Top Apps for Healthcare: Industry Leaders

Scientists in medicine synthesize organs and tissues, create realistic prosthetic devices, and make other things thought fantastic real. Impressive it is, but how is technology advancement applied in more routine healthcare operations? It is applied in a way, more precisely – in medical app development. But before going further, one issue has to be clarified.

Health apps vs. Healthcare apps: what’s the difference?

To avoid confusion, it is important to distinguish between apps for self-care, like fitness apps, calorie counters, and sleep trackers with healthcare apps for patient care.

Apps falling under the first category, health apps, help users better understand how their body works, track their habits, and maintain a healthier lifestyle.

Meanwhile, healthcare apps are used in applied medical practice or for tracking particular medical conditions. That’s why an alternative way to name healthcare apps is medical apps.

To explain the difference more clearly, imagine that health apps are vitamins and healthcare, or medical apps, are prescription medications.

The great benefits of healthcare apps

Let’s be brutally honest here: are apps essential for life? Somehow, our ancestors used to make it without mobile devices at all. Apps are a great business and an amazing tool to simplify lives, but definitely not save them.

Well, it is a bit different with health care apps. Saying they save lives are big words, but with no exaggeration, they can contribute to a more efficient patient treatment.

Medical apps enable faster and more quality patient communication with healthcare practitioners. Doctors can store and input information about patients in one place and share it with other doctors immediately. And one not so evident benefit of apps in healthcare is that they bring some extra profit to doctors.

Sounds great yet not quite specific, and to improve this, we prepared a list of the best healthcare apps for your knowledge and inspiration.

Best medical apps in the market

Today, practically any condition can be managed or at least controlled. Let’s see how mobile healthcare apps are assisting with it.

Why these apps? When making this list, we had a goal to showcase that the healthcare app industry is not limited to the standard on-demand consultations concept. Such apps are for sure present in the list but just as well as health care apps for specific conditions: diabetes, eye diseases, acne. Maybe you come up with something unique after looking through these examples.

Teladoc – 24/7 virtual doctor

Teladoc is the most well-known on-demand telehealth application in the US with 24/7 available consultations. Throughout its existence, the app gathered a community of over 50 million people across the country.

Consultations are available for all states, medical conditions, and demands — primary care, mental health, dermatology, and nutrition included. When signing up to the platform, doctors have to pass verification, so each of thousands of practitioners has a license and is safe to work with.

Users get from Teladoc:

• Ability to choose a doctor, therapist or dietician and schedule a phone or video consultation;
• Remote diagnostics for non-emergency conditions, treatment recommendations, prescriptions for medications (the latter are submitted to the pharmacy of choice);
• 100% confidentiality and security, HIPAA compliance.

Platform: Android, iOS.

Pricing: can be free if insurance is covering televisits.

Heal – Care in the comfort of home

The creators of Heal describe it as one of the best healthcare apps for patients that delivers awesome healthcare services. As most medicare apps we know, Heal allows setting up calls with doctors and also gives them access to users’ history and info on their conditions.

The distinguishing feature of Heal is integration with the Apple Health app which allows users to share their collected health data with their connected doctor.

On top of that, users have the opportunity to visit the same doctor over and over again unlike with many other apps in which patients are connected with the first available specialist.

Platform: Android, iOS.

Pricing: can be free if insurance is covering televisits.

Eyecarelive – Connection with your eye doctor

Eyecarelive is a telehealth mobile application for eye treatment. With the app, users can contact their eye care provider through audio or video calls and discuss such eye conditions as dry eye, redness, allergy, and contact lenses issues. Information on ophthalmologic conditions is recorded into the user’s medical history for every doctor to see it.

Eyecarelive’s main features are:

• Taking pictures or videos of affected eyes and sending them to doctors;
• Fast connection with doctors who get back to users in minutes;
• Multiple eye tests in the app for doctors to understand users’ conditions and abilities;
• Monitoring symptoms and progression of dry eye;
• Opportunities for doctors to monitor and learn the effect of contact lenses on the eye. Thus, the need for patients to drive to the doctor is eliminated;
• The app provides invoices so that users can submit them to their insurance and get reimbursement.

Platform: Android, iOS.

Pricing: can be free if insurance is covering televisits.

MDacne – Clean skin

MDacne helps build a plan for custom acne treatment. Within 5 minutes, users get personalized advice based on their skin condition, on which the app concludes from a selfie: MDapp detects problematic spots and identifies acne severity, skin sensitivity, and acne persistence. Delivery of custom sets of skin care products makes the app truly unique.

How the treatment proceeds, precisely:

• Users get a list of working ingredients, both high-potency medical ones and natural ingredients to be used for acne treatment;
• Then they will have skin care products crafted for them individually shipped to their doorstep. These will be the recommended face cleanser, anti-acne cream, and moisturizer;
• Users set reminders to monitor their skin improvement, chat with a dermatologist and receive helpful recommendations based on their needs.

Platform: Android, iOS.<

Pricing: the app is free to use but the pricing of custom treatment is different for each country. In the US, a 1-month subscription for a treatment kit will cost $29.95. All countries are listed here.

MySugr – Diabetes tracker

13% of US adults have diabetes. Apps like MySugr are designed to make lives of such a big share of the population with Type 1, Type 2, or Gestational diabetes better. We can say it does well as MySugr has been ranked a Top Diabetes App by Healthline 3 times. Here’s what’s so special about it:

• Allows tracking carb intake, diet, and blood glucose level;
• Has Insulin/Bolus calculator with precise dose recommendations;
• Generates blood sugar level graphs for users;
• Provides an estimated HbA1c;
• Creates regular reports to be shared with the doctor.

Platform: Android, iOS.

Pricing: free; PRO version costs $2.99 a month or $27.99 a year.

WebMD – Health researcher & reminder

WebMD is a mobile healthcare app owned by a self-titled corporation from the US that has been publishing news and information on health and well-being since 1996. WebMD is loved by millions of users for:

• Symptom checker. Based on symptoms, users can learn about possible issues, lookup treatment and care;
• Medication reminders. In order to not miss a dose, users set up reminders to get notified when it’s time for medication intake. Pill images and dosages make it easier for users to navigate.;
• Allergy alerts. Based on the user’s location, they can receive notifications when and where allergy levels are high;
• Drug interaction checker. If a patient is administering multiple medications at a time, WebMD will check if they react and whether it can harm a person’s wellbeing;
• Doctor directory. The app includes a large database of doctors based on the user’s location. Search by city is enabled as well as .zip download;
• WebMD Rx with the latin ‘Rx’ for ‘recipe’. The app partners with large pharmacy chains so people can purchase prescription drugs at lowest prices.

Platform: Android, iOS.

Pricing: free.

Medisafe Pill Reminder

The US pharmacists ranked Medisafe #1 out of 461 apps they’ve tested. MyVCM, a platform for organizations that need to demonstrate important compliances, has recognized Medisafe for impeccable security and HIPAA compliance. See what the app is offering users:

• Integrations with other health trackers;
• Connection of family members’ pill boxes to one account;
• Sharing progress reports in .pdf with a doctor;
• Reminder to refill prescriptions.

Platform: Android, iOS.

Pricing: free; a premium upgrade version costs $7.99 a month or $62.99 a year.

Final thoughts

The biggest achievement of medical apps for patients is its direct impact on people’s well-being. A doctor visit that used to require allocating a few hours now can take much shorter time.

Still, users have to acknowledge that for some conditions even the top healthcare apps are not enough. Apps won’t make it with emergency cases and when intervention is needed.

So it is critical that medical apps promote in-person visits to a doctor as much as they promote themselves. Only this way, a perfect balance will be reached that will allow people to use their time with maximum efficiency and not miss a single health condition.