How to Hire Healthcare App Developers

Are you looking to hire healthcare app developers?

If you are then you will likely be considering launching an exciting new application. 

According to Statista, mobile health or mHealth is one of the top three industries driving growth in the mobile device market. 

In this article, we will explain how you can hire the professional(s) that you need to turn your app idea into a top application.

We will first look at some of the features available in healthcare apps. This will help in deciding the look and feel of your app, and also the right mobile health app developers to hire to help you build your software product.

Common Healthcare Application Features:

A healthcare app is different from many other types of apps in terms of how it is used. It is not an entertainment app. While attractive, it should be simple, concise, and scalable with a user-friendly and easy-to-use interface. Some features to include in a mHealth (mobile health) app are:

• User Registration:

A simple signup/sign-in feature for users to start using the app. It should allow for different social media accounts like Gmail and Facebook for quick auto signup. Registration should allow contact details and password storage for purposes including account verification, etc.

• Security:

It is imperative that app developers pay special attention to user privacy and the security of user credentials, etc. Two-factor authentication is now implemented as a standard by mobile app developers to secure the users’ accounts and personal data. This requires a developer with this knowledge and experience. 

• UI/UX design:

A clean and simple user interface and app design to ensure user satisfaction.

• Multilingual Support:

This is another effective feature that your mobile app development team can develop for your healthcare app. Support for multiple international languages will help in attracting audiences in different countries or from different cultural backgrounds.

If the healthcare app is for a specific country in terms of its functionality, app developers should add support for different regional languages.

•  Third-party API Integrations:

EHR/EMR integrations are very common for mobile health apps. Electronic Health Records (EHRs) record all the health-related data of any person treated by a healthcare professional. 

The holy grail of this is an anytime and anywhere ubiquitous EMR solution that will revolutionize our personal healthcare by allowing the medical industry to track patient records in real-time and across borders. Could you be the company to develop this and to get all the rewards?

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There are many other software systems in the medical ecosystem that are used widely by medical professionals. One such example is Kroll, a pharmacy management system. Such software management systems have been developed and scaled over time. 

A practical approach used by software development teams is to integrate these technology solutions into your mobile app instead of building it from scratch. 

Let us now discuss how you can hire mobile app developers for healthcare app development.

Type of Mobile App Development Team

The section above introduced you to some of the main areas of development that you must have the expertise in if you are going to build a safe, reliable, bug-free application that people and companies are going to want to use. You will need the developers that cover all these skills. 

For the most part, healthcare startups hire developers to develop custom software products. There are two main ways to do this. You can build an in-house team of mobile app developers or outsource mobile app developers from a mobile app development company.

Each approach has its pros and cons.

Hiring an in-house mobile application development team gives the following benefits:

• You have your team in your office.
• All-time availability of the developers with no time-zone difference.
• Complete dedication and focus of the development team towards your mobile app.

The downside of hiring in-house developers includes:

• Administrative expenses, including buying hardware and software products, relevant licenses, rents, etc.
• Limited pool of skills and experience once hired.
• HR expenses, including employment facilities, training, etc.
• It may get difficult to acquire the required talent in a specific region. There is a big market of software developers, but finding one with the expertise within a budget can get tricky.

Outsourcing your healthcare app development project to a healthcare app development company such as DevTeam.Space will help you in the following ways:

• Expert developers with lots of previous experience in your industry.
• A huge community of developers who have built lots of medical applications before.
• Onboarding developers is made easy by an in-house vetting process so you don’t need to do all the hard work.
• In-house training schemes that ensure developers are at the cutting edge of developments in their tech stacks. 
• There is the variable cost factor such as pay-by-hour contracts that offer you maximum flexibility.
• All work is guaranteed by the company so if you are not 100% happy, you don’t have to pay. 

The cons of outsourcing may include:

• No in-person communication between various teams and developers.
• Time zone differences leading to difficulty in keeping up with the mobile app development team (not the case with DevTeam.Space).

The approach you adopt will ultimately come down to the scope of your project and the size of your budget. If you are likely to wish to continue full-time development of new apps then a good option is hiring an in-house mobile app development team that is backed up by easily onboarded and offboarded outsource developers with the additional skills you need. 

If your healthcare venture requires a one-time mobile app project with limited future updates and a limited budget, or if your project needs flexibility or access to a wide range of skills then a good option is to outsource a few top developers. 

If you wish to learn more about the best approach or how an outsource developer or development team can help you, then why not take a moment to fill out a project specification form and one of our experts will get back to you to answer all your questions.

After deciding on your hiring approach for your mobile app developers, the next step is to find the best development partner for your medical app development. There are many software app development companies as well as freelancer platforms where you can find engineers. 

What to Look for in your Healthcare App Developers and Development Partner?

Healthcare software projects have to meet certain standards set by government law. There are also multiple practices used in the healthcare industry to make digital healthcare solutions standard-compliant.

Your chosen software development team, whether in-house or outsourced, should understand and comply with these standards. Some of these are:

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA):

HIPAA ensures the security of patients health information through three rules:

1. The privacy rule;
2. The security rule;
3. The breach notification rule.

HIPAA compliance is compulsory for healthcare businesses in the case when their mobile apps are sharing or storing patients’ data.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR):

GDPR concerns European Union countries. The digital product should conform to GDPR if collecting data of people living in the European Union countries. It does not apply to only mobile apps but to all digital services.

Canadian Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA):

PIPEDA is in use in Canada. The collection and use of medical data from the Canadian residents should be made PIPEDA compliant by the development team.

Any healthcare app developers that you hire must have a sufficient understanding of the relevant regulations. Other skills you must look for in your healthcare app developer or the software development team are listed below. 

Please note, this is a general list of skills. Since your project will have a unique set of skill sets that are required, remember to factor these into both your job description template as well as your interview. 

1. Healthcare Interoperability:

Make sure the freelance developers or the developers hired from your chosen software development company are the skilled professionals that you can develop an app with healthcare good interoperability. 

Note, for freelancers, this ball falls completely in your court. You will need to undertake a rigorous vetting process and back up all their work with a watertight contract that you can use to sue them should they steal your intellectual property or leave the project without notice, etc. 

Choose a development company with a thorough in-house vetting process and NDAs as well as a watertight contract that details developer conduct.

This way, you only need to conduct a short interview yourself to ensure that you have exactly what you need. The rest is contractually backed up by the company. 

You can access this through the following:

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• Integration Standards:

All software development professionals should be knowledgeable about any relevant up-to-date medical interoperability standards. These standards enable inter-operation between different software systems. These include HL7’s Version 2. x, Consolidated CDA, and DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) for messages and content sharing among computer systems.

• Integration Frameworks:

One of the widely used integration frameworks is the Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP). It instructs developers on how to integrate healthcare standards with their client’s business needs.

• Semantic Knowledge:

Semantic interoperability refers to the correct interpretation of the medical information and standards in healthcare systems. Some of the semantic vocabularies in healthcare interoperability include SNOMED-CT for data input to the EHR system, ICD-10 for system reports or output, etc.

2. Technical Expertise required by healthcare mobile app developers:

Mobile application developers should have expertise in the latest technologies. These include the following:

Native Android Development skills

If you plan to offer an Android app, then we recommend you build a native Android app. Native apps make the best use of the device-specific hardware features. You will use technologies that work the best with the Android operating system. Native apps offer the best user experience, performance, and security. 

You can use Java or Kotlin to develop native Android apps. Both are feature-rich programming languages. They help you to create performance, scalable, and secure apps. Developers experience productivity. 

Look for developers with experience in Android Studio. It’s a popular IDE (Integrated Development Environment) for native Android development. 

Programmers should have familiarity with testing tools like Espresso. You also need developers that know the Material Design guidelines, which are used for Android app UI design. 

Native iOS Development skills for healthcare app developers

You should build a native iOS app if you plan to target Apple’s platforms like iPhone and iPad. Similar to native Android app, native iOS apps offer the best user experience, performance, and security. 

Look for programmers that know languages like Swift or Objective-C. While you can use either of them for native iOS development, Swift is more popular now. Swift offers powerful features.

Native iOS developers can create secure, scalable, and performant apps using Swift, and they gain productivity.   

Native iOS developers need familiarity with Xcode, the popular IDE to develop apps for Apple’s platforms. You need programmers with good knowledge of the Human Interface Guidelines. They should use them to develop the iOS app UI. Developers need to know testing tools like XCTest.  

3. Technical Expertise required by web developers

Web application developers need expertise in the latest technologies. These include the following:

Front-end development skills

The combination of JavaScript, HTML and CSS is popular for web development. Web developers can also use popular web frameworks like Angular and React.js. These JavaScript-based web frameworks make front-end development easier. 

Look for developers with knowledge of JavaScript and its rich ecosystem. JavaScript developers need expertise with popular libraries like jQuery.

Back-end development skills

Many organizations use programming languages like Java, Python, Ruby, etc. for back-end web development. Node.js is another option.

Node.js is an open-source runtime for JavaScript. Programmers can create scalable and performant web apps using Node.js. They gain productivity by using one of the many open-source tools and frameworks available for Node.js. 

The rich ecosystem of JavaScript offers options to use JavaScrip for the entire web development project. Take the example of the MEAN stack. It stands for MongoDB, Express.js, Angular, and Node.js. 

The MERN stack is another example. It stands for MongoDB, Express.js, React.js, and Node.js. JavaScript developers can use these technology stacks easily.

4. Knowledge of cloud computing platforms:

Judicious use of cloud computing platforms can help you. Look for developers with familiarity with cloud platforms. They should have the experience in the following:

• Using an IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service) platform: IaaS platforms manage the cloud infrastructure. Developers do the rest. 
• Utilizing a PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service) platform: PaaS platforms like AWS Elastic Beanstalk manage the cloud infrastructure, operating system, middleware, and runtime environment. These platforms offer services like databases, DevOps tools, etc. They help with web app development. Programmers bring their code and data. 
• Using an MBaaS (Mobile-Backend-as-a-Service) platform: MBaaS platforms like AWS Amplify manage the cloud infrastructure and persistent storage. You can develop and manage the mobile backend easily if you use such platforms. 

5. API development expertise for healthcare app developers

Your project will likely involve API development, therefore, look for programmers with this expertise. The following are important:

• Programmers need RESTful API development expertise since REST (Representational State Transfer) is the de-facto API development standard.
• Developers need a robust knowledge of popular SQL databases like MySQL or PostgreSQL.
• Some projects might require NoSQL databases, therefore, programmers should know MongoDB or Apache Cassandra.
• Developers should know how to create the API endpoints smartly.
• They need knowledge of creating effective rules for API requests and responses.
• Programmers should know how to secure APIs using encryption, secure API gateways, etc.

 6. Knowledge of software architecture 

You take the first important decisions in your project when you choose a software architecture pattern. Architectural decisions impact many aspects of a software system, e.g.:

• Smooth delivery of functionality;
• Seamless interaction between subsystems;
• Maintainability;
• Testability;
• Scalability;
• Performance.

You need developers that know sufficiently about software architecture. After all, developers will need to code in line with the architectural decisions.

Assume you plan to adopt the microservice architecture. Programmers should know the microservice best practices. 

To take another example, you might be exploring the Android clean architecture. You need developers who can provide practical inputs during this decision-making process.

7. Knowledge of application security 

Your healthcare app will process sensitive data. You need to formulate a robust security solution, and you need to meet appropriate regulatory requirements. Look for developers that know the following:

• How to implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) so that the app doesn’t rely on passwords alone;
• The importance of adopting “Compliance-as-Code” so that you can proactively include security and compliance testing in your CI/CD pipeline;
• How to mitigate top application security vulnerabilities like injection, broken authentication, etc.;
• The importance of encrypting data at rest and in transit;
• How to include modern tools like antivirus, next-generation firewalls, etc. in a security solution.

8. Knowledge of software engineering, software development methodologies, etc. 

Look for developers with good knowledge of software engineering, software development methodologies, best practices, etc. Smart programmers should know the following:

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• The different software development lifecycle (SDLC) phases;
• Various software development methodologies like Agile, Waterfall, etc.
• How to code applications in line with the UI design parameters and decisions;
• DevOps processes, methods, and tools;
• Coding, testing, and deployment best practices;
• Different kinds of testing, e.g., unit testing, integration testing, regression testing, performance testing, etc.;
• The importance of collaborating with the testing and DevOps teams to establish an effective CI/CD environment;
• How to review code, requirements, test plans, etc.

Additional Skills you Might Need to Consider:

• Artificial Intelligence:

Artificial Intelligence is taking over, especially in healthcare. This is simply because different machine learning algorithms implemented into app development technology stacks allow for increased automation, accuracy, and efficiency. The use of chatbots in healthcare apps is one powerful example.

• Blockchain:

Blockchain is already being developed to help secure medical record sharing, managing medicine supply, and assisting researchers with genetic coding. Read how blockchain can secure your app code here.

• IoT:

Internet of Things or IoT can help in automating all kinds of workflow tasks within the mobile health industry. IoT works with telehealth apps via smart devices such as wearable technologies. It can be used for health tracking, information exchange, enhancing interoperability, etc.

Don’t Forget Soft Skills:

• Communication and Planning:

Interpersonal skills help in better understanding project requirements and in planning the mobile app development workflow.

The complex ecosystem of the medical pp development incorporates multiple stakeholders. Better communication abilities within the app development team will ensure better coordination. 

You can use apps like Slack and Microsoft Teams for efficient communication with the team members. These apps allow multi-channel communication as well as private messaging. You can set up a workspace and use it exclusively to oversee your project, that way you will never miss anything. 

Find the Talent Online:

Outsourcing software projects has become very common in recent years for web and mobile app development. This segment of the industry is expected to top 587.30 billion US dollars in revenue by 2027.

The top countries in different regions to outsource software development projects are:

• Ukraine in Eastern Europe;
• Poland in Central Europe;
• Argentina in South America;
• India in Asia.

Naturally, these countries have different levels of English language proficiency, technical education among the population, use of technologies by software development companies, and legal protection, etc.

You can go to different online platforms to find reviews and user feedback on healthcare app development companies in different regions. 

Keep in mind that there are numerous serious dangers associated with hiring freelancers that many companies have found out the hard way. After all, one of the richest people on the planet got there by stealing someone else’s idea in precisely this way. 

Now that you know what kind of development team you want and where to find it, it is time to start reaching out.

Contact Healthcare App Developers or the Software Development Agency:

When hiring individual healthcare app developers through online platforms, you will post your job on a platform or job vacancy board, or reach out to a development platform.

You will then have to filter out any suitable candidates that apply (only in the case of job boards or freelance platforms) and contact them directly.

When outsourcing your healthcare app to a software development company, send them your specification and wait for them to get back to you. A salesperson from the company will contact you asking for more project details and set up a meeting with an account or project manager.

Sign the Contract with healthcare app developers:

After meeting the development team and agreeing on costs, etc., you are now ready to sign the contract that should include clear expectations and deadlines, etc. Keep in mind to discuss the following terms with your app development partners:

• Confidentiality: 

Discuss implementing a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). NDA allows only the sharing of sensitive information between agreed parties. The software development company or the individual developer MUST agree to keep information regarding your project confidential.

• Payment: 

Discuss the payment method and structure. The best software development companies will only release payment to developers once you are 100% happy and have approved their work.

Medical app development is a complex project and should be completed in incremental steps, i.e Scrum or Agile development. Plan out the payment structure with the concerned party about when and how much payment will be due after each step.

• Copyrights: 

The software development agency or freelancer should acknowledge that you are the sole intellectual owner of the software project. All copyrights and trademark rights reside with the owner of the intellectual property. 

Planning to engage healthcare app developers?

Hiring a software development team for your dream venture can become overwhelming at times, especially with so many software development companies out there. 

Healthcare app development is a huge investment, so finding the best team to develop a high-quality app is crucial. 

If you are still unsure about hiring healthcare app developers, contact us at DevTeamSpace to see how we can help you with our mobile app development services and find out why so many healthcare companies have already chosen us to build their software solutions.

Top Three FAQs on How to Hire Healthcare App Developers: