Top healthcare app development trends in 2023

While companies are trying to adapt within the field of rapid-evolving, post-Covid reality, new development trends are already one step ahead. When it comes to medical-focused companies, they have the added burden of responsibility to the end user. All because human life is at stake. The emergence of new trends in healthcare, such as IoT, artificial intelligence, and blockchain, has opened up new opportunities for the healthcare sector. Together with leading healthcare marketing trends, these development tendencies allow healthcare companies to take medicine to a completely new level, where patients get the most out of digitized healthcare services. 

What trends are worth paying attention to in 2023 when developing a medical app?

Nevertheless, if you are pondering in what direction to evolve your future product, perhaps the following “Top 5” can help you find a jumping-off point.

In pre-pandemic times, the pace of telemedicine adoption was generally steady but low. However, the pandemic transformed people's attitudes toward telemedicine and their willingness to leverage digital solutions for their health-related needs. Let's take a look at the statistics.

According to an Accenture report on U.S. healthcare software adoption [1], as early as 2020, many patients preferred virtual tools for basic care and even for specialized services.

A McKinsey report [2] shows that telemedicine usage in 2021 stabilized at a level that is 38 times higher than before the pandemic. Meanwhile, interest in the use of telemedicine in healthcare increased from 11% to 76% from 2019 to 2021.

Among other things, telemedicine became the preferred channel for prescription care and minor illnesses in 2022, reaching an 80% point [3].

AI is fundamentally reshaping healthcare systems at an enormous rate. Indeed, AI can complement human activities by taking over most day-to-day tasks, allowing caregivers to focus on the patient. According to the Accenture study [4], combined major clinical AI applications have the potential to create $150 billion in annual savings for the U.S. by 2026.

Where does AI find the most use?

According to the World Health Organization, one in eight people lives with a mental disorder ranging from sleep disorders to depression [5]. Given that a significant percentage of "sufferers" are digitally savvy, they primarily surf the Internet to find solutions to their problems. Meanwhile, the demand for apps and online meetings with psychotherapists continues growing.

According to the Organisation for the Review of Health and Care Apps (ORCHA) report, demand for mental health apps, which had begun before the pandemic, continued to grow steadily through and including 2022 [6].

As a result, there are more than 10,000 mental health and wellness applications on the market today [7], with iOS solutions dominating the mental healthcare app development market with over 45% revenue share [8].

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 82% of health systems reported cybersecurity incidents between mid-2020 and 2021, with 34% involving ransomware [9]. Although there was a decrease in cyber attacks on medical data in 2022 [10], the issue of your application security and the data stored in it is still of paramount importance. Why?

Reason 1. The quantity and nature of the data

Given that med databases are filled with a bunch of confidential information, hackers will always see medical solutions as their main profitable target.

Reason 2. They know the weaknesses of start-ups

The bottom line is that demand spawns fierce competition, which forces start-up companies to roll out the product at lightning speed. Otherwise, there is a high likelihood of ending up second. As a result, projects often neglect the robust security of their product as well as ignore regulations in their geographic market segment.

Mobility, the desire for convenience, and the need for constant monitoring of one's health will only increase among today's users, creating the need for compatible, user-friendly, and easy-to-use systems & devices.

Thanks to continuous glucose monitoring (CGM), pulse oximeters, blood pressure, heart rate, sleep monitoring, and other wearable devices paired with mobile apps, patients will be able to track their conditions 24/7, whereas physicians plan further data-based treatment. Deloitte predicts [11] that by 2024, the number of health and wellness wearable devices is likely to reach nearly 440 million units.

In 2021, the global market for wearable medical devices reached a value of $18.96 billion. Looking forward, the market is expected to hit $60.55 billion by 2027 [12].

With wearable devices, patients now have a hands-on means of tracking many aspects of their health in real time, something that is crucial for identifying disease in its earliest stages.

Being a software development company with extensive technical and medical backgrounds, Brandmed can become your trusted gatekeeper and help you create a solution, starting with the ideation stage all the way to product maintenance and support. All to provide a customized tailor-made solution and accelerate the transformation of digital medicine. Just contact us.

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