Digital hospital, patients benefit

In recent years, medical facilities in Ho Chi Minh City have promoted the application of information technology in management, operation and patient service. Many digital transformation solutions have been applied such as: registering for medical examination using a chip-embedded citizen identification card (CCCD); cashless payment; making an appointment; managing records using electronic codes...

Shortened procedures, reduced waiting time

Having suffered from diabetes and chronic hypertension for more than 5 years, every month, Ms. Nguyen Thi Ai Trang (58 years old, living in Binh Thanh District) has to be present at Gia Dinh People's Hospital to queue up to get a number to wait for medical examination and do paraclinical tests. If before, she had to leave early in the morning, return after noon and had to bring many types of documents such as health insurance card, ID card and medical examination book... recently, Ms. Ai Trang's medical examination time has been greatly shortened, in just over 10 hours she can receive medicine and go home. All thanks to the application of chip-embedded ID card integrated with health insurance card.

Staff at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City guide patients' relatives to pay using QR code. Photo: MINH TRI

“In the past, I always had to worry about keeping, preserving, and carrying my health insurance card and photo ID when going to the doctor, but now most patients have been relieved of this worry. Going to the doctor now only requires a CCCD card or a smartphone,” Ms. Ai Trang shared.

At Phu Nhuan District Hospital, two smart kiosks have recently appeared to help patients register for examination, pay hospital fees via CCCD, facial recognition, shorten waiting time... easily and conveniently. Dr. Vo Van Minh, Director of Phu Nhuan District Hospital, said that every day, the hospital receives about 1,000 medical examinations, not to mention the number of people coming for periodic health check-ups. In recent years, the hospital has deployed an application for automatic number taking, cashless payment via QR code scanning, but separately. This kiosk solution integrates many features at the same time, connecting CCCD with chip, biometrics. Patients coming for the next examination only need to authenticate by face.

“People register for medical examination and treatment via chip-embedded ID cards, VssID and VNeID level 2 applications, using facial recognition biometrics and paying fees right at the kiosk. The service helps reduce peak times, shorten waiting times and reduce fatigue for people,” said Dr. Vo Van Minh.

Increase satisfaction

According to Mr. Nguyen Truong Nam, Deputy Director of the Department of Information Technology (Ministry of Health), hospital digitalization is the standardization of information, data and the formation of a data warehouse to serve management, medical examination and treatment, and patient health care (before, during and after examination and treatment). The criteria for hospital digitalization need to aim to meet 3 no's: no paperwork; no queuing and no cash. To date, 100% of medical facilities have deployed hospital management information system (HIS) software, connecting with 63 health insurance agencies of 63 provinces and cities, implementing remote and online medical examination registration.

In addition, nearly 100 hospitals have deployed electronic medical records, not using paper medical records; 100% of medical stations have deployed management software; more than 61% of medical examination facilities and public health centers have deployed electronic prescriptions and linked databases with the national information system on drug prescription management; 100% of medical examination and treatment facilities and medical human resource training facilities under the management of the Ministry of Health have had non-cash payment services in many forms such as: bank transfer, QR code scanning, e-wallet, medical examination and treatment cards connected to banks...

The effectiveness of digitalization is clearly demonstrated for both hospitals, patients and the health sector. For hospitals, digitalization has contributed to improving the quality and efficiency of hospital management; improving the quality of examination, treatment and patient care; saving costs, making hospital operations transparent; increasing competitiveness, attractiveness and patient satisfaction. For patients, they can experience and use high-quality medical services; receive proactive and positive health care and attention.

For the health sector, hospital digitalization will create specialized data warehouses, medical examination and treatment data warehouses, electronic health record data warehouses, etc. These data warehouses are interconnected between medical facilities nationwide to help support and improve the quality of health care and medical examination and treatment services for people.

“From medical data warehouses, big data systems of the healthcare industry will be formed, from which modern digital technology such as big data, artificial intelligence (AI) ... will be applied to serve scientific research, analyze disease models ...”, Mr. Nguyen Truong Nam informed.

Vietnam Social Security said that currently, 100% of health insurance examination and treatment facilities nationwide have implemented medical examination and treatment using chip-embedded ID cards. In addition, patients can also use the image of the health insurance card on the VssID or VNeID application for health insurance examination and treatment.

MINH NAM

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/benh-vien-so-hoa-benh-nhan-huong-loi-post752338.html