Online hospital fee payment: The target of 50% of total revenue still has many challenges!

Since the beginning of 2025, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Region 8 has promptly deployed documents and regulations of the Government, SBV and Ha Tinh Provincial People's Committee on implementing the 2025 Digital Transformation Plan in the area to credit institutions.

The State Bank of Region 8 has coordinated with relevant departments, branches and units to direct credit institutions in the area to promote the implementation of cashless payments. However, the results have not been high, only a part of the people use the service. In particular, the rate of cashless payments in the health sector is still very low.

Ha Tinh aims to have the rate of online hospital fee payment reach 50% of the total amount collected by the end of 2025.

As of June 30, 2025, the number of customers paying hospital fees online in the area was 95,066 customers, accounting for 42.9% of the total number of customers using medical services with the amount collected of more than 112 billion VND (accounting for 27.8% of the total amount collected). With this result, to complete the goal of paying hospital fees online 50% of the total amount collected by the end of 2025 is still difficult.

Ha Tinh Provincial General Hospital has implemented cashless payment of hospital fees since June 2021. According to Mr. Dang Viet Hung - hospital accountant: During the implementation process, all staff of the Finance - Accounting Department have been instructed on how to use cashless payment methods to serve and guide patients and their relatives to pay by scanning QR Code, POS or transferring money to the hospital's account. Hospital fee payment points are equipped with QR Code scanning boards, POS and have instructions to make it easy for patients and their relatives to pay. Even if the customer's phone does not have an internet connection, payment can still be made by swiping POS cards...

People register for medical examination at Ha Tinh Provincial General Hospital.

However, the rate of cashless payment at Ha Tinh General Hospital is still not as expected, only 38 - 43% of the total amount collected. The reason is that patients coming for medical examination and treatment are mainly elderly people, often do not have bank account cards, do not have smartphones and are not proficient in using accounts for payment; many patients are afraid that providing a bank account will reveal personal information and face risks. In addition, some problems from the payment infrastructure also partly affect online hospital fee payment.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong (68 years old, residing in Dong Loc commune) shared: “Recently, I went to the Ha Tinh Provincial General Hospital for a medical examination and inpatient treatment. Due to my old age and lack of familiarity with technology, when I was discharged from the hospital, I still chose to pay in cash.”

At Thach Ha Medical Center, although medical staff have promoted, mobilized, and instructed customers to use online payment services when coming to see a doctor or receive treatment, the results are still modest.

Staff of Thach Ha Medical Center guide elderly patients to pay hospital fees by scanning QR Code.

Specialist II Doctor Nguyen The Phiet - Director of Thach Ha Medical Center said: "Patients who come to the Center for examination and treatment are mainly elderly people, in rural areas, who do not use smartphones or are not proficient in technology, so paying hospital fees online is very difficult. Moreover, most people still have the habit of managing and using cash, many people are not interested and are not fully aware of the benefits of cashless payments. In the first 6 months of 2025 alone, the center examined 37,000 customers, of which 7,800 were inpatients; the rate of online hospital fee payment only reached 29% of the total amount collected".

“In the coming time, Thach Ha Medical Center will step up propaganda and encourage customers to participate in online payment for medical services. However, we also hope that the entire political system will take drastic action and effectively implement digital transformation solutions in all fields. From there, we will move towards building a habit of cashless payment for people in all fields, creating a basis to increase the rate of customers paying hospital fees online” – Director of Thach Ha Medical Center emphasized.

According to the State Bank of Vietnam Region 8, to increase the rate of online hospital fee payment, many commercial banks in the area have waived or reduced fees related to non-cash payments such as: money transfer fees, account maintenance fees, service maintenance fees, card issuance fees, ATM withdrawal fees, etc. to encourage customers to pay via bank accounts. Medical examination and treatment units in the area have accepted non-cash payment of hospital fees. The number of card-accepting devices for paying hospital fees is 15 POS machines and QR Codes are placed at the fee collection counters of the units.

However, most of the patients who come to the medical facilities for examination and treatment are elderly, which makes it difficult for them to use banking services. Most of them are covered by insurance, the hospital fees are not much and the staff who collect the money have not actively introduced the service fully, so the online hospital fee payment service has not been used by many customers.

Medical facilities need to be more decisive in implementing online hospital fee payment solutions.

Ha Tinh aims to pay 50% of the total hospital fees online by the end of 2025. With the current results, without the determination of medical facilities and the synchronous and effective coordination between levels and sectors, it will be very difficult to complete. Requiring medical examination and treatment facilities in the area to be more determined in implementing online payment solutions; the health sector must actively coordinate with relevant sectors and units to promote propaganda so that people trust in cashless payments and change payment habits.

Medical facilities also need to improve technical infrastructure, ensure system reliability and availability; improve network connection quality, limit technical incidents to improve information access and sharing efficiency. Hospitals should also provide a variety of cashless payment methods for people to easily access and make payments. Thereby, contributing to the effective implementation of Project 06 on developing population data applications, electronic identification and authentication to serve national digital transformation in the period 2022 - 2025, with a vision to 2030 in Ha Tinh.

Source: https://baohatinh.vn/thanh-toan-vien-phi-online-muc-tieu-50-tong-thu-con-nhieu-thach-thuc-post292808.html