Statista reports that the health and medical industry is among the top three sectors which have contributed to the growth of mobile devices. It has evolved into a new discipline called mobile health or mHealth. Mobile health is rising because it facilitates convenient communication between healthcare providers and patients, makes it easy to track vitals like heart rate, step counts, pressure and oxygen level and helps in betterment of healthcare services.

Doctors and nurses don’t need to carry hefty equipment with them. Plus, certain mobile applications make it easier for healthcare officials to keep track of their critical patients. Not to mention that mHealth has also resulted in cost reduction in the healthcare department, especially for patients. But the market of mHealth looks ripe and beneficial as Statista’s survey reports forecast that the market segment of mHealth apps is expected to reach around 3.5 billion U.S. dollars by 2025.

Now there are different types of healthcare applications available in the app stores ranging from information-based that provide detailed information on drugs and ailments to ones that serve as personal reminders. Then there are apps for fitness, nutrition, evaluation of health metrics, booking appointments and whatnots.

The problem is that this overloading of apps makes it difficult for users to find the right ones. They can easily get tricked into picking the ones which aren’t relevant to their requirements. So here are the top five useful picks of healthcare apps which will help you to avail the most of mHealth.

List of Healthcare Apps for Patients

1) Medical ID

Have you ever wondered what would you do if you were to have a medical emergency or an accident and you aren’t able to contact anyone? Even if someone does find you and your phone, it won’t be of much help because most people lock their phones with patterns or biometrics. Medical ID is an Android application that comes as a saviour. This app allows users to save their emergency medical information on their lock screen.

You can list down any disease that you are suffering from, your allergies, blood group, drugs you administer and emergency contacts. Users can create multiple profiles so that one can access medical information of other family members too. It also allows you to send alert notifications via SMS. In case of emergencies, it can send your current location too and even allows making calls from lock screens.

2) Apple Health

Apple Health (commonly known as Health app) is an iOS exclusive mobile application that allows users to view and manage their health data collected by it. Health app gathers data from iPhone, iPod Touch, Apple Watch and other mHealth applications which are already in use. With Health, one can monitor their daily activities like step counts, calorie burns, food intake, and sleep. This helps them to track any change in their course.

One of its best features is that it can seamlessly integrate with over a thousand applications and put all your health data in one convenient place. Another great feature is that Apple’s Health app provides an in-built Medical ID to its users (which possess the same features and functions as the one described above) to make their critical medical information easily accessible.

3) WebMD

If you have ever searched about a medical condition or drug on the Internet, then chances are that you have already visited WebMD’s official website. Good news is that it’s now available as an app and not just one but three different types – WebMD Symptom Checker, Health Services and Practice Pro. Health Services basically falls under the category of fitness and isn’t much popular with users while PracticePro is for healthcare professionals.

But it’s the first one, Symptom Checker which makes for a must-have for patients. Symptom Checker has multiple functionalities apart from giving a generic overview of health conditions based on symptoms. With Symptom Checker, users get:

• Medication reminders
• Information on medical stores with the lowest prices
• Medically reviewed information about health conditions
• Provision to find the doctors based on user’s current location or search options by state, city or ZIP

4) EyeCare Live

As the name goes, EyeCare Live is an application which helps with treatments for eye problems. Though it is not recommended for severe eye conditions, it works fine for people who suffer from trivial issues like redness or allergic reactions or trouble with dry eyes. The app virtually connects patients with eye doctors within an hour and also permits users to renew their prescriptions online if they aren’t above 2 years.

This mHealth application can be downloaded for free and is available for both Android and iOS, but patients do need to pay for their eye tests and virtual appointments. Apart from online appointments, one can also make online purchases of dry eye products and eyeglasses from EyeCare Live.

5) Heal: TeleHealth and House Calls

In-home healthcare service used to be a common practice in the olden days but popularity of this service declined over time owing to the rise of multi-specialty hospitals, private clinics and nursing homes. But it’s returning, courtesy COVID, and Heal is one such mobile health application that facilitates it. Heal gives patients access to certified and qualified doctors from different fields or specializations.

Apart from providing services for house-calls physicians, this healthcare application has other significant features including provision for remote monitoring facilities with Heal Hub service and virtual telemedicine visits. Heal works with its patients’ health insurance and comes clean on pricing on various services including mental health care and regular and urgent care. The house-calls are mostly covered by the insurance plans but those without any plan are required to pay $159 per visit.

Wrapping Up

Healthcare mobile applications have redefined convenience and care for both professionals and patients. On the other hand, they have opened endless possibilities for people who are looking to make profits in this discipline. All in all, IT solutions in healthcare are thriving.

So it is a good time to think about investment here. But the app stores are already brimming with them; so you need to come up with pioneering ideas or services like the ones described here. A viable option always available at hand is to team up with technical experts as they will give you an extra edge by providing you with the much-needed guidance here.