How to Build an App like ZocDoc, Practo? – Cost & Features

If you are witnessing that your administrative staff is spending hours scheduling appointments every day. And want to get rid of this appointment management situation. Doctor appointment app is the key to all your problems. The world’s top clinics are already using this facility of medical apps for an online doctor appointment. And you can also be part of this movement by building an app like zocdoc. Besides the medical appointment scheduling, the doctor application provides patients with the benefits of checking the complete history of appointments, test results, getting prescriptions and chatting with the doctor through messages or live video.

Not only this approach will help you grow your healthcare mobile app development business but also let you hold a grip over a good market share. So if you are having any unique idea and want to transform it into reality. This blog will help you get desired doctor appointment app like ZocDoc or Practo with a better understanding of the benefits of this type of app, features to include, cost estimation and timelines. Let’s start with having a glance over the digital health market.

Digital Health Market Size and Trends

Digital health has already turned out as an established market. Thanks to various industries outside of healthcare which contributes a major share of 40 per cent in this sector. It includes lyT, tech and consulting companies.

Also, we get to see the emergence of new players every year which keep on transforming this arena with the introduction of new products. This influences aspects like business models, monetization, technical complexity, security and others.

Source: Grandviewresearch.com

ZocDoc and Practo App Business Model

There are numerous business models available, doctor applications owners can choose from. However, we are listing here only those monetization models which are highly popular and adopted the most.

• App development for the third party
• Licensing (pay-per-member contract with a third party)
• Service sales (selling remote consulting or coaching through an application)

In the year 2017, there were around 325,000 mHealth applications available in the overall app stores. And the market is witnessing year-over-year growth of 25%. According to the report from Grand View Research Inc., The global mHealth market is expected to generate revenue of $112 billion by the year 2025 comprising the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 44%.

Whereas, another trusted source suggests the mobile health market’s CAGR around 14.86% in the period from 2024 to 2028. The volume market will generate during this period will be around 2024.

In the digital health sector, doctors applications have turned out to be one of the top contributors. And the revenue generated during the year 2024 is expected to increase up to $58.8 billion as compared to the amount of $25.39 billion in 2017, demonstrated in the following graph.

Reasons to Build an App Like ZocDoc or Practo

There are numerous reasons why medical centres are heading towards the development of doctor appointment apps like ZocDoc. Not only does the doctor scheduling app help in saving time but it also supports generating revenue. Also, they allow us to maintain good relationships with the patients and provide operational convenience.

Here are various other benefits both the clinics and the patients enjoy with the doctor appointment booking apps.

For Clinics

• Improved efficiency and streamlined processes
• Better management of staff scheduling
• Reduced time consumption on administrative tasks
• No overbooking
• Predict and reduce appointment no-shows
• No human errors like a spelling mistake in a name or typo-error in an appointment time
• Performance report (completed appointments and no-shows, the complete history of patient appointment) and productivity comparison

For Patients

• 24/7 accessibility of healthcare
• The facility of scheduling and rescheduling of appointments anytime, anywhere.
• Communication in real-time with the clinic’s care team
• Access to bill payments (if any payment functionality is available)

Key Features of Doctor Appointment App Like ZocDoc

An online doctor appointment app should have the following features. However, you may find some specific features in particular applications. Let’s have a look at the core features almost every doctor appointment booking app includes.

• • Doctor Profiles: It is one of the key features of a doctor appointment app. It provides doctors’ information regarding their certifications, experience, competencies and language are spoken. So that patients can choose the doctor they like. In addition to this, if any mHealth application provides ratings and feedback facility. It will be easier for the upcoming patients to know that the doctor managed to meet the past patients’ expectations in terms of treatment, communication, competence, etc.
  • Search: This feature lets patients search for doctors based on speciality, experience, locality and ratings.
  • Book and Manage Appointments: With this feature, patients can schedule an appointment with a doctor using a calendar. Also, they are free to cancel and reschedule appointments based on their priorities.
  • Reminders: The application automatically manages interactions between patients and clinics through push notifications. It reminds patients about their upcoming appointments by sending messages a few times. But be careful don’t overdo it else users get irritated.

Additional Features You May Include

• • Payments: This feature will allow users to access and pay bills with different payment methods.
  • Online Consultations: Users can connect with their favorite doctor online through video or chat and get consultation based on their symptoms.
  • Cloud-based e-records: It allows users to view their test results, exams, radiology images, and prescription anytime, anywhere.
  • Medication Tracker: Notifies patients to take their medicines timely and refill prescriptions.
  • Health Tips and Insights: Provides useful guides regularly to lead a healthy living and advice on illnesses.
    

    Top-Most Popular Doctor Appointment Apps in 2024

    In this section, we will discuss the most popular doctor scheduling apps providing services in the health sector in the US. The main features of the selected applications and the business models they follow.

    #1 ZocDoc

    Founded in 2007, ZocDoc is one of the most sought after doctor applications used by more than six million patients every month across the United States. People use this doctor scheduling app for more than 1800 types of medical procedures across 50 specialities.

    ZocDoc raised funding through a series of rounds where financing led by Khosla Ventures. In Series A (August 18, 2008), the platform generated revenue of $3 million in a Series A which is followed by $15 million in a Series B (July 14, 2010) and $75 million in a Series C (September 22, 2011). The latest round of funding hit a $130 million milestone on August 20, 2015.

    The application’s user interface is easy to use and eye-pleasing for both doctors and patients.

    Key Features of ZocDoc:

    • The facility of online doctor appointments for over 50 types of specialties including allergists, dentists, psychologists, dentists, ophthalmologists, etc.
    • Location-based searching of doctors in an insurance network
    • In-app reminders
    • Reviews from patients
    • Search based on colloquial languages that empower patients to find best-suited healthcare jargon

    #2 Doctor on Demand

    Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Doctor on Demand was founded in 2012. Since now the application has raised total funding of $160.7 million in four rounds. It received its latest funding from a Series C round on April 25, 2018.

    With the Doctor on Demand, doctor appointment app, patients can get real-time video consultations from US-licensed healthcare providers 24/7/365. In addition to this, they can get consultations for diagnosis, prescriptions, and interpretations of lab reports. Also, patients are free to connect with different psychologists and psychiatrists using this platform.

    Currently, Doctor on Demand, doctor appointment booking app connects over 1,500 board certified doctors across the US.

    Followings are the Key Features of Doctor on Demand Application:

    • Online doctor consultation ease 24/7 of the day.
    • Ease of doctor searching and medical appointment scheduling accordingly
    • A complete portfolio of doctors including their degrees, certifications, ratings, and others.
    • In-app payment facility
    • Geo-location feature for searching drug stores to buy prescriptions.

    #3 HealthTap

    Incorporated in 2010, HealthTap is located in Palo Alto, California. So far, the company has managed to collect the revenue of $88.3 million in funding over six rounds. In its latest round of funding, Series C, HealthTap raised the funding of $50 million on January 1, 2017.

    The HealthTap provides the consulting aids from a network of US-licensed physicians as its main service and the patients do not require to pay a single penny. Currently, the doctors’ network, HealthTap working with, consists of 111,000 top-notch specialists who are ready to serve you 24/7/365 service no matter where you are.

    Patients can get consultations with doctors through video call, phone call, or text-based chat immediately or by appointment.

    Key Features of HealthTap Doctor Application:

    • Online consultation with doctors 24/7 of the day
    • In-app messages
    • Text-based chat
    • Enterprise programs
    • Answers of health-related questions from professional service providers

    #4 Practo

    Practo is the first and biggest online healthcare appointment booking system in Asia. It consists of 200,000 healthcare providers who are ready to help those who are looking for consultation from certified specialities in countries like India, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. Other than getting consultation from doctors, users can also find diagnostic centres, spas, salons, and other places.

    Practo Features List Includes:

    • Online booking of doctor appointment
    • Easy to use, smart search engine
    • Online purchase of medications
    • Medication delivery
    • Medical record storage
    • Blogs from health experts

    Comparison of Top Doctor Appointment Apps

    Application	ZocDoc	Doctor on Demand	HealthTap	Practo
    Web service	Y	Y	Y	Y
    24/7 online consultations	N	Y	Y	Y
    Doctors’ search and booking appointments	Y	Y	Y	Y
    Cancellation of appointments	Y	Y	Y	Y
    In-app reminders	Y	Y	Y	Y
    Video consultations	N	Y	Y	N
    Voice call consultations	N	Y	Y	N
    Text-based chats	N	N	Y	Y
    Online prescriptions	Y	Y	Y	Y
    Number of healthcare providers	Exact healthcare providers count is unavailable. Application serves 2200+ cities across the US.	111,000	140,000	200,000

    How Does Doctor Appointment App like ZocDoc Make Money?

    

    Every doctor appointment booking app or doctor appointment scheduling app mentioned uses different monetization methods. One by one we will look at the money-making method of these applications.

    ZocDoc

    ZocDoc, which is a patient-centric business, makes money through subscription fees as a primary source. Doctors pay an annual subscription fee of $3000 to connect with the patients. Besides this, the application provides monetization aids from Sponsored results. The advertising solution that is used by almost every business to increase their online visibility.

    Doctor on Demand

    Doctor on Demand, on the other hand, makes money from video consultation charges. The patient has to pay a sum of $40 for every 15-minute video-based appointment. If the call goes over 15 minutes, an additional $40 amount added to the cost for the next 15-minute consultation. The doctor gets $30 out of $40 consultation charges, whereas the application gets 25% means the remaining $10.In addition to this, the Doctor on Demand earns from its healthcare system software provided to deal with the patients.

    Note: The first video consultation here is free of cost so that the patient can check the quality of service provided using the application.

    HealthTap

    HealthTap uses three different business models for monetization from the application. Its freemium business model lets the users unlimited access to the 5.5 billion answers from the doctors free of cost. But by paying a monthly rental of $99, users become prime members and receive unlimited access to answers, live consultation through HD video call, voice call or text-based chat. This model also provides the facility of adding family members just by paying an additional amount of $10 per month.

    Besides this, there is an enterprise program from the HealthTap which consists of two programs: Concierge launched in October 2014 and Compass launched in September 2015. The Concierge aids patients to connect with their doctor for consultation through video calls, voice calls and chat by making payment of $49 per consultation. Whereas this amount for the prime members is $44. The regular customers did not require to pay a monthly fee to use Concierge whereas doctors pay a licence fee to provide access to the services to the customers. On the other hand, the insurance companies and self-insured employees take the advantages of the Compass enterprise program. The companies chose this program to offer a virtual doctor to its employees for online consultation through video call, voice call and text-based chat along with ease of test interpretations and scheduling doctor appointments.

    Practo

    Practo generates revenue using two methods including Practo Ray and Practo Reach.Practo Ray is a SaaS product available for doctors and healthcare providers based on subscription plans. Its standard subscription plan is available at the pricing of INR 999 ($13.50) per month. While to subscribe for the premium plan you have to pay an amount of INR 1,999 ($27.00) per month. In this plan, doctors get the facility of cloud telephony-based interactive voice response (IVR) system.

    Practo Reach, on the other hand, is a free product that is used by the patients to find doctors. This portal consists of contextual ads from hospitals and clinics of which pricing depends on the speciality of doctors or hospitals and the area. If you are looking for a doctor appointment app for your clinic this guide is for you.

    How Much Does it Cost to Develop an App like ZocDoc, Practo?

    Before developing an online doctor appointment app, it must be considered that the application which stores or transmits protected health information must follow HIPPA guidelines. So always choose a development team or a company that meets all the norms and the standards. The cost for developing doctor applications like ZocDoc, HealthTap, Practo and others based on the following factors.

    • Platforms- Android, iOS, Windows
    • UI and UX Design- simple, medium, rich
    • Complexity- Number of features and functionalities going to add in the application
    • Third-party SDKs- payments, payouts

    All these factors cumulatively conclude the final cost of the finished product.

    If you are willing to develop an application like ZocDoc with core functionalities. Firstly you would need to develop a mobile application (Android and iOS). Later on, you would create a web-based admin panel to include all the features and functionalities of a doctor application. To access information and use application features, it would require server and backend development. One can add additional technologies and third-party solutions to its application to give it a final touch. It includes:

    • Easy map integration using MapKit
    • Real-time tracking of location through MCoreLocation
    • Online payment options like MPayPal Payments Pro/Stripe Payments Tool
    • Text aid from MTwilio
    • Integration of MAI-based technologies for speech recognition and IVR system
    • Log entry and log management through MLogentries and Graylog
    • Digital performance monitoring through MNew Relic.

    On average, the development of a mobile healthcare application like ZocDoc would require six to eight months. The timeframe can vary based on the scale and the complexity of the project. Whereas the development cost would be around $35,000 (starting price).

    

    Conclusion

    The mHealth market space is already packed with the availability of numerous doctors applications. However, a great product always manages to secure its position even in the competitive world. So if you are having any unique idea and want to develop an application for an online doctor appointment. You can consult our experts to get an idea over development time and cost of doctor appointment apps in India or other countries like the USA, UK, Australia and Dubai.