Health Plan Smartphone App

Name of Student

Name of Institution

Health Plan Smartphone App

Mobile health is understood as medical and public health practices that are facilitated by mobile devices, including, smartphones, tablets and other wireless devices. This is a new area in the realm of telehealth. It differs greatly from the conventional systems and practices on the internet and physical medical workstations (California Healthcare Foundation, 2010). Mobile health uses handsets and wireless healthcare devices that are less expensive, convenient to use, flexible, remotely upgradable and adherent to the lifestyles of patients. Consequently, mobile health has the potential to reach many people. It has been studied and presented as a peculiar way of providing healthcare services.

The mobile handset or tablet is the crucial device that links physicians and healthcare service providers to patients in their environmental settings (California Healthcare Foundation, 2010). Unlike the age-old phones that have purposely served for voice communications, the advent of the smartphone incorporates all the central functions of the computer. Consequently, the wide range of smartphone applications has revolutionized people’s everyday lives. The applications can assist patients in managing diseases individually and are quicker channels of communication through which patients can obtain immediate clinical interventions (Nevada Division of Insurance, 2014).

An ideal smartphone app for medical insurance should include the following:

Display electronic identity card

View past claims

See healthcare savings account balance

Access eligibility

Access physician directory for network facilities and office locations

View coverage

View out-of-pocket totals

Look up prices of drugs across pharmacies

Find therapeutic and generic alternatives

Buy insurance coverage

View allergy and weather information

Allows users to establish nutrition and fitness challenges and achievements

Allows users share various accomplishments on social media

In designing the smartphone app, a number of precautionary measures will have to be taken into account. Firstly, the app should be tested before it is released to users. Platforms like Artisan can help in the testing process. Moreover, one should understand the motivations of users deeply. The user experience is important in every step of the app. Therefore, user motivation should be the backbone of the app. Consideration should also be made of the offline experience. The app should be usable even if the customer is offline (The Next Web, 2014). Another crucial consideration is the ease of use. Most smartphone owners are not skilled in using all the features of the phones. Therefore, the app should be designed in an intricate manner that allows customers to use it without difficulty. Think of the child user when designing. The user should navigate through the features easily.

Stupid simple is another critical aspect of designing an app. Once the design is set, a good way to achieve this stupid simplicity is to assign a non-technical person to work on it. Consideration should be made to readability and simplicity of language in analyzing the non-technician’s work. Most users will drop an app if it is not intuitive and easier to use. Moreover, the app should be tailored to suit all operating systems (Rohra, 2014). Some users have Android while others have iPhone. The user experience should be the same across all these operating systems. The use of grids is preferable as it maintains consistency as the user navigates from one page of the app to another. The design chosen should be unified across the app.

The app should be compatible with numerous platforms. Users access apps through various platforms, including desktop, tablets and smartphones. The app should be available and easier to use across these platforms (The Next Web, 2014). The app should also emulate the real world in terms of preferred insurance access mechanisms. Lastly, the app should have one central feature supported by a few other features. Putting up numerous features is detrimental to user experience (Rohra, 2014). The app should guide the user through the targeted experience instead of burdening the user with the task of finding the experience.

References

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