you are done with research and analysis, it’s then time to turn those ideas or information into reality. Write down all the features that you wish to add to your app. Explain how those features would work and how they would be useful to the users.
Also Read: Features to Consider When Building a Mobile Health App
This should be followed by creating a user flow. It describes how the user would navigate throughout the application from the moment they enter the application till the desired/final outcome is achieved.
Consider the following questions while you prepare the user flow-
1. What is the user trying to achieve?
2. What would motivate them to continue?
3. What could be the possible barriers that might make them hesitant to continue?
4. Is the user flow smooth or deviating from the actual purpose?
This information will help you design and organize pages systematically.
5. Hire a Healthcare App Development Agency
It’s not going to be a cakewalk to build a healthcare application like Practo. It would take time, money, and a lot of effort. Even proficient agencies at times can get overwhelmed by the complexities, technical hiccups, and unforeseen budget problems in building an app like Practo.
You have two options to choose from- either hire freelancers or outsource the task to an experienced healthcare app development company. If it was a small project, we may have advised hiring freelancers but a big project like Practo needs to be worked upon by a skilled and experienced agency that holds the expertise to build such apps and knows what goes behind in making it a success. They would have a team of qualified developers (front-end and back-end), UI/UX designers, QA engineers, and a product manager to supervise the team. Also, they know how to tackle associated complexities or any challenge that arrives in between.
How Much Does It Cost To Build An App Like Practo?
The cost to develop an app like Practo depends on the following factors-
1. Tools and Technology
The cost can differ depending on the technology or tools used in the project. For example, if you are building an Android app, developers would leverage Java or Kotlin whereas Swift or Objective-C would be used if you are considering creating an iOS version. Since the app is coded separately for both platforms, the cost is different too.
Apart from the platform, many other things come into play such as frameworks, backend development technologies, databases, APIs, Cloud environments, third-party tools, app complexity, etc.
2. App Design
UI/UX contributes significantly to the cost of application development. Multiple elements are involved while designing the mobile app in order to improve functionality and overall user experience. This includes images, graphics, 3D illustrations, icons, animations, and more that make the application more aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly.
Also Read: Latest UI Design Trends That You Can Incorporate Into Your Mobile App
3. Experience of the Agency
Different agencies will give different estimates based on their experience, quality of work, and expertise. The location of the company matters too. It will cost you comparatively less in India than in other countries like the US. Select a company that matches your budget but also understands your vision.
With over 11 years of experience in app development, Dew has helped hundreds of clients build their dream apps. Healthcare app development is one of our fortes, and we would be more than happy to help you in building an app like Practo. Contact our expert developers, tell them about your requirements, and they will revert you soon with a rough estimate based on your requirements.
4. Time
Time would play a crucial role in determining the cost of your mobile application. If you want the app to be delivered before the estimated hours given by the development team, the cost would undoubtedly go higher.
In general, developing a healthcare application like Practo can cost you anywhere from $100k to $200k depending on the above-mentioned factors.
Do You Need To Follow Any Compliance?
Yes. As someone who would be dealing in healthcare and collecting patients’ data, you must be HIPAA-compliant. HIPAA is a set of standards that outlines the legal use and disclosure of protected health information (PHI). Healthcare organizations must implement this into their business in order to protect the privacy, integrity, and security of protected health information.
Here’s everything you need to know about HIPAA compliance and how you can make your organization HIPAA-compliant.
Summing Up
The healthcare industry has rapidly evolved in the last few years, especially after Covid-19. And it’s no surprise to see many new players stepping into this billion-dollar market. Seeing the growth the market is expected to hit in the coming years, it’s an excellent decision and a perfect time to build a healthcare app.
Multiple things contribute to the success of the Practo app- their app design, feature-set, functionality, user-friendliness, etc. Building a similar or even better app requires careful planning, detailed analysis, knowledge of the target audience and their needs, and the right strategy. Besides all these things, having an app development partner who comprehensively understands your vision and mission is most important. It won’t be an easy feat but can be accomplished with the right approach and right team.
We hope this article helped you understand how to build an app like Practo.
Originally published at https://www.dewsolutions.in on September 26, 2022.
