Healthcare Service Provider-How often have you encountered uncertainties in your doctor visits? Sometimes, you end up visiting a doctor without knowing that a specialist is available in the very next street. Sometimes, you end up waiting for hours together because you did not have a confirmation for the appointment (and neither did the doctor!) After battling all these uncertainties, you consult the doctor only to be prescribed certain diagnostic tests and then, you have to visit the doctor again battling the same set of uncertainties!
The general public was ready for the trade-off because they wanted better health, even if it meant waiting, traffic, and repeat visits. The equation, however, changed after the COVID-19 pandemic. Hospitals and clinics that we are looked at as epicenters of health were now perceived as dangerous places that might spread the pandemic. In spite of all of this, certain ailments mandated doctor visits, but at the same time, also demanded that the exposure be kept to a minimum, especially for geriatrics and children.
All these uncertainties were effectively addressed by the introduction of doctor appointment booking apps. They have simplified everything right from finding doctors, booking appointments and consultations. It would not be an exaggeration to say that these apps introduce the Uber model into the healthcare ecosystem.
Although there are a lot of apps that provide similar services, nothing could Beat the popularity of Practo. Practo has been so powerful in this field that it has become a synonym for doctor booking apps on demand.
As you may have known, the need for medical services is universal. While the demand has remained constant, there has been a gradual increase in the magnitude of smartphone penetration and Internet availability. Converging all these factors, it can come up without an iota of doubt, be stated that there is a progressive demand for an on-demand doctor app like Practo.
The features of an app like Practo
It is to be remembered that the entire on-demand revolution proliferated into the territory of profitability because of the convenience it offers for every stakeholder in the ecosystem. The equation is not any different for doctors and patients either.
Onboarding – Onboarding should be made simple and straightforward for doctors and patients. The patients should have a simple sign-up mechanism that can take either their phone number or email address or even legacy credentials like Google and Facebook. The sign-up should automatically create a profile for them that will store all the essential medical records, the history of the consultations, and if need be, the history of prescriptions and medications. It can also hold vital pieces of information like their blood sugar levels and their blood pressure, and other diagnostic data.
For the doctor, while the first part can be kept simple, they should also be able to provide information like they are specialization, the years of experience, and the other credentials that increase the trust like paper publications, awards and recognition, and memberships. They should also be able to pinpoint their location on a mapping interface that will make it easy for the patients to navigate.
Appointment booking – The doctors should be provided with a calendar and appointment management system. The calendar should also be visible to the patients, so they can book their slot without any hassle. The doctor should also be able to set their hours of availability depending on their commitments towards other activities like lectures and surgeries.
GPS/mapping – It would not be an exaggeration to say that the GPS is the epicenter of the on-demand revolution. The GPS should not only help in the user navigating to the location of the clinic/doctor but also in finding out doctors in the vicinity.
Searching and filtering – Some doctors miss out on appointments because they do not have the needed visibility. Some patients, instead of consulting doctors available in the vicinity, end up travelling long distances. By including a search facility and filtration process that enables patients to find doctors by their specialization, years of experience, and location, it becomes easy for the patient to finish the consultation without going through hassles like traffic. Parallel to the command, it also enhances the visibility for doctors who might not have always had access to patients even in their locality.
Video consultation – More often than not, doctors can prescribe preliminary medicines by just knowing the symptoms from the patients. For this, the patient does not have to go through the hassles of travelling to the doctor’s location but can’t get those done through a video conference.
Some doctor appointment booking apps like Practo provide video consultation as an extended service, while some apps specialize in facilitating video conference consultation. It is a good idea to make this a part of your doctor appointment booking up.
Additional services – Medical services always function depending on other aspects like diagnostics and pharmaceuticals. Your doctor booking app can come up; therefore, offer additional services like tying up with diagnostic centers for booking a phlebotomist and with a local pharmacy to deliver prescription medicines to your location. They can make these bits of information available to doctors if they need to access the history of the patient.
Payments – Digital payments have become increasingly relevant in the post-pandemic world that demands going contactless as much as possible. For this purpose, your app should be integrated with a versatile payment gateway that can accept payments from multiple payment instruments like credit cards, Internet banking, and debit cards.
In addition, your app should also make it easy and convenient for doctors to transfer their earnings to their bank accounts. It is to be remembered that doctors look at these on-demand appointment booking applications as an extension of the clinic or hospital, and the revenue that they earn from here should be transferred to them after taking the essential commission.
Review and rating – What makes the entire on-demand ecosystem democratic is the possibility for people who avail of these services to review their experience. The review and rating system can help in sorting doctors and in grading the quality of their service. The doctors should also be able to rate patients based on their behaviour.
Conclusion
With the growing advancements in the field of everyday medicine (like smartwatches, wearables, and accuracy of diagnostics), The wide chasm between technology and medicine is narrowing down with every passing day. One of the most practical manifestations of this contraction is the on-demand doctor appointment app.
Considering the fact that the need for medical care is global, it would be a great opportunity for an aspiring entrepreneur to venture into the space of providing technology-enabled medical services. If you are one of those entrepreneurs, you can jumpstart your business by using a Practo clone app. A Practo clone script is easy to customize, and you can garnish it with features of your choice.
All you need to do is get in touch with a company that specializes in Practo clone app development and customization. They will take care to understand the requirement and provide you with perfect solutions that will launch into the space of app-based on-demand doctor appointments.
