Thousands of Thai patients are set to receive reminders of medical appointments on their mobile phones via SMS under a trial using a platform developed by a New Zealand company.
Vibhavadi Hospital is trialing Vensa Health’s mHealth+3 platform, which will automate and manage appointment reminders for the hospital.
The solution aims to deliver millions in annual savings by reducing the number of missed appointments each year by around 50%. The hospital also aims to improve patient outcomes by improving attendance for the 200,000 appointments scheduled annually.
Chaisit Viriyamettakul, managing director of Vibhavadi Hospital, a private hospital in Bangkok says New Zealand has a reputation in mHealth, and Vensa is a market leader in the New Zealand healthcare system.
"We expect to be able to translate that success and use Vensa’s system to improve service integration at Vibhavadi and ensure more patients attend the appointments they need at the right time to stay well,” he says.
Vensa’s system has been integrated into Vibhavadi Hospital’s health information system to enable personalized SMS appointment reminders to be sent to patients and for replies. The hospital serves more than 20,000 inpatients and 300,000 outpatients a year providing a range of medical and surgical services.