Authors (including presenting author) :
Veronica HUNG(1), Vicky FUNG(1), Erica LAU(1), Hudson CHAN(2), Stephen LAU(2), Dick LAM(2), Carrie CHUNG (2), Mavis POW(1)
Affiliation :
(1) Health Informatics Section, Hospital Authority (2) Information Technology Department, Hospital Authority
Introduction :
The Information Technology and Health Informatics Division (IT&HI) of the Hospital Authority of Hong Kong (HA) has putting forward a five-year IT Strategy to support the HA Strategic Plan 2017-2022, namely “Innovating for Better Care”. One of the key deliverables is to develop a patient mobile app “HA Go” to enhance patient experience and health outcome. “My Appointments” is one of the key mini-apps in the initial development of HA Go and various patient-wanted features are built to empower patients to manage own health.
Objectives :
1. To engage patients to manage health appointments at HA hospitals and clinics via a digital-enabled platform. 2. To realize patient wanted features with a view to provide a seamless patient journey.
Methodology :
With a challenging timeline, appointment management features are prioritized in response to patients’ wish. 1. To connect patients with personalized healthcare, quick-win and just-enough features would be provided upon the extended trial of HA Go in July 2019, e.g. checking appointments, adding appointments to phone calendar. 2. To empower patients to manage appointments, high-priority features would be provided upon the official launch of HA Go in December 2019, e.g. receiving appointment reminders, able to cancel new appointments at specialist clinics, and enjoying mobile outpatient registration and payment. 3. To support seamless digital patient journey, essential appointment management features will be delivered in next steps, e.g. viewing queue status, requesting for reschedule appointments.
Result & Outcome :
“My Appointments” has been well received by patients. From the extended trial in July 2019 till the end of December 2020, there are over 5,947,000 accesses to “My Appointments” among 297,000 HA Go members. An average of 20 accesses per member revealed that “My Appointments” is the most frequently accessed mini-app in HA Go. Besides, positive feedback was received from representatives of patient groups via forums. Suggestions collected via in-app “Contact us” have already been included in our enhancement plan. Conclusion: The inputs and advice on patient wanted features collected via various platforms plus the mission of providing a unified and fascinated user experience made the appointment management features shipshape in HA Go “My Appointments”.
