Healthcare has merged with technology to sprout up a new arm of healthcare tech. This new sector offers mobility, patient engagement, greater access to healthcare information, and cost efficiency for both physicians and patients. About a decade back, accessing patients’ records required a doctor to shuffle through tonnes of documents to get what was needed.
Recently, however, the picture has been re-painted with healthcare technological advances. This has made matters as easy as needing only a few taps to get the desired documents. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (TCDCP) records the use of EHR at 86.9%. With the even more recent introduction of applications, healthcare matters have become swifter than ever before.
Use of smartphones has penetrated to 77% of the US population. Users spent 89% of their total mobile media time on mobile apps. Moreover, a survey revealed that 58.23% of its participants downloaded healthcare smartphone apps. These figures favor the growth of mHealth that is expected to rise to around $60 billion by 2020.
Apps have left no stone unturned in creating a virtual environment of connectivity between patients and doctors. With a further aim of adding to the patient security and safety, healthcare apps have been making waves. Here are five apps that are changing the face of healthcare:
1) Doctor On Demand
Waiting for appointments and growing tired of standing in queues was the traditional way of meeting doctors. Doctor On Demand is the new black that scrambles the conventional method in favor of video consultations with a doctor. Mobile app usage is 80% prevalent among the physicians so virtual connectivity was only an idea away.
Doctor On Demand is a medically certified app that is backed by 1400 state-licensed doctors. The app connects you to a doctor for any query or medical issue that arises. These physicians also treat medical cases that are non-emergency by nature. These include sports injuries, allergies, flu and cold symptoms, heartburn, several pediatric issues, respiratory infections, and urinary tract infections.
A survey revealed that social stigma foiled 15% of individuals from seeing a counselor. The latest update on the part of this innovative healthcare application allows you to contact a psychologist. This makes this update a beneficial one for those too timid to seek help otherwise.
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2) Insight Optics
Keeping an eye on your eyesight is just as important, in this era of screens. Despite that, only 50% of the 61 million US adults who are at the edge of vision loss visit an eye specialist.
With such bleak statistics in the background, Insight Optics was born. The CEO of the app, Brock Webberman, states the mission as, “At Insight Optics, we’re in the business of preventing avoidable blindness.” The app aims to provide eye tests along with the annual complete body checkups. To this end, the application connects Primary Care Physicians (PCPs) with ophthalmologists. The PCP captures the image of your eye’s retina with a high-resolution smartphone camera.
In the next step, he uses an app to submit the pictures to an ophthalmologist for review. Subsequently, users can get an inside scoop on their eye health. Such an insight tells you if a visit to an eye specialist is due or not.
3) BlueStar
29.1 million US citizens have diabetes with 1.4 million new cases diagnosed every year. These figures beckoned the birth of an app dedicated to patients with diabetes type 2. BlueStar helps people with the management of their diabetic health.
Diabetic health management can pose challenges for doctors too. It is always one matter to arm patients with their health information and another to coach them through it. Like a knight in shining armor, this app helps doctors to assist their patients in real-time.
The app can be prescribed only by a physician. It offers personalized guidance to users along the parameters of their blood glucose readings and treatment plan. The OneTouch Verio Flex blood glucose meter can also be integrated directly with the app via Bluetooth. This can assist in direct logging of daily glucose checks, which cuts the odds of incorrect or missed glucose checks.
4) Digital Pharmacist
52% of smartphone users acquire medical-related information on the Internet. The data searched also includes the forage for over-the-counter medicines. However, surfing the internet for information on medicinal drugs doesn’t guarantee authenticity. Subsequently, an app such as Digital Pharmacist that breaks this norm is highly fruitful for the healthcare industry.
Digital Pharmacist makes authentic information available straight from the pharmacist. The app aids pharmacists in becoming digital by developing apps for pharmacies and providing cloud storage to them. It also serves as a connective bridge between patients and pharmacists.
The app allows the latter to prescribe medications, make prescription refills, and process prescriptions as well for the former. Pharmacists can also direct customers to related medical articles via the subsidiary bank of Rx Wiki. In this way, this app makes life easier for all.
5) Doctor Mole
Real-time computer vision technology stands at the heart of this unique healthcare app. Doctor Mole allows you to check if a mole has a malignant nature. The American Academy of Dermatology reports that nearly 9,500 skin cancer cases are diagnosed daily.
Out of 4.3 million cases of basal cell carcinoma (BCC), the most common skin cancer, 3000 die annually. This app focuses on sparking awareness among people about skin cancer and its danger. The app helps to recognize symptoms of the condition. Doctor Mole uses the smartphone’s camera to scan the mole for any malignancy.
It returns with instant feedback in real time with its Augmented Reality Technology. Analysis of moles is thoroughly detailed and orbits around the criteria of Asymmetry, Border, Color, Diameter and Evolving (ABCDE).
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Bottom Line:
These are some of the many apps available which are revolutionizing healthcare. More and more people are now opting for healthcare technology over the traditional visit to the doctor. Apps like Brain Test are helping people take care of their dementia ridden family members. HelloMD allows you to find the best specialist from the comfort of your home. Microsoft’s HealthVault keeps all your medical data and history safe. Advances in healthcare technology are helping you seek medical assistance more conveniently than ever before.
This article is written by Erica Silva. She is a blogger who loves to discover and explore the world around her. Erica writes on everything from marketing to technology, science and brain health. She enjoys sharing her discoveries and experiences with readers and believes her blogs can make the world a better place. Find her on Twitter.
This article is written by Erica Silva. She is a blogger who loves to discover and explore the world around her. Erica writes on everything from marketing to technology, science and brain health. She enjoys sharing her discoveries and experiences with readers and believes her blogs can make the world a better place. Find her on 
