There’s a new category of apps booming right now.
Actually, it has been here for a while now, but the context of the pandemic has triggered the emergence of even more of this kind of apps.
Yes, I am talking about dating telemedicine apps.
It looks like the amount of people relying on telemedicine solutions have gone through the roof. In fact, it has been reported that the pandemic boosted technology adoption, with the demand for such telemedicine apps increasing by over 65%.
To get even deeper into data, the global telemedicine market is expected to grow 37.7% annually until 2025, when it is estimated to exceed $191 billion in market value.
So..
How are telemedicine apps transforming healthcare?
Telemedicine apps allow you to speak with a health care provider using an app on your phone. Some may also work with your computer. Services may be on-demand, which means you see a different provider each time you use the app. Other services allow you to see the same provider for multiple visits.
What is also cool about telemedicine apps is that they also have a specialty, a specific niche to serve. Some focus on mental health care, others focus on reproductive care and others may focus on urgent care.
The apps may charge per visit, and most have relatively modest fees.
What seemed to be the norm some time ago, now became an ultimate alternative. More and more people prefer receiving expert medical consultations and prescriptions from the comfort of their home and even more institutions are recognizing these new needs and commit to adapt to them.
Healthcare processes are being transformed globally to these new tendencies with institutions managing to solve even more recurrent problems like providing fast healthcare access to remote areas and ensuring that there is a sufficient number of doctors who can cover certain territories and essentially decrease the number of diseases.
Basically, no matter where you are, now you can reach a doctor in no time so that you won’t have to google your symptoms and pretty much fear that your days are numbered. 😅
Keeping this in mind, I figured I’d highlight the most popular telemedicine apps of 2021, the game-changers, if you would, which you should keep an eye on.
Teladoc
The company offers fast and reliable access to its doctors via phone calls or video conferencing, either on the web or through the mobile app.
You get access to services like general care, pediatrics, preventative medicine or mental health. Teladoc’s on-demand service provides a high level of convenience and versatility, allowing users to connect with a doctor whenever the need arises. Typically, doctors connect with a patient within a 20 minutes time-frame since the initial request.
Physicians are available 24/7 and service is offered in over 30 languages. I must mention that according to the company’s data, nearly 90% of its clients have their medical issues addressed in a single call, which eliminates the need for further appointments and follow-ups for most users.
The cost of a Teladoc visit depends on the specific type of care that you are going for, as well as the insurance you got. A General Medical visit can be as low as $0 per visit with insurance, but prices vary outside your benefits plan or insurance coverage. The same General Medical visit would cost $75.
Visit Teladoc’s website for more information.
DRD
DRD is a web and mobile app that brings together the functions of a doctor search platform and a telemedicine service to Austrian users. This idea came to life in 2017 when the two founders realized the importance of simplifying access to doctors and the need for support in choosing the right doctor for the course of treatment.
The platform functions as the first point of contact for patients with medical questions and offers the chance to get immediate assistance via video consultations with registered specialists.
As a start-up with a young, dynamic team, drd doctors online focused on offering the following functions as part of an iOS, Android and web app for users:
- Chance to have a telemedical consultation with a general practitioner via an encrypted video consultation
- Simple, secure and user-friendly patient file for all medical documents on your smartphone
- Search function for all specialists registered in Austria.
Simple access to a family doctor via your smartphone – No waiting times, direct referral to a specialist and a laboratory and instant prescription on your smartphone.
All general practitioners on DRD doctors online have been recommended by medical professionals and continually undergo training in order to provide top-quality and highly targeted medical advice.
In terms of price, you got two options to chose from. One fit for trying out the platform, for a fixed price of 49.99 euros, and another one, subscription-based, for 9.99 euros per month.
Visit DRD’s site for more information.
Recomedica
Recomedica is a MedTech startup, a mobile app launched in November 2019 that bridges medical service providers worldwide and patients, offering users immediate access to online medical consultations, in order to streamline the diagnostics and treatment processes.
With more than 350 specialized medical professionals under the same umbrella and growing, Recomedica provides medical advice and recommendations to users posting an average of 300 requests daily.
Since 2019, Recomedica has been offering online medical guidance and access to healthcare services to more than 35,000 unique users who have already made over 80,000 medical requests within the web platform.
Besides common features amongst other telemedicine platforms like generating a full Medical Profile for both yourself and your family members, real-time chat with doctors from different specialties, management of medical cases and files, or medical requests, the platform also features a machine-learning-like algorithm as part of the onboarding process.
This is specifically important as it allows automatization of processes, eliminating the manual tasks and smoothening extraction of data directly from electronic records. It also creates the possibility for doctors to predict trends in the patient conditions and their behaviors by discovering connections and relations from seemingly unrelated information, patterns that could then be used by to determine diagnoses, prognoses and treatments for patients in healthcare organizations.
There are 3 different types of subscriptions that you can make and, depending on the one you chose to go with, the price varies between 5 to 20 euros per month.
Visit Recomedica’s site for more information.
MDlive
MDLive helps patients to get in touch with psychiatrists or dermatologist doctors, counselors for discussion via a mobile application. Each doctor that works for MDlive is board-certified in their area of expertise, and the staff overall specializes in treating a wide variety of medical conditions. The overall experience of each of the physicians offering consultations is 15 years, making the MDlive’s staff a highly experienced team.
The doctors have 24/7 availability and you can reach them either through a phone call or a video chat. Specifically, their area of expertise relies on diagnosing skin conditions, allergies and plenty of other acute conditions. Nevertheless, the popularity of this platform also has to do with its mental health services and respectively the therapists who are available for counseling and support sessions on-demand.
Depending on the insurance, the cost per medical visit can be between $0 to $82. However, on their website you will find that part of the medical services that you can access, there is also a behavioral health and dermatology category including slightly pricier sessions.
Visit MDlive’s site for more information.
Amwell
Designed specifically to be a fast, reliable, and smarter way for patients to interact with doctors, Amwell is focused on convenience and service. Most of the virtual doctor’s visits are less than 10 minutes and don’t require an appointment. Amwell’s focus is on providing an accurate diagnosis and recommending the proper treatment in an expedient manner.
Amwell physicians can even write prescriptions or suggest homeopathic treatments for conditions like sinus infections, rashes, or acne. Interactions take place over the phone, video chat, or using the service’s app.
The cost is $79 per visit, and even less with most major insurance plans.
Visit Amwell’s site for more information.
Doctor On Demand
Available over the web, phone, or smartphone app, the healthcare professionals at DoD provide assistance and advice for urgent care, chronic conditions, and preventative medicine.
The company keeps certified therapists on staff to assist patients with mental and behavioral health issues, while its doctors handle advice on how to treat everything from the cold and flu to asthma and diabetes.
One of the best aspects of this service is that patients can mark doctors as a favorite in order to connect with them again in the future when available.
The app is free with premium services and consultations varying per session basis.
Visit Doctor on Demand’s site for more information.
Plush Care
Plush Care puts a large team of experienced physicians right at your fingertips thanks to its app. Using a smartphone, patients are able to make an appointment, speak directly with a doctor, and get a quick and simple diagnosis. The service also calls in prescriptions to a local pharmacy of choice and provides the ability for a follow-up after the initial consultation.
PlushCare treats urgent issues like the cold and flu or UTIs and STDs. It also provides support for ongoing conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, thyroid disorders, and depression. And the platform has a huge mental health care component via licensed therapists or primary care physicians. PlushCare even has options for prescription renewals, too, including birth control.
PlushCare has two membership plans: the monthly membership costs $14.99 per month, and the annual membership which costs $99 per year. You also get a 30-day free trial for both plans. Besides, there’s a $99 copay per visit. However, those of you that benefit from an insurance will have to pay a significantly lower fee, about $25 to see a doctor.
Visit Plush Care’s site for more information.
LiveHealth
Whether you need help dealing with common issues like pink eye, fever, or tooth pain, or you’re looking for more in-depth assistance with allergies or the flu, LiveHealth Online covers it all. The service allows members to connect with doctors 24/7 using their laptops or smartphones in order to get fast and reliable medical attention and prescriptions filled.
LiveHealth also connects users with psychologists and psychiatrists to get them the mental health support they need, too. One of the distinguishing features to this service is that it allows members to choose the specific doctor that they want to interact with.
The costs vary depending on the type of insurance you hold. In the case you don’t benefit from one, a visit would cost $59.
Visit LiveHealth Online’s site for more information.
Talkspace
Talkspace is a telehealth service that specializes in mental healthcare, offering features such as: chat, video and voice calls, user-friendly therapists’ search, AI-based assessments, billing and ePrescriptions. It is a highly rated online therapy platform, offering the patient the option to select from a list of recommended licensed therapists.
Users can engage in therapy sessions via video conferencing and messaging, for delicate matters ranging from family conflicts to substance abuse, bipolar, anger management, OCD etc. Talkspace offers 24/7 access and flexible plans to meet individual needs.
With the likes of Demi Lovato or Michael Phelps being strong advocates of the platform, since 2012, the application has reached over one million users. The pandemic was a blessing in disguise for Talkspace as the number of visitors drastically increased, in fact doubled since mid-March 2020.
The average cost starts from $260 a month
Visit Talkspace’s site for more information.
Lemonaid
Lemonaid is an app, an online doctor’s office, as they like to position themselves, widely used in the United States which features medical professionals licensed in all 50 states.
Its mission is to provide all Americans access to primary healthcare services and help patients get evaluated and treated for conditions like urinary tract infections (UTIs), cold sores, flu, acute sinusitis, acne, as well as treatment to quit smoking, get tested and treated for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), high cholesterol, diabetes and many more.
The thorough onboarding process is a key selling point of this platform. Specifically, patients receive a sort of questionnaire to fill out and based on the reviews these questionnaires get from the expert doctors of Lemonaid, each patient is given personalized medicine shipped with free delivery directly to the user’s door or the nearest pharmacy.
The costs vary based on the nature of consultation starting $10+ for lab tests, and $25 and more for telehealth appointments.
Visit Lemonaid’s site for more information.
Well, if you are looking for a reliable telemedicine app development company to bring your idea to life through the latest tech and a user-centric design, then don’t hesitate to reach out.
You might want to read our latest case-studies where we present how we developed a telemedicine app, as well as a white-label platform used to digitalize healthcare institutions.
