Is React Native A Good Choice for Healthcare Apps?

From large hospitals to small clinics, the healthcare industry is rapidly running moving towards innovation and making the most of all that technology has to offer. Hardly any sector of life is not making the most of computers and the internet, and the healthcare industry is always at the forefront of cutting-edge solutions. From direct patient services to hospital management systems, there are numerous solutions out there for the healthcare industry that people can benefit from. 

A healthcare worker measuring BP.

But before developing any product or working with any business, it’s important to know which technology stack to opt for. For the healthcare sector, React Native might just be one of the best options. Here are some reasons why:

Quicker Development

Developing a project in React Native is considered fast for several reasons. Firstly, you’re not writing code for two different operating systems, which can always be a time-consuming factor. Secondly, React Native has a wide range of assets and tools that can be used for a wide range of projects, without having to develop each aspect from scratch. This element is a huge factor in saving precious time.

One feature that’s essential to quicker development in React Native’s ecosystem is hot reload, allowing you to see any updates in the application instantly as it’s running. The system doesn’t pause and the changes are on the fly, which is a must-have for something as sensitive as a healthcare application.

Cost-Effective

While no expenses should be spared when it comes to healthcare and the public interest, you do want to operate within a certain budget when developing an application for your business. Choosing the right development stack can help you reduce your cost, and the ideal option is often React Native. The biggest reason here is that you don’t have to develop two different versions of the same app for iOS and Android.

Person using a phone.

Your application can use a majority of the codebase and assets for either version and work perfectly. In many cases, the resources for React Native are more affordable as compared to dedicated Kotlin, Java, or Swift.

Improvements Over Hybrid Options

The significant advantage React Native has over hybrid technology stacks is that React Native works well with different native controls and modules. The framework has achieved native-like performance on the UI-UX level, making a React Native based indiscernible from a fully native application of the same design. 

A person typing on a keyboard

In comparison, hybrid applications can often be lackluster in their performance, with various users being able to tell the difference between native and hybrid designs. For an application on a big scale, such as a healthcare application, the performance must be fluid and reliable.

Modularity

Another great feature of React Native is that it’s fairly modular, allowing developers to group various functions into a single module. Many of the necessary functions can be piled into necessary modules, while others that may not be needed can be removed. Similarly, these modules can be targeted as particular segments see more development, especially as healthcare facilities upgrade their infrastructure.

For healthcare applications, in particular, it’s necessary to have a system where changes can be made without the entire system being susceptible to any major issues. Modularity helps in that aspect as it can decentralize the overall application, especially from features underdoing changes.

Stability and Reliability

A great aspect for not just the users, but also the developers is that there are fewer chances of anomalous bugs and surprises during updates with React Native. This is because the framework doesn’t provide a child element in the code to change any of the parent data of the program. You’ll have to first change the state of the object and apply every update independently if you want to make any updates to the objects when putting out a new release.

It’s because of this stability that some of the biggest companies in the world are using React Native applications for their biggest products.

Regulatory Compliance

To ensure that your healthcare application meets the regulatory compliance for working in the US, it has to meet all of the requirements provided by HIPAA. Generally, HIPAA has concerns about user data, ensuring that there’s no abuse, fraud, or waste of this data and taking all the measures that one can for providing integrity, and confidentiality of this information. 

React Native has several measures to prevent data leaks and ensure that your information stays secure, and it’s convenient to integrate all of the core HIPAA-compliant features in your final build.

Third-Party Plugins Support

A great aspect for both the developers and the medical community is that there’s already a wide range of solutions such as plugins available for healthcare in React Native. Many of these can be seamlessly added to new solutions to provide them with lots of new features. Developers are saved from the hassle of rewriting code while allowing them to provide a more well-rounded set of services to their clients. 

Similarly, the client has access to many off-the-shelf options that they can ask their respective developers to add to the product.

Guest article written by: The author is a React Native developer for Softwareistic. Softwareistic has been in the business for around 10 years, having with a team of highly specialized web developers, designers, and engineers that have worked on projects across different fields of life. They are company is an Android and iOS app development agency providing Flutter App Development and React Native App Development for various industries. The company provides a variety of SaaS solutions to clients in different industries. You can reach out to them for your React Native development needs, especially in the healthcare sector.

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