Promoting cashless payments at Lang Son Provincial General Hospital

People pay hospital fees without cash at Lang Son Provincial General Hospital

In recent years, Lang Son General Hospital has actively implemented many information technology solutions, aiming to build a smart, modern and friendly hospital. The hospital has built a database platform to deploy electronic medical records, put into operation the "vnCare" application to help people easily make appointments online, look up information and receive quick advice. In addition, one of the outstanding solutions in the digital transformation process is to promote cashless payment of hospital fees, bringing convenience and significantly reducing the burden on the medical examination and treatment system.

Every day, the Hospital receives and treats more than 1,500 patients. Previously, most hospital fees were paid in cash, causing the cashier to spend a lot of time counting; patients had to wait in line; the hospital wasted time and human resources in collecting and depositing money and faced risks in the process of cash preservation. Since December 2019, the Hospital has coordinated with Agribank Lang Son Branch to deploy many non-cash payment methods such as: Payment via ATM/VISA/MASTER card on POS devices, Agribank E-Mobile Banking application, QR-Code scanning to help patients easily make payments with just a few operations on their phone or bank card.

In the initial stages of implementation, the Hospital still encountered some problems and difficulties such as: People coming to see a doctor for medical examination and treatment still used cash due to the habit of using cash; were not familiar with paying via bank using SmartBanking cards, InternetBanking, e-wallets; the elderly did not use smartphones. When transferring money, people were afraid of entering too much, too little, or entering the wrong account number... Some elderly people and ethnic people did not have a bank account or electronic payment card. In addition, cashless payments also had some problems such as: Technical errors in the system during the transfer process caused the patient's account to be deducted but the money had not yet been transferred to the Hospital's account. Non-cash payment of hospital fees may be interrupted or have errors due to maintenance or upgrade of the banking system or unstable wifi network quality... Faced with this situation, the Hospital has stepped up communication to raise awareness and change people's habits, while closely coordinating with commercial banks and network operators to ensure successful payment, quickly minimizing technical errors that interrupt the payment process and supporting the issuance of bank cards for patients when needed.

By 2025, the rate of cashless payment at the hospital will reach nearly 80%. People have become aware and clearly see the benefits of cashless payment such as: Shortening waiting time at the toll collection counter, reducing cross-infection of diseases and epidemics, no need to carry a lot of cash, reducing the risk of dropping or theft; convenient, fast payment, done right on personal devices. The hospital reduces the time to count, preserve and transport cash, limits mistakes and losses in the collection and disbursement process; increases publicity and transparency in financial work, optimizes the medical examination and treatment process, reduces pressure on personnel.

It can be seen that cashless payment plays an important role in reducing the amount of cash in circulation, promoting safe and civilized payment, and reducing social costs related to the issuance and transportation of money. In the coming time, Lang Son General Hospital will continue to make efforts to promote digital transformation and digitize medical examination and treatment procedures to improve service quality and patient satisfaction.

Pham Lan Anh - Provincial General Hospital

Source: https://soyt.langson.gov.vn/thong-tin-chuyen-nganh/thong-tin-tong-hop/day-manh-thanh-toan-khong-dung-tien-mat-tai-benh-vien-da-khoa-tinh-lang-son.html